While glamorization and framing are often spoken about when discussing the media, the fact that "public interest rarely remains sharply focused upon any one ( ) issue for very long" or more accurately, the fact that audience focus climaxes and wanes, is not accounted for as often. Which is what Downs is interested in. While the article was informative, I couldn't help but think that the issue of fragmentation might have been mentioned, as the splicing-up of an event/topic into consumable news size chunks plays a role in this waxing and waning. Fragmentation makes following an event extremely difficult and I'd say even dangerous.
The violence being inflicted upon Native Caledonians, and the splicing of this story into unintelligeable (?) bits by the Hamilton Spectator is a good case in point. The past few weeks the Spectator has had covers which bolster sympathy for white/non-native Caledonians, while at the same time are anti-Native. It is an enraging situation to say the least, while hearing anti-Native/pro "development" opinions from 'regular folk' is even worse.
Inevitably it gets you (and by 'you', I mean....err..me) thinking about how difficult it is to get an entire (accurate?) story, as opposed to one that is c-sectioned to fit the doctor's clock. This past Saturday's Spec shows a picture of a middle-aged, white, hetero couple standing stony-faced in front of their Caledonian home with the headline reading: 496 Days of Hell, while last Saturday's featured a close-up of a man (also a "developer") who was injured by Natives. The only images of the Natives on the cover (2) are much smaller and work together with headlines to perpetuate anti-Native sentiment: one shows the roadblockers in army camo, and the other shows an overweight man in disarray (half-toppled over, shirt raising with belly exposed) being led away by two white police officers. All the headlines mention apologies on the part of the Six Nation's chief for the violence taken upon the developer.
How one could piece together a two-sides story from this paper is not only difficult, but impossible...which is not news to anyone. But I wonder if people could even reliably string together any narrative of this issue with only resourcing the Spec....
but of course, that is not what we do...next post: intertextuality, racism and mythologies/semiotics.....
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2 comments:
Isn't it interesting how now, journalists make news stories almost like advertisers make ad's. They gear to the emotional aspect of a human being. It's intense. Take for example the new Halo 3 commercial (since the game craz in the new current media event) the graphics are amazing, it's so realistic that the game sucks you in and consumes you and the commercial does the same thing. The music in the background is so emotionally relaxing that it's almost a stimulant to "want the game so bad that it hurts."
Here is the link, see for yourself. Pay attention to the music and movie like scene that goes with the music, it's intense.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvLqJA3A970
They create the same things with news stories now, one day they will show you one thing that sinks your hard, and the next day they will create another story that causes you anger.
yes- that is something that drives my friend insane- newspapers and magazines do it--ads are made to appear as actual news stories, with 'advertisement' written in small print at the top right hand corner...it is so obvious that it makes the ad laughable if not sometime reprehensible for making such a crude manoeuvre...we should send them responses in vast, mailbox clogging amounts, like "I really agree with your article on the mcdonald's quarter pounder..." 'cept that it would be a complete waste of time for us.
The End.
L
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