Media's Influence
224 Impartial Information
• A newspaper editor is a bit like a language teacher. The editor helps journalists write objectively, and in an interesting way.
• Editors decide what is published in the newspaper. They know that bad news attracts more readers than good news, so they publish mostly bad news.
â–º Analyse (analyze) a brief news article by answering the following questions:
· 5 "Ws" & 1 "H": Who was involved? What happened? When did it happen? Where did it happen? How did it happen? Why did it happen?
· All-round: If views are included, are everyone's views included, bar none?
· Objective: Is the article as a whole biased?
â–º Peter Wolodarski, Editor of the Swedish newspaper DN, wrote recently (20 Oct 2013) that bad news tends to get more space in the newspaper than good news, and that that is a problem. Do you agree with him? Why?
225 Propaganda
• When media purposely lie or hide certain parts of reality, it is called propaganda.
• Spin (spinn) is a form of "propaganda-lite". (A "spin doctor" is a marketer who teaches politicans etc. to use euphemisms (="sweet words") to: hide the truth, choose facts which support their own interests, and "sneak in messages".)
​ • Anyone exposed to propaganda for a long time risks developing a false view of how the world works. For exemple Hitler has an official "Minister of Propaganda" who convinced Germans that Hitler was a great leader who would rescue them. The truth was the opposite: no one caused the German people more humiliation and suffering.
â–º What is propaganda?
â–º What is media spin?
â–º How can the media influence us so much that we develop a false view of how the world works?
