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Originally Posted by HardScienceFan  It is not unconceivable that their attitude changed towards a more biased one,because of the facts(or fallacies) they received from the media. |
Absolutely. In MANY cases I would say they have. Many individuals abdicate the responsibilities I described in the earlier post, listen to "news" from one source, and form their opinion solely based on that input. While you mention "fallacies", I imagine the majority of individual journalists are
trying to present objective news. We all have our tastes, our predispositions, or our "glasses of perception" that we see through. No one can completely avoid personal bias. In addition, though, you have the business of media and its impact.
The business end of it are providing news to make money. To sell papers and the advertising in those papers. To gain listeners to their news station, so they can command more money for advertising. To gain viewers to their news programs, so that they can get more money from channels or networks, who are willing to pay more because they can demand more, again for advertisement. So the pressure mounts to adjust editorial control in the manner in which they believe would appeal to more audience. Additional objectivity is lost.
It agains fall back to the individuals that make up that demand. These papers flock to one end of the spectrum because of both the natural bias of the individuals that make up the group, and to a lesser, but still meaningful degree, due to the study of, and the conscious targetting of a particular audience. They are partially serving up what they are financially betting people will respond to. We, as a collection of individuals decide what that is. We do it through our individual choices. We want to hear about Iraq...they will give you plenty of Iraq...we want to hear about Britney Spears...they will give you plenty of Britney too, trust me. They'll even make it sound like important legitimate news to help sell it! Until more people are interested in Zimbabwe, or what ever your personal interests are, they are not going to sell it.
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Originally Posted by HardScienceFan I only wish to point out the possibility of the media changing their (style of) reporting,because this suits certain parties and facilitates their (possibly hidden) agendas. |
The media will change their style when we change our demand. Suits which parties? Facilitates what hidden agendas? I don't understand this part. There is no hidden agenda of the media...there is a very open agenda...figure out what we are interested in knowing about...report on those things from within the confines of their personal biases, although as individuals probably as objectively as they can...and to some extent, as collective organizations, adjust the content and the style in which they present the information in a way that they believe it will appeal. Find out what they want to buy, and sell it to them.