Monday, November 10, 2014

BoredCaitlin, Herman and Chomsky

“The elite domination of the media and marginalization of dissidents that results from the operation of these filters occurs so naturally that media news people, frequently operating with complete integrity and goodwill, are able to convince themselves that they choose and interpret the news ‘objectively’ and on the basis of professional news values.” (Herman and Chomsky, 205)

Reading this quote reminded me that there really is no such thing as an unbiased news source, because no one is truly unbiased. People like to think they can be completely objective, but it’s impossible. Anyone publishing a news piece is going to present it from their point of view, and one point of view can’t be representative of an entire population. This is especially true when you’re looking at mainstream news media. Mainstream news isn’t only reporting news, but projecting ideological messages onto its audiences. Complexity usually isn’t the order of the day. Stories will be presented in the simplest, most easily digestible way possible. Audiences don’t usually question what is presented to them, because they think what they’re seeing is objective. Unfortunately,  truly objective interpretation of events is probably beyond the scope of what any single news outlet can do. It’s best for viewers not to take any single viewpoint in isolation, but to look at many perspectives and come to their own conclusions.

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