Media Manipulation Does the American Term Paper

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Meanwhile, "False Balancing" is where "both sides are seldom accorded equal prominence," Parenti asserts. As an example of this tendency, Parenti writes that when it comes to a conservative issue, NPR (National Public Radio), perceived as a liberal institution, interviews a "right wing spokesperson" alone. But when it's a liberal issue being discussed, NPR has a liberal and a conservative on together.

Endorsement / Disparagement: Some media use "labels" like "the president's firm leadership" and "a strong defense" without offering any details as to why the president's leadership is "firm" or the defense is "strong." The campaign in California (Proposition 226) against unions used the phrase "union bosses" often, to give a negative tone to unions, but corporate executives were never alluded to as "corporate bosses."

Framing: Another kind of manipulation mentioned by Parenti is "Framing": this involves "bending the truth rather than breaking it." Examples of framing include: using an uncomplimentary photograph of a politician that the newspaper doesn't respect; packaging the story so that one side looks good and the other looks bad; using a headline that only sheds some light, the desired light, on the topic, when there is a much deeper core to the story.

Placement: Framing: An example of "framing" in the placement context would be for a story that an conservative editor didn't like ending up on page 30, instead of page one or two. Let's say that a liberal senator introduced legislation that would help low-income citizens pay their taxes with a payment system, a monthly system like paying rent or credit cards; the editor of a conservative paper would not give that story much credibility by putting it in the front part of the paper.

Slanted Language: Parenti points out that the word (label) "reform" is often misused but it has a nice positive ring to it. The phrase, "welfare reform," Parenti writes, was actually a program which eliminated family assistance programs, but when the word "reform" was attached to the policy, as a label, it didn't sound like taking the food out of the mouths, and the clothes off the backs, of the poor. It came out a nice slanted message through a manipulated phrase.

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Conclusion

Why should people be cynical today about news reports? "Media do not simply reflect reality," according to Patricia Aufderheide ("General Principles in Media Literacy"). "They present productions, which have specific purposes." It is scary, but the media - and this relates to the manipulation of the news - "constructs reality" in the point-of-view of management and the reporter's own bias. And also, since media "have to raise money to survive," in Aufderheide's words, and since the media is targeting a "particular demographic" of people who have money to spend, there are good reasons to be suspicious of newscasts. Money, power, control, manipulation - all those elements of American "journalism" are there for anyone to see and be suspicious of.

Parenti sums up his article by asserting that the news media's performance "...is not a failure but a skillfully evasive success. Their job is not to inform but to disinform," Parenti continues. The media sees its job as telling us "what to think about the world before we have a chance to think about it for ourselves."

In conclusion, it seems that in any country where the media gets together with the government to seriously affect the thoughts and beliefs of the citizens through manipulation of the news, is coming close to fascism. A media in bed with a government that keeps minorities down elevates the rich and powerful to high status, is a media that has too much power, and should be kept in check by the people.

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