Definition of "the news"

They want to be in the news, the great organizer of social anxieties.
That's a comment by rhhardin, who weighs in at the Ann Althouse blog regularly. His comments are short and insightful. In this case he is talking about the man who opened fire on the Pentagon. I guess I don't know what good it does you to be on the news if you're dead and can't watch.

But I am intrigued by that appositive. What is "The News"? The great organizer of social anxieties.