Taking Back the Spolight ? How?

[bossi]

... Think about it in the context of an industry that you don't know or particularly care much about: would you read a newspaper story headlined "Everything going just fine in the copper mining industry" ? Me neither ...

Yup - that just about sums it up, doesn't it ... ?

NEWS FLASH!   Canada attacked - Military forces unable to fight due to decades of neglect - Sunshine Girl, Lotto 6/49 results and sports scores on Page 48 ...

 

[Long in the tooth]

I recall watching the APEC protests in Vancouver a few years back.  I taped the events and then replayed them slowly, getting a good idea what the protesters looked like.  Lo and behold, a few weeks later I'm watching logging protests on Vancouver Island - same protesters adopting the same roles!  How can they afford to travel and participate in these? 

I hope that the government pays these people no attention, because while the protesters are acting up, the vast silent majority is too busy making a living to be noticed.

"A socialist is someone with nothing who wants desperately to share it with you."

 

[camochick]

OCAP is short for the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, a group of professional trouble-makers led by an ex-pat British pseudo Marxist. Most of the genuine protesters at any given event have very little time for these schmucks since they show up at any large vaguely left-wing gathering looking to bust heads. Although usually theirs end up getting cracked. No vital organs damaged as far as I can tell ...
I'm interested in the comments about the media and sensationalism. A journo friend of mine (shocking but true: journalists DO have friends ...) once told me that his job was "keeping the furniture ads in the back pages from running together."
The reason the media tends to focus on the loud minority, or the negative aspects of a story about, oh, let's say Sea Kings for example, is because that's what people want to read or hear about. Think about it in the context of an industry that you don't know or particularly care much about: would you read a newspaper story headlined "Everything going just fine in the copper mining industry" ? Me neither ...

I'm a future journalist and I think one of the big problems is lumping the "media" into one group. I mean if I am writing for a credible newspaper am I on the same page as the person who writes for a tabloid. I dont think so. I think this is why the media is looked at so negatively. Most people feel CNN is somewhat of a tabloid, but yet everyone would put it in the same group as the CBC(ok maybe thats not the best example hehe, but you know what I mean). I agree that its the public who decides what is front page news. A politician getting caught stealing federal funds will make the front page over someone who is doing charitable work in africa. Princess Diana and Mother Theresa both died around the same time. Who got the most media coverage. The media is just feeding the people what they want to hear. Most credible journalists will go about getting and telling a story ethically but then there are some who dont really care.

 

[Kirkhill]

Can a reporter write a story without the use of adjectives and adverbs?

Will it be interesting?

Will anybody read it?

Will it sell papers?

I think it can be done.  I would like to see it.  I don't think it would sell papers.

Saw something the other day, forget where, where a reporter commenting on the media talked about reporters looking for opportunities to describe "learning opportunities" where they could describe events that would cause people to think about situations in such a way that they would inevitably be drawn to make decisions that would result in "good outcomes".  I think it was Andrew Coyne.

Is that media manipulation?