Manipulating and Deceiving Viewers with Sound Bites and Images In Duguid and Brown’s article ‘The Social Life of Documents’, the authors make mention of how documents usually tend to raise more debate than suppress it. This is true, as there can be an innumerable amount of possible interpretations for one document alone. However, while there is no ‘right’ interpretation of a document, there has to be a set of standards to abide by to judge all of these competing ideologies. This is where the use of sound bites and images used in news media tend to be a source of debate. First of all, sound bites are defined as ‘film segments within a news story that show someone speak without interruption’, while image bites are defined as ‘film segments within a news story in which someone is shown but not heard’ (Esser, 3). Sound bites and images are being re-contextualised and used as tools to manipulate viewers into supporting the viewpoints of the news program. Not only that, but sound and image bites are being utilized to sensationalize stories in order to draw in a bigger audience for the news program. People look to the news to deliver the accurate portrayal of events, but with the increasing manipulation of sound and image bites, the ‘truth’ is being influenced by the views of the newscasters. Journalistic integrity is being undermined as journalists are taking it upon themselves to shape stories with their own narratives and points of view. The problem with this is that people no longer have access to unmediated information from which they can draw their own conclusions from. By analyzing how sound bites and Green 2 images are used by programs, and by exploring their use in particular cases (9/11, Hurricane Katrina), it will be cl... ... middle of paper ... ...r Coverage on NBC and Fox News Channel." Journal of Communication 60.1 (2010): 144-164. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 21 Mar. 2011. Bucy, Erik P., and Maria Elizabeth Grabe. "Taking Television Seriously: A Sound and Image Bite Analysis of Presidential Campaign Coverage, 1992-2004." Journal of Communication 57.4 (2007): 652-675. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 28 Mar. 2011. Esser, Frank. "Dimensions of Political News Cultures: Sound Bite and Image Bite News in France, Germany, Great Britain, and the United States." International Journal of Press/Politics 13.4 (2008): 401-42. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 3 Apr. 2011. Wojcieszak, Magdalena E. "Three Dimensionality Taxonomy of Iconic, Linguistic, and Audio Messages in Television News." Television & New Media 10.6 (2009): 459- 481. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 17 Mar. 2011.
This belief is also demonstrated in the article “Challenging ‘He Said, She Said’ Journalism,” in which Linda Greenhouse contests the objectivity in the media claiming that “the ‘he said, she said’ format...impedes rather than enhances the goal of informing the reader” and leads to the twisting of words, altering the meaning of what is communicated (Greenhouse 21). Stefan Halper also argued on this topic in his article “Big Ideas, Big Problems” by commenting on how the truth is often overshadowed by flashy slogans and “Big Ideas” which the public is more likely to listen and respond to as opposed to a less extravagant news story filled with details the public should know but may not want to hear. Halper asserts that the media
398).It is also stated that news divisions reduced their costs, and raised the entertainment factor of the broadcasts put on air. (p. 400). Secondly, the media determines its sources for stories by putting the best journalists on the case and assign them to areas where news worthy stories just emanates. (p.400). Third, the media decides how to present the news by taking the most controversial or relevant events and compressing them into 30 second sound-bites. (p.402). finally, the authors also explain how the media affects the general public. The authors’ state “The effect of one news story on public opinion may be trivial but the cumulative effect of dozens of news stories may be important. This shows a direct correlation between public opinions and what the media may find “relevant”. (Edwards, Wattenberg, Lineberry, 2015, p.
In the second chapter of Lies My Teacher Told Me Lowen argues that electronic media has decisively and irriversibly changed the character of our environment. He believes that we are now a culture whose information, ideas and epistemology are given form by televison not by the printed word. Loewen describes how discourse in America is now different from what it once was. Loewwen says discourse was once logical, serious, and rational and now under the governance of television it is shriveled and absurd. In addition, he writes about the definitions of truth and the sources in which the definitions come from. Loewen shows how the bias of a medium is unseen throughout a culture and he gives three examples of truth telling.
Postman bases his argument on the belief that public discourse in America, when governed by the epistemology of the printing press, was "generally coherent, serious, and rational" (16) because the reader was required to ingest, understand, and think about the logic of the author's arguments before coming to a verdict. In effect, intelligence in a print-based world "implies that one can dwell comfortably without pictures, in a field of concepts and generalizations" (26). However, with the emergence of television and its rapid ascendancy in our culture, Postman argues that discourse has become "shriveled and absurd" (16). TV, he says, assaults us with fleeting images and disconnected bits of information with no context except for the "pseudo-context" which is manufactured "to give fragmented and irrelevant information a seeming use" (76). In effect, TV demands a certain kind of content-the "medium is the message" in the words of Marshall McLuhan-that Postman believes is suitable to the world of show business and hostile to the print-based world of logical thinking (80). This is not to say that TV ignores important subjects such as current affairs, politics, religion, science, and e...
