Same paper. Same story. Same day.
Different markets designed to play to different audiences.
Why? To better inform one group of readers over another? Of course not. It’s to sell more papers.
Not only will media craft points of view for stories based on what sells best, they will pick the stories that sell best.
In other words they not only tell you what to think on a topic, they tell us what topic to think about.
This type of manipulation is only the tip of the iceberg. More than 95% of the media and entertainment we consume is controlled by less than a dozen companies. Their goal is not at all to inform, it’s to sell ad space. Now there is nothing wrong with that, it’s their business model. Where it becomes harmful is when people think that this is actually news that is meant to inform. It’s not.
Television is much, much worse than most print media. Complete with news story theme songs and graphics designed to increase angst and drama, carefully selected words and newscasters, it is a daily parade of manipulation.
Part of this manipulation of course is to get people to think it’s relevant, needed, important and that they should continue to consume the crap news.
Just as casinos spend millions hiring designers to make it so you spend just a few more minutes in the room, news outlets work very hard to get you to think that they are providing something valuable or even important every moment you watch is another potential advertising dollar. This is why, for many, watching the “news” becomes a nightly habit.
Shut it off. – Bruce Fenton
Photo by Bradley Guidry
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