[identity profile] jadelynx.livejournal.com 2006-06-04 04:10 am (UTC)(link)
It's nice to know that ten years of education and two degrees have made me an idiot news person.

Education does not make a person any less of an idiot. That being said, if you choose to put yourself in the shoes of those I call an idiot news person, go ahead. I didn't. ::shrug::

Media sources do not intentionally warp the news.

Baloney.

Nice news doesn't get viewers. Believe me. It's been tried, many times. Unfortunatley, people want the gross and gory. It gets the ratings. Plain and simple.

Just because that's the way it is doesn't make it right. It also doesn't change the fact that people get a warped view of world affairs because the things being reported on aren't always accurate, or are skewed in the report. I'm not arguing why it's done, just saying it is.

I have worked in newsrooms for the past six years. Until you have as well, and you know EXACTLY how they and the people in them work, don't assume anything. We're just doing our jobs like the rest of the people in this country.

You are the last person that needs to be telling me to not assume things about people. Sheesh.

All in all, I don't take what you, one person immersed in the media industry, has to say about the situation. A) because you are one person, and don't represent the entire news media and B) because you are so entrenched, you aren't going to have any fairer of a view on it than someone who is constantly being misled, as I am. I'm not saying your POV is worthless, just not one I'm gonna put all my trust in. Nothing against you, just the situation. I've seen the news tell the "truth" while skewing it so ridiculously as to create more trouble than should have been. There isn't an argument in the world that will convince me otherwise.

[identity profile] rosevaughn.livejournal.com 2006-06-04 04:46 am (UTC)(link)
((There isn't an argument in the world that will convince me otherwise.))

That's too bad. Because we're just trying to make a living. Just like you are.

I may not represent the entire media, because some of them are corrupt jerks. Some, not all. But I know it. I know the process. I know how to get the story and get it on. I know what goes on during the meetings and the conversations. And until you can tell me exactly what goes on during the news day, you can't say with any 100% truth that media sourced intentionally warp news. I'll say it again. It's illegal.

[identity profile] allthelivesofme.livejournal.com 2006-06-04 04:48 pm (UTC)(link)
And they way the news is selling is the way the viewers want it. Nice news doesn't get viewers.

I believe this, but I do find it unfortunate, because this is exactly why the only 'news' program I watch is The Daily Show. Because I really don't need to fill my brain with how many car accidents and homicides and OMG New Disease that Hasn't Been Fully Researched But it Might Kill Us All Will YOU Be Next News at Eleven.

Which brings me to the next subject, which is the news media 'warping' the news. I kindof agree with both of you here, because I do think that a lot of the news is warped, I'm just not sure how much of it is intentional.

Take protests, for example. You can have thousands of well-dressed, well-behaved people, and the camera will zoom in on the one guy wearing grungy clothes trying to throw things at the cops. Intentionally warping things to make protestors look bad, or going for the angle that might get more viewers?

Or stranger kidnappings. Most of the time, when children are abducted, it's by a parent or someone else they know. But the media focuses a lot on stranger kidnappings, to the point where parents are overly fearful of that when there's a slim statistical chance of it happening. (same thing applies to rape cases, with the 'someone you know vs. stranger' chances)

How much of it is intentional for whatever reason, and how much is just automatically going after Man Bites Dog stories so much that eventually men biting dogs seems to be the norm?