The Power of Words

The Power of Words By Adrian
Fox News may never interview her, but she is one of the faceless Americans who made her voice heard loud and clear this past United States Presidential election. She’s Latina, 19 years old; her parents are immigrants from Guatemala, barely scraping by on what one can make with no formal education in a large urban city. She wants to obtain a higher education degree, and have a long, happy, healthy life, in a career that her parents will never have.She, along with millions of other young, Latino/a voters is the reason why Obama is the new President of U.S. Wikepedia.org noted that 68 percent of Latinos/Hispanics, and 67 percent of younger voters, 18 – 25, voted for Obama this past November.
I recently tuned into a Fox News telecast where an anchor was interviewing a gentleman who had written a book about how Obama won the election. He noted three things: younger voters, minority voters, and the well educated voted Democrat. And I agree with all of these points, and suspected the same. But the power of words; what scrolled across the bottom of the screen during this interview said: “Is Obama the Right Person at the Right Time?” As if Obama and his campaign had nothing to do with turning out younger, minority voters.
The anchor didn't discuss Obama's policies, ideas, philosophies, temperament, speaking ability, intelligence, etc. as a huge factor in why Obama won. In fact, the author noted that any Democrat would have won this past election. The Fox News anchor could have challenged him, but he chose not to. Postman (2002) noted that in the wrong hands, new technology can be dangerous, as only a small number of powerful elites may have a majority of access to these new technologies. In addition (Postman, 2002) added that the powerful, well connected elites control much of our modern technology and that media manipulates the masses with propaganda by damaging memory, history, and disseminates false information.
According to the movie, “Outfoxed” Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Media Enterprise reaches nearly five billion people, world wide. In addition, Gitlin (2002) explained that around the world, people spend significant amount of time watching T.V. and noted that in the United States, more people are watching more T.V. than in past decades, up to 40% in some studies. Gitlin (2002) further noted that media and the many forms of it in the 21 century, such as the Internet, have become the center piece and focal point in our culture and society. It would seem that now more than ever before in our information, technological driven society, we should be even more skeptical of the information we receive.
Postman (1992) added that when new technologies arise, and only a few elite control them, such as global news cable media outlets Fox News, these powerful news agencies can therefore control those who don’t have the resources or knowledge to benefit from it (new technology). It could be that Fox News knows the power of words and the power of new technologies to manipulate public thought.
Ong and Methuen (1982) explained that more than any other invention, writing, has transformed human consciousness, and that the written word can't be directly or immediately questioned, as oral speech because of its detachment from the author. The power of words, "Is Obama the right person at the right time?" Ong and Methuen (1982) added that an author can be challenged only if he or she can be reached, and there is no direct way to refute text." Herman and Chomsky (1988) might argue that a textual comment on a scroll screen during a news channel that has political overtones is a cheap ploy at media manipulation and political agenda setting.
The movie “Outfoxed” noted how Fox News uses fancy technological computer graphics, and other media technology to shock their audience into paying attention to what they deem as serious news stories, such as the recent “tea parties” supposedly put on by random citizens who were fed up with “taxes” and what not. Fox News even redefined the main message of these events several times. I still don’t think anyone really knew what the main point of these protests was, especially when 95% of Americans are receiving a tax cut this year. Through the magic of technology, Fox News broadcasted these “tea parties” live from multiple locations around the country.
This kind of coverage and promotion by Fox News made these tea parties seem news worthy where millions of people participated. This was not the case. The USA Today reported that thousands participated in these events, hardly worthy of the kind of coverage that Fox News gave it. Especially when you consider that there are over 300 Million people who live in the United States. Even if it was the estimated one million people who attended, as has been reported by its organizers, that would still be less than one percent of the population. It seemed that the other news outlets did not cover this story because it was not newsworthy.
As previously noted, Fox News and other main stream media outlets don’t report on stories about the faceless and nameless, such as the heroic efforts of the many volunteers who feed the homeless in Philadelphia, as the video “Table for Six” showed. In many cases, as noted by Postman, media and its new technological advances are controlled by a small number who use this technology to redefine realities, promote agendas, generate profits and ignore stories that don’t fit these criteria.
References
Busby, L., Gilliam, J., McArdle, K., & Smith, D. (Producer) & Greenwald, R.A.
(Director). (2004). Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on
Journalism. [Motion picture]. United States: The Disinformation Company.
Gitlin, T. (2002). Media Unlimited: How the Torrent of Images and Sounds Overwhelms
Our Lives. Henry Holt and Company, LLC: NY.
Herman & Chomsky (1988). Manufacturing Consent. NY: Panthean.
Ong & Methuen (1982). Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word.
Oren, D. (2009). Thousand Rally at Tax Day Tea Parties. USA Today. Retrieved April
25, 2009, from http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-04-15-tea-parties_N.htm.
Postman, N. (1992). Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology. Vintage
Books: NY.
The United States Presidential Election, 2008. Wikepia.org. Retrieved April 25, 2009,
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2008.