"It's not news, its views," a wise teacher once said to me. I didn't know then just how wise. I had heard this sentiment before of course. My dad even told me about environmentalists in Portugal who where caught lining up store bought fish on the beach because it would make a good photo. I accepted that media was biased but I never really understood what it meant. Yup, grain of salt check, I thought.
Then there I was, in India. It was May of 1998. Atom bombs were dropping and ambassadors were being recalled. It was routinely 48 - 50 degrees Celsius and my travelers checks were increasing in value every day. I had no idea when or if the saber rattling by India and Pakistan would turn ugly.
One day I was riding a rickshaw down the main strip of embassies in New Delhi when I passed the Pakistani Embassy. Its an interesting structure with onion domes and high walls and a kind of bravado to its architecture that seemed to say "yeah we aren't India, what are you going to do about it." This time though a sleepy little village of four or five tents had sprung up at the gates of the embassy. I could see some people lazily hanging around in hot sun. It didn't seem like a very deal at all.
When I got home CNN was blaring about the unruly protesters at the Pakistani embassy in New Delhi. Huh? I thought. What protest? I continued watching and they showed 4 or 5 enraged chanting protesters. They were all crammed together as if there was a crowd and filmed from a high angle. I realized that the cameraman must have been inside the walls of the embassy at that angle.
You know what CNN looks like when its covering a juicy story about nukes and blood enemies. It was totally out of proportion. "Crisis in New Delhi! Now that you've seen the footage from the Pakistani embassy we'll take you live to our expert panel...."
I saw it with my own eyes. Sensationalizing stories to make infotainment. Its a regular occurrence. Perhaps you've seen this happen yourself? Those news/views establishments that rail against FOX news do so to cover their own tracks. They are all FOX News. The CBC is FOX News but for leftards. Its not just CBC News either, the entire network is agenda driven programming with a progressive tilt. The CBC pisses me off most because it my money they are wasting on lies. A private company has the right to do and say what they like but as an involuntary shareholder of the CBC I'd like to at least see some returns. Its bailout after bailout. Year after year, like its a right. -And for what? The agenda of one particular group of people who are out of touch with reality and the people in it.
4 comments:
I think it is all about ratings. Your teacher was smart to teach you how to immunize yourself as possible to marketing by asking questions, and also to whatever biased education we had. Today, the media context is more dynamic, as ratings, polls and the media can work in subtle ways against or with government.
Events today and media reports are significantly staged and edited. With better Photoshop and voice technologies, one can create lies too, so we must be vigilant for that in your lifetime.
The media knows what you are watching and so do websites. What we need to fight is to not watch and not to click on the crap and turn off the "channel". They are counting our clicks with computers.
For example, the detainee issue was covered widely, so we clicked; Guergis affair was full of soap opera and Magnum PI which we like on TV, so we clicked even more; the abortion issue brought up by the Liberals was of interest, so we clicked; and the stupid book by Marci McDonald was well promoted because we clicked and conservatives commented.
Sometimes, we should just not click or comment on CBC or CTV. They are really going hard on abortion, so ignor them unless the CPC speaks, as there will be NO NEW or interesting thoughts in any of the articles. The issue has been debated and we know what everyone thinks. If we click, the election will be on abortion, as the media feeds to the Liberals. Ditto for the ridiculous fake scary Christian influence. Marci and her friends are promoting her book as part of the culture war. Also do not click on Quebec separation scare articles, unless it is a good journalist, nor environmental crazies. Switch channels when biased journalists and invited guests are speaking. You won't miss a thing, as our blogging tories will tell us if anything relevant was missed.
Do go and click on anything/watch that reports on the PM's accomplishments and comments!!!
Let's ignor them, like a naughty child in time out, except when they pick a stupid issue, like wafers. Then click wildly.
We all need to ignor the whole culture war and just vote for the party who is trying to save our sovereignty. I think that this is my #1 issue, as I am a bit afraid of a world takeover by the UN IMF and all those NGOs.
Bro, you are formally invited to co-author my first book "The CBC: Our Billion Dollar Baby". I would like to have a number of Blogging Tories make contributions.
Look up the definition of "perception management" it is even in the USA's manual for the Department of Defence. The media have this down to an art form...the saying "throw it against the wall....if it sticks...run with it" seems to fit quite nicely.
@L: I'm not sure how to police my clicks so vehemently. Take Rex Murphy. We know the CBC keeps him around to make us happy and make lefties mad while endorsing the lefties officially. I have to endorse Rex even when he works for the liberal media.
@ Iceman: I accept. Time is tricky for me though. I still enjoy life too much while wanting to build a real career. You are a machine. I hope I can keep up to your satisfaction.
@Anon: perception management sounds about right. How can they still deny this?
Post a Comment