Posted by Quisani on Jul 1, 2009 in
Essays and Ideas <!– /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:”"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –>
The intense opening music fades as the fast-pace animations are replaced by a well-dressed, handsome newscaster wearing a look of utmost determination. He warmly greets the audience before telling them about the latest tragedy that has occurred in the last twenty-four hours. Following this story are the latest claims of political corruption and incompetence, the hourly threats and demands made by third-world dictators and terrorist groups, the next imminent pandemic and the newest threats toward national security and international stability. All this happens before the first commercial break. The news show continues in this way for an hour, shocking story after shocking story and the program finally concludes with a heartwarming story of a heroic animal, an active centurial citizen, or some overly-ambitious schoolchildren. As the show ends, the newscaster gives a patriotic farewell to all those loyal viewers as patriotic music slowly builds up in the background. One last dramatic animation marks the final moment of the show.
The above scenario is exaggerated. At some point during the newscast the weather and sports are mentioned. Other than this little oversight, the scenario is accurate and depicts the way almost every new station presents the news. Every news station since the advent of the television broadcasts in the mid twentieth century has followed this basic format and there are no signs of any station changing this format anytime soon. Today, all of the news stations claim to be fair or unbiased and the best source for current news and all of them are politically skewed in one manner or the other, which none of them dare to admit. They will however, gladly point out the bias of any of their competitors Whether or not that is true is up to debate, because there is an even more pressing question that the media complexes rarely, if ever, broach. Do the broadcast media suppress important news stories in favor of more sensational ones? When the evidence is examined, it becomes irrefutable that the media does.
The technical name for the format of broadcast journalism is known as current affairs. Under this format, events that have occurred recently, or are in the progress of occurring, are discussed and analyzed. This is different from other forms of journalism in several regards. Broadcast journalism is more current than other forms of journalism. Events that are in progress can be discussed on a news network, while it may take anywhere from a day to a month for issues to be covered by other media outlets, with the exception of the internet. Another defining aspect of the news networks is that they have a time constraint that other media outlets don’t have. News programs have only an hour or so, with commercials, to inform viewers about pertinent news. This is where the problems arise. Stations managers have to begin deciding which stories are important enough to air and which ones are ignored. When taking into consideration that there are two or three other news networks competing for viewers at roughly the same time, managers have to choose news reports that are not only geared towards large audiences, but also are eye catching. The manager has to make a choice to sacrifice hard hitting journalism or to potentially sacrifice viewership. More often than not, journalism is sacrificed. At that point, a crime is committed. The viewer is no longer being informed, the viewer is being infotained.
This crime of infotainment doesn’t necessarily go against the principles of journalism, but rather against the unspoken code of conduct towards presenting the most pertinent news towards the uninformed. When infotainment occurs, the news is still being presented, because all news is news. The problem is that the most pertinent news isn’t always shown. Instead of being shown the recent developments in biofuel technology, the viewers are given the latest faux pas of the newest promiscuous starlet in Hollywood. Instead of discussing the work being done by the American Army in Afghanistan to improve the people’s conditions, the viewers are told about Michele Obama installing a playground on the White House lawns or the latest frivolous lawsuit. Instead of discussing starvation in third-world nations, we hear about PETA’s disapproval over a death of a fly.
As mentioned earlier, a large part of the problem is the time constraint imposed upon news networks. Some news programs have an hour to present the news, others have a continuous stream, but aside from the news ticker that runs along the bottom of the screen, they can only present one story at a time, unlike newsprint media, which can contain many stories in a single edition. Because of this, they only devote a few minutes to each story. To keep their audiences watching, they have to keep the stories entertaining and informative. They have many little tricks to keep the audience’s interests piqued. They work the stories titles to sound both at once informative and entertaining. News stories have effective titles, like the one given to this paper, to catch the viewers attentions. They pose provocative, yet vague, questions that sound intriguing, like “Does a common household product cause cancer? But can a simple fruit prevent it?” These question keep viewers interested.
The time constraint mentioned is even more noticeable when you consider that news stations are always getting new stories. It is nearly impossible to go back and discuss the technical innovation that occurred a few days ago when you have to report about the homicide that occurred less than an hour before. Because of this, not every story can be covered.
There are some out there who would say that my claim is too audacious to be verifiable. They would say that the media doesn’t suppress important stories, that all news is important new. Well, when the deaths of two famous stars, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson, take up a several hours of discussion on all three major news outlets (FOX News, CNN, MSNBC), it can be concluded that this “human interest” story has taken precedence over other news items, such as Congress’s climate change bill or China’s call for a universal currency.
