The Media: Misinterpretation of reality

The media has a portentous crook over the populace since it was first ceremonious as an institution. Particularly the countersign media, media has had its determine in context of use a rafts agenda, centeringing the attention of plurality to specified productions as well as shaping the publics suasion atomic number 18 among the well documented influences he ard by the newsworthiness media1. Aside from feeding the public intercommunicateation most public affairs, the media do better(p) in its ability to impose peck which issues atomic number 18 suppositious to be definitive. The media does this by placing emphasis on peculiar(prenominal) issues.In a much concrete setting, newspapers memorize readers which issues atomic number 18 to be significantly regarded by placing stories in designated places. Top stories or privateness stories are placed to be the nigh significant issues while other stories placed after it are simply rendered as less important or significant than the front page stories. Newspapers admit a multitude of cues approximately the salience of the topics in the insouciant news rendered in the daily news. For the television scene, the emphases on which stories are supposed to be important are manifested in the length of time devoted to the news tosh.With the amount of power an institution as the media has, there is to question whether this power is taken advantage of. In the competitive cosmos of news media, gaining readership is a tedious task. With issues on investment returns and the solecism for readership, there are arising doubts as to whether the news media re t show up ensembley feeds bundle with the essential information or they finagle the stories to able for readership and even capital gains. In this paper, we sh in all put accent on evidences that apprise that the news does non reflect cosmos but complicateds it.A look at media sensationalizingOne of the apparent(a) manife place of medi as tendency to composite creation and original stories lies in its nature of sensationalizing2. This could be drawn from the 2004 elections. According to Mackin, the media experienced sort of frenzy in attempting to stay updated for the election3. Assessing the accomplishment of the media, it did non quite fairly frustrate the elections well. The media has a tendency to focus on the scandal and personalities involved that it forgets to look and m fossil oil into the genuine issues. This is one of the manife post that news could obscure true stories. The media has a tendency to average high schoollight parts of the story without world able to render other sides of the story which may give clearance and sense to the issue.Essentially there are al counselings much issues take uped to be reported on, how constantly, the media has its take in diagonales when it comes to the coverage of a news item or issue. The media fundamentally has two cases of biases3. The firs type of bias is when the media does not focus on the more important issues. The second is that the bias which is geared towards objectivity.Media is prejudice when it comes to veering forward from the really issue in track that it does not clarify issues as intensively as they should be. If accusations are directed, the media does not render to investigate more in the issue. The focus of the media is to present to the public the accusations made and the personalities involved. 2Joyce Milton, The yellowness-bellied Kids distant correspondents in the heyday of yellow journalism, harper & Row, New York, 1989. 3 Mackin, Meaghan, Media sensationalizing 2004 election, 2008.t walk outher are occasions where the root cause is not as heavily mentioned as they should. Media tends to sensationalize center more on the infringes created rather than the causes. During the 2004 elections, the media were more focused in holding the current on polls, character and appearance of the candidate s. They did not bring too much focus on the covering the issues which are supposed to be addressed during elections. The nature of the media to sensationalize issues adheres to the account that news has a tendency to obscure reality than presenting it as it is. The media in this case is driven to present issues highlighting on scandals and personalities.Although the institution is driven by the entreat reflected upon the mountain, the essence of what a book media should in the first place is mazed. The media more than presenting the latest public affairs to the people should in any case be responsible in looking more and analyzing factors underlying the issues. As people demand for the latest headlines come the need to be unfeignedly assured as well. An individual not rightfully informed would be able to participate rightfully in with the issues at hand.Since the media is the venue where people gather information, the expectation ranges too high with the credibility and tr uthfulness of the news or information. However, certain cases prove that news pictured by media were inappropriate to the specific setting it must be relayed. Being a powerful venue to generate feedback and to pass on opinion through information dispersal and training to the larger scope of the population, news envisioned by media, in slightly cases unfortunately bears unfruitful information. Furthermore, news to some extent does not guarantee its truthfulness and reliability at all time. For instance, much(prenominal) circumstance in untruthful account is present to the depiction of occidental weed media to Africa.Being the cradle of man kind, it appeared to achieve its interdict height due to news astir(predicate) savagery the people were engaged into. These thence gave the continent a face which all(prenominal) people worldwide mocked off and defamed. envisioned as Dark Continent, westwardern people are encouraged to consider that nothing good will ever emerge d in its soil. Many in the West bought this negative impression due to the misdealing of insurance coverage to the continent and to the African people.According to Iyinbo4, the Western reportage is always directed to the act of Africa as having a single entity discouraging the heterogeneousness of tribes and cultures enriching the continent. For instance, the icon of aid epidemic (Southern and easterly Africa) wars, drought and starvation (Central and Eastern Africa) oil disasters (Niger-Delta, Nigeria) Muslim extremist (the North and automobile horn of Africa) bombings in Kenya and Tanzania (East Africa) The Great Migration (Kenya) all furuncle down to a continental issue regardless the specificity of them to different parts of Africa.Although mass media impacts greatly in resolving crises disaster in the continent, more issues were put into incorrect perspective which apparently reproved more problem-solving strategies. Under the current dispensation, the outlets of the ir mass media misrepresentation of Africa and Africans are dire belittling the people, undermining their accomplishments, destroying their self-esteem and heritage. It does in addition, albeit inadvertently, provide arms to bigots (on all sides). It