Media Coverage - Image vs Reality (standard:Editorials, 1245 words)
Author: J P St. Jullian	Added: Aug 11 2002	Views/Reads: 3700/2339	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Another commentary on the media and how it distorts reality.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

system could use tuning up too in various areas.  More and more in 
recent years it seems that contributory negligence is not a viable 
factor in many law suits.  Take this one case in particular.  It 
happened some years back, I disremember where I read it.  A guy decided 
to pull a stupid stunt, so he strapped a refrigerator onto his back and 
ran a stunt footrace.  It was a truly idiotic thing to do.  One of the 
straps broke, the guy fell down when the weight of the frig shifted on 
his back.  The frig naturally fell on top of him.  He got hurt, and he 
sued the manufacturer that made the broken strap.  Believe it or not, 
he won!  Believe it or not, a judge actually awarded him a cool million 
for his troubles.  No wonder it is that everywhere you look there are 
tort lawyers advertising their services to sue people on your behalf, 
and they're not suffering for customers. 

What effect does that kind of idiotic suit have on small business?  Many
small companies can ill-afford to pay off a million dollar law suit and 
continue to thrive. 

One more really curious thing.  Nowadays it seems popular to try to get
government grants for one thing or another.  There is a book that tells 
one how to apply and get these grants for practically any reason.  
There once was supposedly a team of young scientists who applied for 
and actually received a $5,000,000 grant in order to do a study of the 
effects of termite flatulence on global warming.  Is it true?  I don't 
know.  I wouldn't say it didn't happen. 

Do we know our world well enough?  As a nation we know some of our world
on a first hand basis but most of it we know through the media.  Is 
that a sad thing or a good thing?  I suppose it depends on whether or 
not the media does accurate reporting. 

For instance, some people in a television audience may not know one
single African American personally, but he or she does know the media 
versions of some African Americans and their stereotypes:  the 
smart-ass wise-cracking tough LA street kid (who might be male or 
female), Bill Cosby, (who is depicted as kindly, forever smiling and 
self-depreciating), or Mike Tyson (depicted as the violent and 
self-destructive black male).  Yes, the media magnates are undisputed 
experts at playing out with loving detail, the personal disasters, 
heroic rescues, and petty scandals that they know the viewers love.  
However, they take no responsibility whatsoever for providing true 
insights on credible issues like the politics of race, immigration, 
education, the national debt, recession, sexism, mental health, or 
unemployment. 

Now I ask you: 

How does the media shape or distort our reality on a daily basis?  Do
they always skim the surface of our reality, soundly biting into it at 
given points and taking away the bits that allow us a chance for 
thinking about cause and effect?  Are we always to be no more than 
helpless “target audiences” sitting around a television screen taking 
in the hype?  Or can we do something to influence the steady stream of 
images and ideas that the media present to us? 


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