Monday, January 28, 2013

How television news creates the illusion of knowledge...

In analyzing network coverage of the Sandy Hook murders, I had no intention of doing a series of articles on television news, but the opportunity to deconstruct the overall grand illusion was compelling.

A number of articles later, I want to discuss yet another sleight-of-hand trick. The myth of “coverage.”

It’s familiar to every viewer. Scott Pelley, in seamless fashion, might say, “Our top story tonight, the widening conflict in Syria. For the latest on the Assad government crackdown, our coverage begins with Clarissa Ward in Damascus…” .

Clarissa Ward has entered the country secretly, posing as a tourist. She carries a small camera. In interviews with rebels, she discovers that a) there is a conflict, b) people are being arrested c) there is a funeral for a person who was killed by government soldiers, d) defiance among the citizenry is growing.

In other words, she tells us almost nothing. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. How the mainstream media deceives with its magic tricks...
  2. The relentless decline of the mainstream news media...
  3. How the one-sided media spins tales about the conflict in Syria...
  4. Louis Farrakhan blasts the media and reporters...
  5. The media is dead ... long live the media!
  6. No mainscream over one-sided Arab Spring coverage...
  7. Why did CNN ban its own documentary on Bahrain's Arab Spring repression?

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