The issues that accompany the differences of not-profit and profit media outlets have developed exponentially in the last decade, in which profit media has become more concentrated and there has been an increasing need for not-profit media outlets, such as Al Jazeera. The Cable News Network (CNN) is a profit media giant based out of the United States and has been a leader in domestic and international news since it’s creation in 19801. Al Jazeera is a not-profit media outlet that has provided an unbiased opinion and has been recognized on an international level in the recent years following their reports on Osama Bin Laden in 20012. Al Jazeera has challenged the CNN because it has juxtaposed itself with the few media conglomerates that have monopolized the market and they have highlighted the profit media outlets tendency to “emphasize or ignore stories to serve their corporate purpose” 3. This essay will unpack the issues that accompany the journalistic trends and what drives these trends in both the non-profit media outlet Al Jazeera and the profit media outlet CNN. It will discuss the issues that an emphasis on profits have on the public sphere and overall agenda of a profit media outlet in contrast with the concerns and goals that accompany a non-profit media outlet, specifically Al Jazeera. The experience, from finding, watching, and analyzing the content, of Al Jazeera is very different than that of CNN. When first searching for Al Jazeera content their website, that is free of any outside advertising, is the first return that is discovered. The headlines at the top of the website consist of human rights issues and investigations, the common headline “entertainment”, that is present on almost every profit media conglomera... ... middle of paper ... ...st,” Transcript: accessed November 8, http://www.carnegiecouncil.org/studio/multimedia/20020415/index.html/:pf_printable. Seckjun Jang, “A Comparative Content Analysis of Wartime News Sources: CNN and Al-Jazeera,” Conference Papers- International Communication Association (2006): accessed November 8, http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy1.lib.uwo.ca/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=e07d26c1-c82d-442a-be77-caa795b69367%40sessionmgr111&vid=14&hid=119. Kristina Riegert, “The Struggle for Credibility during the Iraq War,” Conference Papers- International Communication Association (2005): accessed November 8, http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=fb0ff5af-8788-4cb7-9eca-4c328aa ae743%40sessionmgr112&vid=3&hid=112. David Croteau and William Hoynes, The Business of Media: Corporate Media and the Public Interest (California: Pine Forge Press, 2006), 156-157.
Michael Parenti (2002) declares media in the United States is no longer “free, independent, neutral and objective.” (p. 60). Throughout his statement, Parenti expresses that media is controlled by large corporations, leaving smaller conglomerates unable to compete. The Telecommunications Act, passed in 1996, restricted “a single company to own television stations serving more than one-third of the U.S. public,” but is now overruled by greater corporations. (p. 61). In his opinion, Parenti reveals that media owners do not allow the publishing of stories that are not beneficial and advantageous. Parenti supports his argument very thoroughly by stating how the plutocracy takes control over media in multiple ways: television, magazines, news/radio broadcasting, and other sources.
Bill Moyer’s PBS series, Buying The War, focuses on journalist’s impact and failure to go up against the Bush administration regarding the sought war in Iraq post 9/11. This documentary portrays how powerful the media was towards the nation, and how useless it was when challenging Bush and his team about whether America should go to war or not with Iraq. We can see how Bush and his administration persuaded the media enough, and to some extent controlled them, in order for them to communicate the message that going to war was the best choice. Patriotism played a vast role because reporters could not go against Bush and reject what he was saying or it would be considered “unpatriotic”. In addition to this, the bias in the media was also a major player that can be connected to patriotism. The media post 9/11 was
The war in Iraq is accompanied by a tremendous amount of propaganda from both sides. Propaganda comes in the form of quotes, articles, advertisements, documentaries, and even movies (Levinson). Before America engaged in the war with Iraq, many new documentaries were aired during primetime to show the sufferings of Iraqi citizens under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. It sent a message t...
Stevenson, Kerry, “The Technology, Business, and Ethics of News,” International Broadcast Engineer (IBE), Oct 1999: 44.
Both CNN and Fox News influence these immense populations with how each utilize pathos, ethos and logos in the topics discussed during the broadcasted show. For example, Fox News 's audience seems to be primarily conservative, while CNN’s audience seem to be more liberal (Engel). So each network’s stories “focus on the issues that” conservatives or liberals “want to watch and talk about” (James). These topics are used to develop a more conservative or liberal fan base in the respective news networks. As the dominant news network on cable television, Fox News impacts the greatest quantity of citizens, bringing in an audience of over two million for primetime (James). Therefore, Fox News influences the largest percentage of Americans listening to news networks by effectively using these manipulative literary techniques. However, CNN has a younger audience than Fox News (Carter), which contributes to CNN’s audience growing from 350,000 a night, in 2013 (Agee), to 629,000 viewers a night (James). CNN and Fox News compete with each other to influence the greatest amount of people and the public’s opinion of current events. Each network appeals to pathos, logos and ethos differently and similarly to coax the greatest amount of listeners each night.
