I should confess I had been away from ‘mainstream media’ and ‘social media’ for a long time already… and the fact of coming in contact with it again has left me in a state that has gone from very painful headaches to small signs of depression.
Being bombarded by ‘Trump stories’ and campaigns that have been important in the other side of the world, “where I still don’t belong” and seeing how everyone talks about the same things tirelessly, have raised these questions in me:
Why does media keep people talking about the same things endlessly?
Does media want to make sure we have reasons to argue with each other?
Does media want to keep us from enjoying life in a different way?
I guess these questions might not come as something new to some of you… You probably have asked yourself the same questions, or you probably take the news you consume for granted.
I thought I have got over it a long time ago, but to be honest, I realised I still feel affected by what is shown to me in the news… and I never take it for granted.
I still feel affected by what is shown to me in the news… and I never take it for granted.
Last Friday, 14th of October 2016, I was trying to enjoy my day while still wanting to feed my curiosity and grabbed a copy of the “Evening Standard” and found it offensive and depressing to face in the first page this unpleasant image:
I then asked myself… Why does this deserve to be seen by thousands of people?
Wouldn’t it be better to have a beautiful landscape like this one instead?
Is media corroding our minds and hearts more than the events themselves?
I believe these questions will remain unanswered until we do something to change what is presented to us and the priority we give to what is shown and what is not shown in the news.
As difficult as it might seem I still have hope that we can focus on presenting different content and changing the way we tell stories to enrich our lives without ignoring what is important.
Note to readers: This post is part of my reflections of Critical Issues in Campaigning at the University of Westminster MA in Media Campaigning and Social Change.
Your blog raises very important issues about media and the disseminated content. The ‘sad’ truth is that ‘negative, sensational’ news sells best, which raises an important question because if there weren’t demand for the type of news, then perhaps the content would be different? Does this raise issues about our values as a society? Looking forward to reading more from you !
Thank you Patricia for your comment and the interesting questions you suggest to be considered.
I’m not sure if everyone demands the “negative type” of content… even though there are people who might enjoy it, how can we be sure that the majority of people want this type of news?
I think there are still people who are internally begging to have other type of news and are consuming the “negative type” because they have to, not because they want to. Or even others that have been trying to ignore the news, “just to protect themselves” from all this constant assault.
This makes me think about the ideas of power, and also invites me to reflect on the fact of who’s in charge of controlling what deserves to be seen and what doesn’t deserve to be seen?
It is necessary to analyse and understand concepts such as mass psychology (Bernays, 1928) and collective emotions (Von Scheve and Salmela, 2014) to get to the root of this issue. By doing so, we are more likely to figure out how the invisible power of the collective unconscious (Jung, 1936) is being driven by other spheres of power such as the media (hidden power), and by governmental decisions (visible power) (Gaventa, 2006).
Besides, it is important to understand how this invisible power of individual psychologies and collective psychologies drive the media and influence governmental decisions as well, and see it as a system of interrelationships and reciprocity, rather than an unidirectional- approach where collective psychologies are mainly suffering, without acknowledging that they are the ones who are also creating the problem. This might be related again to the idea of what is in demand.
Does everyone want the same thing? Probably not. Maybe there are some people who would find the beautiful landscape offensive.
Media and government are made of people, they are not just “systems” on their own. So I believe that by analyzing the individual, we might start getting to an interesting point of understanding of these complex landscapes.
Very interesting – I think it’s good to give a critical analysis of the “Trump” related media coverage. I really enjoyed reading this!
Persoonally, I have found some of the more interesting articles about Trump in various blogs around the internet.
However, we have to wondered whether there is indeed a general “appetite” for trump related coverage or whether in actual fact the media are simply covering it because it is sensational and sells papers (and therefore profit from it!).
Thank you for your comment Alex, it would be interesting to read some or the articles you mentioned about Trump and see the way people contribute to create stories.
I also invite you to read my new post where I analyse, with a little bit more depth, issues related to framing and power relations and how they affect what is presented to us in the media and how it is consumed by us.
I have felt very much like this with the needless media time given to Nigel Farage 🙁 UKIP has just one MP yet its treated like a major party and Farage has been invited to take part in debates where the Green Party have been excluded (also one MP). Some media are telling us what to be interested in and what’s ‘important’ – grrr…!!!
