THE POWER OF NEWS MEDIA

I have decided to explore the field of mass media communication, in particular focusing on television news. I personally find that the News we are exposed to is not only biased but can also be extremely exaggerated. This has been criticized by television news analysts who have accused particular News channels of giving a false portrayal of the world we live in. This topic is important to me as it is a problem I feel has not yet been solved. Although it would seem impossible for me to change the News discipline, I do aim to expose them of their hypocrisy and controversies.I hope to achieve this through initially researching into the subject area. Once gaining enough knowledge and insight into the News ethics I will begin to analyze how the News manipulates the way we feel and think.

In order to understand the structures of news media i will be analyzing broadcasts from several different news channels and using this to expose their manipulative ways of control.After I have collected relevant information I will begin to collate them into my intended message.To help me gain perspective on the issue I will conduct interviews with fellow students and the general public. These interviews will also appear within my video to assist me with communicating my message.The final video will be achieved by utilizing Adobe Premiere, avidemux and ffmpegx to create my Datamoshing outcome. My predicted outcome would be to produce a video montage that contains a series of video footage from various news channels that portray the unnecessary exaggeration of particular violence and crime stories.

GEORGE GERBNER NOAM CHOMSKY

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I began exploring the existing theories related to news media manipulation and in doing so I came across the Cultivation Theory, which was founded by professor and author George Gerbner. He has written several publications discussing the sensationalism and exaggeration of News media violence. Gerbner also coined the term ‘ The Mean World Syndrome’ to describe how the extent of violence shown through the mass media has caused viewer to perceive the world as a dangerous place, when in reality is it not. He discussed how the media use this strategy of the fear factor to ultimately control society. “Fearful people are more dependent, more easily manipulated and controlled, more susceptible to deceptively simple, strong, tough measures and hard-line measures,” (George Gerbner)I found his studies and particular focus on violence and crime a valid source of research into the subject matter.

Similarly to Gerbner, Chomsky shared an interest in the studies of mass media culture. In particular his publications and seminars raised the issues of media control and it’s consequences on society. He explores how the mass media ultimately have control over how they show violence and how they want the viewers to perceive it. We are continuously exposed to violence and crime through the news to the point where we eventually fear the world as a whole. As we continue to be terrified by the misled portrayal of this destructive society, we end up relying on the new to keep us safe, thus enabling them to hold control over our lives. The mechanisms of news manipulation lies with every element from the editing, news talks, and footage revealed, Intro sequence and mise-en-scene. All of which contribute towards convincing and manipulating us to believe anything they wish us to.

Georger Gerbner

SECONDARY PRIMARY RESEAR

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In addition to my research on theorists, I also did specific research on news broadcasting channels and their contribution towards the constant exposure to violence. Whilst narrowing this field to news culture I discovered ‘The Glasgow Media Group’ who are researchers that examine television news and spark debate over how biased news television can be. This led me to analyse recent TV broadcasts on London Riots. As I examined each one from several news channels I was able to identify the different strategies used to over exaggerate the situation.I also extended my research through reading other books related to my subject are such as Tabloid Television by John Langer who discusses how the growth of mass media has allowed society to be influenced by the selective information exposed to us. Each specific event is intended to control the way we think, feel or behave.

In order to get a balanced argument on this subject I decided to take the debate to the public. I began by producing 2-3 open ended questions about their opinion on news sensationalism and the portrayal of violence. I found that the majority of the interviewee’s claimed to be aware of news sensationalism, in particular relating back to the recent London riot outbreaks. As I asked a varied age group I noticed that the younger interviewees felt more like victims during the riots as the news depicted teenagers and young adults to be the culprits. In comparison the older interviewees discussed the situation as an experience they once encountered during their youth. The interviews were very useful as it revealed to me a mixed awareness to media manipulation and therefore encouraged me to bring more awareness about the issue through revealing the extent of violence that was shown during the event.

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TECHNIQUEIncorporating Datamoshing into my video will represent the unreliable and censored editing of which the News follows. Using a datamoshing kit I will combine two or more video footage of crime shown via news channels and merge them into one another. I will also ‘mosh’ together the audio to achieve a distorted appearance of the news. The interviews will also be used within the video to exploit the publics opinion on News exaggeration and biased selective stories. I was inspired by David OReilly who produced a datamoshing video called ‘Compression Reel’. The video consists of juxtaposed images flashing at a high speed. It is not only hard to define the images shown but also portrays a distortion and destructive feeling, similar to what I aim to achieve in my video.

The technique and style in particular appealed to me as it revealed the theme’s of manipulation, false portrayal and exaggeration, which are issues that are embedded within my subject area. My aim is to incorporate this technique into my video to enhance the message of news manipulation. I will ‘mosh’ together several clips within the sequence to reinforce the extremes of violence. In order to achieve this I will have to complete 2 parts, the first will allow me to set the i frames to zero eliminating the quality, the second part will allow me to edit the footage to cause the compressed videos to merge into one another creating the pixels to blend. Once this is done I will then save the video as an avi file which will complete the datamoshing effect.

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During the editing process I found it challenging to link the clip together into a sequence that flowed, however once I found the right background music to guild the clips it began an easier process. I also used After Effects to create the typographic motion as I was less restrained from being creative. In doing so I was able to create a more visually interesting title intro and smooth flow in revealing the interview questions. I also took the opportunity to produce a quick motion graphic of the city’s around London effected by the riots. Whilst doing this I looked at the visual representations that are shown on the news to create a similar inspired outcome. Although this was a quick clip it create a break within the video making the overall sequence more visually exciting and innovative than merely looking like a documentary which was not the intended result.

As my aim was to create an innovative video piece to reveal the truth about the power of news media and portrayal of violence, it was vital to have a collection of video footage that revealed this. Focussing on the violence and crime aspect I decided to base my example on the London riots, as it was not only exaggerated but also manipulative in causing us to fear our society through over exposure by the media. I began downloading a selection of YouTube clips from a variety of news channels all discussing London riots. The video clips that were shown through the news in comparison to the originals taken by the public revealed the true extent to which the originals are edited. After gathering a substantial variety of footage I began to assemble a narrative to which they would portray my message. I also incorporated the interview footage and applied background music to enhance the visual piece.

PREMIERE PRO AFTER EFFECTS

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My aim for this brief was to expose to the public the existence of mass media manipulation. Also how the continue to expose us to fear, therefore causing us to perceive society as unsafe. Essentially this fear will cause us to have high anxiety over our surroundings and local environment. Using my skills in editing programs and visual language I wanted to communicate to the public the underlying truth of the media. The technique used by the media encourage consumers to react and form opinions based on how the media and government want us to feel, rather than from our own values and beliefs

Through extensive research on the subject area I was able to surface a numerous amount of news broadcasts that reveal there over exaggeration to the stories. Combining these with my insightful interviews with the public and commentaries from theorist I was able to produce a video piece that conveys the message to your unconscious mind rather than a verbal caution. This was also emphasized through incorporating the technique of data moshing into the video sequence. The overall result was very engaging and exciting as it accompanied with relevant and melancholic music.