Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Propaganda, Persuasion, Rhetoric, and Argument

Quotes chosen: 390, 396, 401, & 405


"Much of what journalists do that is ethically suspect is not illegal – it does not violate a specific statute. For example, there is no statute against lying. There is no statute against entrapment by a journalist. There is no statute against the ambush interview."

TOM GOLDSTEIN, The News At Any Cost, 1985.

Goldstein confirms his belief in the first sentence by noting that journalists do many things to entertain and captivate their audience no matter the cost. He proceeds to mention that even though there are laws against slander and libel, those laws do not include acting ethically in one's job. From spreading false rumors to embarrassing someone on national television, the job to entertain stops at nothing, so when I saw this quote for the first time I thought of one particular newscaster: Nancy Grace. This woman consistently brings emotion into her debates and rants against particular people, people who she deems as "criminals". Specifically, the case of Casey Anthony has received national attention, so Grace used this attention to boost her own ratings and the popularity of her show. Throughout the trial, she demonized the defendant by comparing her to the devil, yet never used proper support for her arguments. It is clear that with journalists like Grace the media will not stop spreading their propaganda for their own ratings. What happened to the truth?  

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