Hard News vs. Soft News

So far, in our class, we have been learning a lot about how the media and politics interact with each other. In our recent class module we have been learning about soft news, hard news, and bias within the different media outlets. What I found very interesting is how often "soft" news is used more so in the coverage of a news station or newspaper. "Hard news refers to coverage of breaking events involving top leaders, major issues, or significant disruptions in the routines of daily life, such as an earthquake or airline disaster."(Patterson 3) While soft news is considered any "information about these events is presumably important to citizens’ ability to understand and respond to the world of public affairs.12 News that is not of this type is, by definition, “soft.”" (Patterson 3) From what I have noticed from all the newspapers and news networks is that the hard news or policy-related news has decreased over time. The only time it seems to really make an appearance is during any elections or during a major crises, such as ISIS in the Middle East.

There is an interesting article that I happened to stumble upon while looking through several online media sources that interested me and related back to the class lessons. The article is about a video that apparently the State Department released in response to the video's that ISIS has been posting on the web for everyone to see. The video is said to be a message to stop people from joining ISIS.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/09/09/state-department-enters-propaganda-war-with-isis/
The State Department is launching a tough and graphic propaganda counteroffensive against the Islamic State, using some of the group's own images of barbaric acts against fellow Muslims to undercut its message. 

The reason why this article was interesting is because of how much the Middle East has been talked about by the media and politics lately. Most of the information I would consider hard news because is falls in the category of major issues right now. I also saw how this article related to one of my previous post. This article basically is showing how the government uses sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube in order to communicate with the general public and to deliver, in the case of this article, messages to people as well. Anyways let me ask you guys a few questions. Do you guys prefer soft news or hard news? Do you think there is a good balance of both being aired? Do you think that one day soft news and hard news will still be around or do you think that it will change into something different?