How They Reported it: Saddam Execution
As I am sure you have all heard Saddam has been convicted and executed. I am sure there are a ton of posts out there where people are giving their opinion on this news, I am not going to do that. What I found interesting was how the 3 internet news outlets I read chose to report the news.
The first is from MSNBC.com
Next, FoxNews.com
Finally CNN.com
I don’t really feel the need to comment on the headlines, I just thought it was interesting how with just a web banner from three “news” sites can give three distinct impressions on the news they are reporting.
Andy wrote:
It’s really hard to even call Fox News, a “news” site. It’s pretty much just entertainment.
Posted on 30-Dec-06 at 9:09 am | Permalink
Jon wrote:
Oh come now Andy. Your statement targeted at Fox News is actually accurate for all news sites and stations. They give information based entertainment to those who watch their show, based on the demographic and political leanings of their viewers.
What was far more interesting to me in the above banners was the way CNN reported it, a site you probably praise highly and think of as a most respectable (and thus liberal, apparently) site. They made it appear (or Adam did so, through selective web banner grabbing) that Mr Hussein was a man to be honored and revered, who has unfortunately now passed away and will be greatly missed. They might not have come out and said so, but that is the obvious intent of that banner, since similar banners are so frequently used with the deaths of great poets, great actors, writers, presidents, congressmen, etc. I would venture to say that never has an evil dictator been given such a banner, especially after having been executed.
Its all rhetoric. Anyone can make anything sound bad or sound good. They use words to incite the public or to calm them. To get them to want things that they want or hate things that they wish destroyed. And its even easier to do when your audience is “primed,” like that of most news shows. They already want to think what the media is going to tell them to think. Very easy.
And now we have fallen into Adam’s trap, and I am ashamed at having done so. But I couldn’t really let Andy’s implied malignment of the alignment of a single news station go uncountered. All news stations should be equally maligned. No one understands this as they should.
Posted on 30-Dec-06 at 1:41 pm | Permalink
Adam wrote:
Excellent…
Posted on 30-Dec-06 at 3:02 pm | Permalink