An observer can identify a trend in television news presentation style toward the dramatic, not only in the sets and the personnel, but more importantly in the choice of what is deemed newsworthy. A thesis is proposed by many suggesting that television is a regular ritual of many viewers of which news is a minor part and that television's first mission is not to inform or even to entertain, but to move goods. Ultimately then, the reason for drama on the news is that it attracts audiences for advertisers. Also, information programing is now cheaper to produce than most entertainment programing and is becoming more profitable every year. International criticism of this trend in the United States is based on concerns that two-thirds of the world's daily output of news comes directly or indirectly from New York; is ethnocentric; overemphasizes celebrities, the bizarre, and disasters; and ignores developmental journalism. There is also concern that because the U. S. media do not give a realistic view of the world by favoring the dramatic, the U. S. public has often been caught unaware by international developments. (MKM)