terratogen wrote:
Examples of photo manipulation to create more dramatic news stories. It's odd that they didn't pick out things which didn't have to do with lebanon. This sort of thing is pretty much standard.

There is a degree to which the sort of manipulation performed by the media is mirrored by those who expose it, as most have an agenda. Little Green Footballs is a right wing blog. They have an interest in demonstrating a particular kind of media manipulation and only that kind. Noam Chomsky and groups like Ad Busters often demonstrate a different kind of media manipulation, and only that kind.

The media is a megaphone. Input goes in and is amplified. Its interest is in the dramatic, not the true. Its agents create drama where none exists. Those who are skilled at manipulating the media know how to point it toward favored drama. Those who are unskilled risk being the drama pointed at. The media's focus can bring wealth or recrimination, depending on how it comes. Mastering this is the key to mastering the broadcast society.

As we've matured, it has become clear to many of us that the media manipulates. As more information has become available the people are awakening. The political powers have managed this problem by injecting the fantasy that the media is only manipulated by the other guys, never by us. Widespread realization that the media is manipulated by everyone is the next step, but unfortunately few have an interest in such a development.

Decius wrote:

The media is a megaphone. Input goes in and is amplified. Its interest is in the dramatic, not the true. Its agents create drama where none exists. Those who are skilled at manipulating the media know how to point it toward favored drama. Those who are unskilled risk being the drama pointed at. The media's focus can bring wealth or recrimination, depending on how it comes. Mastering this is the key to mastering the broadcast society.

Who has displayed their mastery?

"The last topic in this message of mine has to do with the controversy that began a few days ago about the weapons of the resistance."

[...]

"We were surprised that some ministers leaked this topic [of the weapons]- the discussion and the difference of opinions - to several local and Arab TV channels, and thus the dispute and discussion on this began to grow more and more. What should have been a discussion behind closed doors became a public debate, and this, in my opinion, does not serve the national interest, and is totally inappropriate. In any event, I reiterate my call to restore this debate to its natural channels, which are well known."

[...]

"I would like to point out to some of those gentlemen and political groups that shifted the debate to the media and the public domain... I would like to point out some of their mistakes in this matter. First of all, there was a mistake in their timing, both psychologically and morally. In other words, today... Especially since this debate began before the ceasefire, or the so-called 'cessation of hostilities'... Lebanon was being bombed, its infrastructure was destroyed, all the Lebanese areas were hit, all the Lebanese were hit, but most of all the people of South Lebanon, of the Beqa' Valley, and of the southern suburb of Beirut."

[...]

"Do these people have no feelings, no emotions? Can these people possibly be viewed as political leaders with a high level of awareness, devoid of any feelings or emotions? What are they supposed to say and do?

terratogen wrote:
Examples of photo manipulation to create more dramatic news stories. It's odd that they didn't pick out things which didn't have to do with lebanon. This sort of thing is pretty much standard.

Decius wrote:
There is a degree to which the sort of manipulation performed by the media is mirrored by those who expose it, as most have an agenda. Little Green Footballs is a right wing blog. They have an interest in demonstrating a particular kind of media manipulation and only that kind. Noam Chomsky and groups like Ad Busters often demonstrate a different kind of media manipulation, and only that kind.

The media is a megaphone. Input goes in and is amplified. Its interest is in the dramatic, not the true. Its agents create drama where none exists. Those who are skilled at manipulating the media know how to point it toward favored drama. Those who are unskilled risk being the drama pointed at. The media's focus can bring wealth or recrimination, depending on how it comes. Mastering this is the key to mastering the broadcast society.

As we've matured, it has become clear to many of us that the media manipulates. As more information has become available the people are awakening. The political powers have managed this problem by injecting the fantasy that the media is only manipulated by the other guys, never by us. Widespread realization that the media is manipulated by everyone is the next step, but unfortunately few have an interest in such a development.