GMAD Notes Week 11: News (CHAPTER 12) News Is the news a reflection of the events of the day? What is James Potter?s view? The stories you see in newspaper are not a mirror image of what actually happened It is not a mirror image because the story can be told completely different depending on who writes it. Are media holding up a mirror to reality? The role that media plays in democracy Tells people what is happening in government, business, industry, medicine Because of this information we can vote the right way Freedom of buying is gone if you don?t know about the product you are buying The media gives us stories about the events. These stories are constructed by journalists. The news stories are through the eyes of the person writing about it The person who writes the stories changes the outcome of how the story is displayed Race, gender, income, etc Whose news? The process of constructing the news: Selecting what gets covered Deciding what becomes the focus of the story Determining how the story gets told Ex: If there is a news team that has to decide between filming people going in and out of a mosque or to tell the story on the car bomb that just went down the street, they are going to show the story of the car bomb ?The news-worthy angle? What news is going to get the most attention Journalists are taught to look for powerful people, disasters, etc You are able to defend yourself if you rely on official soruces Sometimes what happens though is that you don?t hear the voices of the normal people (the lower class for ex) News Constraints Constraints Deadlines Resource limitations Limited budgets Journalists have to decide what is important to put in and what they can cut out Space (how much can they fit into one column) Geographic focus News constraint that?s uncontrolled News consumers want to know what?s happening in their community News agencies used to have a lot of foreign stations all over the world They cut back and this led to people having little knowledge about the countries around them News-Framing Influences Commercialism: News organizations are businesses competing for audiences and advertisers. Professional Responsibility Perspective: Inform public about most important and significant events. Marketing Perspective: Find stories and presentation formats that generate largest audience. Weakness: reporters like to report on the dirt rather than the everyday person story Sensationalism sells Result: people believe the things that are shown on the news are the things that are happening ; all the crime, makes it seem like there is a lot of crime Crime is actually low though Organizational Structures Ownership Owners place pressure on organizations to make a profit Use of Sources Influence that helps frame the news Filter- we have the hard facts, but the facts go through sources and you get their perspective Branding Brand themselves and their reporters You always see their logos Values Individualism Leadership Hyperlocalism Story Formula: news form; methods that reporters rely on to shape their news stories Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? Inverted Pyramid Narrative Simplified Extended Conflict Too much complexity in a story will turn the readers/ viewers off Dumbing down the rest of the story News Perspective Perspective #1 Professional Responsibility: Editors select what?s important in order to build an informed public Significance Candidate and Issues Economics and Policies In-Depth Coverage Perspective #2 Marketing: Primary job of editors is to attract and maintain as large an audience as possible Soft news Human interest stories The kid that got lost in the woods and was found Celebrities These stories are recycled Because people are seeing them everywhere, there is interest in it because people want to know what is going to happen next with that celebrity Conflict Besides war, in government, and crimes (big!) Crime is over covered and give people a false sense of how much crime is really out there Appeal to Emotion The girl that is still missing in Haiti Child dying in car crash Journalist try to do their job, but there are many factors that go into the story from when the information is gathered to when it is produced Revenue Space Interest Advantage: Helps journalists simplify and organize the over-whelming amount of material. Disadvantage: A narrow view of what is considered news ? selected stories are treated superficially. Changes in the News Perspective: From social responsibility to marketing. Old criteria: significance, proximity, and timeliness. New criteria: conflict, appeal to emotion, and visualization. Journalists and ?Objectivity? Objectivity: Journalism has ?a strong ethic of objectivity.? Editors use personal judgment in assigned stories and resources. Reporters interpret the news perspective using their own personal judgment. Congruence of Interests: ?America?s mainstream mass media basically serve three segments of society today ? the wealthy, politicians, and the sports-minded.? (Carl Jensen) Balance and Context Objectivity: ?The idea of objectivity is an unobtainable goal.? Balance: When an issue has more than one side, journalists attempt to achieve balance. Are news stories balanced? A study of controversial issues found 48% of stories were one-sided. Only 7% of stories were completely balanced. If journalists don?t provide us with balance, then we must construct it for ourselves. Political Bias: Conservatives complain that most reporters are liberal & their stories are biased. Liberals say conservative commentators have too much power & stigmatize liberals. The broader bias underlying news is more important ? commercialism, entertainment, and superficiality. Context: ?The most significant form of bias [is when] a story is reported with a lack of context? (Bagdikian, 1992). Most crimes are white-collar & property crimes, not violent. Which crimes are reported the most? American crime rate has been falling dramatically. Is this the impression we get from news? No because the news over emphasizes crime Media Literacy and the News Analyze the news perspective: Protecting ourselves from accepting the false belief that news is a complete, accurate, and balanced picture of our world. Search for context: ?News? or ?Information?? Context provides readers with something they can use ? not just a fleeting emotional reaction. Develop alternative information sources: Conservative publication. Liberal publication. Middle of the road. Non-political. Be skeptical about public opinion: Superficial, and based on a few random facts? Deeply held and well supported? Expose yourself to more news, not less: Seek out a wider range of news organizations. Video: Buying the War
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