does not herald well to incense the situation with mis- and disinformation all in the name of meshings or ratings5.4 Iyinbo, O., Misrepresentation of Africans and the role of Western media. The aware Constituent, 2007.5 Iyinbo, O., 2007.News and Reality 5Moreover, the present connotation to mass media especially in news inform becomes increasingly negative since many media stations offer whole entertainment and gives biased and untruthful news6 (Loud, 2006). This trend defeat the design of new reporting as it veers away to the responsible information gathering, interpreting and disseminating. The conflict arises when the most popular news stations claim that they are unbiased and are often times not. As a defence, they tend to rea son-out that unbiased reporting is confining impossible.Another problem with the news reporting safe nowadays falls grimly to the misinterpretation of facts by news reporter and personnel. There are some intentional misinterpretations pull by news reporters for the purpose chiefly of reporting safe and evading conflict regarding a specified issue. This can be best explained on the case of reporting somewhat the pressing and present condition about Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ( aid).Considering the belaboured scientific search of researchers and scientist to credence help more fine including its various symptoms and realities, media conveyance tend to discourage such intents. As it is presented and described in a subtle manner, the portrayal of its real grim is avoided to be known by the mass populace.In 2007, a Kaiser survey returned results that showed a mere 15 percent of those polled were in person c oncerned with becoming human immunodeficiency virus substantia tive (a 9 percent drop since 1997). Where once men and women considered AIDS a prestigious and serious encounter, they now consider the bane to be outside of their realm. This major breakage in the perception of the AIDS threat, as many academicians worried, will only change the problem.6Loud, C., Whats Wrong with the Media?, 2006.News and Reality 6It can be argued that this change in perception is instantaneously related to scientific advances in the field. AIDS previously was considered to be a demise warrant for anyone who apportiond to contract HIV in one way or another.However, it is also arguable to say that this change of perceptions is the consequence of the recent depictions of HIV/AIDS in mass media. Media tend to reinforce the nous that the infirmity can be beat and would not kill those who contract it. This misinterpreted depiction given the risk and seriousness of incurable HIV/AIDS was manifested in the hit play Angels in America.Although it was turned into an HBO mini-series which was highly-acclaimed, the shell matter greatly failed to educate and inform many on HIV or AIDS. Its timeliness magnificently hit American popular culture in notification accurately the history of AIDS it did not instil any sense of education to the viewer since it only dealt with the idea that Instead, it human will battle anythingeven the physical.Another typeface of romanticized strategy to attack AIDS is when portrayal o the disease came with a major Broadway blockbuster entitled RENT. It only portray Bohemian New Yorker in 1980s that having the expense of AZT (a popular drug which fights HIVs attack on the body) can make the victim submissive to sing without a sense of real urgency or impending doom. Although it portrayed during the time that AIDS is incurable, the viewers were left(p) with the same massage of hope that the disease played no urgent risk to the populace. The reality of the disease is downplayed despite it almost being a character unto itself in the film.The more recently examples can be seen in a few commercials and ad rivulets made such resurgence of gratify in the AIDS philanthropy. In contextual American popular culture,throwing a distinction fighting against AIDS through charity in the news is presumed to be the genuinely best solution to counter AIDS.Even grander range bearing the slogan If one of us has AIDS, all of us have it. or popularly known as the We all have AIDS fly the coop. gave only an harmonic look to the impending death disease. The unforgettable yet ineffective way of the campaign is viewing the action in a bold statement composed for the most part of celebrities, politicians and religious leaders.Essential to consider is the fact that AIDSs portrayal to mass media only resulted to the exploitation of celebrity and commodification of the disease. The misleading securities industry tool manages to earn through the portrayal without the benefit of necessarily spreading sentiency or education. Instead of placing a wise to(p) person who is living with the disease in front of the camera, marketers commodify the disease to earn fame and last to establish a profitable market. This thence appeals only to the public to give largess to a random charity disregarding the idea of better information about their own risks or how to protect themselves.Even more blatant commodification is the creation of special garments and gadgets by organized charities/companies just to take the hazard of selling them while some profit will go to an AIDS charity. found in the wholeed States, this massive campaign makes the money exclusively reserved for African AIDS causes which pauseed the public perception by implying subconsciously that HIV/AIDS is no longer an issue in the US.Since people cited that television is their most immediate and important source for information concerning AIDS (Research Unit for Health and Behavioural Change), a deeper compend of media messages is important in understanding the sociological impact of AIDS andadvertising as a means of educating. However, AIDS portrayals in advertisements are always misconstrued which leaves the people sanely sitting. It is also pointed out that the bulk of HIV/AIDS advertisements are vague, confusing, prejudiced and manage to perpetuate many misconceptions about AIDS that have the potential to spread the disease even further. It is due to this lack of true representation that the true cultural inwardness of AIDS is pushed out of sight, causing brisk health education messages to get lost or become misconstrued in the process.According to jenny ass Kitzingers work titled reference understandings of AIDS media messages a discussion of methods, that the meanings of media messages do not merely lie in just the content of the messages but more likely in the readings different audiences bring to the metaphorical discussion. It is therefore argued that such messages are read based on brotherly context and personal experience.To compensate this shift of public perception regarding the cultural splendor of HIV/AIDS, we must change the way it is represented in the media by pointing out that AIDS is much serious than twitchy comedians and abide hold celebrity names.ReferencesJoyce Milton, The Yellow Kids Foreign correspondents in the heyday of yellow journalism, Harper Row, New York, 1989.Loud, C., Whats Wrong with the Media?, 2006, Retrieved 20 April, 2008, .