When rationalized, it makes sense why media outlets print sensational stories. They are not the cause, but rather the symptom of the short attention span of viewers. The viewers are apathetic and desensitized towards world events, and as such, pay attention to the stories that evoke strong responses, which are the most sensational of stories. The viewers need to break out from these patterns and demand the proper news they deserve. Only then will the news be reported as it should. I’m Sean Quinonez and this has been the evening news. Goodnight and God bless America.
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Works Cited
ekswitaj. “Sex, Murder, and Media Sensationalism: Amanda Knox and Meredith Kercher” Gender Across Borders Weblog postin. 12 Jun 2009. 20 Jun 2009 <http://genderacrossborders.wordpress.com/2009/06/12/amanda-knox/>
Amir, Ilai. “Sensationalism in the media.” JustFocus. 11 Aug 2005. 20 Jun 2009. <http://www.justfocus.org.nz/2005/08/sensationalism-in-the-media/>
Noble, Jason. “Sensationalism plagues television media.” Iowa State Daily. 1892. Iowa State University. 13 Nov 2003. 20 Jun 2009 <http://media.www.maristcircle.com/media/storage/paper659/news/2003/11/13/Opinion/Sensationalism.Plagues.Television.Media-556183.shtml>
Ransohoff, David and Richard Ransohoff. “Sensationalism in the Media: When Scientists and Journalists May Be Complicit Collaborators.” Effective Clinical Practice. (2001). 20 Jun 2009. <http://www.upf.edu/pcstacademy/_docs/200108_ransohoff.pdf>
MacManus, Richard. “On Sensationalism and New Media.” ReadWriteWeb. 9 Feb 2006. 20 Jun 2009. <http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/on_sensationali.php>
“Media charged with sensationalism.” Bio-Medicine. 2003. Bio-Medicine. 23 Jun 2006. 20 Jun 2009. <http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-news/Media-Charged-With-Sensationalism-09-11540-1/>
Tags: 5, jackson, media, michael, Sensationalism
Posted by Quisani on Jun 27, 2009 in
Uncategorized This, my readers, is what we call the news. Instead of discussing the positive things being done at home and abroad, such as the aid of the modernization of Afghanistan, we are talking about a couple. A couple who fought with Cheetos. My God, what have we come to in this country? Why must this banal chatter about two idiots befeatured on the main page of MSN?
Now many of you might say, “hey, this is just a story, and an interesting one at that.” It is, no doubt, but do six sentances deserve notice of the major media powers? This is a shame to America and a shame to journalists.
Posted by Quisani on Jun 24, 2009 in
Uncategorized As North Korea takes steps closer to acheiving the technological level necessary to fire rockets across the Pacific Ocean, officals are cooperating less and less with international authorities.
If we let this situation escalate furthur, there is a good chance that we will come to a Mexican stand-off with this rouge nation. When we reach this point, a conflict will begin and no amount of diplomacy will be able to ease the tension. We are dealing with a bully here, whose testing how far he can push around everyone else. When we repremand, they apologize, like a repremanded child, but as soon after any agreement has been made, they push again, harder than before. They have nothing to lose by continuing their program, and a lot to gain if they can succeed. If they do, and continue to push, they could very well cause a global conflict on a scale never seen before.
Posted by Quisani on May 25, 2009 in
Uncategorized Welcome to the May 21, 2009 edition of the carnival of conservatives.
Robert Fenn presents Salvation Is From the Jews posted at Salvation Is From the Jews.
Mikkal Travvis presents American Christians Approve Of Torture? posted at The Last Days.
Dan Melson presents HR 1728: Proof That This Congress Is In the Pockets of Big Banks posted at Searchlight Crusade.
Conservatist
Robert Fenn presents Salvation Illustrations posted at Salvation Is From the Jews.
Curry Kenworthy presents Photo Sharing posted at Curry Kenworthy, saying, “We get a closer glimpse of the real Obama in this candid photo.”
Eric Gargiulo presents The future of America? We Need To Look Else Where, Fast! posted at CamelClutchBlog.com, saying, “So now the republicans want change? They seem to have a new leader in the form of ultra conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh. Since when did he become such a powerful force in the Republican Party? That is scary.”
Liberalist
GrrlScientist presents Tough Love for City’s Homeless: Pay Rent or Get Out! posted at Living the Scientific Life, saying, “Sounding like a story that is fresh out of the satirical newspaper, The Onion, the eighth richest person in America tells thousands of homeless families (most of whom are single working mothers) in NYC to pay rent to live in a shelter or GET OUT!”
