In the last decade the mass media have grown worldwide to be larger, more influential and more powerful. After it was possible in the Federal Republic of Germany in the 60s to receive one TV program and in the 60s and 70s to receive three TV programs, the number of receivable TV programs has risen for a huge part of the population in western Europe through cable TV to eleven or even more programs in the last years. More TV channels are announced. Additionally there is the huge offer of videos. The distribution of video recorders in the population is increasing. Worldwide we are on the way to communication to a mass media society in which fiction, fantasy, the definition of reality assumes a greater role than reality itself, where people want to be permanently entertained, and where the description of the content gains more emphasis than the content itself.
For centuries news on crime have greatly attracted the population, In the Middle Ages ballad singers moved very successfully from town to town in order to spread their ballads which were to a great part murder stories. Criminal stories are not a new development because they do not report anything really new. They are regularly told according to the pattern of the "familiar sensation" because they have a function of relief for the society, because through them, the "law-abiding citizen" can set himself apart from the criminal, because they prove to him that his behavior is "normal" and because he can be content to feel that he is better than the criminals and that he successfully managed to escape the criminal act. There is a huge demand in the population for crime news because they are entertaining and remove the boredom of everyday life. The mass media willingly fulfill this demand because crime news are cheap and easy to get hold of and because they help sell almost any product. That is why there is a symbiosis, an unholy alliance between mass media and society against which the critical criminologist advances his objections almost in vain.
Ballad singers in the Middle Ages enjoyed popularity because ______.
A. they were regarded as story-tellers in many countries
B. their accounts of murders met the needs of the audience
C. their songs had the power to make the audience feel relieved
D. their songs were in accordance with the pattern of the "familiar sensation\
