There were some very interesting readings yet again this week which connected well and helped to tie everything up. Many of the same subjects appeared again including women, minorities, children, and the poor. Just as in other forms of media, these groups are all just as ignored or misrepresented in the news. The readings also go more specifically into biases in the news and the effects that those have upon it.
The chapter by Radford gave an immense amount of information that held a lot of importance with a number of the other readings. He talks about the various biases that are present in the news, how they come about, and what issues that causes. These are definitely important concepts to understand when it comes to media literacy. We always hear about news being biased, but it is always between one political spectrum over another. We never really look deeper to see and question in what ways the news may be manipulated and carry biases. This is extremely important because these biases and manipulations can change viewers’ understandings and reactions to the world. A short quote that particularly stood out to me was: “In a dictatorship, censorship is used; in a democracy, manipulation” (Radford 66). It is somewhat pessimistic, but it certainly gets a point across. One way in which the media manipulates is through the use of “sensationalized headlines,” particularly ones which can incite strong emotions such as fear. Fear is an incredibly powerful tool which can make people go to extremes in order to avoid the fear. It also definitely makes people tune in and listen. Another way in which news is obviously manipulated in is the careful selection of content, focusing primarily on unusual and extreme events in order to draw intrigue and more viewers. As Radford mentioned, the phrase “When a dog bites a man, that’s not news. But when a man bites a dog—now that’s news!” (67) truly embodies this idea. In general, the news focuses on these freak events rather than on the real problems of society. Sternheimer brings this idea up a lot as well. One instance was the chapter with violence. The news never talks about violence plague poor areas of cities and the effects it has, particularly on children. Instead they only focus on violence when it comes from someplace unexpected and in a way to garner attention. The media tries to draw as large an audience as possible in order to obtain the most profit. The major problem with this is that in order to meet this range of audience, news is manipulated to be dumbed-down and homogenized. Other ways in which news is misconstrued is when reporters focus primarily on subjects who share their views and when reporters ask “strawman questions”. All of these factors can bolster false impressions and the withholding of important information and answers to necessary questions. This occurs incredibly often, especially when it comes to powerful corporations and political figures. Radford expertly states, “ the obvious questions—the exact ones that need to be asked, the ones that get to the kernel of thorny assertions—are rarely brought up by the media, presumably to protect the veneer of objectivity” (90). There are two major problems with this that Radford brings up. The first is that this can become an issue of democracy. The reporters are supposed to represent the voice of the people who are not given the chance to ask the tough questions. But are things really going according to this idea of democracy when these powerful figures are so easily allowed to weasel their way out of these important questions? The second point is that when reporters do not get the answers to questions, that means that the viewers have to research and come to conclusions about what information is correct on their own. Very few people have the time, resources, or even desire on their hands to accomplish this either. This connects to the idea of data, information, and wisdom in media. From our experience and the readings, wisdom is often absent.
The slides from McChensey talked about very similar information. McChensey focused primarily on the biases of professional journalism in which it is supposed to remain “neutral” and yet contains an overemphasis of the views of the politically and monetarily powerful people. Just as Radford eluded, this allows for many questions to go unasked and topics to be avoided. While it technically remains politically neutral, the commercial aims are what are actually being attained. Powerful businesses have a consolidation over media in which they are able to manipulate it in order to shift attention away from their business affairs and onto other topics. Sternheimer also talks about this in terms of capitalism and popular culture. In the end, McChensey offers some possible solutions to fixing the problems with journalism today. These solutions are to support independent sources of media and to value democratic values rather capitalist values. By supporting other media sources, we will not be giving in to the monopoly of businesses over the media, allowing for varied sources and incentives for better journalism. Valuing democracy over capitalism creates a better environment for society rather than individuals with power and wealth.
The article, “How to Detect Bias in News Media” helps to consolidate ways in which to understand the various biases present in media. Of course it brought up a number of the same issues that Radford and McChensey did, a very beneficial part of the article was that it not only provided the questions to ask, but also solutions in which to combat these biases that the average person could take part in doing. One point that I found to be most interesting was the media’s use of “loaded language”. The way that information is worded can have a huge effect by giving “people an inaccurate impression of the issue, program or community” (How to Detect Bias in News Media).This kind of manipulation is very often used in political polls. The side asking the question will create a question with loaded words in order to favor their own, desired responses. Another of the biases the article dealt with had to do with representation in the media. The article by Harp and the “Who Makes the News” video both dealt with this issue of representation as well. All three sources pointed to how unbalanced representation is and how this affects those people and the correct portrayal of information. The study done by FAIR demonstrated the inequality on broadcasts with interview segments and the video mentioned their project in which they survey thousands of channels in order to gather data. When the majority of people found on the news are white men, often of upper classes, that leaves out a huge portion of the population. This is once again a threat to democracy and the voice of the people.
