2003–12–13–2

Media Manipulation

Mike Wendland finds the available information regarding the current flu outbreak confusing:

There’s a lot of disturbing things about this sudden and early flu virus. New deaths are being reported today in Virginia and Idaho…

Then there is a growing number of far-out conspiracy theories floating around the Net through mass e-mailings claiming this isn’t the flu at all but SARS and that officials are keeping it’s true nature and virilent infection rate quiet so as not to ruin the holiday shopping season and the nation’s economic recovery.

We really need full and complete information on this. The official Centers for Disease Control and Prevention flu site isn’t much of a help… Come on, CDC, we really need a trusted voice on this about-to-be epidemic.

I think two very important variables are the motivations of government agencies such as the CDC as well as the functioning of the media. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least to learn that the CDC and/or other agencies are concerned about the reaction of the public. I don’t think government agencies are very truthful. They have agenda’s which are too complicated to allow straight forward communication with the public.

As for the media. Heh. All you have to do is have a look at the CNN on any given day to see it’s perverted twisting of reality. The corporate media isn’t concerned with informing people. It’s concerned with entertaining them and making a profit. It’s all hype. Sure there are elements of truth being reported. But the headlines, often repeated for days, are meant to be emotionally based entertainment rather than information which citizens can use to behave responsibly in a democracy.

Pasted from the CNN More top stories:
• Flu shot lines stretch for blocks | Special Report | Video
• Bush touts ‘year of accomplishment’ | Video
• Ex-POW Shoshana Johnson leaves Army | Special Report
• Tight security as Afghans look to future
• Seven pit bulls attack, kill 82-year-old woman | Video
• Prison guard accused of ordering hit on husband
• Radio-fueled credit cards could end swipe
• Kentucky fire kills 22 horses, most thoroughbreds

How do these headlines inform the reader? Is this information relative? Does it stir an emotional response the reader? How many stories are designed to create a feeling of insecurity and fear in the reader? What issues are consistently left out and why? Just as important, what perspectives are left out and why? To what extent is our “reality” shaped by our consumption of media? As children are we given the tools we need to critically examine the content of media?

The list of questions could go on and on. Our mental landscape is complex and of course it’s not just about the media though that is perhaps the single most important factor. It is the media that ties the culture. It provides the mental framework in which we operate. It is the air that culture breathes.