Public organizations and companies can easily circumvent, misrepresent, or conceal events in the public media in favor of their own interests. The article “UC Davis Pepper-spray Burial Effort Spotlights Online Image Gurus,” by Christopher Cadelago, discusses how UC Davis, a public organization, attempted to hide a past incident in online search engines in order to protect the school’s public image. The incident took place in 2011 at Davis where peaceful protesters were pepper-sprayed by police. Though this was over five years ago, UC Davis recently tried to repair their online reputation by paying public relation consultants over $175,000 to hide online search results and postings pertaining to the incident. It is evident that organizations …show more content…
There is not a major brand in America that doesn't do it constantly" (Cadelago). This claim shows that UC Davis should not be the only organization to scrutinize as many other organizations have most likely done something similar yet the public is oblivious. That is why one should never come to a conclusion until all the evidence and sides have been considered. The internet, media, news, and television have the ability to twist the truth in order to gain more viewers and popularity which is often the end goal. The worst part about the UC Davis controversy is not how they tried to hide the incident, but rather that they used student finances to fund the operations. This truly portrays the unethical decision making and greed some companies have and how far they’re willing to go to preserve their public image. The people who control what content is being released are the wealthy individuals profiting from all the schemes. However, when a collusion is exposed like UC Davis, the public tends to become outraged over the issue and this makes it possible for social
In the article The Flip Side of Internet Fame by Jessica Bennett, Internet harassment is thoroughly made aware to inform active social network users of its solemnity. Real life scenarios of people who suffered from public humiliation or social desecration are presented. Bennett makes her argument conclusive by addressing her audiences' pathos and ethos appeal, sourcing credible individuals throughout the article and stressing the agony and ignominy that the listed individuals perceived. Furthermore, the author demonstrates how critical it is to be conscious about the possibility of not recovering from a fatal encounter on a social network and also raises the question: “What's to stop a person from posting whatever he wants about you, if he can do so anonymously and suffer no repercussions?”(115). Bennett tries to enlighten the reader of “the dark side of Internet fame”(113), showing how publicity may not always be marvelous.
In S.E. Cupp’s article, “Clooney, Clinton and useless 'soft outrage ',” many topics, both controversial and potent, are tackled. She outlines several different situations—the Sony hack, Paris attacks, Chibok kidnappings, and Nigeria killings—and the reactions to them by celebrities and political leaders. She uses multiple specific occurrences and factual evidence along with direct quotes, logical organization, and witty undertones. This, paired with her strong, opinionated voice, is nearly enough to convince readers that her argument is effective and sound. However, this is not the case. While Cupp uses a surplus of factual backing and even some emotional appeal, her argument is ultimately lacking.
Glenn Greenwald, a talented and widely read columnist on civil liberties for the Guardian newspaper, failed in his attempt to alarm his readers to the flagrant and widespread violations of American privacy. Although his article was full of facts, documentation, and quotes from top rank officials, the article did not convey any sense of wrong doing or outrage. Rather it was dull, lacked passion and a sense of persuasion. In fact, the only attention grabbing part in the whole article is the title.
The media has taken the Hannah Graham case by storm - it has gotten local, national, and even international coverage. For the past month, I have seen a new article about the case almost everyday. I watched it slowly go from local newspapers in Charlottesville that had been posted by friends who go to UVA who were hoping people would know of her whereabouts, to articles in CNN talking about how Jesse Matthew (the suspect) is a serial rapist and murderer. The case presents itself as a very intriguing case - completely Law and Order SVU worthy with all the twists and turns. However, with all of this public interest in the case, some news outlets are sensationalizing information or even reporting false facts in order to seem as if they have the
Someone’s mistakes can easily be debuted online, making the levels of public shame go beyond its limits. In Source C, “Is the Internet a Mob without Consequence?”, there is an article about an adult who got a massive amount of hate for an inappropriate tweet. In the document, the adult named Ms. Sacco received intense reactions and consequences: “Yet as soon as it was clear that she had made similar comments in the past, the Internet turned into a voracious and vengeful mob. Ms. Sacco was tried and judged guilty in a public square of millions and soon attacked in a way that seemed worse than her original statement. Within hours, people threatened to rape, shoot, kill, and torture her.” (Bilton 9-13). With the negative feedback, the lady realized her tweet was an awful mistake; however, when dealing with the internet, there is no “deleting” mistakes. Also, being shamed to the extent of having millions watch her in a public square and then threaten to do so many wrong actions like killing is just brutality wrong. The responses following the tweet are in fact far more disgusting than the single tweet posted which started the entire breakout. Furthermore, with the rise of social media, Monica Lewinsky also had her fair share in being harassed and humiliated online. Monica shares with the audience, “But the attention and judgement that I received, not the
While social media can be an exceptional tool for connecting with others and gaining valuable information, it also can be easily transformed into a playground for senseless arguments and cyberbullying. Just as Abigail Williams used elaborate accusations towards innocent people for her benefit, people engage in plenty of finger-pointing and fear-mongering daily. The shame and fear generated by this is not far from the craze of McCarthyism from half a century ago. Furthermore, social media can be a catalyst for the destruction of privacy: there is no limit to how much one can share. Everyone in “The Crucible” has inner humiliations that haunt their minds, from John Proctor’s adultery to Reverend Hale’s inner moral conflict towards Salem’s trials. Today, with one click, these personal demons can easily be set free.
