I read this in on anime site, debating section, it seemed like quite a nice topic, but the topic grew static, with the lack of ideas. Hoping that a larger society will have more opinions =D

Though some would say it already is.

Should Americans get the truth and nothing but the truth in their news? And since most of you probably already have your mind made up on this topic, I'll be giving you your side to make things interesting...

My Answer

Right now the truth in news is mostly related to terrorism, war in iraq etc. By broadcasting this on national tv, people live in fear of another event similar to 9/11. (well im not entirely sure if this is true, only a thought), So if these events were kept away from the public, the society would feel like theyre living in a more secure society. But if we do keep the truth away from the public, then it would seem that the government is lying to its own people. Something thats wrong =\

Actually, i thought that news in America were allready censored.. Like in most of the countries today in the world. (In France, that's a shame to watch the news, they are all so unreal and manipulated!)
To Tell the truth to american people, will end on telling that the event of 9/11 was not as surprising as it seems, it seemed actually pretty well prepared if we give faith in some proves and theories that are growing right now. Tell them that the media were manipulated (like in every country) to bring fear to everyone and make us accept anything the government will propose (which was, of course, in their interest!)..

So i don't think the american tv should be more censored and manipulated than it is allready now. Except, if censoring means: show the REAL truth.
Which, i guess, won't be believed by most of people in America and in the rest of the world. Unfortunately.

TV shows us what we want to see. Nothing more.

Wing

If any of you think that the news ever gives "truth", you are mistaken. The media is highly biased and while they portray "facts", facts can be laid out in such a way to misconstrue "truth". Additionally, when the media doesn't even know the full "truth", it gives the public fragments of information that is highly biased, thus only portraying part of the picture. But the news does not lie.....they present facts. Unfortunately, anything taken out of context or summarized is subject to bias.

Personally, I don't think the news needs censorship, I think the news needs to do a better job of presenting what is important rather than presenting what will make people watch. How often on the news do you hear about environmental issues that aren't related to disasters or crops? Do you ever hear on the news that we have pretty much hunted most food type fish species to extinction and without fish farming we will not have enough fish to supply demand in the next few years? Do you hear about how we're using up our water supply in the midwest US and Florida? Nope. Why? Because this kind of news is not what gets people to watch. Watching people get shot, buildings burning down, saving cats, shooting wild animals, and political gossip are what gets people's attention. Is this purely the media's fault though or is it a result of the interests of people in general?

See the problem is the GOVERNMENT NEEDS CENSORSHIP to control people and prevent them from rioting in the streets and create a coup against them. Because frankly, YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH! XD

And most of the time, us knowing the truth would hurt big business, foreign relations, support for the country etc. Take aliens for example. If the government went and publicly announced that Aliens DID indeed make contact on earth and that it had been hidden from the public for decades, the first thing that's going to happen is people will raise questions. Questions will lead to doubt and then chaos will resume.

The truth in the news? unfortunatly, thats impossible, because of a lot of reasons. but if you were to eliminate most of those it would still exist because of opinion. the way you say something can change the meaning or harshness of it. and as humans, we'll tend to persuade people with our opinions. be it iraq saying america is evil, or america saying iraq is evil.
but honestly, pheonix is right. if american news was completely uncencored, the people of the country wouldn't be able to handle it. the violence is way more extreme than we see on our TV. not to mention, if nothing but the truth was given, there would have been much worse of an uprising then just war revolts, strikes and such in the streets of manhattan. half the country would have been against what was being done.
but to be honest, the "beauty" of being in america, is most people don't have to care about whats going on outside of there happy little town to lead a good life. some even outside of their home. americans live by "ignorance is bliss". if that was taken away, i think more people would become unhappy as opposed to happy. because for people who WANT to know the truth, it's available to them on the internet. for those who don't, it doesn't disrupt their lives. i'm not syaing the news should or shouldn't be cencored or the fact that it is or isn't is wrong, but the fact that america is based on "ignorance is bliss" means that the media part of life is being handled accordingly.
now the question is, should the news be so BIASED. and with that, i say...no. but thats impossible because of opinion and all that good stuff.

It shouldnt be censord like what happend on 9/11 with the twin towers they said it was to horrible to watch i was 11 and pist off they took it of the air im mean what the h*ll tons a people died i mean come on then the goverment says you cant watch it becouse it was to horrible i mean come on if there goin to censor it later then whats the point on putting it on the news.

And why dont bush goto iraq and fight for his country we dont need him as a president...

jebelbryan

Do you ever hear on the news that we have pretty much hunted most food type fish species to extinction and without fish farming we will not have enough fish to supply demand in the next few years? Do you hear about how we're using up our water supply in the midwest US and Florida? Nope. Why? Because this kind of news is not what gets people to watch. Watching people get shot, buildings burning down, saving cats, shooting wild animals, and political gossip are what gets people's attention. Is this purely the media's fault though or is it a result of the interests of people in general?

