{"id":461,"date":"2010-01-30T15:05:53","date_gmt":"2010-01-30T19:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www3.arts.umich.edu\/ink\/?p=461"},"modified":"2010-03-22T12:36:43","modified_gmt":"2010-03-22T16:36:43","slug":"the-double-edged-sword-of-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/2010\/01\/30\/the-double-edged-sword-of-media\/","title":{"rendered":"The double-edged sword of media"},"content":{"rendered":"

(cont. from last week’s post<\/a>)<\/p>\n

The media is a double-edged sword.\u00c2\u00a0 On the one hand created by the people for the people, particularly in this nation’s political revolution, it is also an outlet for the dissemination of tyrants and profit-seekers.\u00c2\u00a0 Yet, isn’t what the media gives us what it thinks we want?\u00c2\u00a0 As much as it was conceived to be a public service, what is a public service but something the public wants for itself?\u00c2\u00a0 Yet, by doing us this service of feeding us the latest news on Tiger and the whereabouts of Paris Hilton’s lost chihuahua, is the media actually providing a disservice?<\/p>\n

But maybe that’s unfair.\u00c2\u00a0 After all, we can’t say that we all want to hear about celebrity news or the watered down versions of the war in Afghanistan.\u00c2\u00a0 We can’t say that none of us are interested in international affairs and that’s the reason for which foreign news coverage has decreased by almost half in the past decade.\u00c2\u00a0 I am certain there are many out there who desire to know about all of the things this world has to offer; equally certain that there are many who do not.\u00c2\u00a0 Then, who is to blame?\u00c2\u00a0 Is there any one specific person or entity?<\/p>\n

Journalists have a hard job.\u00c2\u00a0 That job is to report, “objectively”, on every situation at hand.\u00c2\u00a0 What does it mean to be “objective”?\u00c2\u00a0 That we provide all different viewpoints?\u00c2\u00a0 That we quote any relevant parties?\u00c2\u00a0 Is there such a thing as objectivity?\u00c2\u00a0 Some reporters believe that, no, there is no such thing: once a journalist decide to report on something and not on another thing, then in that moment, that journalist has stopped being objective.\u00c2\u00a0 After all, what makes one story more worthy of being reported than another?\u00c2\u00a0 Why is one quotation inserted while another is ignored?\u00c2\u00a0 How come Person A gets to be interviewed yet not Person B?<\/p>\n

And after considering this argument, I would have to say that they are right: there is no objectivity.\u00c2\u00a0 In fact, the journalistic ideal of objectivity may even be harmful to journalism itself; journalists strive to maintain the appearance of being objective that they subsequently attempt to incorporate as many point as possible, people as necessary, quotations to be credible, etc, that the true story is lost underneath all of the weight of “objectivity”.\u00c2\u00a0 As readers, what are we really being told– that Haiti <\/a>needs the money or that the US doesn’t believe Haiti deserves the money?\u00c2\u00a0 What is with this portrayal of Haiti as an entirely corrupt, immature nation that needs outside guidance for providing stability to its people?\u00c2\u00a0 Especially when the real problem has been rooted in centuries of neglect and sometimes even hindrance by the outside world?\u00c2\u00a0 And is this story <\/a>objective?\u00c2\u00a0 The way it begins is not like a journalistic, “objective” report but rather a fictional, dramatic novel.\u00c2\u00a0 What is this saying about journalism?\u00c2\u00a0 What is this saying about objectivity?\u00c2\u00a0 Is this written in a way that shows distance and removed reporting?<\/p>\n

Journalism doesn’t have to attain the ideal of objectivity– in fact, what is an ideal but that which cannot be attained, only striven for?\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe they should just be honest.\u00c2\u00a0 Corporate, governmental, external influences\/power notwithstanding, the sole responsibility of a journalist is not to be objective, but truthful– in any and every way that may hurt.\u00c2\u00a0 The responsibility, first and foremost, of a journalist, is to deliver accurate news and give power to the unheard and oft-ignored, not to serve the powermasters of profit.\u00c2\u00a0 I must acknowledge that the “truth” to everyone may be biased– however, we are already in a biased news environment– pundits from the left and right, Fox News, CNN– what are these but biased, partisan news figures and outlets?\u00c2\u00a0 And the matter of truthful reporting is hard, particularly in situations where little information is available to anyone and reporters must dig somewhere for the facts, from which they then have to build a concrete idea or story to inform the people.\u00c2\u00a0 Being a journalist is HARD.\u00c2\u00a0 Yet that is the responsibility that comes with it– full of freedoms and blessings, burdens and hardships.\u00c2\u00a0 Being a journalist is like being a soldier or a doctor– they take one for the people.\u00c2\u00a0 When those who are to protect the meek become pawns of the strong, where are their priorities going and whom are the serving?<\/p>\n

Not all journalists have to be like Mika Brzezinski<\/a> and throw away their news scripts.\u00c2\u00a0 And not all of us should discredit the importance of those who report on celebrity news– they shape our culture and define the trends of our times.\u00c2\u00a0 It must only be recognized that “proper” reporting is a hard one– not only because telling the truth is hard, but also because knowing what the people want is sometimes even harder still, because that is what drives a lot of the content we see today.<\/p>\n

—–<\/p>\n

Gabby Park is a triple concentrator in Communications, French, and History of Art who likes to play with snow.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(cont. from last week’s post) The media is a double-edged sword.\u00c2\u00a0 On the one hand created by the people for the people, particularly in this nation’s political revolution, it is also an outlet for the dissemination of tyrants and profit-seekers.\u00c2\u00a0 Yet, isn’t what the media gives us what it thinks we want?\u00c2\u00a0 As much as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":617,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461\/revisions\/617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}