Just because you saw it on the TV news or read it on a news website doesn’t mean it is exactly as reported or even true in some cases. There is a significant difference between a news story and a news report and even a report can be biased by leaving out certain facts that can sway people’s perception of the events. Bias can be demonstrated in simply choosing to report the comments of an individual from a street poll without sharing an opposing view implying that it is fact. Photographs can also slant the report.
Let’s look at some headlines from today to demonstrate how news can deliver different views of the same facts.
Here is an example from Reuters News and FOX News. While the headlines are almost identical, you can see the photos from the stories portray the President quite differently. Reuters has the President looking quite regal with a confident facial expression and the warm lights behind him. The FOX News photo shows an awkward angle and posture of the President with a pole in the shot and a grimace on his face.
Reuters Headline: Obama Declares Swine Flu A National Emergency
Reuters Photo:
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE59N19E20091025
FOX Headline: Obama Declares H1N1 Flu ‘National Emergency’
FOX Photo:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/10/24/obama-declares-hn-flu-national-emergency/
International Media is also an interesting source of news reporting discrepancy and bias. Let’s take a look at some different views of the US Journalists arrested in North Korea:
North Korean News Story:
KCNA Detailed Report on Truth about Crimes Committed by American Journalists
“The preliminary investigation proved that they had a confab on producing and broadcasting a documentary slandering the DPRK” “At the trial the accused admitted that what they did were criminal acts committed, prompted by the political motive to isolate and stifle the socialist system of the DPRK by faking up moving images aimed at falsifying its human rights performance and hurling slanders and calumnies at it.”
US News Story:
Reporters: We were ‘dragged’ back to N. Korea
“Two American television reporters imprisoned in North Korea for months say communist soldiers “violently dragged” them back when they returned to Chinese soil after briefly crossing into the reclusive country. “The two said some parts of their captivity were too painful to revisit publicly, but their experiences “pale when compared to the hardship facing so many people living in North Korea or as illegal immigrants in China.”
Sometimes the media is biased to promote a certain political view or to either expose or hide something in order to sway public opinion. It falls on the media consumer to discard, counterbalance or supplement the messages in order to weed out propaganda.
Thanks for sharing the images. The difference between them is very obvious, and the intention of the second one quite clear.
The reporting on North Korea is also very interesting. Both reports leave out important parts of the story. While the North Korean report does not mention that the reporters were tricked into crossing the border and eventually violently dragged over, the US news story does not mention that the reporters were working on a story critical of North Korea that they – from their perspective – had some reason to be concerned about. (Other US news reports have been mentioning that though.)
Also makes me think about the power of images from the “Ad and the Ego” film