Media & Merchandise
The media promotes nothing that doesn’t move merchandise. It may mention something that doesn’t move merchandise, but it won’t promote it.
A point-at-hand. The rebel flag flying over the capitol building in South Carolina gets saturation news coverage, and sales of the Confederate flag skyrocket. By comparison, the murdered parishioners of the Mother Emanuel Church get news coverage, but not at the saturation level of the flag – you can’t sell dead people.
The news is a merchandizing mechanism.