In class we have discussed the effects of the media within the United States but we have not discussed the effects of media outside of the United States. Over Easter break I was fortunate enough to travel to the Bahamas. The place that I stayed did not have a lot of choices on the television, in fact the only news station that could be received was PBS. The difference between PBS and CNN or MSNBC or Fox is dramatic. I believe the biggest differences are fragmentation and appearance. After watching PBS I was very informed about the Iran issue and the Nuclear weapon issue. The reporter did not just report what was happening now but explained why this happened and some of the events that have played a role in this issue. The speaker that the reporter was interviewing was not speaking as a Republican or a Democrat like many other news outlets, but he was speaking directly on the issues. He was stating the facts without all the bias aspects that MSNBC and FOX include. Although the is no such thing as complete objective news, this news was very centered on the facts.
The next aspect that is very different is the appearance aspect. Although I believe that PBS is very informative and helpful, I do find it very hard to sit there and listen to the entire show. In order for the much needed information to be heard by people, I believe PBS needs to change the way that it reports the news. We have discussed in class how political science academics need to write blogs in an attractive understandable way so a ‘normal’ American can understand what is going on. I believe this is true with PBS, in order to reach a larger number of people it needs to be more appealing to people, not so much in the content of the news because PBS does a good job in that category but making the appearance of the show more appealing to people. I realize that the appearance of PBS does not have anything to do with the content of the news but it does have an effect on who watches it.
Even if PBS found a way to make its news content somehow more attractive to the average American, I still don't have any reason to think that it would be able to keep up with CNN or FOX's sensationalized-- if anything, those networks might just up the entertainment ante. If we are asking PBS to change its ways, then we are holding it to a marketplace standard view of the media's role in society. At this point in time, it's unrealistic to think we can completely overhaul the workings of the broadcast media system, but little things like government subsidies for public radio and broadcasts are a start.
ReplyDeleteNews is supposed to be boring, and people will always be able to escape to Bravo or Dancing with the Stars. I would argue though, that the idea of a educated "public" is what we should strive for, and small steps to incentivize this behavior are possible.