Hello Blog,
In Pierre Bourdieu’s “On Television,” there was a quote I highlighted that stated, “The effect is censorship, which journalists practice event without being aware of it. They retain only the things capable of interesting them and keeping their attention” (255).
We see this in media all of the time, especially with mass shootings. As soon as there is a new mass shooting in the country, it seems as if the media runs off to the next reporting site and leaves the previous event in the dust. As Žižek summed up in Welcome to the Desert of the Real, America has a fascination with violence and gore, and the media plays a role in this. People will take time out of their day to sit and watch a report on the latest mass shooting because they find it fascinating and entertaining. The news just feeds into it. They recreate the reality of the event by replaying recordings over and over again. As soon as we lose interest, they will move to the next big thing. Though reporters might not be aware that they do this in the new cycle, it can still be harmful for the victims of the event as well as society in general. Those involved with the event feel forgotten about, while the rest of society goes on to consume these horrific tragedies over and over again.
I’m not trying to say that the reporting of mass shootings is not important. They are important, it is just that once something new comes along, it seems like the media loses interest in the previous story.
Because these news outlets are so focused on these stories, they might not run a news story that is actually crucial in the sense of getting important information out to the public. Another example of this would be someone reporting on something a celebrity tweeted. That is not crucial to the function of the lives of every-day Americans, but it could be entertaining. This could also be unintended censorship because we would not be getting reports on something of a higher degree of importance, like legislation being passed or other events occurring in the government.
That’s all for now!
Aveyourfaveblogger
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