Manipulation of Information with Mass Media
September 17th, 2006
Written By: Adam Sussman
The last post I wrote on the 9/11 documentary had me thinking about how easy it is for film editors to take footage from one source which represented one type of story and use parts of it to recreate a completely opposite message.
I am not saying the documentary I posted about in the previous post was a combination of manipulated archive footage but I will admit that while watching it, the thought had crossed my mind.
Sometimes it is difficult to spot media manipulation and propaganda, other times it is just obvious.
Do you remember Stanley Kubricks’ 1980 masterpiece, The Shining? It was a horrific movie with Jack Nicholson going psycho on his family while caretaking a fancy hotel in the death of winter in the Colorado Rockies.
In this funny clip, taking the same footage from the movie, a little slicing and dicing and a friendly voice over one can create any message they want.
September 19th, 2006 01:38
Amazing!
September 19th, 2006 22:05
so when’s this version coming out? lol, music and mood do make a lot of difference
September 20th, 2006 16:11
Our media has known this game for years. The New York Time and Big 3 Network news organizations had a monopoly for 50 years on the “truth”. Young, idealistic Columbia School types, who were 90% liberal, have been coloring the news for general consumption. Now, with the internet, they no longer have the “Truth” all to themselves. Perception of issues are not just through the lense of 5th & Lexington anymore!
Take Chavez speaking today at the UN calling our President… OUR AMERICAN PRESIDENT “El Diablo”. He had the audacity and temerity to spill his vile while standing on American Soil. If you watched the media, however, they have responded like this vehement Marxist is a hero. He wants to team up with Iran, corner the global market for oil, all for the purpose to hurt and eventually kill the United States economy. But CNN, Katy Couric et al, are reporting with amusement… like it was a light-hearted romp through the Upper East Side. Very scary, very dangerous… Truth is, the news-writers are underpaid Manhattan wanna-be socialites that all talk together over beers. They all believe the same social and political issues. They are all anti-Bush. They all believe that anyone West of the Hudson is a hayseed, ignorant, wacko. You know… one of those “Christian Fundamentalists”. Anyone that thinks differently is EVIL.
So, when you watch or hear the news… ask yourself. Did the human being who wrote that news article vote for Kerry, Bush, Nader, Kucinich, etc. Ask yourself, did they completely take a neutral approach to the story, or did they somehow (however inavertently) color their story.
FACT: 90% of all news stories, in newspapers and television stations throughout the US get their news from one source. The New York Time. Even the main three networks. Don’t believe me? Turn on the news and flip channels between Katy, Brian, and whoever is on ABC. Why are the SAME STORIES discussed in almost the exact same order!!! Thats the only news that is happening in the world? The order of importance is percieved exactly the same at all Producers meetings? Hell no. You, me and everyone else in this coutry are fed a constant diet of news as percieved by Left of Center, generally idealistic, 5th & Lexington types, who believe that Hugo Chavez is actually not far off base.
September 20th, 2006 16:42
Excellent point’s Shrubber!
Flipping between CNN and FOX in the mornings I do find the topics of news being reported to be the same just with an apparent bias toward the left or right.
I do not think it is possible take a complete neutral approach to telling the news. A news station taking a neutral approach would be asking too much from their viewers; too think.
If I want to know about Tom Cruises’ and Katie Holmes baby or to get the low down on that sexy model teacher who slept with her 15 year old student then I might tune in to watch Couric and Lauer.
September 20th, 2006 17:01
Thanks… if you are unable to think based on news reports, then how are the masses going to be informed enough to vote?
The problem is that if people are only watching to hear about Tom & Katy, they may get just enough biased news to form an opinion… that is a disservice to our country.
Very cool site! Loved the Shining clip
P.S. Why didn’t my High School teachers look like that!!!
September 21st, 2006 08:12
What’s the matter with Chavez? That he won’t open his country up to be exploited by American corporations? That he wants to socialize his economy? That he wants the poor to have the same equity in the country as the rich? Or just that he won’t fall into line when told?
September 21st, 2006 20:19
“That he wants to socialize the economy?” ummm…YEAH!!!
