Saturday, June 14, 2008

A reason not to trust the media

The media has biases and will use just about any technique to further their agenda. I was involved in a pro-life demonstration a few years ago. About 3000 pro-lifers showed up and there were 4, count them 4, pro-aborts who moved up and down the line shouting.

Now 3000 people is a pretty large protest around where i live. You get a couple of hundred people to protest the war or to support gay marriage and you'll get a ton of media coverage.

But for this protest the only coverage the main local newspaper gave was a photo, no article. The photo was of 3 pro-lifers, and all 4 of the pro-aborts. The caption was something like "Pro-Choice and anti-abortion protesters demonstrated yesterday".

Similarly in the run up to the first gulf war we were told by the media that the M1 tank and the M3 IFV(Infantry Fighting Vehicle) would be disasters and death traps. In reality they helped our troops win while minimizing casualties and the troops loved them. Of course there were no retractions or apologies from the media.

So from my experience the media will do just about anything to further their position. Truth is a much lower priority for them.

1 comment:

Kate said...

Wait a second . . . your daughter is about to join the media. You can't lump them all together into one massive stereotype anymore--it'll totally hurt my cred.

But you know . . . truth schumuth.