From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Fri Jun 14 2002 - 07:39:07 MDT
On Thu, Jun 13, 2002 at 07:35:34PM -0700, Samantha Atkins wrote:
>
> There is also a very efficient media whitewash of news imho.
While there is a lot of bias, I think it is also overstated as a source
of sheepish behavior. I'm actually pleasantly surprised by the amount of
criticism levelled even by american media at the government's handling
of the Padilla case - for once they might actually be doing their jobs.
The next step is of course up to the public: to demand better
accountability and transparency.
Media might not determine what we think, but may be defining what is
regarded as views that can be debated publicly. If nobody in the media
we experience ever says a certain view, we make the assumption that this
view is not part of the official discussion. In general many people
will also not speak about this view, since they feel that others will
not regard it as a suitable thing to discuss. So either we feel left out
(if we hold this view) or assume it is being actively silenced, and keep
to our own small communities. But the real reason a view is not
represented may simply be lack of knowledge from the journalists, or
that it is not regarded as relevant - nobody else is covering it! So
there is a self-reinforcing tendency here. But once a view has been made
"public", usually quite a bit of support suddenly crops up.
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/ GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 09:14:47 MST