Do you know what socialism is? There is no such thing as equity for all citizens. It is simply impossible and can never or has never existed.
Have you seen how Cubas citizens are enjoying their equity? There is not a building or car that isn’t falling apart!!!
Greg, there has to be incentive and free markets. Otherwise you have what is happening in Venezuala… Most people are poor, poor, POOR… and a very few people, like Chavez, (whos government owns their oil supply BTW), live fat.
Simple econ. 101, man!
September 22nd, 2006 10:33
Shrubber, it would appear that you have your philospohies confused. Cuba is a communist nation, and Venezuela is a democratic socialist nation. The two are completely different.
Additionally, it is the free markets that you prescribe that Mr. Chavez wants so much to avoid. He has seen what opening your country up to “free trade” with the US can do. The underlying disdain harbored by US foregin policy towards Venezuela is based upon Chavez’s unwillingness to open his country up to American corporate interests. It has nothing to do with their social programs, human rights, or any legitimate reason for international concern. We are not allowed to pillage his economy, and now our leaders are having a collective temper tantrum.
September 22nd, 2006 16:56
No confusion here! Whatever one wants to label their political systems, Chavez looks to Castros’ Cuba as the primary model to run his country. Like Castro, Chavez has run Venezuela down into a sea of red ink, massive unemployment and nationwide discord. Chavez has already rewritten the constitution, stacked the courts and begun throwing political opponents into jail. People are being jailed who simply think and speak differently than Chavez. Are not Leftists against this????
Here’s the main concern though… With billions of dollars in oil profits, Chavez is buying advanced Russian fighter planes and helicopters, dramatically increasing the size of his armed forces and integrating it with Cuba’s. Castro and “Mr.” Chavez want to bilaterally dominate an entire block of Latin American countries and convert them into anti-American, leftist run states. Chavez truly believes that Bush was behind an attempted coup- He is wrong, but the man has made it personal, and is now hell-bent on taking on Washington. He is a dangerous megalomaniac. He has the money and the means to do it. When you have left wing ideologues, the likes of Nancy Pelosi, calling him a thug you know he is a problem!
Now, lets take a look at the FACTS relating to open and true free trade. We have over 12 years of proof with our closest neighbor in the Western Hemisphere: Canada. As a result of NAFTA, there is a staggering volume of trade - the equivalent of over $1.4 billion a DAY in goods, services & investment income. In 2005, total trade between the two countries was approximately $500 billion. Canada is a larger market for U.S. goods than all 25 countries of the European Community combined, whose population is more than 15 times that of Canada. (according to US Commerce Dept)
How is that pillaging an economy? We are sending more money into Canada than they are sending to us.
Allow the marketplace to determine it’s value through open economies and the society benefits as a whole. No system is perfect, but you can’t have a government control who becomes the “have’s and have-nots”. It has never worked.
Venezuela, meanwhile is posting inflation at 15%!!! Their welfare costs have gone through the roof with Chavez and their largest source of income is the government owned oil supplies. Once the US finds a way to rely less on foreign oil (which we need to do immediately!!!), Venezuela and the Left-Wing hero, Chavez, will become just another third-world despot complaining about “US Imperialism.”
Look, as I said, no system is perfect. I think that the GOP lead congress spends and wastes too much of our hard earned tax dollars. However, there is also a reason why people all over this planet (minus a few million Muslim fanatics) want to live in the US. Our economy is the strongest on the globe. Unemployment is at historic lows. The standard of living is higher than any other country.
We are the envy of the world, which is why we are also a target.
September 22nd, 2006 23:39
Whew! Interesting how things de-evolve.
First, regarding the “liberal media”… There is no such thing. Media is nothing more than a transmission device, and the content transmitted is as diverse as the populations that are served by them. Liberal? Well, yes. The op-ed sections of many of our major publications may seem to have a bit of a “liberal” skew, but primarily due to the basic nature of true journalism (see Freedom of Press, which is usually restricted in “right wing” governments, hence burning of books under Nazis, gulags for authors in Soviet Union… if lucky, and “gag orders” in the US.) Freedom of Speech is a “left wing” issue.
