Dignity & respect, anyone?

Mulling over recent newspaper articles, tv and magazine stories, I’m starting to wonder where the dignity has gone from our lives. Respect seems to have disappeared and, I know this will make me sound like yet another grumpy old woman (hankering for the ‘good old days’) but why all the
personal ‘stuff’ being presented in the ‘News’. Is it because scandalous stories sell better than genuine current affairs? Are newspapers, television programmers and magazine producers worried that their (their?) public will stop buying and stop watching, now that there are so many more (personal) electronic methods to distract people and provide other ways to entertain? 
And, do we really clamour for ‘juicy’ tales about our leaders and notable people and ignore the substance of what is being said and what is being done on a more serious level? 
And, who is it who decides that the general public prefers gossip-style ‘News’ rather that real information? Is it really us, the people? Or are we being manipulated? It seems like rubbish stories are being used as a drug to dull and calm the masses and have them only concerned with things that don’t matter a hoot, instead of real life, real world happenings.
I’m confused.
And then we have sport, or should I say, SPORT. It is portrayed as one of THE most important parts of our lives. Well, not in my life, it isn’t!
 And so-called ‘celebrities’ – I don’t even know who most of them are who are featured on our ‘News bulletins’. Why are we supposed to be enthralled by the antics of people who do nothing other than ‘be’ celebrities?
 I’m confused about that also.
 And, again, who decides that sports people and celebrities are the important items to be discussed and shown in the media? Not me!
It’s too late to change, I’m afraid. And I’m afraid for the young people of today who know little other than the crap that is being dished up to them.
It would have been nice, if, in some far back time, the newspapers, tv programmers and magazine producers had decided to concentrate on real news stories and focus on the likes of clever musicians and the good works of scientists and the likes instead of superficial nonsense about sportsmen and ‘celebrities’. It would have (in my humble opinion) made for a  better world.