Media manipulators and bloggers manipulate information to serve their own interest and the interest of their employer.
The notion of information manipulation has been around throughout centuries and it has gradually evolved from newspaper to online blogging. The earliest form of information manipulation can be associated with William Randolph Hearst and his newspaper, New York Journal. Hearst’s New York Journal would unethically sensationalize stories during the Spanish- American War to not only generate profit but also, to generate readership that would surpass his opponent Joseph Pulitzer II. It was during this era that Hearst made his famous telegram, “ You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war.” The intent that Hearst had was that
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Bloggers are easily manipulated because of the pressure they are faced with to produce content. “Bloggers are under incredible pressure to produce, leaving little time for research or verification, let alone for speaking to sources. In some cases, the story they are chasing is so crazy that they don’t want to risk doing research, because the whole facade would collapse (Holiday 67).” This notion of bloggers being pressured to produce content makes them desperate to accept any source without having to verify if the source is credible along with the information that is being shared. In a sense, bloggers are merely a tool in which manipulators use to fulfill their agenda because of the buzz that the story would …show more content…
“ Bloggers lie, distort, and attack because it is in their interest to do so. The medium believes it is giving the people what they want when it simplifies, sensationalizes, and panders (Holiday 262).” Since most bloggers are not paid well and are constantly on the verge of having to produce new content to publish, as Holiday asserts, it is in their interest to manipulate because it serves them right. In “ Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator”, Holiday shares an incident that happened when he was employed by American Apparel. He asserts how a blogger name Irin Carmon somehow received an innocent email that obtains instructions for proper disposal of nail polish. As a blogger she was out seeking and looking for information to generate buzz, she manipulated the information that she somehow received and turned it into a controversy. This story that she wrote was picked up by big media organizations such as ABC NEWS, The Huffington Post, The Wall Street Journal, E!, Salon, and others. As previously stated, bloggers do not get paid as much because the number of page views that their stories receive determines their pay. She saw an opportunity to where she could manipulate information to achieve her agenda and she did. Not only did she benefit from this story alone, but the company that
Clare Boothe Luce, an American journalist and politician, delivered a speech in 1960 to the Women’s National Press Club in front of the American press to criticize journalists for the misinformation they publish in order to challenge them to start publishing the truth rather than writing what the public wants to hear. Luce appeals to the audience of journalists using her role as a politician, comparison, and emphasis to persuade journalists to start writing the truth, no matter how dull, in order for American citizens to truly understand what is going on in today’s society. Throughout the speech, Luce speaks to the audience of journalists about how the information they release shouldn’t be falsified for a myriad of buyers or views. Although
In today's modern world, different types of mediums are used to get information across quickly. The days of waiting for three days or more for information are long gone. We can access news right from our fingertips! We’re able to view videos to tell us what’s happening, look at photos, or read pieces of text. However, sometimes the information we’re getting can be bias or taken out of context. And sometimes, twisting someone's words to get your point across can have nasty consequences.
What’s all the ‘hype’ about this “media-controlled universe”? Cynthia L. Kemper writes in her article “Living in Spin” about how the twenty-first century has a corrupt sense of honesty. Her paper, published in “Communication World”, is generally a reaction to her findings about the new age style of communication. She bases it mostly on interviews and supports it by the many quotes weaved between her logic-based trails of thought. Appealing mostly to logos and pathos, she carries a conversational tone with her audience. This tone is abundant in rhetorical questions that she doesn’t attempt to answer. The main purpose of her article appears to be the ‘eye-opening’ factor. Kemper manages to provide a conscious effort to tell people how many different factors have affected the current generation’s ability to speak without ‘spinning’. She quotes the editor of slate, Michael Kinsley, in order to explain that “Spinning means describing a reality that suits your purposes. Whether it resembles the reality we all share is an issue that doesn't even arise”. Simply put, the author that begins her essay with a very intriguing question, “Have 21st Century Communicators Stopped Telling the Truth?”; refrains from clearly answering this very question throughout her work. In the article the author talks about the problems of people ‘coloring’ stories to make them more appealing. Modern day rules allow people to stretch the truth to sell products better among other things. She blames these ‘innovations’ in the world of communication to the new progresses in technology.
Another controlling method that is diffused through television, radio and written publications; is any reported information about world politics and news. Powerful political groups narrow people’s views of what is going on around them by tainting and twisting information to their own device. They decide what to say and when to say it, revealing as much or little information as desired, in ‘befitting’ instances; thus enabling them to hide information they consider deleterious to themselves, from the public. It also permits them to depict opponents in overly negative terms.
