We the Media Ch. 9
Nov 11th, 2008 by efischermann
Chapter 9 of we the media focuses on the ability to trust the media and what is posted on many different sites. For instance, how is anyone to know that the blog they are reading is stated as fact? There really is no way to know. A thing that I have run into many times on sports blogs are people that are called “trolls.” This chapter also touches on these. Trolls will post things that are not true at all just for the fun of getting a reaction from the audience. They will post something that is so off the wall that most of the time people will call them on it, however there are times when they will post something that is fathomable and it will throw the crowd for a loop. This is also done in other aspects I am sure. Politics I know is affected by it. People will start a rumor about a politician that is in no way true but it will hit the news world and get absolutly blown out of proportion. They can be compared to someone who is playing the telephone game and purposley says something completely different just to try and see what comes out of it.
Another thing the chapter touches on is the “spin” factor that most journalists do. Spinning a story is when someone portrays an angle on a certain story to be a way they want it to be. This can lead to very poor reporting. It is something very commonly done. We actually talked about it in the last class when we were talking to the Iranian students about the differences between CNN and FoxNews. How both lean one way or the other and do not ever fully tell what should really be said.