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Title: the power of hard news
We’re all familiar with Hard News.
Bad news for that matter.
A Media Outlet (ABS-CBN, CNN, etc.) goes live and the broadcaster
proceeds to lay down headlines of breaking news on murder, rape,
robbery, international conflicts, market prices, drugs and so on. It
wasn't always like <a href="
">this</a>.
On Social Medias, Media Outlets can quickly scoop and deliver news like
Radio Stations.
There’s also the Citizen Journalists: a non-media professional who posts
Hard News on Social Medias, based on what news is from years of watching
News time.
News time strategically falls during our meal times:
<ul>
<li><a href="
">Breakfast</a>, around 6 A.M. when the adults are preparing for work
and breakfast, while the children are preparing for school.</li>
<li><a href="
">Dinner</a>, around 6 P.M. when the adults are home from work, and
children from school. All mentally and physically exhausted for the
day.</li>
</ul>
Nobody can miss it; not even the children unless the adults refuse to
watch TV or buy <a href="
">Newspapers</a>.
The children, wanting to be entertained with cartoon shows or movies
instead, furrow their brows when adults tune in to News time. Some will
cry or scream in protest, and some will ask questions, such as: Why do
you watch News? Why is it important?
To which the adults will reason to them something along these lines: It
keeps us informed of important matters such as the security in our
surroundings, market prices for our groceries, and what the politicians
are doing with our money (taxes).
As the children grows up, moving from one school year to another, they
will start to agree and accept news just as how the adults in their
homes have viewed and accepted it too. They’ll also tune in to News Time
or read the Newspapers.
When we reach college, regardless of our programs, we’re introduced to
the basics of the Law. We learn about our rights and responsibilities as
citizens of the country, which includes the right to vote and its
importance.
I studied Mass Media Communications. Later, in my rebellion, I was moved
to another, yet similar, program: Journalism. I learned that the Media
has the responsibility to inform the public because they have the right
to be informed. I also learned the criteria of what makes an event
newsworthy.
I had the opportunity to ask: Why do the Media often broadcast Hard
News?
The answer: Hard News sells.
Say, between dog bites man and man bites dog, which do you think will <a
href="
">sell more</a>?
If we look at it this way, it makes sense. After all, Media Outlets,
too, need money to stay in the industry. As Media students, we were
informed that jobs in Media pays low; but we make connections and having
those connections is priceless.
Now it’s important for us to look beyond the answer: Hard News sells,
because it’s not only inadequate but there’s just so much more to it.
Here’s what I think on Hard News:
The News Media regularly broadcast Hard News because it creates a sense
of insecurity in the public and builds it up.
The News Media instills panic, fear, and anxiety in our minds,
increasingly so, by:
<ul>
<li><a href="
">selecting</a> only the most horrible events that has happened in the
whole country or state, to bring forward on National News;</li>
<li><a href="
">highlighting</a> and giving updates on the top horrible events until
they can let it go for another that’s ultimately more shocking.</li>
<li>bombarding them with it on the daily, on top of yet another fresh
set of the most horrible events;</li>
</ul>
Although the events are real, that they have happened, what are the <a
href="
">statistics</a> of it actually happening every day? And what are the
real reasons (the sociological and psychological factors) behind each?
But the majority of the public is now insecure and numb enough to no
longer think it matters. . . For they’re also busy trying to live their
lives and keeping their loved ones safe, understandably so.
What now matters most to them is having the guilty, or even the
suspects, punished in accordance to the sacred Law. Give them a taste of
our Justice!
The News Media, with their Hard news, having actively <a href="
">contributed</a> in making individuals have antagonistic thoughts
towards another; in making them too distrustful; in making them
antisocial, there’s no one else for them to trust or run to (albeit some
not completely) but the Police and Priests.
The majority, unable to to think thoroughly, now have this strong urge
to demand stricter laws and severe punishments, and to vote for a
ruthless authority as their president or leader (Duterte's landslide
victory in the Philippines, 2016) in the hopes of relieving them from
the numbing pains of their insecurities.
With this, Hard News not only helps to validate the existence of the
Government, its Law and Enforcers, and the Church, its God and Morality
Law; it also makes careers in Law appealing to the youth, who are
sincere in their desire to help. While the majority passionately cries
defending who and what they think they can only trust, instead of
questioning it to the roots.
The Media has such power, such influence, to form public opinion that
it’s of no wonder why majority of the Media Outlets (TV stations,
Radios, Magazines), especially the <a href="
">big leagues</a>, are <a href="
">owned</a> by the powerful. The billionaires, multimillionaires, <a
href="
">government</a>, and politicians. This is the kind of connection the
people in Media have.
Hard News sells to both: the powerful and the public; with the former
benefiting from it while leaving the latter <a href="
">psychologically damaged</a>.
On the right to be informed: There are important and real events
happening worldwide that can be considered as Hard News too, but it’s no
longer a surprise as to why it gets no media coverage. Some things must
be kept from the public.
With the Media in their hands, the Law is in theirs too. So will be the
entirety of our lives. . . For as long as there’s inequality, Justice
ceases to exist.
Power corrupts all, will you resist to the end?
Action Suggestions:
<ul>
<li>Research the people behind the Media Outlet.</li>
<li>Be selective of the news to read and watch.</li>
<li>Consider the Sociological and Psychological factors of cases of
interest.</li>
</ul>
Reading Suggestions:
<ul>
<li><a href="
">I Hate The News</a>, Aaron Swartz</li>
<li><a href="
n][www.google.com]]">Manufacturing Consent</a>, Noam Chomsky</li>
<li><a href="
">Law and Authority</a>, Peter Kropotkin</li>
<li><a href="
">The Very Idea of Rights</a>, Aragon Eloff</li>
-
, Sidney Parker -
, David Graeber