Saturday, November 17, 2012
Media Agendas
I found the section on
Media Agendas to be a particularly vivid reminder of how our media outlets can
drive and manipulate our outlook on our country, our current events, and even
our overall social climate. As we continue to advance technologically our
availability to information continues to speed up creating a demand for
immediacy in the messages we receive and also increasing demands on our mediums
to control the agendas of what messages will ultimately be conveyed. I think
Normal Felsenthal said it well when the text quotes him as saying, “Neither an
individual nor a society can give equal attention to everything. We are
continually required to determine which problems get our immediate attention
and which problems are simply endured or even ignored altogether.” The problem
with this is that with the majority of these types of communications being
controlled and delivered to us via the media, how am I as an individual ever
properly equipped to form a non-biased conclusion in regards to the world and
events that are taking place around me when the vast majority of our
information channels only provide us with a the portion of the events and
messages that they feel are pertinent. And yes, I realize I can research into
whatever topic or event I choose to learn more about, however I am still
restricted to the information and points of view presented to me by way of any
research material I seek out, leaving me to attempt to interpret and discover
the truth from partial stories, accounts, and information controlled by the
agendas of others.
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I guess that begs the question: should you even bother to pay attention to what the media tells you? I personally avoid watching the news in general and will even go so far as to only watch or listen to media outlets which are inclined to give equal time to opposing views. Talk radio is heavily biased towards a conservative view for instance, and network television news tends to be biased towards the liberal view. Rather than take the excessive amount of time required to participate in both outlets, I choose to listen to and watch sports. When I find myself with the time to take in other news, I tend to do it on my own using the internet. That way I am able to filter what messages are being received and try to limit them to factual reports that allow me to make a decision or form an opinion based on the facts rather than some pundit’s opinion.
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