2 of 55

Write now Article Tools

The truth is not always convenient. While Al Gore exposed how certain facts can be undesirable for society to accept, truth can also be too inconvenient for a news agency to relay - or for a consumer to receive - due to other factors. Vital evidence may sit uninvestigated; results can lay stacked up on a researcher's desk (or in a newsroom); and significant findings are frequently framed in such a way that the average citizen is led astray.

With few exceptions, the headlines that make the daily paper and evening news are factual. However, the consumer must be aware that the choice of news stories reported, as well as how these truths are told, is intentional. Specific marketing goals or agendas influence what wins ink or teleprompter space. Therefore, the common "fight or flight" neurological response to fear-triggering news needs to be tempered in order to fairly evaluate the truth. Let us start by revisiting some academic concepts likely hiding away in dormant memory cells.

A question to motivate this review session: Which is preferable: A) an intervention program in which 400 lives will be saved, or B) an intervention program in which there is a 40% probability that 1000 lives will be saved and a 60% probability that no one will be saved?

In economics class, we learn that people respond more readily to an increase in losses than to an increase in gains. From this perspective, "A" sounds a little better than "B". Yet, in probability class we calculate "A" and "B" to be perfectly equal. Since the odds are typically against us at the casino, why not take this fair chance at saving 1000 lives? Then again, a course in psychology taught us about the human response to fear, and how evolution finely tuned our senses to detect risk. After ultimately concluding that the majority will choose "A", the concept of a feedback loop from ecology class can be applied to improve our understanding of the big picture...

Public opinion can only be formed around information made public. Risks portrayed in the media are easy to recall and imagine, making them judged likely to occur and, thus, of great danger. As we watch a bridge collapse on the news, for example, an image of the bridge we cross everyday caving in becomes increasingly realistic. Since the government generally wants to appease the people, they will delegate funds for research on these visible threats their constituents deem most pertinent to their well-being. Of what is then researched, only the lucrative findings get

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about How the media uses scare tactics to portray potentially negative news?
We want to hear your view. Write now!