Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Taylor Trumbette
Aughenbaugh
English 12
06 Feb. 2017
Media Manipulation
Politics and the media are more closely related than they seem, but does one control the
other? It seems that politics and terrorism are the two most important topics in today's media, one
could say the media has more of an impact on politics than politics have on the media. In politics
the media can easily build or destroy a political figure by changing the public's view. Television
is the single most powerful medium of global communication. The mass media is in our
everyday life, so how can we be sure that what we are hearing is true? (web)
The Freudian theory, Manipulated the media very well , the belief was that the fear of
communism was a tool for controlling the public, Sigmund Freud used communism as a weapon
He believed the population needed to be controlled. Anna Freud looked into the thought that if
people conformed to society rules and followed what was socially acceptable the irrational
behavior could be suppressed. Anna Freud experimented with four children, making them
conform to society and controlling everything they did. Later in her experiments one child had
many panic attacks and ended up ending her own life, Anna later changed her ideas of social
normality.(book)
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There are many forms of manipulation, most forms we don't realize are happening,
Majority of citizens get their news from television, getting news from the same major news
sources limits the breadth and depth of the content available (CNN, Fox News etc). Although the
internet has surpassed television with actual news, diversity is still small among news sources
while all the content comes from the same traditional sources. American media focuses on Iraq
specifically, they never cover world news beyond Iraq. Journalists are often paid to promote
specific issues without the journalist acknowledging this or without the media mentioning the
source.(web)
imperceptible, repetitious and reinforceable ideas . For example when a big news story hits, the
public is glued to nonstop coverage of the issue whether you want to see it or not it`s the public
main issue. Another strategy that is often used is using fake and pre packaged news and feeding
it to the media, while distributing this news they make America look better. David Barstow an
award winning journalist from the New York Times agreed to the news being sent to the U.S and
news sent to foreign countries are noticeably different. United States law contains provisions
intended to prevent the domestic dissemination of government propaganda the 1948 Smith
Mundt Act, allows voice of America to broadcast pro government news to foreign audiences at
Time Magazine is considered to be one of the most resourceful items regarding worldly
news, but their magazine covers that are being sent into the U.S are dumb downed for
americans, making our country look perfect and hide the real problems in our country while the
magazine sends information regarding our countries flaws to other areas of the world, why is our
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news filtered ? it seems as though we the people, are not as entitled to our free speech if we are
not able to read the truth from our own american source. (Database)
In everyday life we are faced with constant ads from our smartphones, our
televisions, billboards and our computers. Manipulation isn't always used in the way of
controlling our actions but our thoughts, ads are placed around us as a whole population, making
it seem like we need specific items to be more superior, more agile and more improved than the
person beside us , manipulation is used in many forms and in many situations. Movie stars,
athletes and power public figures are also used to manipulate certain objects or items. While
having Donald Trump star in a commercial that is advertising something for you to buy will
attract far more attention than if a random street actor was playing the role , more people will pay
attention to what the commercial is trying to sell while Donald reads some scripted lines for you
to try and buy their product , while having Donlad be the main subject it is already biased against
the people and the media ,while the people's reaction would be a lot different and a lot less
compelling if the person in the commercial was not famous or have any importance in everyday
As far as reality tv shows go Americans are sure to know how staged the reality of the
show can be, but do they really realize how fake the shows are that are being watching ? popular
tv shows that have appeared on tv in the past several years like The Biggest loser, Lost , Dating
Naked and Naked and Afraid are some of the most acted out reality tv shows on television .
Old and new winners of the Biggest loser later confessed that the show isn't what it seems , the
weigh-ins and exercise routines are made to look like in a span of one week that the contestants
exercised, planned their meals and of course the sweat, tears and fights that had happened within
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that week , in fact, occurred over several weeks with more time to get more weight loss results,
instead of one week weigh in it actually occurred 3 weeks later , making the contestant look
better and the show more entertaining. While these tv shows are unimportant in our lives and
some might weigh it out as a little white lie , why should we condone it ? why should we let
these films and organizations take over our media. Today world news focuses more on if you're
really keeping up with the Kardashians than if Flint ,ichigan still has their water , Americans are
selling themselves and their country short by making the wrong news go viral , with one swipe
on a smartphone can determine whether or not something is read , we are brainwashed from a
very young age to pick the picture that is more appealing , the words that are easier to read , to
choose the easiest way to the solution, Americans find more comfort in watching and hearing
about someone else's life only if they are important to the public eye .
In conclusion , Manipulation and brainwashing will only occur if you let it, if you choose
to seek out the truth behind the story you are one step ahead of everyone who only reads because
they find it on the front page of the newspaper they only bought to pass the time. In Ray
Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 he explains I've heard rumours; the world is starving, but we're
well-fed. Is it true, the world works hard and we play? Is that why we're hated so much? I've
heard the rumours about hate, too, once in a long while, over the years. Do you know why? I
don't, that's sure! Maybe the books can get us half out of the cave. They just might stop us from
making the same damn insane mistakes!" He explains here that if everyone paid a little bit more
close attention, we wouldn't be making the same mistakes, or hardly any mistakes at all. (web)
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