Sometimes, it's fair to say that media men are terrible human beings. They are the ones that speed down a
hostage situation, cross their fingers, and pray it is still on. That's got to be a top-of-the-hour video or a banner photo.
I like reading up on the website Overheard in the Newsroom. It features discussions among reporters, producers, editors, news directors, and so on. The exchanges are mostly funny, even witty. They are also pathetic, sarcastic, and painfully true.
For example, here is an editor's reaction after a reporter has filed a story of a teenager who shot his
mother: "We found our Mother's Day story." (www.overheardinthenewsroom.com)
Hallmark would be so pissed. But that is good TV, no matter what. It's sad, of course. But it's got a nice
spin, it's timing is a story in itself, and it's got the element of intrigue.
Media is going to run this story and people are going to care about it. That's the drill.
This is what Noam Chomsky calls propaganda. This is achieved through media's power to set the agenda. It's like going into a movie house and be held hostaged for 10 minutes watching trailers of movies "you should see." In short, media tells you what is important.
Basing from the US media, Chomsky views major media organizations around the world as businesses that cater to a specific propaganda. News is then reduced to commodities that must sell and must satisfy a purpose.
Just like anything else, media has got to be owned by "someone." I think that to say everything must work around that fact is looking at things at a very myopic point of view.
Media organizations have built-in biases. True. It is through these biases that the news is structured. Chomsky mentioned emphasis, framing, filtering of information, and so on as ways on how media serve a specific propaganda.
Newsrooms in the country sit down in story conferences everyday. That is not a walk in the park, I assure you. Stories are selected, angled, framed, and edited. When a news team goes to air, it has ratings, competition, advertisers, and possibly owner concerns coming out of its ears. Every. Single. Day.
But on top of these, journalists are aware that to be taken seriosly by viewers, competitors and advertisers, they should deliver excellent content. Their stories should matter. Their stories must inform, empower, and amuse.
In that way, they survive as an entity. And as a bonus, they also get to their jobs.
It's still business, people. And that is not exactly a bad thing.
"It's still business, people. And that is not exactly a bad thing."
ReplyDeleteI agree when you say it is still business, because the media indeed runs on profits and revenues. I also agree that through this mindset, news becomes reduced to commodities, and the task of the journalist is to think of uncanny ways to give the story a good angle, then sell the story.
However, I think the journalists should be ethical enough to not consider their jobs as "just business," but as a respectable form of public service. And by doing a service to the public,they would write news that serves the purpose of informing and educating, not tainted with the hidden motive of having to mingle in the affairs of the businessmen who are on top of the hierarchy.
(by Hazel)
From what I see now, I think there's a tendency for people to automatically equate anything business or profit-oriented with "big, bad businessmen" scheming for the sole purpose of making more and more money. However, I agree that media industries being businesses isn't necessarily a bad thing. I believe it's unfair for most people to put the media in a bad light because of the bad reputation of other corporations and businesses. What most people forget is that the media as an industry help our economy develop and, as you said, form jobs.
ReplyDeleteNo matter how much we shun the media because of these issues, we cannot deny that this is the same institution that has enriched our lives for years. It has formed much of our history, culture, and the way we live in society at large. And through all of this, through all of the criticisms on media and the issues of objectivity and "mind control," I believe that the media will always have a certain allure for us audiences, one we cannot remove ourselves from despite our knowledge of the business nature of media.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, Icy. One of the reasons I love teaching Com 257 is that it enables me to bridge my own very 'academic' ways of looking at media issues with real, actual experiences, most of which come from my students, who are as diverse as they come. This sem's class is no different; I expect many interesting discussions (and heated debates, even?) to come out of this.
ReplyDeleteI personally think that this is the role of the academe in the grand scheme of things. If the media is society's watchdog, then the university is there to watch the actions of the media. It's just a way to balance things out, I guess. So, yes, it is not so much an issue of whether or not the media is affected or influenced by corporate interests, but it is whether or not everyone does their part. Media producers should produce excellent content--and be as responsible as they could along the way--and academics should be more vigilant in guiding the public to become more critical consumers of media content.
I agree with Hazel on both points she made. News seems to be more of a money-making activity these days. Corporations seem to be more concerned about the news that can make money rather than the news that could be more helpful and needed by the public.
ReplyDeleteSometimes it feels like media is more concerned about competition rather than actually delivering the best news they possibly can. This is why I think it's a good thing that citizen journalists and even bloggers are gaining a foothold in the Philippines. With the presence of these independent writers in society, recipients of news have an alternative source of information that is subject to less bias.
I agree with Sam regarding media competitions. To add it up, there have been numerous times that we find in the newspaper the issue of merging (or joining) of media and other companies (Such as Time Warner, Viacom, News Corporation, Disney and General Electric, to name a few).
ReplyDeleteIn conclusion, there are so much power that resides in the hands of few (in media control)in order to ensure the survival of such industries in the long run.
- MJ Ramos