Libertarianist
DWSUWF presents The Arrogance of “Hope” posted at Divided We Stand United We Fall, saying, “Obama has been compared to many past Presidents. Some see, FDR, LBJ or JFK. He has been compared to Jimmy Carter and even to GWB. Perhaps all of these comparisons are wrong, and the comparison that is most apt, is a comparison to the arrogance of Richard Nixon, as exemplified by the money quote in the Frost/Nixon interview -”When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.”"
Other…ist
Banquet Manager presents World History Lesson: Conservative vs Liberal posted at So You Want To Be a Banquet Manager….
KP Silverman presents Don’t Call It a Comeback posted at Kpsilverman’s Weblog.
Kilroy_60 presents Send In The Clowns? They’re Already Here. posted at Fear And Loathing - The Gonzo Papers.
Yoav B presents Waiting for Churchill posted at Israeli Soldier’s LIFE & THOUGHTS, saying, “Posted on the special historical date of May 10th, this post discusses the world’s approach towards the Iranian nuclear program. Written from the perspective of a a soldier serving in a field unit in the IDF (Israeli Defence Force).”
Wenchypoo presents Keeping Up With the Enemy posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo’s Mental Wastebasket.
Wenchypoo presents Now I’M Changing the Marketing Plan posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo’s Mental Wastebasket.
That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of the carnival of conservatives using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
Posted by Quisani on May 16, 2009 in
Current Events (National) I am a conservative at heart, be even before that, I am someone who believes that there are certain rights that shall not be abridged, by either Republicans or Democrats, Liberals or Conservatives. These rights includes the freedoms of speech and protest. Now, I may not agreed with the protesters who spoke out against Bush, but I understood that it was their right to protest. What I agree with less, though, is silencing those who would protest through intimidation.
Now, some of the people arrested up at Notre Dame were not just your average schmucks. Alan Keyes, who ran in the 2008 presidential election under the American Independent Party. Here is a debate between Keyes and Obama regarding abortion and the death penalty. Others include Catholic Rev. Norman Weslin and 24 others. Norma “Roe” McCovery was among the protesters.
Tags: Abortion, Alan Keyes, Norte Dame, Obama, Roe v. Wade
Posted by Quisani on May 14, 2009 in
Uncategorized
What Republicans need is a mutiny
Instead, the public’s image of the GOP is that it is incompetent (think Hurricane Katrina), corrupt (think Jack Abramoff, Randy “Duke” Cunningham, etc.) and without principles (think wild spending, bailouts, earmarks and a lack of a true conservative vision). Republicans can try smoke and mirrors, but they really need new leaders who will reverse the big-government policies of Bush 43 and congressional Republicans and articulate and move a conservative agenda forward.
Democrats have nothing to fear from today’s Republican Party leaders. That’s why Democrats have taken to targeting Rush Limbaugh and others who aren’t in formal leadership positions in the GOP but who forcefully articulate a conservative vision.
Republicans need the political equivalent of Alcoholics Anonymous. First, they must admit their problem (many are in denial). Next, they must promise never to do it again. Then they must recognize what caused the problem (”Washingtonitis,” abandoning the principles of the party and allowing people who didn’t believe in the principles of the party to assume leadership positions). Last, when in a hole, stop digging.
Instead, Republicans are still digging. The GOP has lost the Goldwater/Reagan vision of rolling back unconstitutional government and restoring it to its prescribed authority. Its leaders seem barely capable of fighting for basic GOP principles of low taxes, a strong national defense and traditional values.
The American people have said clearly in the last two national elections that they don’t like the GOP of Bush, Karl Rove, John McCain, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, etc. All the rebranding efforts and pandering tours won’t work as long as the party remains under the leadership of the team that was a party-wrecking disaster on the order of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Bush 41 and Bush 43.
In the 2008 election, Republicans acquiesced to the Specter/Colin Powell wing and nominated the one member of their party most famously critical of conservatives and most open to partnerships with people from across the aisle, John McCain. That obviously didn’t work.
For Republicans to remove the stigma of Bush 43 and his GOP Congress, they must be able to honestly communicate to Americans that they are “Open Under New Management” — but with old, time-tested principles.
The second debate is whether conservatives should tone down on social issues such as abortion and marriage.
