In this chapter entitled, “The Culture of Journalism”, we examined some of the major issues facing journalism. An issue which I found especially interesting was “Television News and Public Opinion”. Television news has such a major influence on viewers and therefore, a large responsibility to feed people the truth. This responsibility is often times neglected.

            Based on both what I already know about TV news and what I was able to gather from reading chapter 14, I believe that viewers of TV news are greatly influenced by the political and corporate perspectives reflected in the news. It seems as if people have always been wired to automatically believe what they hear, especially if the information is coming from a source that has already been labeled as credible. Additionally, TV news presents its news in a way that seems comfortable and real. As our book points out, a strategy known as “happy talk" is often used. This is the “ad-libbed or scripted banter that goes on among local news anchors, reporters, meteorologists, and sports reporters before and after news reports” (505). News anchors are usually attractive, aesthetically pleasing to look at, and well put together. This allows viewers to be eager to believe that what the news anchors are saying is true. This could present a problem because viewers could begin to lose their own capability of forming a valid opinion because they would rather just listen to what the “all-knowing” news reporters are saying.

From: http://thepageantplanet.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/o-TV-NEWS-facebook.jpg
A representation of news anchors who look very polished and well put together.

From: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02229/fox_2229415b.jpg
A picture to represent "happy talk".

            In addition, TV news is very eager to tell a good story. TV news wants stories that are interesting and filled with drama. Our book states, “After all, when reporters choose quotes for a story, these are usually the most dramatic or conflict-oriented words that emerge from an interview, press conference, or public meeting. Choosing quotes sometimes has more to do with enhancing drama than with being fair, documenting an event, or establishing neutrality” (14). Viewers want to hear stories that are exciting and of interest to them. That being said, it seems as if certain news stories that are important but not necessarily incredibly dramatic, might not get told because they are not exciting enough. This is a major concern to me because the TV news can essentially choose what to talk about and what not to talk about just based on dramatic effect. Also, news stories might be told in a way that mainly focuses on the drama of the story rather than the actual truth.  

            I believe that although some viewers can think critically and evaluate the credibility of what they see and hear, the majority of viewers cannot. It seems as if most people are gullible to propaganda. For example, at the beginning of the semester, our class watched a film entitled Psywar. This film focused on the use of propaganda in the media. Two major uses of modern day propaganda that were discussed were the stories of Jessica Lynch and the taking down of the statue of Saddam Hussein. I specifically remember watching a news clip of who I thought were Iraqis taking down a large statue of Saddam Hussein. In my mind, I did not think twice about the legitimacy of the incident but instead focused on the fact that the Iraqis must be so happy that this man was no longer in power. Psywar pointed out that this incident was in fact staged and used as propaganda to increase the war effort. This idea was not something that I, or probably millions of other Americans would have considered because the footage was presented to us on TV news as the truth. We have grown to rely so heavily on TV news that we are essentially forced and all too willing to believe anything we see. It is so difficult to decipher the truth from propaganda.

From:http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/arts/2003/04/10/statue_tall.jpg
An example of propaganda.

            The media theory which best explains the way that TV news influences public opinion is the concept of agenda setting. To review, agenda setting is “The idea that when the mass media focus their attention on particular events or issues, they determine- that is, set the agenda for- the major topics of discussion for individuals and society” (532). TV news is completely in control when it comes to choosing what to talk about. TV news does set the tone for what society is going to be talking about because they are so powerful and people are going to listen to what stories they choose to focus on. The theory of agenda setting is just a method TV news uses to get people talking about what the media feels like should be talked about.

From: http://geraldglenn.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/media-spoonfeeding-cartoon.jpg
A representation of how viewers are spoon fed information and we so easily believe all of it.