This is my first actual blog post for my mass media and politics class. I look forward to seeing how my blog interests with develop over this semester and possibly further on. Until then, lets begin. With so much happening in the middle east in recent weeks it is no surprise that every media source has something to say, but have you ever wondered why almost every media source tells you something different about an event? Why are some details left out of one media source but revealed in another? Could this information be false or something else altogether?
I often find myself wondering why certain media outlets only reveal some of the news happening over in the middle east and the question leads back to the politicians. The government, in regards to its relationship with the media, is very different in many ways. The media or journalist tend to go to a government official with power and ask them about what is currently happening. After speaking with that one official that generally is it before the media tells their audience. Is talking to one or two people enough to get all the details? Maybe, maybe not. I know that politics won't reveal everything that is happening because some of it is classified, but it would be nice to know the truth and not just bits and pieces of it. It seems like people would have to watch multiple media sources in order to get the story that they are trying to listen too.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/08/25/account-used-to-post-foley-execution-video-identified-by-investigators/
http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/world/2014/08/24/newday-walsh-manhunt-for-james-foley-killer.cnn.html
In the links provided above are two different videos from Fox News and CNN about the hunt for James Foley's killer. After watching both videos you can clearly see a different in information being filtered to both news sources. Fox news talks about a possible suspect to the case while CNN news talks about how the governments of both the U.S. and U.K. are trying to identify the person in the video through voice and eye recognition software. It is very interesting how two different media sources provide to very different clues to this still developing story.
While keeping up with this developing story I have found other news sources that continue to have little tidbits of information that other media outlets did not have. Therefore I have often wondered, (as I asked earlier in this post), why does every news source have to have different information or almost similar stories except for a few bits and pieces here and there? Maybe I am just over thinking it but after reading several sections in our books for this class I can see how it ties into the media and politics in today's society.
Megan,
ReplyDeleteI totally understand where you are coming from. We shouldn't have to piece things together to make sense of things. I think where we as the public miss out is not knowing that greedy corporations are the ones controlling what we need. Media is there to turn a profit. Now, true the definition of media is not a corporation. But 6 corporations own 90% of the media. http://www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-in-america-2012-6
I think it their goal to throw you off so that 1. you stay loyal to them 2. they have so many micro news outlets that they need to break the story up.
But as you mentioned, ISIS is a really scary group and you would think that the media would want to come together and offer the facts and let the viewers know that our government is there to protect us rather have us living in fear that "what if" they come to America.
I definitely agree with what you say and it is definitely right. So many news companies we see are owned by bigger conglomerates, it truly is astonishing. Big media is definitely the trend in today's society. With that being said it is to see why it often seems to be the same story over and over again constantly. I also bet that some of the minor differences you observed in stories could be attributed to ideological leanings.
ReplyDelete