how to manufacture news
Got Spam? How about this, got something intelligent to say about one of my posts? Maybe you just find me so damned attractive you need to get to know me better? Well relief is at hand, incase you didn’t notice, I happen to have had the same damned e-mail address for the past two years now. Can you spell e-mail?
Here’s what is on my mind right now. One being that it is already just plain scary that there is a moron in the White House and why he and his cabal can get away with whatever they want, especially nuclear strikes against Iran if as they say diplomacy fails to curb the Islamic Republic's atomic ambitions. And two, why is the local news and abroad so bad?
I remember speaking with Taz Boga from the local Broadcast news station, and besides I having failed miserably on a number of occasions to ask her if we could share a future together we adamantly agreed that outlets today are becoming no longer a real resource for information. They tend to take the, "if it bleeds it leads", theory to a whole new level. Stories are rarely covered in any depth. Rather, sound bites and quick overviews of a topic, followed by the ever annoying, "let’s ask the people on the street" what they think about this issue, are the general reporting style. More and more radio and television news stations, especially at the local level, have fewer and fewer actual reporters. Instead, they have plenty of microphone toting pretty faces asking us all "how we feel" about issues or the weather in the Byward Market. National newscasts and programs are not immune to this either. They tend to have seasoned reporters actually reporting, but all too often the news agenda is driven by producers who are looking to provide stories that will drive the largest audience. That policy of sensationalism can lead to excesses.
Case in point: although not locally, Dateline NBC recently, publicly and unapologetically sought out Muslims to be filmed attending a NASCAR race for a segment on racism in America. Various segments of the US population may very well be racist against Muslims given the decidedly paranoid environment their President has fostered in relation to the War on Terror. But that is really beside the point here. Dateline is trying to manufacture a news story. They are not actually reporting on a case of racism, but instead, are trying to put a scenario together whereby an act, or acts of it, will occur. They would then presumably show the segment in their program declaring that their little hypothesis and experiment was correct. Curiously, they weren’t looking to try this stunt at a baseball or basketball game, speaking volumes about the intent of the piece. When did manufacturing news become an acceptable tactic in news gathering? ‘
This post will probably put me in company with some of the more shrill elements of conservative bloggers, who themselves pounce on examples like this as a left wing media conspiracy against them. So be it. Not only dateline but many and more gathering news resources are not reporting news; they are trying to make it up. In doing so, they are fueling cynicism everywhere which should be a concern to all of us.
Here’s what is on my mind right now. One being that it is already just plain scary that there is a moron in the White House and why he and his cabal can get away with whatever they want, especially nuclear strikes against Iran if as they say diplomacy fails to curb the Islamic Republic's atomic ambitions. And two, why is the local news and abroad so bad?
I remember speaking with Taz Boga from the local Broadcast news station, and besides I having failed miserably on a number of occasions to ask her if we could share a future together we adamantly agreed that outlets today are becoming no longer a real resource for information. They tend to take the, "if it bleeds it leads", theory to a whole new level. Stories are rarely covered in any depth. Rather, sound bites and quick overviews of a topic, followed by the ever annoying, "let’s ask the people on the street" what they think about this issue, are the general reporting style. More and more radio and television news stations, especially at the local level, have fewer and fewer actual reporters. Instead, they have plenty of microphone toting pretty faces asking us all "how we feel" about issues or the weather in the Byward Market. National newscasts and programs are not immune to this either. They tend to have seasoned reporters actually reporting, but all too often the news agenda is driven by producers who are looking to provide stories that will drive the largest audience. That policy of sensationalism can lead to excesses.
Case in point: although not locally, Dateline NBC recently, publicly and unapologetically sought out Muslims to be filmed attending a NASCAR race for a segment on racism in America. Various segments of the US population may very well be racist against Muslims given the decidedly paranoid environment their President has fostered in relation to the War on Terror. But that is really beside the point here. Dateline is trying to manufacture a news story. They are not actually reporting on a case of racism, but instead, are trying to put a scenario together whereby an act, or acts of it, will occur. They would then presumably show the segment in their program declaring that their little hypothesis and experiment was correct. Curiously, they weren’t looking to try this stunt at a baseball or basketball game, speaking volumes about the intent of the piece. When did manufacturing news become an acceptable tactic in news gathering? ‘
This post will probably put me in company with some of the more shrill elements of conservative bloggers, who themselves pounce on examples like this as a left wing media conspiracy against them. So be it. Not only dateline but many and more gathering news resources are not reporting news; they are trying to make it up. In doing so, they are fueling cynicism everywhere which should be a concern to all of us.
posted by daneatkinson at 19.4.06
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