Gaffes and Obsessions in American Cable News
Innocent Mistakes or Subliminal Messages?
Another recent case of mind manipulation came during the 2006 campaign for Congress. In Maryland, where Democrat Ben Cardin was facing off against Republican Michael Steele, Steele's campaign released signs and campaign material that read "STEELE" over the word "Democrat". They were very clever because it meant if you're a Democrat voting for Michael Steele, you might want a bumper sticker saying "Steele Democrat" but when it says "STEELE democrat", it sounds like his party affiliation. This was a trick meant to confuse people in a heavily blue state.
During the Mark Foley scandal which roiled the outgoing Republican leadership and overshadowed their last session in Congress, Fox News flashed an interesting graphic during the "O'Reilly Factor". As it showed video of Mark Foley, underneath it said "Mark Foley - D (Democrat) -FL"... Foley is a Republican. This error was shown again on a later broadcast and it wasn't until the next day that is was even acknowledged. Again, this plants a seed in peoples mind to associate one thing with something else. In this case, it suggested this was Democrat scandal. Many people who don't pay close attention to political figures may not have known Foley's party affiliation.
Another term journalists sometimes use during an interview is "Some might say...." when asking a question or making statement. It's a way for the journalist to get their own two cents in. Some political pundits and news anchors just make false statements only to retract them later. That is not right, because news should be totally objective in the first place. For example, on September 21st, 2005, Brit Hume of Fox News asserted that President George H. W. Bush never criticized President Bill Clinton while Clinton was in office. This was to draw contrast between the two because Clinton has criticized the current President George W. Bush many times. That was completely false, and only after MediaMatters.org (news watch dog site) pointed it out did Hume retract what he said. Obviously there are many people behind the scenes gathering information, but errors like this are not accidental. I applaud blogs and watchdog sites like Media Matters who sound the alarm when false information is presented as fact. Cable news in America has become so opinion based and subjective that it's no wonder our country is so divided.
Why is it that we tend to dwell on one thing and nothing else? Mark Foley was on every every cable news show for two straight weeks. For an entire Summer the country was riveted by Natalee Halloway, as if she was the only missing person in the world. Out of all the missing people who could have benefited from just a fraction of the airtime, we gave unlimited coverage to this beautiful, blond, young missing girl.... Hmmm, beautiful, blond, young girl... OK, I get it now. We gravitate to what we want to hear, which is also why you see channels like Fox News going to the right, and MSNBC moving more to the left. They are so concerned with ratings that they want to keep certain audiences. Shows with political pundits like Bill O'Reilly, Chris Matthews, Sean Hannity and Joe Scarborough outnumber fact based news.
If you take a few days and watch the BBC or The News Hour w/ Jim Lehrer, you will see the contrast is clear. Stories are not picked based on what the audience may or may not want to see. They breeze thru news topics to cover a broader range of information. It is much more objective than American cable news.
Published by dogslife11
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- Once you see an image of Osama with the name "Obama" in front of it, it can plant a seed in the subconscious that links the two - basically, someone who hates America.
- Cable news in America has become so opinion based and subjective that it's no wonder our country is so divided.
- If you take a few days and watch the BBC or The News Hour w/ Jim Lehrer, you will see the contrast is clear.
22 Comments
Post a CommentThese things show a lot about the maturity level and intelligence of the people who do it and the people that continue to watch the stations. There is no way I could believe that Salon.com did not intentionally use the word "uppity" to describe Senator Obama, even after they apologized and removed the word. If it were truly an "oversight" their bigotry was showing. Either way it discredited the article, which was not as biased as the headline made it appear to be.
My final statement was that, with all the product placement we see on TV, it is no surprise that subliminal political messages are also being used. Bravo on your great article!
I lived in London for two years, and I can tell you that the news coverage was infinitely better than what we get in the US. First of all, there are so many more newspapers, and people read them! Second, our news, as you pointed out, tends to focus on a few stories, virtually ignoring the rest of the world's events. Then when they do cover a breaking story in Africa or the Middle East, for example, it seems to come as a complete surprise to the American public, when actually there is typically a big lead up to an event that we have not seen covered in our news. People do criticize Fox, and I am certainly one of them, but I can't say that I think that ABC, NBC, and CBS are so much better. For example, with global warming, they act as though there is a debate; there is no debate among world scientists, but fact. Our news sometimes does us more harm than good.
And with all the subliminal product placement, I think it's no surprise that there will continue to be these subliminal politi
English retoric (sp?) thats what the news is. Words put together to incite emotion in the reader or television viewer. I would love to find a station where news like ABC is produced but in a way where they are just facts and it allows the viewer to think for themself.
What do you find to be the most honest news reporting then?
Interesting story slant, and well written IMHO. I don't agree with you about BBC and Public Television News, though, not with regard to political coverage. They're two left turns from Fidel with their news coverage, IMHO. I'm exaggerating, but I think they adhere strictly to certain strictly liberal rules and bromides. Not to say I don't watch them fairly often, though.
Great article! I'm also concerned with the fact that most cable news channels dwell on the same five (random number) things and don't cover all the other newsworthy items that could seriously benefit from their coverage. Hopefully articles like yours will help make a difference.
Rupert Murdoch will do whatever will benefit Rupert Murdoch... Typically, Republicans are much kinder to big business. Hillary Clinton is a major powerhouse with lots of powerful friends. Murdoch may not have personally hosted any fundraiser for Clinton, but he's connected to just about everything in media... Even if he did, that doesn't brand him a liberal.
Oliver, I am glad I left that to you... you did,...uhhm, lots gooder with that... oh, poop, did my kanuckles just drag there?
I'm glad you mentioned the BBC, AJ. They seem to be a deliverer of information and do tend to lean towards the school that if we can listen we can interpret. I get much news from Arab websites too. They do work hard to be what American news people profess to be. They tend to say what is and refrain from teaching. If American's knew how dramatically they are "taught" they would get angry. The fact that we can all say and see and be correct about the slants we see between Fox, MSNBC, CNN etc is proof. None of us are trying to lie about this. It is "real". And, it is not journalism, it is salesmanship. Hot topic! Great Job!