1. Canadian & World Issues
Global Media
Canadian & World Issues

2. Global Media Information Highway Propaganda Credibility of Resources
Perspective
Bias in the Media
Propaganda
The Global Media
Manufacturing Consent
Doublespeak (e.g. downsizing versus layoffs)

3. A Matter of Perspective
What do YOU see?

4. A Matter of Perspective
What do YOU see?

5. A Matter of Perspective
What do YOU see?

6. A Matter of Perspective
What do YOU see?

7. Bias in the Media
Every media story we encounter is the product of reporters, editors, camera crews – individuals who hold points of view which may be different from our own; individuals who choose what events to cover, who to interview, along with which words and pictures to use in the feature.
In other words, the media story which is presented to you is not necessarily “the truth,” but rather one person’s or a group of people’s idea about the truth.

8. Bias in the Media
September 1, 1983: A Soviet interceptor plane blows up a Korean passenger jet. The New York Times Editorial, “Murder in the Air”:
“There is no conceivable excuse for any nation shooting down a harmless airliner… no circumstance whatever justifies attacking an innocent plane.”
July 3, 1988: US forces blow up an Iranian passenger get. The New York Times Editorial?
“While horrifying, it was nonetheless an accident… the onus for avoiding such accidents in the future rests on civilian aircraft: avoid combat zones, fly high, acknowledge warnings.”

9. Bias in the Media
In each of these examples, what factors could have caused the difference in media coverage?
Which government involved is a friend of the United States?
Which isn’t?
Would you expect to see a similar lack of balance in the Canadian media?
Why or why not?

10. Bias in the Media www.adbusters.org/spoofads
Some people are trying to undo the effect that media has on us, such as “Adbusters” Magazine.
On the next few slides are a few examples of their advertizements.

13. Nearly 50% of automobile fatalities are linked to alcohol.
10% of North Americans are alcoholics.
A teenager sees 100,000 alcohol ads before reaching the legal drinking age.

14. The Global Media
Exposure to media has become a major factor in shaping the economic, political, social, cultural and environmental composition of the world.
Not everyone has equal access to media. An information gap often exists between the affluent and poor, and between the more powerful groups in society and those who are marginalized. The latter cannot address serious issues if they are unaware of the underlying causes and interconnections.

15. The Global Media
In a democratic society, information should be designed to help individuals become informed.
There are so many opposing claims and perspectives in all types of information that it is difficult to distinguish rhetoric from reality.
Accurate, objective information allows individuals to form well-reasoned opinions.

16. Doublespeak
Doublespeak is language deliberately constructed to disguise or distort its actual meaning.
NCTE awards an annual “doublespeak award” for particularly brutal usage of doublespeak by various officials in the U.S.

17. Doublespeak
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, President Bush says:
“As all of us saw on television, there's also some deep, persistent poverty in this region, as well. That poverty has roots in a history of racial discrimination, which cut off generations from the opportunity of America. We have a duty to confront this poverty with bold action. So let us restore all that we have cherished from yesterday, and let us rise above the legacy of inequality.”
However, a week before the President’s speech, he signed an executive order suspending the 1931 Davis-Bacon Act, thereby allowing federal contractors rebuilding in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to pay below the prevailing wage.