Journal Entry Question #4 Reuters is an international, mainstream news provider. What does such an incident do for Reuters' reputation? What do you think about the fact that a blogger (an independent journalist) was the first to uncover the story? How does this change your view of mainstream media vs. independent media?
First off, let's look at the first aspect of Noam Chomsky's propaganda model, ownership of the media. We must face the fact that all the major media channels or the "mainstream media" is controlled by those big corporations. These are all the streams of media that reach us, those who have the tools to do so. Knowing this, we also know that the media channels are obligated to protect their corporation’s assets or interests.
We see this in “Outfoxed”. Fox’s news flow is controlled. If anyone is interested in what a giant pain in the ass O’Reilly really is, pick up this month’s GQ magazine. It contains an interview of many of the Democrats and activists that have been on the O’Reilly factor.
What is the difference between mainstream and independent media? One thing that is quite obvious but must be pointed out is that mainstream media is sort of forced upon us. News channels are so readily available and easily accessible. We know where to find them, they are constantly on tv, newstands... In order for us to reach an independent news source we must seek them out on our own (ex: online blogs). Authors of these types of media don't have the resources that those large corporations employ. They can’t even effectively publicize their existence.
What is good about independent media? They don’t have any large corporations to answer to and could very well provide better news. But it is all relative, because although they do not have ulterior motives (or at least any that are geared towards a company's financial assets). They again do not have the resources to fly to war-torn countries to report news first hand. This means that many of their sources are secondary sources. What do they do provide is a check for those mainstream media sources. We can rely on them to question the mainstream media, so that whatever is said by them is seen as not absolute and certainly not seen as absolutely true. Very obviously the photo altering incident would have a negative impact on Reuters' reputation as a dependable and unbiased news source. Absolutely no mainstream news source is unbiased, but here's the catch, they must seem to be. If you're caught then your supposed professional integrity is shattered. Waaay to go Reuters! But I mean really, they do have how many years of news reporting under their belt, and probably a very good (and expensive) PR team and can probably escape this scandal, and besides, the public seems to have a very short memory.
As for how this incident has changed my view of mainstream vs independent media, I can say it hasn’t done much. I still see both in the same way. But I am very glad to see there are people out there ready and waiting to point out the mainstream media’s mistakes. It is almost a sort of David vs Goliath type scenario, the little independent blogger and the big bad scary news corporation. Nice aim “little green footballs”, you pretty much hit him square between the eyes.
To Reuters: hahaa, oh my, thousands of dollars and you can't even create billowing smoke properly. Come on! i recommend photoshop cs for dummies. enjoy. If anything, you can use it as a nice coffee table coaster.
Another website you might want to read is:
http://www.chomsky.info/articles/199710--.htm
First off, let's look at the first aspect of Noam Chomsky's propaganda model, ownership of the media. We must face the fact that all the major media channels or the "mainstream media" is controlled by those big corporations. These are all the streams of media that reach us, those who have the tools to do so. Knowing this, we also know that the media channels are obligated to protect their corporation’s assets or interests.
We see this in “Outfoxed”. Fox’s news flow is controlled. If anyone is interested in what a giant pain in the ass O’Reilly really is, pick up this month’s GQ magazine. It contains an interview of many of the Democrats and activists that have been on the O’Reilly factor.
What is the difference between mainstream and independent media? One thing that is quite obvious but must be pointed out is that mainstream media is sort of forced upon us. News channels are so readily available and easily accessible. We know where to find them, they are constantly on tv, newstands... In order for us to reach an independent news source we must seek them out on our own (ex: online blogs). Authors of these types of media don't have the resources that those large corporations employ. They can’t even effectively publicize their existence.
What is good about independent media? They don’t have any large corporations to answer to and could very well provide better news. But it is all relative, because although they do not have ulterior motives (or at least any that are geared towards a company's financial assets). They again do not have the resources to fly to war-torn countries to report news first hand. This means that many of their sources are secondary sources. What do they do provide is a check for those mainstream media sources. We can rely on them to question the mainstream media, so that whatever is said by them is seen as not absolute and certainly not seen as absolutely true. Very obviously the photo altering incident would have a negative impact on Reuters' reputation as a dependable and unbiased news source. Absolutely no mainstream news source is unbiased, but here's the catch, they must seem to be. If you're caught then your supposed professional integrity is shattered. Waaay to go Reuters! But I mean really, they do have how many years of news reporting under their belt, and probably a very good (and expensive) PR team and can probably escape this scandal, and besides, the public seems to have a very short memory.
As for how this incident has changed my view of mainstream vs independent media, I can say it hasn’t done much. I still see both in the same way. But I am very glad to see there are people out there ready and waiting to point out the mainstream media’s mistakes. It is almost a sort of David vs Goliath type scenario, the little independent blogger and the big bad scary news corporation. Nice aim “little green footballs”, you pretty much hit him square between the eyes.
To Reuters: hahaa, oh my, thousands of dollars and you can't even create billowing smoke properly. Come on! i recommend photoshop cs for dummies. enjoy. If anything, you can use it as a nice coffee table coaster.
Another website you might want to read is:
http://www.chomsky.info/articles/199710--.htm
posted by dorrrkk at 12:55 PM
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