They delve into modern day media to dissect the language and pictures used in an effort to protect viewers from unconsciously being swayed by the attitudes therein. They go on to discuss how language can be manipulated, however unconsciously, to show the speaker’s true feelings on the subject. Pictures can likewise be manipulated, if only because they show only a small part of the larger image. They start their show of suspicion by saying “The question then arises: what do viewers have to know about language and pictures in order to be properly armed to defend themselves against the seductions of eloquence (to use Bertrand Russell’s apt phrase)?” (par 1). The idea that one needs to defend themselves automatically brings up a defensive, suspicious attitude. This is further reinforced when the reader is warned that “It means that the viewer must never assume that the words spoken on a television news show are exactly what happened” (par 3). A suspicious attitude in an essay brings about a suspicious attitude in the reader. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, after all suspicious minds are the least likely to be overtaken by half-truths and empty
It is no secret that in society no matter where a person goes they will be surrounded by influences of news media and social media. There are televisions in restaurants, gyms, and homes, and on them there is a constant stream of twenty-four hour news. Often times what is being reported on television, or through news apps, is being presented primarily for an entertainment purpose. This is what George Saunders analyzes in his 2007 essay, “The Braindead Megaphone,” in which he criticizes not only the news media system, but also society as a whole, for the way news is received and accepted. He speaks to the fact that news media has an expectation that society doesn’t reflect, or have critism, for what is reported to them. Society accepts what they hear, because it is coming form a reliable source. He says, “Does stupid, near-omnipresent media
The article, written by Bernard Goldberg, begins by talking about how television is most often used as a diversion from reality. It is then discussed that television can become more than a diversion, such as in times of war, terror, or tragedy. Goldberg focuses on examples such as the Oklahoma City bombings as well as 9/11. It is then proclaimed that on days such as these, we all turn to our televisions, whether it be Peter Jennings addressing the nation about the attack on our freedoms, or the story of Timothy Mcveigh blowing up a federal building. Goldberg then questions the process of connecting the dots in times such as these. A path is created through the statements of several television reports, resulting in the vastly believed connection that conservatism leads to anti-government rhetoric which causes Timothy Mcveigh to bomb the building. The argument is made that the media uses many categories to connect the dots that align with their agenda. Such examples include race, religion, sex, age, and politics. Lastly, Goldberg calls all television networks to report evenly so that the American citizens can connect the dots free from outside influence.
“The problem is not that television presents us with entertaining subject matter but that all subject matter is presented as entertaining” (87). Postman’s main concern does not rest in the, “...Junk entertainment” (159) shows, but when the programs take the seriousness out of a subject matter. Worse yet, “The problems come when we try to live in them” (77). The obvious gap of discourse can be seen evident when he mentions the Lincoln-Douglas debates, with attentive audiences listening to oratory for a long period of time, while constructing arguments of both opponents claims (45-47). Soon this “Age of Exposition” (77) gave way to the “Age of Show Business” (83). Irrelevant Information found its way through the telegraph, that ultimately creates no effect on the receiver as, “Facts push other facts into and out of consciousness at speeds that neither permit nor require evaluation” (70). A variety of information does not mean all can be useful and beneficial. The public's attention shifts to photographs that are attached to a story, creating an illusion of context. “...Pseudo-context provides [no] action, or problem-solving, or change…[but] to amuse” (76). Postman reminds the audience that information will not lose
The book Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman is about the history of our culture; how it changed from a typographical culture to an image-based culture and the effects of it on America. In this book, Postman claims that television has negatively affected Americans and how they think about serious topics. His argument is that culture’s perception of what is true comes from the medium of its communication. However, because our medium is television, it dampens the discourse greatly because while it delivers a barrage of information, it doesn’t allow us to discuss or contend the message being presented. Postman’s biggest problem is with how the content is presented and which information is presented. Television is the primary source of news,
According to A Novel Approach to Politics “Questions about the very nature of reality seem to be common in fiction of all sorts.” Especially, The Boondocks, a fictional cartoon, uses satire to describe real events that happen in society. The episode I tuned into was “The Trial of R. Kelly”, which explained how R. Kelly won his trial and the views of the people about his case. In the episode, the people outside the court house showed different cognitive frameworks of how they view R. Kelly situation. In other words, the media made sense of the reality of R. Kelly situation in different ways because of the media wanted to select certain information. In this paper, I will explain how the media exemplified mediated reality and agreement reality in the “The Trial of R. Kelly” episode of The Boondocks.
Patterson, Thomas. "Chapter 10 "The News Media: Communicating Political Images"" We the People. 10th ed. [S.l.]: Mcgraw-Hill, 2012. 327-57. Print.
As stated earlier, newspapers often condense the problem or issue at hand, leaving a foggy resonation for viewers to pon...
Newspaper, radio, film, television. These are only a few of the various forms media can take. From the moment we open our eyes to the instant we shut them, we are surrounded by media and absorb the information it hurls at us in an osmosis-like manner. The news ranges from the latest terror attack and political scandals to supposed UFO sightings and scandals involving sandals. We as an audience tend to focus more on the message the media relays rather than on the medium in which it is presented to us. “What?” is asked more than “How?” The key claim Marshall McLuhan makes in his book, The Medium is the Massage, is that the form of media influences how the message is perceived. Let’s illustrate this with a scenario: it’s eight o’clock in the morning.
The ability of the media to deceive, particularly in the service of politics and politicians, reveals the worst of human nature. The 1997 film Wag The Dog is about how self-interest overrides the principles of truth and honesty. It raises questions about who really ‘owns’ the media; and demonstrates the influence the media can have on the public and how, when that influence is related to politics, the outcomes can have far reaching consequences. The related text I have chosen is a Leunig cartoon, which is a comment on the 2001 Howard Government refugee scandal. These texts show that the truth can be secondary to self-interested constructions of the truth, constructions that are designed to be manipulate or mislead the public.
Much is being discovered when the public, also known as the consumers and recipients of the news, share their views on journalistic practices. One might suggest that traditional journalism has, in due course, come to an end. Although, there are definitely problems that the public runs into with public journalism taking over. A few of those arguments include their content, the journalists, and the effects that it has on their public audience.