After being assigned to read Farhad Manjoo’s book, True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society, I honestly was not excited about it. Usually, books like these are dull material, filled with monotonous information about events that occurred in the past. Rarely, do I find myself reading the book to actually read it. True Enough was different. Yes, it was an assigned book, but within it, was loads of current events and information relevant to journalism, which is the field that I want to eventually be a part of. The book clarifies how the news media can influence people to believe one thing or another based on how they present a story. Manjoo explains about how the news media has a responsibility to help people understand the world. However, Manjoo makes clear that these processes are often backwards. Depending on which news medium covers a story, the angle or slant of the story could be biased toward Republicans or Democrats.
What Manjoo discusses that I find appealing is his explanation of how media fragmentation has changed the way people use mediums. According to Manjoo, media fragmentation is the way information, everything that you know about the world, was once scattered by a handful of organizations. Today, people can retrieve news from many directions. Television, radio, Internet, iPods, and cameras are just a few ways information is spread. This revolution of media outlets is so different from even twenty years ago, when literally the news markets had control of how people saw and thought of news stories. Manjoo argues that all these media outlets are negative because someone skilled could distort images and video, exaggerate, even fake stories, or even lie to people more effectively than ever before.
The example Manjoo showed was the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, who managed to show Democratic candidate John Kerry in a negative light just by saying questionable things about him. Republicans against Kerry ate up this new information and some media news outlets presented the details as fact, when it was not conclusive whether it was or not. Even some Democratic supporters were wary of Kerry after hearing this information off of news sites, again, with no idea if the information presented had any truth to it. I see examples of the media influencing people all the time. The paparazzi and gossip sites like TMZ.com are always spreading rumors about celebrities. Everything from the mistreating of children to new celebrity lovers is covered, and for some reason, people usually believe what these Web sites are saying. It just shows the power of how media can influence the way a person thinks and feels about another person.
What interested me the most about Manjoo’s book is his explanation of selective perception and how it is prevalent in today’s society. Selective perception refers to the idea that people will react to things differently based on their beliefs. Our minds can block things out unconsciously if the topic is against our ideals or beliefs. An example that happens to me often is when I’m reading a story I’ve written, I often miss a few grammatical errors because my mind, while I reading to myself, corrects the answers my eyes see. I never notice the errors until someone else shows them to me. The example of selective perception that Manjoo uses is very common among sports fans today. He explains how a study was conducted among students from Dartmouth University and Princeton University. Each person was asked to watch a hard-hitting football game between the two schools and write down the number of illegal or questionable infractions by both teams. The results indicated that Princeton students found few infractions by Princeton players, but nearly double as many for Dartmouth players. Conversely, Dartmouth students decided that Princeton football players were playing violently and marked down as many as 10 infractions, compared to very few by their own school players. According to Manjoo, when sports fans claim to witness the opposing team’s players playing dirty, rather than their own team’s players, that is really what people see. Their mind blocks out or shrugs off any questionable plays by their team, but focuses all their attention on the actions of the players on the opposite team. It shows how our beliefs can supplant of perceptions of what is real and what is not.
Overall, I am glad I’ve read this book. The insight and real-world examples are interesting and give me an idea of what things are ahead for the media. Will the news mediums continue to influence the way people perceive news? Will they show objectivity and let the people watching decide whether they agree or disagree with the statements, or will news bias prevail? Time will only tell.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
No Second Chance
Last week, I took a couple hours out of my schedule to go to the county courthouse to cover a trial. I hadn’t planned out what kind of trial I wanted to attend, so I picked one at random. Turns out, it was a drug possession court hearing. A man, in what looked to be his early 20s, was caught with drug paraphernalia in his car. A police officer had pulled him over on suspicion of driving under the influence, and while the young man was handing the officer his driver’s license, the cop noticed two clear bags with white powder in them on the passenger side dashboard. Using probable cause, the police officer searched the man’s vehicle and found a total of three small bags of white powder, which later was confirmed as cocaine.
I entered the courtroom just before the bailiff closed the doors to the public. There were few people present; just the family members of the man, and what looked to be the man’s wife or girlfriend. A few other on-lookers sat in the back of the courtroom as I did. The trial itself started bad for the defendant. First of all, he was late to his hearing. When he did finally meander into the courtroom, it was ten minutes after the judge had been introduced. He came in looking like he had just shot up in the court bathroom minutes before. His clothes were wrinkly, his hair uncombed, and he had bags under his eyes like you would see if someone was sleep deprived. He walked like he was trying so hard to keep his balance and not stumble into a chair or desk. It was pretty pathetic. I could see his public defender talking to him. He looked agitated. I couldn’t make out what was being said, but I knew it probably wasn’t good.
The trial began with the arresting officer on the stand. He gave a detailed report of the incident and the prosecuting attorney in the case presented to the judge the evidence collected at the scene. The evidence and testimony of the police officer was very substantial, and I could sense that the defendant was going to jail. His public defender called the defendant up to the stand and asked the man to give his interpretation of the events. I wouldn’t say the public defender did a good job either. He often fumbled through his notes, mumbled when he spoke, and on two occasions, mispronounced the defendant’s last name. He looked extremely nervous. Maybe it was his first case, or maybe the evidence against his client was so great that he gave up.
After all the evidence was presented and both sides were through with questioning, the judge made her decision. The judge ordered the man be put in jail for six months. Once released, he was ordered to complete 250 hours of community service. A few hugs were exchanged between the defendant’s family members and then the man was put in handcuffs. Another life in shambles because of drugs.