That said, let’s look at our “traditional” media. TV, Radio, Newspapers and Magazines. Well, it doesn’t take a genius to see that MSNBC has a definite liberal skew, and that FNC is over the top neo-con. CNN, which is a bit more neutral is the only other news channel worth mentioning (CNBC,HLN,TWC, CNNFN, Bloomberg, etc. are either topic specific or have no steady viewership… they are just NEWS). The earlier should not be considered news anymore, they are opinion channels. So throw Sean Hannity against Wolf Blitzer and it’s even. O’Reilly against Olberman, they cancel each other, and on and on.
Oh and if anyone thinks the “Big 3″ have any influence re NEWS anymore, just look at the reviews of Katie Couric’s debut on the network of Murrow, Cronkite and Severeid. All anyone cared about was that she wore white. Shows you how much value “Network News” is worth anymore.
TV: Bias… even
Radio: Well, let’s throw out the disappointing Air America, and find me more than two “liberal” radio hosts. Imus? Not much of a following, few stations. Stern? Well, does he ever talk about anything other than himself, tits/ass, or farting anymore? How about Rush, O’Reilly, Hannity, Savage, et.al. for the right. It’s not even close… radio is DOMINATED by the right (see who Clearchannel supports).
Magazines: Hmmm. Newsweek is definitely left, as are the Nation and National Enquirer. The right has Mort Zuckerman (editor in chief of US NEWS and publisher of NY Daily News), as well as the Weekly Standard, National Review, Front Page, Commentary and Commentary. Time tends to be pretty much bland and neutral.
Edge: No one.
Daily Papers: NY Times v NY Post. Well, one is the paper of record, and the other lines bird cages. However, in the op-ed section, NYT has always had righties, and the comPost never had a lib.
Chicago Trib v Sun Times: Both pretty good. SunTimes has Novak. Sorry the Trib gets more readers.
Wash Post v Wash Times: See NY. Nobody’s ever accused G. Will or C. Krauthammer of being lefties. Not even Bill Kristol!
Fact is most of the great newspapers keep political bias out of the news and put it where it belongs… in the editorials. Best example: WSJ. The news frequently makes the administration look bad (often breaking stories to that affect), while the editorial page makes Fred Barnes look tame.
There are plenty of bad pubs, TV shows, radio programs and so on, and plenty of good ones too. If you want to be informed, just look around, it’s all available to you if you want it. If you aren’t willing to work that hard, you don’t deserve to vote (maybe we should make requirements for voting… like getting ID cards, we could make people get IQ cards).
As for Hugo… only an imbecile would not know that he’s an insane dictator. What would you expect, he comes from a true Banana Republic (see history of, when it was one with Equador, the largest exporter of bananas).
Sure he spews his vitriol towards US, and particularly at our President, and flaunts his “love” for Fidel and Che, and Simon Bolivar. It’s how he makes his place in history. Can you tell me who was president of Venezuela in 1986? He uses the U.S.’s own history against us and makes headlines with it. He’s famous for heading a third rate country that has some oil. That’s all.
While you, Shrubber, were focusing on his inane remarks meant to get him on TV, you neglected to hear his memorial to Orlando Letelier. Well, back in the 70s, I was producing a series of documentaries on Latin America for the UC and CSU systems. I interviewed Sr. Letelier three days before he was assassinated in DC (blew up his car in front of the embassy). Sr. Letelier was appointed by the freely elected and immensely popular Salvador Allende, who was overthrown in a coup sponsored by the US (see Operation Condor thru FOIA) and which put Augusto Pinochet in his place (look up what a bastard he was). At the same time, we supported similar dictators like Somosa, which gave rise to radical leftists like Daniel Ortega (see Iran-Contra Scandal)and, yes, Hugo Chavez.
The poor people of these republics have never had the opportunity of true freedom like we have been blessed with, because larger nations like Spain, Portugal, USSR an USA have always exploited them. We have a history of depriving these people of freedom, not supporting it. As such, we empower scum like Chavez to take control of their countries.
In short, yes, Chavez is one Crazy fuck, but just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean that someone isn’t really after you.