Sunday, January 18, 2009

Apparently BENNIFER is a news alert in Fox's eyes---Video Response on Outfoxed

Good afternoon students!! Although this is a bit off the topic of fashion, I am required to comment on a video watched in class called Outfoxed. Outfoxed, specifically referring to Fox news discusses the problems faced with controlled media ownership and how imbalanced and biased the information we receive through news channels are. Through many examples, the video proves to us how problematic it can be to have one person in charge of a media conglomerate, as it will infringe on freedom of the press. Now onto my personal thoughts on all of this. Throughout my three years in MIT, all we constantly learn is DONT TRUST THE MEDIA... specifically the news of course. And this video proves just that. It becomes extremely clear how much the idea of a news channel has changed, slowly diminishing the idea of democracy. The authorities tell them what to say, how to say it and what not to say and if they ignore this, then they might as well kiss their jobs goodbye. As one interviewee says in the video, "Fox is not a newsgathering association, it is a proponent of a point of view", meaning we are simply being shown one side of every argument. It seems to me, and the makers of this video, how ironic it is that Fox seems to be very adamant on advertising a view that’s FAIR AND BALANCED, which makes them look extremely stupid. The viewer learns how conservative every action they perform is, subtly discrediting the liberals. It is actually quite humorous how they try to support this 'fair and balanced' view by bringing in faux-liberals, who appear to represent the other side but always seem to end up agreeing with the conservative voice. They are purposely bringing in weak individuals to represent the "other", unknown to the public and simply useless. Oh, and my favourite part of the video would have to be when they explained what types of stories seem to be considered a 'Fox News Alert'. For example, BENNIFER??? That must be some sort of joke. This is clear sensationalism, and most likely the reason why all our society seems to care about are the lives of celebrities. The news is dumbing us down, when really it is supposed to be educating us!! Unfortunately, there isn’t really much we can do about this lack of freedom in the press unless we plan on becoming the CEO of Fox News… which I don’t think will be changing any time soon. Therefore, we just have to take in the news with an extremely critical eye, and not believe everything we see as it has come to a time when nothing is unbiased anymore. Sometimes it may even be necessary to do some more research on a topic, to fully be educated on the topic. If you want to view this video to see for yourself, click on this link:http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6737097743434902428
Enjoy!!