Celebrity blogs typically provide great insight into the three important theoretical perspectives in sociology. This paper will analyze the data obtained from five selected celebrity gossip blogs, such as Celebitchy, Yahoo Celebrity, The Huffington Post, Time, and SheKnows. The analysis will be based on the theoretical perspectives of celebrity gossip, particularly conflict theory. For instance, it will address the inequalities that exist in the gossip blogs based on race, gender, class, or sexual inequalities. Additionally, it will identify the interests of those served by the blogs as well as those who get exploited or suffer as a result of the publication of the blogs.
Mattie Hernandez Ms. Poth Eng. IV. 1 5/5/14 The Media's Influence on Girls is Detrimental to their Health
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.
The media takes a biased approach on the news that they cover, giving their audience an incomplete view of what had actually happened in a story. Most people believe that they are not “being propagandized or being in some way manipulated” into thinking a certain way or hearing certain “truths” told by their favorite media outlets (Greenwald 827). In reality, everyone is susceptible to suggestion as emphasized in the article “Limiting Democracy: The American Media’s World View, and Ours.” The
Self-censorship is perhaps what is most ominous in these cases, journalists and editors do not keep track of notes that could affect business interests, the newspaper owners or their relative...
The introduction of the internet to modern society has brought about a new age of information relation. Since there is no longer a need to wait until the next print day, news from all over the world is available at a person’s fingertips within hours or even minutes of the event. With this advent of such easily accessible information, new problems for the news media have also arisen. Aside from potentially losing good economic standing because newspapers are no longer being purchased in the quantities they used to be, the credibility of the information itself is also put into question. No one would argue that credibility of news sources is unimportant, but there is a discrepancy in what takes precedence; economy and speed or getting the information out correctly at the first publishing by taking the time to make sure all facts are checked. The importance of having a system of checks on all information submitted is paramount. People trust what they read and believe it to be so without always questioning. If all information were to not be checked thoroughly, there would be instances where people read an article only for information included to be wrong and they go on believing such information. This can be very dangerous as misinformed people make misinformed decisions. With an increase in errors being made by citizen bloggers and even major publications, many are worried that journalistic ethics and credibility in the news media are being sacrificed in order to maintain swiftness in the news circuit and to retain personal profits. Though getting information to the masses quickly is a major part of the media’s importance, this should not mean that the credibility of that information being presented should be sacrificed for it...
How mass media is using both Ideology and Popular Culture to develop societal expectations and social identities. This essay will look at how Ideology, Hegemony, and Popular Cultural Theory shape common values and expectations of society and media’s influence and compare and contrast differing approaches to understanding the relationship between media and society. The discussion will be contextualized through the use of gender roles and expectations, and how these theories develop and affect the female social identity.
The relationship between journalism and politics is a two-way street: though politicians take advantage as best
Stereotypes is a big issue within the media industry. Representation within the media is to show someone or something, using a process of depicting, descripting and symbolization. Stereotypes, as described by Stuart Hall, is the “production of the meaning of the concepts in our minds through language which enables us to refer to either the ‘real’ world of objects, people or events, or indeed to imaginary worlds of fictional objects, people and events”. In his research Hall has suggested that there is two systems of representation, the first system regarding direct associations of events, people and objects that have certain mental representations and concepts that people have in their minds. Meaning is therefore
The current role of mass media in politics has definitely played a significant role in how view and react to certain events and issues of the nation. Newspapers, magazines, television and radio are some of the ways information is passed onto many of the citizens. The World Wide Web is also an information superhighway, but not all of the sources on the Internet are credible. Therefore, I will only focus on the main three types of media: written, viewed, and audible, and how they affect whether or not democracy is being upheld in the land of the free. The media includes several different outlets through which people can receive information on politics, such as radio, television, advertising and mailings. When campaigning, politicians spend large quantities of money on media to reach voters, concentrating on voters who are undecided. Politicians may use television commercials, advertisements or mailings to point out potentially negative qualities in their opponents while extolling their own virtues. The media can also influence politics by deciding what news the public needs to hear. Often, there are more potential news stories available to the media than time or space to devote to them, so the media chooses the stories that are the most important and the most sensational for the public to hear. This choice can often be shaped,
If one asked “What is media literacy?” a majority of people would be puzzled. Some would say that it is the ‘written’ part of media that is not usually seen or a written layout of how media should be produced. The bulk of people would say they have no idea what media literacy is. People in today’s society should be informed about media literacy. Society should be informed of what media literacy exactly is and how it applies to the field of communications.