MEDIA 19
THE LINK • 26.08 • OCTOBER 11, 2005 • HTTP://THELINK.CONCORDIA.CA/SPECIAL/
What are we feeding our minds? Our perspectives on the Iraq War depend on our favourite channel
A citizens’ guide to analyzing student media BY
STEPHEN HUI
In a society where more and more people are getting their news from late-night talk shows and daily commuter rags, rather than the six o’clock news and their local broadsheet, it’s hard not to wonder about the future of journalism. When, in a December 2004 Gallup poll on the perceived honesty and ethics of various occupations, Americans rate newspaper reporters below bankers, elected officials and even television reporters, it’s difficult not to worry. No matter how you feel about journalists and their industry, you probably care about the quality of information they put out. While as a reader it may be daunting to try to challenge and change mainstream media, you can potentially make a difference much closer to home. Student newspapers, especially ones autonomous from their university, student union and any other group, are models of independent and community presses. A typical Canadian student paper receives a secure source of funding from its community—the student body—but its staff retains full editorial control over content. Sure, student journalists are— usually anyways—students, not trained professionals. Most may not even aspire to careers in journalism, but many do and will go on to staff newsrooms across the country and around the world. If you want future generations of journalists to be accurate, critical and fair, you can start by demand-
ing the same of your student newspaper and holding its staff accountable when they don’t come through. It’s not wrong to expect the highest quality and ethical standards from your paper. Just because student journalists have more editorial freedom than many others in their profession doesn’t mean they should bear less responsibility for their work. Besides, the student press often provides better coverage of its own communities and alternative viewpoints than mainstream media. Now, this doesn’t mean throwing a hissy fit in the office when no one writes an article promoting your event. Nor does it mean demanding editors’ resignations when the paper prints unflattering coverage of you or your group. It means respecting the paper’s editorial autonomy, while calling its staff on its mistakes and lapses in judgement. For starters, if an error is made, request a correction. If you see lazy journalism, write a letter to the editor. If an editor at the paper is running in your student union’s or university senate’s upcoming election, point out the conflict-ofinterest. If a section is reproducing press releases instead of generating original content, complain to the editorial collective. You have every right to expect critical and independent reporting from your paper. Cases as extreme as plagiarism, fabrication or fraud shouldn’t be covered up at the Globe and Mail and New York Times, and deserve to be disclosed to read-
ers of a student paper as well. Being students is also no excuse for printing racist, sexist, homophobic or transphobic material and other content that otherwise reinforces stereotypes or promotes prejudice. But that’s just the beginning. Two big concepts in progressive journalism these days are participatory journalism and journalism as conversation. They’re the future of the craft in a society changed by the Internet and no longer served by ivory tower journalism. So, encouraging better student journalism—and by extension, professional journalism— involves more than just complaining. It means engaging your paper and fellow readers in a continuous conversation. It means demanding the same transparency from your paper as it demands of the university and student groups. It means stepping out of the traditionally passive role of the reader and becoming an active participant in the shaping of your student newspaper. The student press, with its remarkable editorial freedom and independence, has the potential to lead, not just follow, mainstream media. But from time to time, your student newspaper, along with its journalists of tomorrow, just might need you to point it in the right direction.
Stephen Hui is a journalist living in Toronto. He formerly served as national bureau chief at Canadian University Press and news editor at the Peak at Simon Fraser University.
ASMA AEJAZ
Media is one of the most widely used word of our times, used so frequently that it makes me wonder whether we really use it “literally” or just as a buzz word. Recent generations’ media has assumed the role of a babysitter—it’s our ultimate source for information and insight; why, it even rescues us from the clutches of boredom. Ask a child whose cable connection is down and he’ll explain what I really mean. An institution in its own right, the media has a profound impact on our ideologies as well as our lifestyles. But do we consider the information we consume to be honest and fair? Does it represent what really goes on, or is it essentially propaganda, forcing the world to think a certain way—or maybe not even to think at all. The fact that more and more people rely on TV to obtain news as opposed to reading newspapers, forming their own views or even thinking and analyzing what really happened indicates that we have all lost our abilities to question. We really don’t want to think about what goes on. The media spoon-feeds us and that works well. Who has the time, anyway? But the images that we see everyday are clearly communicating something that is beyond our mind’s ability to perceive. Defined as subliminal messages, these messages and images directly enter our subconscious mind. Their impact in turn influences our perceptions and fulfills their purpose. Cynical? Yes, but true. The events of 9/11, the air
strikes on Afghanistan and the United States’ adventures in Iraq—how did the world absorb and react to these events? The answer is a very simple one—it depends on their favorite news channel. For instance, the Fox News Network is known to manipulate and misrepresent information to serve the American Republican perspective; in fact, the recent documentary Outfoxed reveals the political agenda that they serve. This way of reporting is not only unethical, but violates all the norms of responsible journalism. A survey revealed that individuals who watched the Fox News supported the war on Iraq almost twice as much as the individuals who did not. Regardless of whether or not this was the result of subliminal messages or the masses’ lack of ability to think, there was a war on Iraq. A nation was destroyed and millions lost their lives, their homes and their identities. Who is to take the blame for it? Yes, the people in power, whom we always blame—but aren’t we equally responsible? We have all become passive recipients of the information that the media feeds us. We are goaded into supporting the agendas of those who dominate the media. Consequently, we adopt the opinions of lobby groups that want us to work, be active consumers of the global market and pay taxes. As long as we adhere to what we are taught, or think solely within the reigns the institution of media has provided, we will remain brainwashed consumers of biased reporting.
James Bouthillier
Demand more from your student paper
Liam Maloney
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