Author Topic: Post your opinion...... (Read 1467 times)

Snoopi · « **on:** September 22, 2001, 11:53:00 PM »

NBC ABC CNN FOX etc.

I worked in the media for 15 years.

I got out for many reasons, one of which was that the days of "real news" is gone in north american stations.

It is all about marketing.
How many viewers are watching ?
Can we hype this enough to get more viewers ?

Due to the owner's political leanings, the desire to "feed the fire" for better ratings or whatever...the news outlets are more inclined to broadcast a specific slant on things.
What happened to giving the proven facts that are available and then letting the viewer evaluate the info ? Yeah I know all about editorials. I'm talking about EVERY story.

The Hysteria:
My sister has a business associate who is excessively freaked out and depressed by this whole affair. He watches the news twice a day and scans the WWW at work during free time)
He is so caught up the hysteria.."Oh my God We are all gonna die!...." etc. that his business work is suffering.

A list of songs that are "bad to listen to" is sent to radio stations.
Kids are no longer allowed to bring backpacks to some schools, since the terrorist attack

A few problems with TV news:
The conventional TV news story is too short to tell a balanced, truly informative story.
In addition, video creates a reliance on visual impact of some type, as opposed to conveying good information.

(For this and other reasons, I personally prefer print news media over television or web news that just reprints the TV news.
..though...I have been reading the BBC website more)

We saw it once with the death of Princess Diana......
Now the NY/Pentagon attack.......

"Welcome to the studio Bob.. lets watch the airliner crash into the building for the 1,000th time. Please explain what is happening to our viewers"

Speculation Speculation Speculation.......

30,000 body bags,30,000 body bags,30,000 body bags,30,000 body bags,30,000 body bags,30,000 body bags,30,000 body bags,30,000 body bags,World War III,World War III,World War III,World War III, End of the World, End of the World, End of the World, Evil Arabs,Evil Arabs,Evil Arabs,
REVENGE REVENGE REVENGE REVENGE......

It's like a "mental conditioning" machine !

Here are my questions...
Is the worldwide reaction to this event exacerbated by the media coverage ?
if so..how much ?

Is any of the fallout from this event caused by the media coverage ?
If so...what and how much ?

capt. apathy · « **Reply #1 on:** September 23, 2001, 12:20:00 AM »

Unfortunately its all the only news source we have, the papers are no better than the t.v. Or the radio. everybody has a buck to make or an agenda to promote.
If anybody thinks they are getting accurate news from whatever source they have, I think they are fooling themselves.
The question I like to ask people is this.
Have you ever been close to a news story before it made the news?
How accurate was the coverage when it hit the news?
Why would you think the reporting is accurate on other stories?

Anytime they cover a conflict they only interview people on both extremes, it's more interesting that way and it also makes both sides think the other is unreasonable, which is convenient for the media because this causes more conflict and more stories.

john9001 · « **Reply #2 on:** September 23, 2001, 12:41:00 AM »

freedom of the press 1776... the press tells you what happened.

freedom of the press 2001...the press tells you what they think happened

Eagler · « **Reply #3 on:** September 23, 2001, 09:27:00 AM »

what's amazes me is how all the other news STOPS!

What happened to Condit? The fires out west?
ANYTHING else??

I know the terrorist attack is HUGE news as is the war but I find it strange how many news outlets, especially cable seem to be an all or nothing on their format of major stories...
They seem to delight in rehashing old stories to the point you miss out on any other NEW and or existing current events..

Tac · « **Reply #4 on:** September 23, 2001, 01:17:00 PM »

I tune to CNN and ABC/CBS once a day at 11pm. If they spilling the same crap ive been hearing for the past week I just turn it off. Whenever something important or different happens, im bound to find out by word of mouth from someone who's brain needs to be constantly refreshed.

I agree, tv media is all hype. Nothing like good ol' radio and print (web and paper).

miko2d · « **Reply #5 on:** September 24, 2001, 12:10:00 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by capt. apathy:
Unfortunately its all the only news source we have.

