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#1
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Media influence
I was looking at the headlines on CNN this morning, and was struck by
how they and the other news organizations present stories. I know it's a blinding flash of the obvious to say that the news outlets can be biased, but this was more in how things were presented or what they didn't say, rather than bias. The reader's impression is equally shaped by these things, just as it is by intentional bias. One headline was about the crash of a tour helicopter at the Grand Canyon. The short story was accompanied by a photograph of the most rugged part of the canyon, and a statement that the helicopter was flying to the bottom of the canyon. That would lead the reader to believe that the crash occurred in the canyon itself, and lead to the inevitable hand wringing about why flights are allowed into the canyon at all. Yet on further examination, the article states that the helicopter crashed near Peach Springs, which is south of the canyon in a relatively level area, and not nearly as rugged as the canyon itself. A second headline was about the rescue of a person with a medical problem from the South Pole. This was the third such rescue in the last few years, and I was curious about what aircraft was being used, and whether it was a military or private aircraft. The article made no mention of those details. I can recall that the first rescue was made by an Air National Guard C-130, and that the crew was hailed as heroes, with every leg of their trip covered extensively by the US media. There was live coverage of the landing back in South America. The second rescue was performed by a Canadian air charter company, and there was hardly a mention of the flight or the crew. I looked at MSNBC to find out more, but they had no mention of the flight at all. CBS had a similar story to that on CNN. ABC said that the aircraft was a DeHavilland Twin Otter, but no mention of the air charter company. Out of curiosity, I made a more general search, and found news articles from the UK, Canada, New Zealand, India, Germany, Australia, and many other countries that mentioned that the aircraft was Canadian-built, and that the air charter company was Kenn Borek Air, from Calgary, Alberta, which is the same company that performed the earlier rescue. No US articles contained that information. It makes me wonder if this omission was intentional, and why they would avoid giving credit where it was due. |
#2
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Media influence
James Robinson wrote:
(points out examples of US coverage of polar rescue flights, contrasts that with very little coverage of the current and recent flights made by CDN pilots working for Kenn Borek Air) Generally the American media does not like to report bad or disturbing political, social, burecratic or human nature news in or about the United States for fear that viewers will turn off one network and jump to another. They all carefully balance their 6:30 pm national news and make sure it is weighed more towards neutral and feel-good stories (you'd think that the national nightly news casts would be longer than a measly 1/2 hour, given the huge news departments of the 3 major networks). Their commercials occurr at exactly the same times (and usually all run the same insurance company or drug commercials). Canadian cable viewers can, and do, compare the coverage of the US networks along with CBC and CTV news channels. I expected the US networks to not mention that the rescue was being done by CDN planes and pilots. I don't even think that the US networks mentioned that the sick person was American. And as you say, it's not the first time these pilots flew sick Americans home for emergency treatment. But to be fair, since the NSF funds the majority (?) of south-pole research, and since there are 10 times as many Yanks as Canucks, it's not surprising that the people that need to be flown out will be Americans. In this case, the sick person wants to remain anonymous, and maybe that's the largest reason why this story isin't getting much press in the US (the US press loves it when there's a name and a face to attach to a story). And it's not surprising that Kenn Borek air will do the flying, since they have the NSF transportation contract to that location. Now why Borek has the contract vs a US (or South American) flight company - I don't know. http://www.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2003...198236-cp.html |
#3
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Media influence
Generally the American media does not like to report bad or disturbing
political, social, burecratic or human nature news in or about the United States for fear that viewers will turn off one network and jump to another. Media bias is as old as media reporting. Although it has only been since right-wing radio shows and cable stations such as Fox News that the lack of veracity in news reporting has been a popular theme. The bias of news outlets such as CBS news and the NY Times has been recognized for years, although it would be naive to expect that the media would report such circumstances. Or even admit that such exists. I find it interesting that young soldiers serving in Iraq recognize the limitations of the western media represented in that country. Consider the following: start snip I managed to latch onto a press pool translator to help us through a few translation problems. TranMan was so impressed that a week later he brought along several big media war-cons. Media aholes not impressed, took no notes, took no pictures, took no video, and chewed the pool translator for wasting their valuable time. I managed to tell the CNN (or CBS, I know it was C something-something) reporter that if I had the kids throw something at us would that then give him his story? A comment which hit a very raw nerve with Mr. Unbiased Reporter. US Press still tries to pretend they are unbiased. At least the BBC is honest enough to let us know that is not the case with them. Word is that on one wall in their BD office they add a new smiley face sticker for each soldier killed in Iraq. end And several weeks after this soldier's account was circulated the BBC admitted to fabrication of various facts in stories from Iraq. Interesting since the BBC was once the watermark for integredy in news reporting. The political bias of newspapers in the UK is well known. You do not pick up a copy of The Times, Daily Standard, The Guardian, The Telegraph or The Independent - to name but a few - without also knowing their bias in news reporting and in their editorials. And media outlets in the US would do well to make their political affiliations better known. The continued blurring of the lines between news and editorial - while hiding behind the 1st Amendment - can hardly be regarded as beneficial to their audience. And you may expect that US media reporting will have a major impact on the elections of 2004. In fact, I believe that the best reporting of the 2000 Florida fiasco was provided by newspapers in the UK. By that time the media pundits in the US had dropped all pretense of being an impartial source for election news. |
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