image shaping

This chapter is right. The news is ubiquitous. It seems like nowadays everyone has some form of news coverage that they can watch. Now, where you are in the world and what event that the news is reporting will change your view and image of the situation.

There is always going to be bias in reporting news, especially if the countries or parties involved are reporting about it. Our position as citizens or “watchers” of this news puts us at a considerable disadvantage. There will be different ways of wording the events that took place to make it seem better or worse for whomever and we will only receive that bit of skewed information. So, the news reports are shockingly shaping the way we think about the event to their terms. They can use images especially to enlighten us with the reaction they want.

There is a huge issue about the use of graphic crisis pictures in the news. Is it ethical to do so? For the news stations, it’s just another tool to shape our way of thinking, to jumpstart our pathos. Those photos are huge attention grabbers and are a very useful tool for them. But, then the way I’ve just described the news’ uses of those photos is very cold and tangible, where as the devastation represented in them is extraordinary and real, yet hard to grasp. There are real people involved, and I think we forget that sometimes, just watching the news. But other times, the news capitalizes on the fact that there are human beings being affected and strikes with pathos that way.

The news is a double-edged sword. It helps provide information that we otherwise wouldn’t have known, except much later and by word of mouth, but it also has the ability and resources to shape how we see what is happening rather then forming our own opinions from first hand experience.