The Consumers Clapback

[disciplesofmalcolm]

“We’re gonna have to do more than talk. We’re gonna have to do more than listen. We’re gonna have to do more than learn. We’re gonna have to start practicing and that’s very hard.”

Chairman Fred.

Source: Murder of Fred Hampton (1972) 

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Works Cited Johnson, Adam. “5 Times the Media Has Smeared Black Victims of Police Killings Since Michael Brown.” Alternet. N.p., 06 Aug. 2015. Web. 07 Dec. 2015. <http://www.alternet.org/media/5-times-media-has-smeared-black-victims-police-killings-michael-brown>.

“One Day Before Paris, There Was a Massive Terrorist Attack the Media Ignored.“ U.S. Uncut. N.p., 14 Nov. 2015. Web. 07 Dec. 2015. <http://usuncut.com/world/beirut-this-terrorist-attack-didnt-get-any-media/>.

Terrorism RESEARCH.” Terrorism Research. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2015. <http://www.terrorism-research.com/>.

“Media and Terrorism: Information vs Censorship.“ Netivist.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2015. <https://netivist.org/debate/media-and-terrorism>.

"Top 10 Horrifying Terrorist Attacks of All times.” Top 10 Outstanding List. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2015. <http://www.elist10.com/top-10-horrifying-terrorist-attacks/>.

Deggans, Eric. “Four Lessons From The Media’s Conflicted Coverage of Race.” NPR. NPR, n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2015. <http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/12/06/368713550/four-lessons-from-the-medias-conflicted-coverage-of-race>.

Journalists Resource. N.p., 20 May 2015. Web. 07 Dec. 2015. <http://journalistsresource.org/studies/society/news-media/racial-bias-reporting-research-trends#sthash.NcJSqTnK.dpuf>.

Balkaran, Stephen. Mass Media and Racism. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2015. <http://www.yale.edu/ypq/articles/oct99/oct99b.html>.

Prince, Richard. "How Media Have Shaped Our Perception of Race and Crime." The Root. N.p., 4 Sept. 2014. Web. 12 Dec. 2015. <http://www.theroot.com/blogs/journalisms/2014/09/how_media_have_shaped_our_perception_of_race_and_crime.html>.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUJ_JnCFlds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vbnLYROCj8

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Works Cited

"5 Times the Media Has Smeared Black Victims of Police Killings Since Michael Brown." Alternet. N.p., 06 Aug. 2015. Web. 07 Dec. 2015. <http://www.alternet.org/media/5-times-media-has-smeared-black-victims-police-killings-michael-brown>.

“One Day Before Paris, There Was a Massive Terrorist Attack the Media Ignored." U.S. Uncut. N.p., 14 Nov. 2015. Web. 07 Dec. 2015. <http://usuncut.com/world/beirut-this-terrorist-attack-didnt-get-any-media/>.

Terrorism RESEARCH." Terrorism Research. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2015. <http://www.terrorism-research.com/>.

“Media and Terrorism: Information vs Censorship." Netivist.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2015. <https://netivist.org/debate/media-and-terrorism>.

"Top 10 Horrifying Terrorist Attacks of All times." Top 10 Outstanding List. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2015. <http://www.elist10.com/top-10-horrifying-terrorist-attacks/>.

"Four Lessons From The Media's Conflicted Coverage of Race." NPR. NPR, n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2015. <http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/12/06/368713550/four-lessons-from-the-medias-conflicted-coverage-of-race>.

Journalists Resource. N.p., 20 May 2015. Web. 07 Dec. 2015. <http://journalistsresource.org/studies/society/news-media/racial-bias-reporting-research-trends#sthash.NcJSqTnK.dpuf>.