Television, more so than any other form of communication, has been the ultimate tool of the propaganda effort. It is the trustworthiest medium to give us the subjective validity of our beliefs which can not be proven physically. It is the ultimate source from which we get evidence about objective reality, motivated by our desires to form an accurate view of this reality and to act correctly. United States is the biggest economical power in the world today, and consequently has the largest media and news industry. The gatekeepers of the American news industry control all the information, and decide what to publish or broadcast, based on the ideology and the structure of the institution. Therefore, whatever is presented in the news would probably be a part of the popular culture (created by the entertainment industry) or would serve it since the popular culture itself is created for the growth of the capitalist economy and the homogenization of the society, which are essential elements for a stable system. That is why the American media is terribly bias in many respects, especially in the matters of foreign affairs, driven by self b...
Through manipulation and lies, media manages to modify objective news into biased news in order to convince the public of what the media wants them to believe. The article, “How the Media Twist the News”, by Sheila Gribben Liaugminas discusses the major influence that news has on readers based on their choice of stories and words. “How the Media Twists the News” has borrowed from multiple other texts such as the books like Public Opinion and Liberty and News, news magazine writers such as Ruderman, and news networks like CBS through Bias, A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News and CNN to make her arguments valid and prove that the news is biased and that it does influence readers significantly because of it.
Soon after the Tet Offensive, citizens of the United States began having second opinions about concentrating our troops in Vietnam: “Within weeks [of the Tet attacks], many average Americans who previously were supporters had turned against the war” (Omicinski 2). A small cluster of Vietcong forces made their way into the compound of the United States embassy located in Saigon, proving to Americans that even though there were hundreds of thousands of soldiers fighting in Vietnam, the U.S. had progressed only slightly (Dudley 131). The people were constantly being told that the conflict would soon end, however, increased need of military assistance had U.S. citizens questioning the veracity of our government. The phrase "credibility gap" surfaced to describe the growing public scepticism (Gerdes 14). This factor led to the government’s loss of support from most of the population. Ano...
Croteau, D., Hoynes, W., & Milan, S. (2012). Media/society (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
... our newspapers, magazines and publishing houses are owned – and manipulated – by gigantic international corporations. Our media is part of the coporatocracy” (p 221).
The year is 2006,watching TV, you flip through the various news stations to learn about the recent news in Iraq, the majority of the news simply says that ‘x’ amount of soldiers or marines were killed in such and such attack. You don’t like what you are hearing so you go online to read an independent embedded (embedded refers to news reporters who are attached to military units) reporters story. Online you read that two new schools were built, and the Iraqis, supported by US forces, led an attack to capture an insurgent leader. The big media corporations such as FOX, NBC, CNN, and many others distort the facts that are on the ground. The small, mostly independent, reporters generally try to get a first-hand account of the situation on the ground. They are their alongside the soldiers, sailors, and marines. In some cases these reporters may need to drop their camera or pen and defend themselves. These examples bring many questions that I want to know. The biggest of these questions is how do these different types of reporting, the “main stream media”, and the small independent embedded reporters affect the views that the American people have back home? The reason I chose this topic is that after reading The Good Soldiers and Moment of Truth in Iraq, I was intrigued in the considerable difference between what was wrote in books and what CNN reported on the nightly news. I did not find a ‘good’ answer I could find to answer my question, however I did draw three conclusions. The conclusions are as follows: the ‘big media’ misconstrues the information from the battlefield to fit their own agendas; the media fails to obtain a personal more in depth view and instead report after the smoke has cleared instead of what happened during t...
9, 10) ?War, Propaganda and the Media? (2003). Online at: <http://www.globalissues.org/HumanRights/Media/Propaganda/Iraq.asp#SomeExamplesofPropaganda>, consulted on March 30th, 2004.
Minimizing harm done by journalism in times of war is a difficult task. Naturally, there are bits of information that the government needs to keep secret for one reason or another. There is also the danger of victims' stories being exploited and sensationalized. The SPJ's Code of Ethics recommends that journalists should "treat sources, subjects and colleagues as human beings worthy of respect" (Society). During the extreme...
Sinclair, John (2002) “Media and Communications : Theoretical Traditions”, in Stuart Cunningham and Graeme Turner (eds), The Media & Communications in Australia, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, pp.23-34.
In the world of journalism The First Amendment seems to be the glue that holds the media industry together. The freedom of speech and of the press is tangible power in the hands of a journalist. According to Kovach and Rosenstiel (2007, p.145-149), "Investigative journalism seeks to expose unethical, immoral and illegal behaviour by government officials, politicians as well as private citizens." This statement should not take credit away from the everyday journalist but more so bring focus to the specialise role of being able to uncover and report on hidden information with the aid of digital advancements. As time has passed the roles, goals and purpose of the media business has gone from hands-on reporting to digital reporting, which commonly named, amongst journalist in the field, as "New Media". Due to the transform in new media, this essay will examine (1) the stride journalist take during the investigative practices, (2) what factors influence how information is collected such as corporate finance and/or political agenda, and (3) with the new media penetration, can investigative journalism stay live.