Jessica Toyber
CAS 283
In today’s modern society, mass media controls approximately everything. I mean, precisely everything, the whole enchilada. The media can take virtually any piece of information, whether it be a major event, a political dispute, celebrity gossip, or any other eye-opening reports and broadcast them so particularly, to the point where Americans will interpret the news report in any way the newscast desires them to. On average, American people devote 50 hours per of their attention on an assortment of technologies that disclose mainstream media. How do humans allow their thoughts and mind to be manipulated by something as trivial as a news report about global warming or upcoming elections? The revered preservation of the United States’ free press has transformed into something rather negative, as more and more humans become infatuated with current events.
While examining this matter of media brainwash further, I stumbled upon a website titled truth-out.org. In an extensive and detailed article, Dr Cynthia Boaz (the author) analyzes an exceptionally renowned broadcast network, Fox News. Boaz goes as deep as listing several techniques that Fox(as well as many other major news companies) use to influence their watcher’s sentiments on a variety of modern day topics. Panic mongering, as the writer uses to describe news that could evokes anxiety and/or fear inside viewers, is one of Fox’s more preeminent techniques. By constantly alerting the audience of all of the dreadful affairs taking place in our country and in the world as a whole, spectators are caught in a perpetual state of distress. Repetitive misfortune -despite the fact that not all negativity in the media affects a person directly, is a foolproof tactic of evading human sensibility. With a limited sense of comprehension, a person can struggle to cogitate rationally, which makes the human brain susceptible to accepting any information presented to them. An additional rather remarkable method of thought exploitation is applicable to Fox’s classification. The news never fails to take a distinct attack of an individual and convert a personal critique into an assessment of that individual’s morals, intelligence, character, as well as the group of people they associate with. Whether the headline concerns the ‘abominable hippies’, ‘corrupt politicians’, or ‘repugnant greek life’, media excels in the art of taking a single being’s actions and broadcasting their specific action in relation to the entire society they represent. Yet another eye-opening technique of media persuasion is displayed through their revision of history. I myself, have caught the media deliberately taking pieces of history and thoroughly deceiving the viewers with false misconceptions. I find this to be moderately comical, why would you choose to broadcast false historical information when on any given day, a person can google the correct information and prove that the entire news report was fluffed? A technique with the most controversy is interlinked with the Christian God. Fox, among other media producers, regularly bring the topic of Christianity and a higher being into their news reports, even supposing the conversation has nothing to do with faith. By forcing spirituality into the discussion, a negative outlook on all things (religions) dissimilar is unconsciously molded into the brains of viewers. A better explanation for this concept is situated around the foundation of modern day racism in an American society. By negatively highlighting a group of people based on their background,color, or culture, mainstream media is effectively and subconsciously implementing xenophobia.
Awareness is the only method of discontinuing media propaganda and news brainwashing. If more articles (such as the one I have attached below) are placed in the spotlight and more awareness of this underground form of propaganda is made relevant, humans will be able to think for themselves, without the assistance and support of mainstream mass media.
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/1964:fourteen-propaganda-techniques-fox-news-uses-to-brainwash-americans
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