Mass Media and Racism. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2015. <http://www.yale.edu/ypq/articles/oct99/oct99b.html>.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUJ_JnCFlds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vbnLYROCj8

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Media shapes our society. It sends us messages of the “mythical norm”. This is the idea of what is ‘right’ and things that deviate are othered. The norm is based on characteristics of gender, race, sexual orientation, age, religion, ethnicity, etc. Media also reinforces our values and defines who we are as a nation. We become unconscious consumers of these biases. Dangerously news sources present themselves as unbiased truth in the world of media. Just as you will question my subjectivity in my writing which is shaped by my identity, we must also do the same of our news sources. The mythical norm identity behind our news and media is that of a white cis-gendered wealthy christian man. This view is now subjective based on that identity and can no longer be viewed as an unbiased universal truth.

According to David Goldberg, racism can be characterized as “aversive, academic, scientific, legalistic, bureaucratic, economic, cultural, linguistic, religion, mythical, or ideological” (Balkaran).  Racism can be perpetuated in all of these ways whether blatant or not. Social media helps hold these things in place by creating and reinforcing mythical and ideological racism. If we are constantly fed bias information that's portrayed as fact wouldn't we think it's true?

There has been many studies done on the portrayal of people of color in the media. They found that people of color were regularly portrayed as violent or dangerous in the news. In Los Angeles they found that although black people made up only 21% of those arrested, 37% of the suspects portrayed on the news were black. Only 10% of documented crimes are of white victims and black suspects but these crimes made up 42% of cases broadcasted (Prince). We can see these disparities nationwide not just in Los Angeles. There are people who are choose what is reported we must hold them accountable. 

This bias in reporting then creates a bias in society as a whole. It makes consumers uninformed and hold prejudices against people of color. The Washington Post posted a study where they comparing telephone polls on perceptions of crime with crime statistics. White participants usually overestimated the percentage of black people who commit crimes. The reality is that Black people are involved in only 20% of violent crimes compared to the 50% participants stated (Deggans). With thoughts of that nature do we think that all people are treated equally and fairly? They may not be blatantly racist laws in place but the simple control of messaging can unconsciously create racist systems. These thoughts also dictates profiling and the way law enforcement enters a situation. They aren’t immune to the medias messaging.

A study done by Dr. Nazgol Ghandnoosh concluded that the news broadcasted more images of black suspects in more threatening contexts like mug shots or being handcuffed. Black and Latino suspects were usually represented in a non-individualized way than their white counterparts by being left unnamed (Prince). This all creates a negative collective identity for people of color.This is also visible not only for suspects but for victims. This visual bias is apparent in how black victims are represented, so much in fact that the black community took to twitter with the hashtag #Iftheygunmedown.

Mainstream news networks spend their time criminalizing black victims like Eric Garner. They time and time again refereed to his as a “career criminal” (Johnson). They focus on history of drug use or bad behavior to victim blame. Victim blaming can be seen in sexual assault cases and shaming poor people. They don't want to blame the system but rather blame the person who has already had the bad reputation, which in this case it’s people of color as a whole. We need to question our media when we see descriptions of victims or suspects and ask ourselves why is this important? Ask yourself, how the headline makes you feel? If its exciting fear or panic take a step back and look deeper into it.

They divert attention away from racial issues in american and further polarizes people. They create conflict among “consumers” so things can’t be achieved in changing the systemic issues in America. People of color aren’t given excuses even if dehumanizing videos of their deaths and assaults are on display.

The language used in media has had pervasive impact in our society. 

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Other videos related to our Topic...Good Watch.

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Terrorism & The Media

When we think of terrorism what are the first things that come to your mind? 9/11 attacks? America? White people? Christopher Columbus? Paris attacks? While many people perceive terrorism differently, we all have an understanding of what it entails and how it affects not only victims of terrorist attacks and community residents, but it affects the entire country.