Those, however, who win without principle have neither an agenda nor a mandate and rarely change anything for the better. In the history books, centrists and accommodators end up alongside James Buchanan, who compromised with slavery, and Neville Chamberlain, who compromised with Nazism. Political leaders we respect are ones who changed political reality, not those who accommodated themselves to political reality.
Leftist activists on social issues not only advocate loudly, even threateningly, they are happy to achieve their objectives through unconstitutional methods such as judicial activism.
Certainly, conservatives need to appeal not just to the faithful but must use logical and constitutional rationales on social issues. But stay quiet? I think not. What would have become of the great social and political debates of our country — slavery, segregation, suffrage — had activists acquiesced to the political establishment?
Thomas Jefferson wrote, “I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.”
The political establishment is averse to conservative boat-rockers, which is why conservatives should withhold financial support from all GOP national committees and establishment politicians but support principled organizations and candidates. They should run candidates for every party and public office except when there’s a principled incumbent conservative.
Conservatives should no longer look to Republican politicians for leadership and should assume the role of leading the opposition to Obama and the Democrats. We believe we have a party and a country to save, and the GOP establishment is in our way. Let the rebellion begin.
Richard A. Viguerie is the author of “Conservatives Betrayed: How George W. Bush and Other Big Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause
The party establishment is out to sea, so conservatives need to start rocking the boat.
By Richard A. Viguerie
May 10, 2009
Two major debates face conservative Republicans about the future of the party. The first, rekindled by Sen. Arlen Specter’s switch to the Democratic Party, is whether the GOP should move further leftward. The second is whether conservatives should tone down their advocacy on social issues. History is on the side of outspoken conservatives in both debates.
To learn where to position themselves, some big-government GOP loyalists are going on so-called listening tours. The trouble is, skulking around the country on pandering tours isn’t leadership. Politicians, lobbyists and campaign consultants who caused the problem cannot fix it. You can also rebrand damaged goods all you want, but they’re still damaged goods, which is why GOP establishment leaders are incapable of understanding the problem — it’s them.
The ascendancy of conservatives to power was done by boat-rockers, not establishment politicians. Barry Goldwater laid the foundation of reducing government to conform to the Constitution. Ronald Reagan demonstrated that the conservative vision of smaller government is one of prosperity. The Gingrich revolution started making congressional leaders the servants of the people, not vice versa.
In each case, the message was reforming the Washington establishment. President Obama’s campaign used a variation of that theme. His message of change, while obfuscated, clearly resonated with the grass roots. He remains popular, although polls show his version of change is substantially less so.
The current GOP leadership has no message or vision that appeals to the grass roots. We never hear from them the boat-rocking message of successful conservatives.
Posted by Quisani on May 12, 2009 in
Uncategorized
PRUDEN: Even a messiah loses his training wheels
By Wesley Pruden (Contact) | Tuesday, May 12, 2009
• Wesley Pruden is editor emeritus of The Washington Times
ANALYSIS/OPINION
Disconnecting the training wheels is a scary prospect for every apprentice biker, even with Daddy standing close by. We can sympathize with Barack Obama’s fright as his moment approaches. It’s not easy suddenly being on your own, paying the price of falling with your own skinned knees and bruised elbows.
Nevertheless, the dreadful moment approacheth. Anticipating D-Day, Peter Orszag, the president’s budget director, said Monday that the scarier than expected economic news - the deficit out of control, tax receipts down and costs of bailouts and “stimulus” plans up - is all the fault of George W. Bush: “It’s an economic crisis President Obama inherited.”
But Mr. Obama has already been president for more than a hundred days, and passing the hundred-day mark, irrelevant milestone as it may be, was cited as dead-solid proof that the president is the messiah he told everyone he was. Reality, however, has begun to cast a shadow over the White House, still as faint as the bright golden haze on the meadow but visible enough. “Blaming George” still makes a tingle run up the legs of all the hymn-singing true believers, but outside the embrace of the cult, that tingle is beginning to sting instead. This is Mr. Obama’s government now.
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The White House on Monday said the new estimate of the budget deficit would nearly reach $2 trillion - that’s trillion, with a “t” - and that’s nearly 13 percent of the entire gross domestic product. Pretty gross any way you spin it, and the president’s men (and women) are spinning it as best they can. Alas, the country’s predicament, if not yet the president’s, is probably worse than it looks.
The projected budget deficit is four times larger than the deficit record set last year. We can blame that one on George, but George, big spender that he was, turns out to have been a tightwad. Maybe this is the “change” Mr. Obama promised. Yes, he did.
