BF2S Forums The Media vs Facts

Well, many years ago, the media felt it was their duty to tell people the facts in a story. These days, it's all about good television, good reading, and high ratings. Many people have come to expect violence on the news, and it makes for great conversation. For example, when that cf-18 crashed, someone comes to me and says: "Hey, did you here about those ruskies probing our airspace"? Then, when I ask them for the facts, they tell me all this stuff about the fact that this was the result of a longtime feud over oil in the arctic. They say " Oh, well, the ruskies sent tu-95 bears into our airspace because they want to flex their might and scare Canada into allowing them to lay claim to much of the natural resources in the arctic." Then, I tel them "Hey, wait a minute, Russia sends tu-95 bears to EVERY country. They just probe military bases and run." Then, the person I'm talking to says: "Well, on the news, they didn't say that". I agree Varreg, people take the news as Gospel, and don't realize that the facts they're being fed may be unrelated to the whole story, and just talk about something that makes for interesting reading or television.

Another example is that lets say I'm reading a story about an alligator attacking someone in Florida. The media will devote one paragraph to the actual attack, and 19 paragraphs to saying why some people/organization is at fault and how this could have been prevented. When I tell others this, they scream BS and tell me that the news can only give me details about the story that they've aqcuired. Oh yeah? The media has all the details, they just release the ones that'll get the most views.