Map of the conflict

The issue: Information has to be objective and interesting at the same time. Media institutions which serve as a sender for information exist in a market of competition to reach a huge audience. To aim high recipient quotes they have to be extraordinary, sometimes stress a single point of message more than it is in reality. In this context its hard to say when objectivity ends and manipulation starts. 1. Who: The society. Everybody. We are learning every day. We get information through different channels. There is a huge variety of different media channels and ways to find out what we want to know. Needs: Its in our nature to be curios and willing to learn new things. We need to inform ourselves about things that are going on, everybody in his own way but everybody is exchanging information, messages and news on a daily basis. Fears: someone could be lying to us, could not tell the truth about a specific topic. The innocence about what is right and what is wrong, and that its often hard to find out. 2. Who: Journalists as the guys behind the media. Journalists in nowadays are under big pressure. Their working lives have changed a lot through the internet and the digitalization. They have to work more than in the past, cover more stories at the same time and select those news that are important from those that are not. It should be in their hands what goes out to the people. But the market of today has the role of their boss and he decides what is selling and whats not. Needs: Journalists basically need to survive like every other profession too. They need to sell stories and they need to get the attention of the society. Fears: Losing a job. Not able to write about something they are interest in. Write in another way the happening took place in reality. The awareness of betraying someone just to sell a story.

Information vs. Entertainment

Whatever we know about our society, or indeed about the world in which we live, we know through the mass media1 Luhmanns thesis about the importance of the mass media is not undisputed, for some good reasons. Of course every human being has some native knowledge even without using any kind of media. But Luhmann gives the mass media of today a huge role, and of course there are also some good reasons for that. In the 21st century you can be sure that the media are in a central role when it comes to information and how to get them easily and fast. People who produce media and information, especially journalists get more important than we might know. They serve as providers, as an exchange platform maybe they also are something source for any kind of information that are accessible for us. In this case they decide whats important, which information are getting

Luhmann, Niklas: The Reality of the Mass Media (Cultural Memory of the Present) 2004

through to us and which ones can we trust. They clarify issues and there is no space that cant be broken down. On the other hand media can distort content or information, influence someones mind, and manipulate different opinions. Because of the mass of information in nowadays its sometimes hard to keep track of what is right and what is wrong. If something is happening in the world everybody can find out about it within seconds, weather he stays in Europe or Africa. But is it always the truth what we can find out through different channels?

Media
The origin term medium is comes from the Latin adjective medium what means to be in the middle or in the center. In 2012 we dont relate the media to its actual origin. Media is more about authorities, for example television, newspaper, radio and of course the internet and everything what comes along with it. However if a magazine isnt the center, media are a central point in our daily lives. This could be our television, what we use to watch the news in the morning or the newspaper we read when we go to work or maybe the internet to check what our neighbor is doing in our lunch break. So mass media play a big role in our lives, of course some may use them more than others, but they are in the middle of our society and for some of us its probably hard to imagine a world without mass media. Because they play this big role, they get more and more power and influence. But when theres something happening in the world, who is deciding what is worth to be in the news and whats not? Are the media deciding about knowledge and nescience of a whole country? The increasing market orientation of news-orientated media has meant that all but the public service broadcasting sector has had to chase audience rather than present quality news. The days when reporters got stories because they were good stories that people ought to read have now almost completely gone and stories are now gathered because they will interest the target audience and tempt them to buy a magazine or newspaper. Thats why journalists more and more behave unethically.

Information
The basis for information is the existence of a source. If there is a thought or a message that has to deliver then there are different ways how this can take place. In nowadays it doesnt happen often that this message is delivered in person. So there has to be a medium, an institution that delivers this message from person A to person B. The media function as the carrier of the message. Thats how people inform and inform their selves. Its the duty of the mass media to clear up people and inform them. In which way they fulfill it is in the hands of the sender.