The administration insisted Monday that by the end of this year the gross domestic product will be growing at a rate of 3.5 percent, which would be good news so good that it’s likely to be too good to be true, and it’s certainly more optimistic than any private economic forecast anyone has seen beyond the White House fence.
The White House flogged this news in a statement studded with more weasel words than usual: “Although the economic downturn so far in 2009 has been more severe than the administration expected when the forecast was finalized, if the financial system begins to function more normally, there is every reason to expect a somewhat stronger recovery, given the depth of the current recession.” Translation: “Don’t blame us, nothing is ever the fault of the messiah, maybe everything will get a little better if it actually does get better. We hope. But don’t count on it.”
What shines through the spinning, bright and bold, is that Mr. Obama no longer believes in the pie in the sky he promised. He has obviously learned a few things in his first hundred days. “Wow! So that’s where babies come from.” But he still can’t give up his teleprompter, his training wheels and good ol’ George. Good ol’ George is the president’s teddy bear. He can’t go to sleep without Teddy. George is his imaginary person, too, on whom he can blame everything. He feels very close to imaginary George.
George the imaginary person threatens everything Mr. Obama has in store for us - higher taxes (whether disguised as “user fees” or “investments”), Al Gore’s vast scheme to combat global warming whether the globe is warming or not, and a health-care plan guaranteed to eventually assure every American access to medical care equal to the quality health care now available in France, Canada, Britain and maybe even Lower Volta.
The good news, such as it is, is that the remaking of America in a way that a Chicago street “activist” of a generation ago hardly dared dream of may be of such potent poison that the body politic will reject it, as a healthy human body might reject a massive dose of arsenic (perhaps administered by someone in old lace). Several of the president’s Democratic allies in Congress are already balking at his scheme to extract killer taxes, such as curbing deductions for mortgage interest, gifts to churches and charities, and state and local taxes.
Soaking the rich, so-called, is OK, but marinating the rich may not be helpful. More than skinned knees and bruised elbows are in prospect as Barack Obama finally discovers that ready or not, he’s the president now.
Posted by Quisani on May 9, 2009 in
Uncategorized
Posted by Quisani on May 5, 2009 in
Uncategorized I believe in giving those around me a chance to speak their views, even if I think they are wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong and they can’t see the light. (shhh… don’t tell them that that sentence was supposed to make me look like a bigot, but I’m not really, I’m just helping them propagate the idea that conservatives are ignorant backwards folk. If they found out we’re not, I think they’d be devastated. Some might… Well, a few fringe nuts.) This is my little contribution to the Internet. Go ahead and take a look, the worst you can do is practice your reading skills.
Erika Collin presents 10 Incredible Safety Features on Obama’s Limo posted at e-Justice Blog.
Praveen presents Illinois Governor Tries To Eliminate Flat Income Tax posted at My Simple Trading System.
Ruoall Chapman presents Cheap ways to make your own online beats posted at Make Online Beats, saying, “By far the cheapest way to make online beats”
Conservatist
Michael Bass presents America Should Not Torture Those Whom She Arrests posted at Barry Broom.com, saying, “What you gonna do when they come for you?”
Travis presents Dealing With Needy People | personalwebguide.com posted at Personal Web Guide.
Selkirk presents An Abject Failure: The First 100 Days posted at Political Castaway Blog: Broadcasting Conservatism to Rescue America.
NotYourDaddy presents Freedom is Not a Pendulum posted at Government is not your Daddy., saying, “When government takes power away from the people to determine what’s in their best interests, that power does not swing back to the people, like a pendulum. The balance of power is permanently shifted from the people to the government, making it easier for government to usurp even more power in the future.”
Travis presents Negative People | personalwebguide.com posted at Personal Web Guide.
Libertarianist
David Gross presents A San Francisco “Tea Party” review posted at The Picket Line.
Eric Michael Johnson presents Priming the Pump of a Swine Flu Pandemic posted at The Primate Diaries, saying, “I believe it’s time for conservative values to reflect not only small government but local control in other areas of public life, such as food production. This post looks at how liberal economic policies (largely under Clinton) have increased our risk of future pandemics.”
I hope this edition of the Carnival of Conservatism has left you, the knowledge seeker, more enlightened than you were before. Till again and praise be unto you for seeking knowledge.
Hey Kids/Adults! You too can submit your blog article to the next edition of the carnival of conservatives using our carnival submission form! Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page! Most opinions welcome! Bigots need not apply!
Tags: 100 days, Carnival of, CoC, Conservative, Liberal, Libertarian, Obama, Pork, Swine Flu