Hi Ellie, thanks for your views about this post. I am now interested in reading about Nigel Farage and the Green party now that you mentioned them, as I am still new about UK politics it might be good for me to be more up-to-date. I hope to come across a variety of media resources so I can get a better idea. However, there will always be issues of framing and power relations that contribute to shaping these stories. You might be interested to read my new post about framing and power. Thank you.
During the (very long) presidential campaign in Austria I have felt as frustrated with this as you. There was barely coverage of actual policies the candidates were going to implement. It was mostly dirty fights and shockers. Sadly, also the content-filters on social media work as a catalyst for that phenomenon.
Thank you Lina for your views and for introducing this interesting topic about ‘content-filters’ on social media platforms. An interesting topic to continue reflecting on and writing about. Thanks your the inspiration!
What did you do about your frustration? Did you find a solution about it? I’m interested to know how people handle these type of feelings which are important as I believe they respond to not only an individual but collective symptom but we are mostly scared of voicing it out for different reasons.
You might find interesting to read this new post on power relations and framing where I analyse how media contributes to shaping our voice and also reflect about the extent in which our voice is being heard.
Very Interesting and fascinating blog post… I actually appreciate the fact that you look at the media representations of campaigns.
Your questions on Why does media keep talking about the same things endlessly? Does media want to make sure we have reasons to argue with each other? Does media want to keep us from enjoying life in a different way?
Your answers to this questions are far fetched looking at the fact that most media outfits are essentially for profit and would keep looking at the same angle at which their audiences would like to read or find attractive. Looking at angles such as Prominence and controversial piece.
Thank you Gidado for your comment. I find very interesting the reflection you made and I’m now interested in analyzing the concepts of angles, prominence and controversy. Thanks for the inspiration!
You might also find interesting to read a new reflection I made about power relations and framing and how they contribute to shape the news that are presented to us and what our role is in this complex scenario.
Thanks for your blog, it is am interesting read! I agree, it would be so refreshing to see a different type of storytelling portrayed in our media. Have you heard of Positive News? (www.positive.news) It is a magazine that exists to share positive media stories, I reckon you would enjoy it 🙂
Thank you Kit for sharing this interesting source of information. I will certainly read it. However, I believe whether positive or negative, there’s always going to be framing in the stories that are presented and also in the way we digest and understand those stories. Here’s a new post I wrote about power relations and framing that you might be interested in reading, where I delve more about this topic.
I think this is a very honest and clearly explained piece, which a lot of people would naturally relate to. It brings about some interesting points regarding the relationship between politics and the media, who the key actors are and how prevalent, now more than ever, the elitist group of people who own the majority of the media are. I agree with your comments around not everyone wants to see such vivid imagery shown in your example but would assert that this is common practice for a tabloid newspaper, although this does not negate from the over arching point that it is vulgar and unnecessary. Picking up on Alexander’s point regarding his experience of selecting the articles he wishes to read about Trump via the internet, I wonder how much of the public’s opinion on the matter was influenced by the rhetoric spun by elitists who own the majority of the newspapers compared to the ever changing, vast sea of opinions that the internet has to offer.
Thank you Bridey for your interesting comment about this post. I believe there are several actors that influence power relations that also contribute to framing the stories. The civil society certainly has a role in this complex scenario. However, it’s an issue that requires further thought. You might be interested in reading my new post about power relations and framing where I pose new questions and some insights about this topic.
I could not agree more with you! Thank you for this insightful blog post. You do raise some very important issue about media. I do think that mainstream media are getting worse and worse. Thankfully, in our inter connected society getting ‘new framing’ and information is getting easier!
Hi Polly, thanks for your views. I’m glad you found these observations insightful! I like the idea of ‘new framing’ as you put it. I would be interested to hear more about your perspective on what ‘new framing’ is and how do you think it is simplifying things for us. Is it related to the idea of citizen journalism?
Here’s an interesting article about citizen journalism and framing in crisis communications that you might find interesting to read.
You might also want to read my new post on framing and power relations.
Rather despairingly Trump is a controversial, marketable and newsworthy figure. For better or for worse he garners interest among and wide readership from every faction of the global political spectrum. However, I wholly agree with your sentiment- why does such a disproportionate amount of news coverage focus on him and more specifically, his public facade? The media should have a responsibility to objectively inform us about more pressing humanitarian and environmental issues. Sadly, ours is a quixotic view to have.
Thank you for your comment. No matter how quixotic, we will face the challenge!