post class, november 16th

November 16^th, 2010

In class today, I was very interested in the topic of journalists and the censorship; as a citizen much of the information I receive, I know to be altered and at times lacking substance or reality in a way and this is something that directly affects society and the functionality of social constructs.

“Journalists want nothing so much as to be part of the intellectual crowd. No doubt, this structural inferiority goes a long way to explain their tendency toward anti-intellectualism.”(330)

The term anti intellectualism can be defined as being “Hostility towards and mistrust of intellect, intellectuals, and intellectual pursuits, usually expressed as the derision of education, philosophy, literature, art, and science, as impractical and contemptible. Alternately, self-described intellectuals who are alleged to fail to adhere to strict standards of rigorous scholarship may be described as anti-intellectuals”.

“The effect is censorship, which journalists practice without even being aware of it. They retain only the things capable of interesting them and ‘keeping their attention,’ and they reject as insignificant or remain indifferent to symbolic expressions that ought to reach the population as a whole.” (330)

Journalists are interested in ways to advance themselves. At times they censor, which may happen at the level of the ideological state. Journalists may experience self censorship or censorship at the hands of Government. Unconsciously, these individuals may withhold information, which we as the public attain; we must be aware that censorship over the information we receive is and does take place in our media. Journalists are in pursuit of advancing in the world of journalism and reaching a larger public and being a source of information that the public desires. At times, revealing the whole truth or the reality of actual events and what is really happening throughout the world, can pose as a threat to a journalist. The government censors the information we receive which at large is due to keeping the ideological perspective in tact in society. Providing too much information can create a shift in how we are as consumers and citizens in control by our government. Another reason censorship of information occurs is due to journalists lacking protection from harm in the pursuit to reveal real disasters and transgression. An article I came across titled State of Emergency: Censorship by Bullet In Mexico, I found to be insightful on journalists in relation to attaining important information:

New York City—At least eight journalists have been murdered in Mexico in 2010 alone, and many more have been kidnapped, threatened, or disappeared. As violence soars around the country, press workers in Mexico are regularly attacked by drug traffickers, targeted by corrupt local leaders, and harassed by federal forces. Their persecutors are seldom brought to justice. Still, in towns and cities throughout the country, journalists are daily defying Mexico’s “censorship by bullet” to expose critical truths.

Some of the key terms in this image consist of Consume, Celebrity, Sensationalism, Scandal, and Sex Tapes. There are many different types of journalists, there are journalists who in pursuit of fame or power, they attain and convey favorable stories which are consumer friendly and attempt to grab there attention through scandal and sensationalism. Another type of journalist is one who at all cost tries to inform the public of real issues, which do affect us. Many times, whether by governmental force or other, as consumers we accept and trust the information we are given. There is however much information that we are withheld not with concern for our own well being but for the well being of our government and its place of power and control over us. These two forms of journalism I believe one to be ethical while the other is unethical.

General forms of journalism with ethics aside consist of fashion, news, celebrity, investigative, sport, citizen, environmental, and business & finance journalism. Majority of these forms are purely for entertainment value while news journalism can be debated on whether or not it also is for this purpose. One issue with news journalism is the availability of media bias. The main purpose of this is to create social change or to give a voice to the oppressed yet this is not always the case with news journalism.