Effects of Media Reporting War, Terrorism and Dissent - Essay Example

Effects of Media Reporting War, Terrorism and Dissent By [School] Reporting War, Terrorism and Dissent Contemporary media has playeda large part in our desensitizing of each individual to many of the world's problems and historical record. It is found that as many individuals are continually brought many images of war, conflict and terrorism we do not hold any disgust or angst toward many news topics; but, instead we are granted the suggestibility of quiet awe in response to dealing with conflicts and improprieties toward humankind. The purpose of this paper is to delve into the unnaturalness of how society as a whole responds to what would normally be described as unnatural design of the ability of society as a whole to accept the current design of our psyche in absorbing current events. An undeniable truth on modern media influences is our unconscionable act of media outlets delivering stories in such a fashion as to downplaying three important aspects of our attitudes: "importance of things, value of things and reality of things" (McKee, 2005:18) The Public Sphere The public sphere is metaphorically speaking "a domain of our social life, where such a thing as public opinion can be formed [where] citizens deal with matters of general interest without being subjected to coercion [to] express and publicize their views. (Habermas, 1997:103)" (McKee, 2005:9). This is particularly resonant in how modern society has progressed from dealing with conflicts through attrition and war with its citizens and in fact wherein "cultures that are structured by values of equality, freedom, justice and comfort." (McKee, 2005:9) As we are continually inundated with social inequalities and conflicts, our opinion and objections are often subjective through the efforts of the media outlets that will garner our astonishment, atonement or impaired judgment with respect to the true situation that we are not privy to. One of the many problems with the media influence as it is today tends to emasculate public culture through making it "too spectacular, too trivialized, too commercialized and too apathetic". (McKee, 2005:3) Many of our sources of information, be it small, large, sensationalized or derived, the general public is left with accepting the knowledge on its merits or questioning the entire relevance. Unfortunately, our ability to succumb to the reporting of the story as factual in its entirety or a flight of fancy, the power of the media will be forever at the forefront of modern culture and there is a necessity to have these stories or events properly recorded and researched prior to being accepted as truthful in nature. Values of Reporting War, Terrorism and Dissent An important function of this paper is to take away an objective viewpoint of both the values perceived or real from what is derived by reporters and book authors. Basically, anyone who has any influence over public opinion. In the article by R. Manne Introduction in Do Not Disturb: Is the Media Failing Australia (pgs 1 - 13) it discusses how an author is capable of destroying years of reputable research, discussion and public empathy toward a native people's entire culture and existence by publishing an entirely fabricated story. The author of such injustices toward the Aboriginal people's historical suffering and massacre in Australia and what the public had come to understand about its tawdry and shameful acts by the British settlers toward the Aboriginal people, sparked outcry by many scholars. This type of misrepresentation of information within a single novel proved how much of an influence that reporters or authors have with respect to delivering truths or falsehoods. As the general public is, as it seems, susceptible to being accepted by their piers and do not want to go against mass opinion be it negative or positive, these types of authors thrive on public acceptance even if what they write is entirely unproven or fabricated in telling of the facts. Reporting Dissent As many viewers of media representation for stories not in their native countries, it is imperative that the entire story is told, not what the broadcasters or journalist feel for what is worthy of our understanding. For instance, in the article by Damien Cahill entitled The Anti-WEF protests and the media what is perhaps the most frustrating for those involved in the original demonstration is the untold story that the rest of the world was not privy to. The article outlines that the protestors were in fact non-confrontational as well as holding a civil and orderly demonstration outside the Melbourne Crown Casino. The media commentators insisted on bringing notice to mundane aspects of the demonstration as well as linking many of the aspects of the scene to possible terrorist situations as well as what potential harm could come to the Olympic Games to be held in Sydney. The media has a paramount task of delivering unbiased news to the viewer or reader about different stories and if they do not bring the justice each story deserves, the general public will lend itself to be desensitized by what is actually going on around them. Reporting Terrorism Prior to September 11, 2001, the public-at-large was very permissive of many cultures and religions and there was no real racial profiling to speak of. Once the terror attacks occurred at the World Trade Centre, the world changed and so did the method of how the news was reported. The world seemed to change to the American way of news reporting and accepted it as it was presented. The average person fell into the routine of accepting the news of the world through American news channels as the de facto standard and did not bat an eye. Even before 9/11, the world was constantly inundated with the marathon of news bulletins and media coverage from the Gulf War. "In Danny