Let’s first define what terrorism is. “Terrorism has been described variously as both a tactic and strategy; a crime and a holy duty; a justified reaction to oppression and an inexcusable abomination” (Terrorism Research). While terrorist attacks are considered both violent and cruel, it is often always considered “inexcusable”. What many people today, especially here in the United States are not aware of, is that terrorist attacks occur on a daily basis. These attacks are not known to citizens of the United States because media coverage of these events are not recorded or shown throughout media outlets. Is this a good thing or bad thing? Many people would argue that it is bad, especially people who identify strongly with these events or people who are victims of these attacks. Others would argue that it is a good thing because they will often feel “depressed” by listening to the ongoing attacks that occur each and everyday. One thing we should know for sure is that even though media coverage can sometimes be biased, it is important for the individual to research the facts.

 If you are a millennial, you know that probably the most terrifying terrorist attacks that was closest to our homeland were the 9/11 attacks. From my experience, the attack felt surreal like something from a war/crime thriller film and I was one of those people running in the background from all the madness. Being really close to the attacks, in Jersey City, I remember seeing the twin towers collapsing from my eyes. It was something that scarred me for life seeing terrorism firsthand.

Now those of you who are reading this might not say the same. Maybe some of you are from different parts of the world that have experience attacks form terrorism to a greater extent. This post is for you guys, allowing your voices to be heard from the brutal and violent crimes that happen in front of your homes everyday.

Now, to give you guys a general background on the most brutal terrorist attacks (according to Elist10), so that you guys are familiar with that has occurred in the past

1.     9/11 attacks in the United States

2.     Piazza Fontana Bombing in Italy

3.     Dubrovka Thearte Siege in Russa

4.     Beirut Barracks Bombing in Lebanon

5.     Ma’le Akrabim massacre in Isreal

6.     Airliner Explision in the Phillpphines

7.     Menarsha Synagogie Attack in Syria

8.     The Mad Bomber in the United States

9.     British Mandate for Palestine

10.  Wall Street Bombing in the United States

This list was made 2 years ago, so there are probably new things that would be added to the list. However, one thing I do want to point out is how the way they terrorist attacks are covered by media, if at all. What is the role of media when it comes to terrorism? How does it affect terrorist groups and the victims? “Media coverage is a double-edged sword. On the one side it contributes to inform the public about the atrocities committed and serve to raise awareness and support against terrorism and violent acts. On the other hand, media coverage helps these groups instill fear and reach potential supporters far away” (Netivist).

 In a way the U.S media is a platform for terrorists to create fear among people. It also allows terrorist groups like ISIS, a group that is heavily saturated in contemporary media, to build connections with other members across the globe. Due to media, it expands membership among terrorist groups since they are able to promote their attacks through media in different countries. In other cases, it leaves certain people that affected out of the picture. “Like hello? I am affected, how come no one knows about me?”. What kind of age have we come to that U.S media censors and hides information that is vital for us as citizens to understand what is going around the world? In a further post, we will include a video that just tries to answer, Why does the media censor and hide information? Why do they try to sugarcoat brutal events? Why are voices bring unheard of and how these actions give an image that the U.S media is weak? These are just all important questions to discuss in conversation with your teachers, your peers, and activist groups.

Terrorism is a topic that not only we as millennials can heavily identify with regarding the current global terrorism crisis, but it is our duty to speak up about bias in media regarding terrorism and make it noteworthy that U.S media is both biased and censors critical information.

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Sensational Media

We all have been there...you know that moment when you are watching the news and some catastrophic event happens to flash after a red and white “BREAKING NEWS!” hits the screen. Something insane happens, like a plane crash, “terroristic event”, a new deadly disease, etc. And each time we see these things the first thing that pops into our heads is, “Am...am I gonna die from this? and then the next logic thing is to say well if I am, how and when? The good news from this bad news is that the media has all the answers and is able to tell you that this particular event, disease or crisis is probably the only thing that you should worry about dying from in the next coming weeks. So what is the cause for this? Well...Media Sensationalism.