I entered the courtroom just before the bailiff closed the doors to the public. There were few people present; just the family members of the man, and what looked to be the man’s wife or girlfriend. A few other on-lookers sat in the back of the courtroom as I did. The trial itself started bad for the defendant. First of all, he was late to his hearing. When he did finally meander into the courtroom, it was ten minutes after the judge had been introduced. He came in looking like he had just shot up in the court bathroom minutes before. His clothes were wrinkly, his hair uncombed, and he had bags under his eyes like you would see if someone was sleep deprived. He walked like he was trying so hard to keep his balance and not stumble into a chair or desk. It was pretty pathetic. I could see his public defender talking to him. He looked agitated. I couldn’t make out what was being said, but I knew it probably wasn’t good.
The trial began with the arresting officer on the stand. He gave a detailed report of the incident and the prosecuting attorney in the case presented to the judge the evidence collected at the scene. The evidence and testimony of the police officer was very substantial, and I could sense that the defendant was going to jail. His public defender called the defendant up to the stand and asked the man to give his interpretation of the events. I wouldn’t say the public defender did a good job either. He often fumbled through his notes, mumbled when he spoke, and on two occasions, mispronounced the defendant’s last name. He looked extremely nervous. Maybe it was his first case, or maybe the evidence against his client was so great that he gave up.
After all the evidence was presented and both sides were through with questioning, the judge made her decision. The judge ordered the man be put in jail for six months. Once released, he was ordered to complete 250 hours of community service. A few hugs were exchanged between the defendant’s family members and then the man was put in handcuffs. Another life in shambles because of drugs.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Temple Terrace Public Meeting # 2
The second public meeting I covered talked primarily about the Temple Terrace River Watch Task Force, which oversees the water that is being used and makes sure it is regulated. The Task Force Chairman, Jack Westberry was present, along with two members of the unit.
First off, Dr. Marty Kelly from the Southwest Florida Water Management District, known as “SWIFTMUD,” gave a report on how the Temple Terrace water supply is currently fairing. He gave rough data of how much water is flowing through the Temple Terrace dam every day. Slightly more than 200 million gallons of water a day is passing through the dam and the total amount of water being spread out between canals in the area suggest that nearly one billion gallons of water is flowing per day.
The next topic discussed was about the work being done on the Fowler Avenue Bridge. The Task Force Liaison, Joe Gross, explained that the bridge will eventually be widened, but that workers are in the beginning stages. Gross said that the borings and drillings were completed to get an idea of how the bridge would be supported. However, Gross added that the final completion of the bridge is a few years away.
Afterwards, Gross talked about a new topic, area water use. He recapped a water use panel workshop that took place at the University of South Florida on February 15, and explained what new ways to conserve water in the district. Gross also mentioned that Tampa Zoning is considering adopting dock regulations to ensure FEMA compliance with seawalls and structures. Later, Gross talked about a new idea called “watergoat.” It was developed by a group known as New Earth Industries and seems to be a cost-effective idea. Watergoat, as Gross explained, is a basin device that has the ability to clean out debris in lakes. Gross concluded that this idea would be talked about more in the coming meetings.
Finally, Temple Terrace marine officer Richard Scilabro stressed the number of speed zone violations he had been encountering on rivers in the area. The talked about new ways to discourage boat speeding violations, such as boat ramp fees, stricter fines for speeding, and more patrol officers out on the water. The Task Force committee, which included Chairman Westberry and two other members, suggested that Scilabro make his boat striped so that other boaters know that the water is being patrolled. They also suggested the construction of more signs, which in turn, would show boats who may be speeding, that the area which their boat is in is either a “no wake zone” or a slower speed zone.
First off, Dr. Marty Kelly from the Southwest Florida Water Management District, known as “SWIFTMUD,” gave a report on how the Temple Terrace water supply is currently fairing. He gave rough data of how much water is flowing through the Temple Terrace dam every day. Slightly more than 200 million gallons of water a day is passing through the dam and the total amount of water being spread out between canals in the area suggest that nearly one billion gallons of water is flowing per day.
The next topic discussed was about the work being done on the Fowler Avenue Bridge. The Task Force Liaison, Joe Gross, explained that the bridge will eventually be widened, but that workers are in the beginning stages. Gross said that the borings and drillings were completed to get an idea of how the bridge would be supported. However, Gross added that the final completion of the bridge is a few years away.
Afterwards, Gross talked about a new topic, area water use. He recapped a water use panel workshop that took place at the University of South Florida on February 15, and explained what new ways to conserve water in the district. Gross also mentioned that Tampa Zoning is considering adopting dock regulations to ensure FEMA compliance with seawalls and structures. Later, Gross talked about a new idea called “watergoat.” It was developed by a group known as New Earth Industries and seems to be a cost-effective idea. Watergoat, as Gross explained, is a basin device that has the ability to clean out debris in lakes. Gross concluded that this idea would be talked about more in the coming meetings.
Finally, Temple Terrace marine officer Richard Scilabro stressed the number of speed zone violations he had been encountering on rivers in the area. The talked about new ways to discourage boat speeding violations, such as boat ramp fees, stricter fines for speeding, and more patrol officers out on the water. The Task Force committee, which included Chairman Westberry and two other members, suggested that Scilabro make his boat striped so that other boaters know that the water is being patrolled. They also suggested the construction of more signs, which in turn, would show boats who may be speeding, that the area which their boat is in is either a “no wake zone” or a slower speed zone.
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