Manipulation
We need to be able to reflect the real world and this will involve referring to commercial products, organizations and services in our output. We must avoid any undue prominence or giving the impression that we are promoting or endorsing products, organizations or services.2 This is what you can read on the website of BBC in their guidelines. A phrase that may describes the conflict that journalists have to deal with very well.
2

http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines/page/guidelines-editorial-integrity-product-prominence/

We expect media to be objective to provide their audience with information in the content of freedom of information. Objective means that the recipient gets all he needs to make his own judgment about events or circumstances. But even if we expect media to be objective and without any intentions it needs to be questions where something is coming from. We know a lot about media today but we cant trust them blindly. With new media theres also the risk of more information what causes the risk of manipulation of our opinion. Theres this risk that someone is selection just specific messages to push his audience in one direction. Like Sir Francis Bacon said already in the 16th century: knowledge is power, those who own power are able to rule over others. This power can never be anonymous, even if this is the intention of someone. Information is property such as capital goods, and the ownership of information gives his owner the same power over the society like the ownership of estate.3 Just because of the existence of mass communication medium in almost every single household gives a possible external control a easy opportunity to come in. Everyone who is consuming Television, Radio and Internet should know that he no matter how he uses the content is exposed to a stranger influence. He opens himself to a world that he can barely control and question about its truth. Especially in times, in which the spreading of anonymous information through the Internet is no longer a challenge it is important to test the origin of a message. It is a privilege of the journalists to select news out of others and give them to a wide audience. Just a few out of millions report, comment, show us and select what we see, read and hear day by day. Of course these journalists are humans with mistakes and weakness. And of course they all have their own interests and agendas. In the best case their agenda is to be as objective as possible but if they intent something else its not too difficult to make it. Sometimes a specific newspaper or TV show wants to have a different report than another and things can reach people in different ways. Information seen as an economic good as the 4th factor of production besides work, asset and ground gains more and more meaning and importance.

Infotainment
The classic news coverage is under pressure. There are a lot of competitors in market. Its about market share or audience rating. When there are ten different TV channels that report about one and the same topic, which one gets our attention? On the one hand side it is our wish that media channels inform us in an objective and reliable way. On the other side its probably our nature that we are often attracted by the extraordinary and dramatic happenings. That causes the question how much entertainment can be in a news message? Can we still see the danger or seriousness of information when its surrounded by sounds or visual effects that just want to get our attention? One example for a hyperbolic way of reporting is the winter of 2010 in the United Kingdom. News channels all over the country reported in a really dramatic way to make people aware of the upcoming winter (source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68mkgir5fbw). Charlie Brooker compares the way of reporting with covering an alien invasion. Headlines you could find in these news programs are for example big freeze or battle with the ice. Broadcaster neglected the fact that the UK had seen snow before and for some parts of the population it was
3

Compare Fabian 1970 S.172

big fun. School was closed so that kids could go skiing and playing around in the snow. So if someone outside the UK watched the news these days the media which just selected the negative part of the winter got easily the impression that the winter was never that hard before. That people were struggling to survive the chaos. The news turned the winterwonderland into a story of death from the skies.

So is this winter story a example how media can manipulate people? Maybe it is a small one, the winter isnt the most serious topic or problem that needs to be solved. But it shows that media can make a big story out of lets say a time of the year? Maybe there werent enough other topics that could have been covered? In the end it is always important to keep in mind that a lot of the news we read today should be questioned. Journalists need to sell their stories, they cannot always write as objective as they wish. They work under a permanent demand4 Journalists try to work ethical and try to be the good journalist who is someone who gathers, in a morally justifiable way, topical, truthful, factually-based information of interest to the reader or viewer and then publishes it in a timely and accurate manner to a mass audience. The job is more about getting the story or the ability to find an interesting story, research it and return it to the news centre by deadline. Something what may describe the work of a journalist of today better: Dont let the facts get in the way of a good story. Dealing with this conflict journalist do have the chance to try their best. Even if they have to write in a specific language to make their audience happy they can try to report about the truth and the real circumstances. We as the readers should question what we consume and where the information is from to keep our own opinions and thoughts.

Mass Media by Peter Sorlin p.18 Journalism Ethics and Regulation. von Chris Frost, Longman; 3 edition (5 Jan 2011)