24/09/2015

How the news work (1)

You who like reading, listening or watching the news should know a few things about the inner workings of a newsroom. If you really think it’s essential to watch the news, then at least you should be a conscious viewer. So let’s look at a few points:

Who is delivering the news to you?

People usually think that news is just news no matter where it comes from. However, this probably the most important point. Every human being is biased. Would you like an example of this?

If you’re were the father of a teenage daughter who became pregnant from a young man she met at a nightclub, whose name she didn’t even bother about, would you keep this bit of news to yourself or would you go around telling all your relatives, friends and neighbors? And so, if every human being is biased, those who deliver the news must also have their own agendas. Is a newscast badmouthing the government because it’s searching for the truth or because it has a connection with the opposing government party? Is a TV channel really interested in giving people useful knowledge, or does it want to damage a rival station? Is a journalist reporting what benefits the nation, serving the interests of the boss, serving his/her own interests, or just blurting out his own prejudices?

The key is to always ask the question, “Who’s delivering that piece of news? Two people can deliver the same piece of news in completely different ways, with different interests. In the example of the daughter mentioned above, the dad would probably deliver the news like this:

My daughter went out for some fun, and some rascal took advantage of her.

A classmate who doesn’t like her would deliver the news like this:

She seduced a guy and now he’ll have to spend the rest of his life paying child support.

A tale never loses in the telling. A story is almost always exaggerated or embellished by the people who tell it.

So don’t be a fool. Always consider where the news is coming from.

We will talk more about this in our next post.