Sunday, September 14, 2008
What lies behind their media masks?
As we stand poised on the precipice of what promises to be a deeply partisan presidential election, it is becoming increasingly clear how many Americans are choosing to focus on the candidate's media image, rather than their true stand on the issues. For example, in this election more than any other, more and more voters seeking information in a hurry opt for the internet as their sole source of news. To see what kind of information I would get, I googled Senator McCain's running mate, Governor Sarah Palin, and received 14,900,000 hits. The danger of choosing modern technology over an old fashioned newspaper or magazine, is that it retrieves a much larger base of biased and/or even unfactual information. I came across a very interesting website, grizzlybay.org, which chooses to focus on Palin's "barbaric" alaskan life as an "animal killer". Although this homepage claims to have all their facts backed up by "credible journal citations", its facts and photos are manipulated to discourage animal lovers from supporting the conservative vote. As seen below, while the first picture is clearly Palin, the other two picture below contain no evidence that their death is due to Palin. However, the ignorant might fail to properly assess the truth of the website's narrative, and believe that Palin is responsible for the wolve's deaths. This is why is it crucial for the reader to question the reliability of their sources before they are swayed into mistaking the fiction for the truth.
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3 comments:
Nice post Jacqueline!
I agree with you 100% that we must always identify our sources and question their reliability. I think it is very important to have people out there like you who vote on the facts and what is important.
It seems, however, that you are against the idea of persuasive imagery when dealing with topics such as Palin, and the reliability of these pictures. Yes, I agree, some pictures can be taken that twist around the truth, but a shot of Palin holding a dead moose and smiling... There's not much truth to twist with that, it's just a bad image to me for a potential Vice- President. I agree that certain internet sites are not the best places to get the facts, but in this particular subject, I have to say, the fact that Palin supports her introduction on stage as a "pistol packin'" Vice- president.... yikes
You've hit on a real interesting phenomenon in media today. Because there are so many news outlets now representing the wide array of biased viewpoints, more and more people seem to be seeking out news from sources that share their own bias. What does this mean for intelligent public discourse today? Because people can so easily find a website that backs up even their most fringe views, people seem more unable to think critically about their viewpoints.
I think you made a great point. Another thing to think about when coming across pictures like the ones that you found online is what context they are in. It is obvious that Palin is standing with a dead deer, however we need to recognize that this may not be a common scene for her. We cannot be sure of her intentions in the picture.
It's not just with these pictures, but anything that we read or hear. Journalists and web page creators have the choice, like historians, to choose what to put into a piece of writing and what to leave out. We need to remember that there might be other sides to the story that we are not seeing.
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