...ore long-term effect on both the media and the person who the false information was about.
Bonila, Denise M., and Levy, Beth, Eds. The Power of the Press. H. W. Wilson, 1999.
Textbooks that these corporations provide for students contain false, incorrect information and are added to these textbooks in order to make these corporations seem better. In Fast Food Nation, Schlosser states that “The spiraling cost of textbooks has led to thousands of American school districts to use corporate sponsored teaching materials. A 1998 study of these teaching materials by the Consumers Union found that 80 percent were biased; proving students will incomplete or slanted information that favored the sponsor’s products and views. Procter & Gamble’s Decision Earth program taught that clear-cut logging was actually good for the environment…said that fossil fuels created few environmental problems and that alternative sources of energy were too expensive” (55). These textbooks contain biased info that is used to benefit the corporation, which ends up teaching students incorrect information about the environment and the rest of the world, leading to false education for these students. Although corporate sponsorship means the students will receive textbooks and other useful equipment, which some schools desperately need, they will be receiving false information that won’t benefit them in the future. Some people say that giving the students
In 1996 a woman named Jane Hitchcock became the target of a group that was scamming people by posing as literary agents. When she realized that the person she was communicating with was a fraud, Jane contacted the authorities to stop the group. In retaliation, the group began to slander Jane over the Internet, and posted her address and phone number in an attempt to cause her harm. Now Jane is the president of an organization that helps victims of online abuse. According to Davar Ardalan and Laura...
Wolper, Allan. “Ethics Corner: Did Critical Media Send Dean Packing?” Editor & Publisher March 2004: 25.
The introduction of the internet to modern society has brought about a new age of information relation. Since there is no longer a need to wait until the next print day, news from all over the world is available at a person’s fingertips within hours or even minutes of the event. With this advent of such easily accessible information, new problems for the news media have also arisen. Aside from potentially losing good economic standing because newspapers are no longer being purchased in the quantities they used to be, the credibility of the information itself is also put into question. No one would argue that credibility of news sources is unimportant, but there is a discrepancy in what takes precedence; economy and speed or getting the information out correctly at the first publishing by taking the time to make sure all facts are checked. The importance of having a system of checks on all information submitted is paramount. People trust what they read and believe it to be so without always questioning. If all information were to not be checked thoroughly, there would be instances where people read an article only for information included to be wrong and they go on believing such information. This can be very dangerous as misinformed people make misinformed decisions. With an increase in errors being made by citizen bloggers and even major publications, many are worried that journalistic ethics and credibility in the news media are being sacrificed in order to maintain swiftness in the news circuit and to retain personal profits. Though getting information to the masses quickly is a major part of the media’s importance, this should not mean that the credibility of that information being presented should be sacrificed for it...
...ple, in 2008 CNN news publishes news that taken from citizen journalism which is COE of apple have a heart attack and that let the apple company lose money.
Despite Judge Adams remorse over his actions and his apology to his daughter, he has been publically rebuked and humiliated. Posting video content via YouTube is a painless and easy process, one that took little effort for Hilary Adams a few clicks and her families private life became public knowledge internationally. Although abuse should never be tolerated, social media sites transparency prevent individuals from being able to recover from bad choices. These media sites can publically replay situations that were meant to remain in private, ones that would never have been witnessed otherwise. “The highly decentralized nature of the Internet makes it tempting for us to think that the social activity in cyberspace is totally autonomous, free from the kinds of conventions that guide the production of traditional media forms” (Croteau, Hoynes, & Milan, 2012, p. 14...
The companies, of course, maintain they are merely providing learning materials for inquisitive students. But there's good reason to think online plagiarism is becoming a real problem on college campuses. The Evil House of Cheat page now boasts over one million hits; A1 Termpaper claims thousands. Although a "hit" is a visit, not a sale, it is hard to imagine that thousands of students--at least 8,000 a week--are visiting these sites, and no one is buying. A spokesman for "The Paper Store" told me that his company's yearly traffic in papers was "well in the...