Well, you are posting here on the Internet. Many other people do too. Why is that not another news source?

miko

Mickey1992 · « **Reply #6 on:** September 24, 2001, 12:34:00 PM »

Just as I began to get tired of the national network coverage of the whole thing, all of the 3 local TV news outlets here sent local reporters to New York for more coverage.

I live in Columbus, Ohio.

Why oh why do I need a Columbus reporter live from NY to tell me the same story that the network has been telling me for a week? Can a possible jump in local ratings justify the cost of sending a crew to NY? It's sad.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #7 on:** September 24, 2001, 01:14:00 PM »

I'm like you Tac, if its the same ole, same ole, just rehased to try to spur ratings, I just flip it over to Comedy Centrals Daily Show.

hblair · « **Reply #8 on:** September 24, 2001, 01:20:00 PM »

I watch Fox News almost exclusively now. The O'Reily factor rules.

eskimo2 · « **Reply #9 on:** September 24, 2001, 02:29:00 PM »

I refused to watch the OJ and Diana B.S. on TV for the reasons that you have stated.
But this, is a very big deal.
We are at war. Many more Americans and their allies will die.

I think the media actually wised up (for the first time I can recall). I haven't seen footage of the planes crashing or the buildings falling in several days. I think the media folks realized that repeated viewing of these events was bad for us and did the right thing by cutting back. Here they have possibly the most sensational footage ever filmed, and they have stopped or at least cut back on airing it.

eskimo

Mickey1992 · « **Reply #10 on:** September 24, 2001, 03:35:00 PM »

Two interesting articles:
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/laweekly/20010921/lo/28336_1.html
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/zd/20010924/tc/the_web_of_terror_1.html

Snoopi · « **Reply #11 on:** September 25, 2001, 09:37:00 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by eskimo2:
I refused to watch the OJ and Diana B.S. on TV for the reasons that you have stated.
But this, is a very big deal.
We are at war. Many more Americans and their allies will die.

eskimo

The O.J. simpson thing doesn't apply to what i'm talking about. It was a long drawn out "soap opera" that people were facinated with.

But The Princess Diana event was different.
Most of the planet was in complete grief over her death. Why ? She was a great lady but she was not Mother Theresa. She was a tragic figure but not really deserving of the huge outpouring of grief. England I understood. Maybe even commonwealth nations made sense. BUT U.S. citizens actually crying over her ? I think that was due more to media induced/enhanced hysteria.

To me this is same with the U.S. terrorist attacks.
I can understand why the U.S. is reacting like it is. The is very very very understandable.
But for people in France/England/Germany/Canada who are not been directly affected by the attack to react like their mother died, smacks of media induced/enhanced hysteria.
Being shocked and outraged makes sense.
I personally very outraged about the attack but I'm not about to feel like my mother died.

My point is that the media themselves have increased the WORLDWIDE grief and reaction to this event.
(i'm not talking in any way about the future grief that the aftermath/respsonse will cause)

In regards to the aircraft footage.
The media did wise up to the fact that they were airing the footage too much, AFTER they got complaints from viewers. It's sad that they had to be told.
People on this very board were mad about the "30,000 body bags ordered" ticker/crawl that was running on many networks. Speculation that leads to increased grief for the families of victims/possible victims is not responsible reporting.

Snoopi · « **Reply #12 on:** September 25, 2001, 09:53:00 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Mickey1992:
Two interesting articles:
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/laweekly/20010921/lo/28336_1.html
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/zd/20010924/tc/the_web_of_terror_1.html

Thanks Mickey ! Those links definitely bring what i'm talking about, to light.
Great post !

Gadfly · « **Reply #13 on:** September 25, 2001, 09:55:00 PM »

"Whats a pilot"

StSanta · « **Reply #14 on:** September 26, 2001, 12:29:00 AM »

Well, the thing is this: Diana was a broad that got married to money and fame who had mental problems. She died because of drunk driving. A single person. Dnno about the hysteria over that.

With the terrorists attacks in the US, it's a whole people that's being attacked. And it's people who are very similar in culture to the Europeans - we have our differences to be sure, but at the bottom line, we agree and share a world view.

Hell, the US is our direct ally. How can we *not* be affected?