Opinion-shaping strategies of the press

A key component in journalism is the ability to convey a message to an audience and evoke an intended emotional response. By and large, news media dictate the way people perceives events in the country, whether it be in the world of economics, politics, pop culture, etc. In an effort to refine the art of shaping opinions, the press use certain strategies , especially when it comes to the actions (and indescretions) of the US Government. The way Americans think and feel about their government is largely contingent upon what they are told to think and feel. These strategies include deck stacking, selective reporting, spin control and hype.
Deck stacking
Deck Stacking is the process of loading most of the positions in the media companies-the editors, managers, and reporters-with unshakably loyal personnel. The elite professionals, some of whom make multiple millions of dollars a year, strongly support corporate ownership's interests and generally avoid issues that would be directly or indirectly critical of them. Sociologist Christopher B. Doob illustrates this phenomenon by citing a 1990s study by a nonprofit organization by the name of Essential Actions. This study was a quantitative study of four Sunday monrning programs: NBC's Meet the Press, NBC's The McLaughlin Group, CBS's Face the Nation, and ABC's This Week. A major finding was that topics linked to corporate power-environmental pollution, corporate crime, labor unions, corporate welfare (government-provided economic boosts to big business), national healthcare, renewable energy, business deregulation, and the increase of corporate profits-constituted less than 4 percent of the show's discussion topics. Doob points out that each of these mass-media corporations have executives from multi-billion dollar corporations seated at their boardroom tables influencing the daily working of the news media.
Selective reporting
Selective reporting, commonly referred to as biased reporting, is a biased coverage of news issues that promotes corporate interests according to Christopher B. Doob's discussion of why and how the press much shape opinions. With deck stacking going on behind the scenes, media corporations are careful not to report the not-so-favorable actions of the Big Business CEO's or political figures that may have a hand in the media corporation itself. This practice only contributes to the collusion going on between the press and those they are supposed to be reporting the "facts" about.<ref name="Doob, C. B. 2013"/>
Spin control
Spin control involves various media practices meant to mobilize an audence's support for a corporate or superclass outlook. Much like selective reporting, the media are biased not only what in they report, but how they report it. While the press may choose to ignore certain topics such as corporate crime, renewable energy, or environmental pollution, there are some stories that simply cannot be covered up. Blunders such as corporate corruption, environmental accidents, or illegal lobbying are situations in which the media will do their best to control the spin of the story. The media must weigh hyped news that brings in millions of viewers and subsequently numerous and the possible consequences of exposing the indescretions of a board member or extention of the company in deciding exactly how to treat the story.
Hype
The main reason news media hype a story is profits. The mass media corporations need to draw in as many viewers as possible and media executives see hype as a way to accomplish that. Whether it be government, business, the schools, the military, or politics, hype features violence, abuse, corruption, drugs, sexual debauchery, and various other negatives. Media companies dramatize these stories as a means of drawing in viewers and then capitalize on their success at fabrication. Without a massive viewership, these corporations would not be able to charge their advertisers hundreds of thousands of dollars for a 30 second commercial slot.<ref name="Doob, C. B. 2013"/>

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu