I’m not in the media, but for the past couple of decades, I’ve had a very good relationship with our local media and have learned many eye opening facts about them. Here are a few things I’ve learned during this time these years that will help you understand and deal with the media.
1. The face of the news media is just a talking head. Many people judge a news report based on the newscaster, but in most cases, they are reading a script written by a team of editors and writers without input of the star. While there are some old school journalists, usually the 5PM network newscasters, most younger newscasters have a greater chance of being actors/actresses or a pageant winner. A local news station manager once joked whenever he needs a new broadcast host, he will go to the gym or grocery store and talk up the prettiest girl.
2. Other than breaking news, most network news broadcasts have as many marketing writers as journalists on staff giving input as to how to frame a story to keep the audience’s attention and thus give themselves the highest ratings. Facts are picked through for the ones that they believe will give them the most audience share with the best headline or lead. If you want to learn the most about the story, skip the headline, first paragraph, and last paragraph and just read the middle. This is where the most honest reporting is found as the content is put here to ensure non disputed facts are included outside the ‘hook’ headline.
3. Have you often heard the same lines being used across several competing networks, often making you wonder if there is a conspiracy or collusion between them? Think about the infamous ‘gravitas’ statement Rush often refers to as an example. The reason for this is much more interesting. For major media outlets, they rely on what are known as freelance ‘stringers’ who research, report, and write the initial report on a story. They then sell that story to the major broadcasters who mold the story with their marketing and writing teams. Usually though, key lines are left in with all of the broadcasters (gravitas) even though the stories may take different directions.
4. Editors have agendas. This should come as no surprise to anyone. After all, we all have an agenda and it is generally easy to spot the agenda in most news broadcasts. What is surprising is how open they are to their agendas and how they view it. Our local newspaper editor recently posted on Facebook his goal is not just to report news, but to change the world, and that means be active in the creation of news. You will often see the underlying agenda not in one story, but in the totality of stories that are grouped over a period of time. You may start to see patterns, such as ‘lifestyle’ stories mixed in with breaking news that will tell a bigger picture. Recently during the string of incidents of attacks on the police, our local news editor followed the Dallas shooting headline with four to five additional stories on studies about how African Americans are treated at traffic stops, a history story on the city during Jim Crow, and a story on the poverty rate, all to provide contrast to the police shooting and, one can surmise, to try to plant a thought of justification for the police shooting in the mind of the readers.
5. The most honest, balanced person you’ll find in a newsroom is the photographer. This may come as a surprise with some high profile scandals of photographers staging images for the news, but because these few incidents made headlines tell you the rarity and severity that the profession looks at staging images. A news photographer generally follows a code of ethics that, among other things, means they can’t alter or modify a photograph outside very basic adjustments (cropping for size, converting to B&W for print requirements). Even color corrections are frowned upon. This means the photographer more than most in the profession, takes a lot more time stopping, observing, and thinking about the reality of the situation versus a journalist or writer whose mind is on the spin.
That doesn't mean they aren't manipulating you though. There are, however, some tricks photographers will use to influence the reader. A few things to keep your eye open for in journalistic images. Framing- positioning the shot to where the subject is framed by an object that influences the perspective of the subject, such as a halo or horns; selective focus- having one part of the image in focus and other parts out of focus. This is a legitimate technique to draw the eye but it also can be used to take focus off an element that may be important to the story. Selective perspective- a photographer can make a small group look like a mob or a mob look like a small group, all with the perspective he uses. If the shot is low, looking up, this can make a small group look large because you aren’t able to see beyond the first few people but it makes everyone look imposing. On the other hand, a high shot looking down can make a large group look small if it extends the field of view past the group to empty areas beyond the group. It also makes the subjects look smaller in the overall image.
Some of these items may not be a surprise to anyone. Please feel free to add to the discussion with your own examples or any other interesting facts you would like to add.