The article, “Conservative vs. Liberal Beliefs” was definitely interesting to see. Putting the two points of view side by side for each issue gave a good contrast. The information was definitely very generalized though, but that is to be expected. It gave enough information that it could probably help people in getting an idea of where they stood on issues. What stood out to me the most from the article was the quote:
We all want the same things in life. We want freedom; we want the chance for prosperity; we want as few people suffering as possible; we want healthy children; we want to have crime-free streets. The argument is how to achieve them. (Conservative vs. Liberal Beliefs)
This can be easy to forget, especially if your ideas conflict very strongly with the opposite side. Having this positive view of politics and of people is a nice change of pace. It reminds us that even if we disagree, we are all people and all strive for betterment in some form or another. Even if it seems like people are just out for themselves, we can’t give up hope and become complacent.
The two Sternheimer chapters concluded the text and material quite well. She always provides great insight into the real issues that are behind what is presented in media and society. Chapter 10 focused on materialism and about how the blame is often pushed onto children. As could be seen from previous Sternheimer chapters as well, children often get the short end of the stick. Blame is put upon children when adults act in the same or even worse manner. They are often looked down upon and their voices ignored when really, children are much more capable and aware than many people may expect. Many adults think that advertising has some profound effect on children which has caused an increasingly materialistic generation. This is a very flawed assumption though. Sternheimer mentions that, “children under six may be critical of ads, and by age eight nearly all children are skeptical of advertisers’ claims” (256). Children actually use consumption in order to further themselves and create an identity. They develop independence and can even form groups with people with similar tastes. The real problem lies not with children, but with America’s obsession with capitalism. The quote, “consumption is the building block of a capitalist society and has become the hallmark of American culture” (Sternheimer 255) articulates the point exactly. In order to support a capitalist economy, people need to buy things and spend their money, otherwise the economy will fail. So rather than putting the blame on individuals for the supposed materialism of the generation, we need to look at the workings of society and our economic and political systems. Just as we learned from Christine’s lecture, Sternheimer talks about the importance of having balance in our lives. It is important to balance consumption choices, just as with everything else.
The final chapter from Sternheimer discussed popular culture and the effects of inequality. Like the previous readings, Sternheimer brings up the importance of media conglomerates in the equation. They scapegoat the blame for society’s problems onto somewhere else, which in the case of this chapter is popular culture, in an attempt to keep people off of their trail of any misdeeds or attempts at changing policies. Media is blamed for the woes of society including violence, school failure, obesity, etc. when the real cause of those matters has to do with poverty and inequality in society. By maintaining this single minded focus on media, we ignore the real, devastating problems that plague society. In the chapter by Radford, he mentions the quote: “Are we then turning our backs on a raging inferno while we douse the flame of a match?” (72). This is a perfect demonstration of exactly what is happening. People are focused on the issues with popular culture, but completely ignoring the raging fire that cannot be put out on its own. If people continue to avoid those issues, one day it will really explode into something that will not be able to be ignored. Sternheimer tells us to not be afraid of media. We can be critical of it, ask questions of it, and even learn about these important issues from studying it. Sternheimer’s very powerful quote from the chapter, which was also included on the “Democracy and the News” slides, is very important to keep in mind: “the biggest harm media power can yield is not in creating killers, but in creating complacency” (285). We can’t give in to complacency. We can’t continue letting poverty and inequality go unnoticed and rampant in society and continue to blame bad media for society’s problems. Instead, media and being media literate can be a great benefit:
Because media culture is so enchanting, so attention seeking, it can be used to redirect our attention to the sources of our society’s problems and to provide us with a wakeup call about the persistence of inequality in the United States.
It is of utmost importance to hold on to everything that we learned about media literacy and to teach others of its importance. In spreading the knowledge of media literacy, hopefully we will be able to uncover and fix the true injustices in society and make the world a better place.