John Daly a writer/contributor from BernardGoldberg.com discusses in a piece his brother’s run in with a robber at the grocery he worked out near their home and he explained how when reading about the crime the next day in the paper, it was almost like reading a slightly different thing. Nothing that he read matched what his brother had told him. Instead what he read was almost like a short story. Details were exaggerated for..sensationalism. Well what are the explanations for that. There are a couple of reasons for why media chooses to sensationalize often very sad and devastating stories.

Let’s first talk about the Ebola crisis and how that particular disease was covered. For a while, everyone including myself, (I tend to have moments of germophobia and OCD to things like this so it was inevitable thinking for me) thought that anytime someone that was near us who coughed or breathed on us would give us Ebola. Or if there was even any cough or sniffle that came from our faces that would mean that we would have Ebola and die. With very little known on the disease and how it could affect the American public, reporters started reporting on this as if it were something that was an imminent threat and if we didn’t take heed to what they said we would likely die from it. And a lot of the times in these cases it isn’t so much of what they are talking about but instead the language that is being used. Take this example in the way language was used during the AIDS epidemic:

“Medical detectives are calling it the century’s most virulent epidemic. It is as relentless as leukemia, as contagious as hepatitis, and its cause has eluded researchers for more than two years. Acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS, was first seen in homosexual men – particularly those who were promiscuous – but it has now struck so many different groups that its course cannot be predicted…The AIDS patient may survive his first bizarre infection, or his second, but he remains vulnerable to successive infections, one of which is likely to kill him” (NYTimes 1983).

That of course was an example of the AIDS epidemic in the earlier 80s, but this has been a present phenomenon even more now due to the presence of social media. Similar language was used in the way different mediums covered the Ebola crisis so (”Fear of Ebola Breeds Terror For Physicians” (NYTimes 2014)). At this point, how does this go about informing people? Well, it definitely scares people more than it informs. People don’t hear the information and processes it to understand it. The public hears warning signs and starts thinking of ways to protect themselves from something that is unlikely to happen to them. The truth of all of this is, considering the amount of people that live in the US and the resources we have, we were less likely to die from Ebola having never been in contact with people from the places that were had the virus or because we have adequate resources.  To think about the things that we are more likely to die from as the picture below shows, our lives in America, the way we eat, the lack of exercise, the lack of understanding of health in general makes us more vulnerable to the dying ourselves. And that has a lot to do with decisions and choices that we make. And if this is so why does media chose to sensationalize one thing over the other when there are dangers that are more prevalent for us and our lifestyles.

Now lets talk about the capacity at which the news is being distributed to the public. 24 hr news outlets and multiple news sources means that there are many places for people to get news and information especially with the internet. Because of this media outlets have to sensationalize the story to make people want to listen to or watch their news outlets. After something BIG happens there is a influx of people wanting to know and understand and get to know the problem and issue. Media plays on that need for information and will probably repeatedly report on similar stories related to the topic while all eyes are focused on that particular subject. 

Perfect example of this can be seen in the reports on the Malaysian missing airplane fiasco, which created an influx of reports afterward detailing other airplane crashes and issues that were happening around the country or world. Also the  mysterious nature of it made people want to know more. This is another thing that the media does is play on the curiosity of the people watching or taking in these media outlets for the sake of finding out what is going on in the world around them. This subjected the public to a lot of anxiety because of the fact that they were under the impression that this was a recurrent phenomenon that was happening all the time. 

So what does this mean? 

Well...first off journalists could try to use language that does not include too much of the dramatics, why? Well if the language isn’t clear on how things really are, that means that people will get the wrong impression and begin to think the world is over and that we all really are going to die. Which is true...we will all die one day but hopefully not because of a silly plane crash or a virus that is in no proximity of us. You are more likely to do because of a car accident or even getting hit by one, so why are those things so pressing? Media Sensationalism.

If the media has got you concerned about what you are going to die from, below is a very colorful graphic of what that might look like. (P.S. Terrorism isn’t it but the US debt sure does show that the US thinks so.)