Schechter's words (1991), "it was a marathon, a news-athon. It hooked us into a state of addictive anxiety where we stayed tuned in to saturation updates without end." (Kellner, 1992:237). This proved a powerful insight for the media outlets into how the general public would thirst for information without indifference to the real truth behind the story. When 9/11 dropped its ugly head into the laps of the unsuspecting public, the ability for "TV to go to war" (Kellner, 1992:237) proved what the Bush administration depended on, the unchecked and undermined hostile intention to go to war with a country that did not necessarily need to be provisionally pushed to a democratic governing policy. A most unfavorable aspect of the Iraqi conflict was in fact a bomb waiting to go off with respect to unfavorable and despicable human rights violations wrapped in what was called "the war on terror". Such violations of human rights included racial profiling based on either a foreign sounding name or wearing Muslim attire. The world is at unease through the continual efforts of the media to inundate the world with pictures and stories of war that is clearly geared toward American interests; but, at the same time downplays alternate media coverage as not looking toward democracy to "free the people". Media Influences in General An important message derived from the article by P. Rutherford in his expose on the Weapons of Mass Persuasion regarding the influence that the media has on our everyday lives shows just how subtle this influence is that we, for the most part, are unaware of the intrinsic message that prevails during war-time aggressions. As Rutherford points out "the world of affairs is full of consultants and professionals who deal in public relations, who strive to put the right 'spin' on events, to do damage control, when disaster occurs" (Rutherford:15) It is through this 'spinning' of events that we are coerced into believing, or thinking that we have come to this conclusion on our own, that what we are shown through visual adaptations of the events, an unbiased evaluation of the events. We postulate at the notion that our governments are doing the best for the affected country's citizenry by "helping" them out of their current situation. A rather ominous undertone to the way the media provides information is the statistic that Rutherford provides in the article in that "there are, by one count, 20,000 more public relations agents working to doctor the news today than there are journalists writing it". (Rutherford:15) This statistic, in itself, is very disturbing in relation to what we are constantly seeing and not being told. Another generalization of how much the media has a hold on the public ideals is in its dramatization of events, be they fictional or reality. One of these such examples is how much we are conditioned as a whole to accept what we are fed by what we hear and what we see in such that "Thomas DeZengotita, writing in Harper's (July 2003), thought the escapades in Afghanistan and Iraq had borrowed the justifications embedded in 'those action-vengeance flicks' of Steven Seagal and Vin Diesel where the hear had to right a brutal wrong (that was 9/11) with some awesome display of violence." (Rutherford: 19) As contemporary America is subjected to mainstream violent or 'action' films that provide the 'spin' on what their views of current events are through abstract sensationalizing the conditioning of the viewpoint of the general public is in fact guaranteed. Conclusion American audiences love the 'hero' figure as portrayed in both the media and film as far back as the original King Kong movie where the larger than life hero battles the oppressors to rescue the pure of heart. The media continues that appeal through continual embellishment of the truth whether it is true or false in the hopes of ensuring the underdog is portrayed in the correct light. As the media continues to provide stories and events from around the world, the general public must start to scrutinize what is fact or fiction and take that into account when they are presented with a story. It is important to realize that not all that we hear is completely true and that it is up to us to fill in the 'blanks' left by the holes of the story. The use of media has assaulted humankind's senses with depravity, senseless violence all to get the shock factor as a conductor for the government's fabrication for a call to action to settle disputes that may or may not be legitimate. It would seem that we tend to believe our eyes and ears instead of our own intuitive design of self-indignation toward those that force their views upon others. A final thought as we enter into a generation completely void of apathy toward the rights and values of others and follow a path of self-righteous piety, future generations would be better served by those figures that project atonement for what is shown about them in the media, as opposed to those who wish to present an aura of misinterpretation of their misdeeds. The media is a large part of expressing that atonement through accurate and decisive reporting and not downplaying the situation through stereotypical coverage. References Kellner, D 1992, "TV goes to war' in The Persian Gulf TV War". Westview Press, Boulder, Co. Chapter 6, pp. 234-255 Manne, R 2005, "Introduction' in Do Not Disturb: Is the Media Failing Australia". Black. Melbourne, pp. 1-13. McKee, A 2005, "Introduction' in The Public Sphere: An Introduction". Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, U.K., pp. 1-31 Rutherford, P 2004, "Weapons of Mass Persuasion: Marketing the War Against Iraq". University of Toronto Press Incorporated, Toronto. Rutherford, W 2004, "Marketing's Moment' in Weapons of Mass Persuasion: Marketing the War against Iraq". University of Toronto Press Incorporated, Toronto. Chapter 1, pp 8-21 Read More