I'm actually taking a journalism class right now, and I went to a panel last friday about the news and how much of the truth we are getting. News puts an emphasis on being hard hitting, and getting the real story, the stuff that people need to know that day. I'm not saying that people don't need to know about the extinction of our fish supply, or how the water is being used in Florida, but at the end of the day when you look at all the things that went on, the most immediate, prevalent things have to be presented. At the panel last friday the question was rasied about why we don't hear any positive stories out of Iraq, and the one journalist said it was because so many bad things happened, that there was only time and room for the important bad things to be presented. The guy said he went to cover a school opening over there, and before he got to it, it had been bombed, and that became the story. Stories that have developed over time like the fish story, and stories highlighting good news are feature news, they're not hard news which is what most people watch.

And honestly, I think if you want to talk about the government manipulating the news, right now I'd say they manipulated it first to make it look like Iraq was a bigger threat than it really was. And now they're using the constant violence in Iraq to distract us from the controversies about our own government involving listening in on phone conversations and appointing a man with no experience to be head of the department of homeland security, leading to the total mess up that occured in New Orleans after katrina.

Scince were I live is affected by terrorism so much, I belive that the people should be fully informed. They live in more fear than when they don't know what's going on. And what if something did happen, and if people were not informed then they wouldn't know what the heck to do. And that's why it's called the news so we all get informed.

I'd say the truth should be shown entirely or not, depending on the situation.

For really serious things like the war in Irak (gawd, I can't believe how censored ALL the news related to it were shown at CNN and BBC), no detail should be missed. But when it involves really shocking images (like executions), there must be some censor.

But well, it's hard to determine this. Censor is imposed in these kind of stuff because it may hurt the interest of certain powerful groups and/or the government.


And yes, it also happens in other countries... but I think the U.S. has a great censorship problem than, in example, Mexico.

okami-san

And now they're using the constant violence in Iraq to distract us from the controversies about our own government involving listening in on phone conversations and appointing a man with no experience to be head of the department of homeland security, leading to the total mess up that occured in New Orleans after katrina.

I will have to disagree with you there. They're using useless projects like our trip to MARS, Gay Marriages, and Immigration Problems to hide the fact that we're struggling in Iraq. The fear of terrorism allowed for an extension in power in the central government. Oh, and we're not supposed to know that the man had no experience. ^_~ The Mars project was supposed to have averted our attention. XD

I think that without the Truth in news, than the News would mearly be just another T.V. Show. I think that the News should be something that souldn't have any lies and somehting that has the most real things, even if the truth is hard.

Lol this is retarded. First of all, censoring the media is a violation of freedom of the press, so it will never happen. On the other hand, media is awfully affect by other things, like who owns them. That makes them sway more in one direction or the other. The only way you can escape that is if the government owned the media, kind of an impossible thing to achieve. Very few educated people will choose to live in ignorance. If you want to hide from the truth, it only means the truth is going to you harder later one. In example, World War 2, the US pretty much cuts itself off from the world(ignoring what germany and japan are doing) and then wakes up one day at war (after pearl harbor). But if you want an opnion, no censorship.

The news shouldbe pure truth, but the problem is, that doesn't sell. Hence all of the obsesion over dogs and celebrities. Frankly, I could give a shit about the latter two, but aperently I'm in the minority. Dirty laundry sells better than bloody armor.

hjohn06

Lol this is retarded. First of all, censoring the media is a violation of freedom of the press, so it will never happen. On the other hand, media is awfully affect by other things, like who owns them. That makes them sway more in one direction or the other. The only way you can escape that is if the government owned the media, kind of an impossible thing to achieve. Very few educated people will choose to live in ignorance. If you want to hide from the truth, it only means the truth is going to you harder later one. In example, World War 2, the US pretty much cuts itself off from the world(ignoring what germany and japan are doing) and then wakes up one day at war (after pearl harbor). But if you want an opnion, no censorship.

It's not really like censorship it's about dosing the information and this is called propaganda, it's really common since the roman empire. It's not necesary to escape from this, you just have to learn how to read between lines. Educated people know how to read between the lines. And on top of that this is not a retarded topic.

The "news" is not straight forward fact...
what is read is a prewritten script, not facts. each story has a certain angle, and thus each script is written in such a way that the aforemention angle is put across to the average joe. terrorism is a prime example, and blindingly obvious. if news staff want the watchers to be scared they can do this by carefully wording the "news" to cause this effect.

its the same with all "news" stories, they all have and angle and agenda all in according to whover is in charge or what the gov has to say or wants the people to believe and think. yeah it sucks but without actually going to the places where incidents happend, all we get is the "news".

what confuses me is why on earth do reporters need to be at the scene or outside parliament etc. why does it even matter where they are, the idea that it adds credibility to the announcement is rubbish. its a script theyre reading they could be anywhere for all i care.

news readers are just like actors they are told how to read the lines, and react in such a way that influences the watchers. if the news where facts and figures, people would be more informed and less realiant on an opinion of the news boradcaster. fuck fox news and the rest