Assignment---MEDIA AWARENESS

If I was a newspaper editor who supports the opposition to Conservative M.P. Humphrey Humphrey, I choose the article and the vocabulary as following:

Vocabulary Choices:

HUMPHREY DISCOUNTS ALLEGATIONS or "DRUG TALK ALL LIES," SNARLS HUMPHREY

OTTAWA (UBI) Conservative M.P./warhorse and liquor baron/distillery executive Humphrey Humphrey denounced/denied today that reports/allegations implicating/involving him in undercover/subversive drug/dope retailing/peddling were true/had any basis in fact. Addressing a dinner/blowout for colleagues/hangers-on at a swank/exclusive Ottawa restaurant, Humphrey angrily denied/calmly refuted swarms of rumours/numerous reports that he and a gang/group of cronies/acquaintances had sneaked/smuggled into the national's capital/Ottawa lethal doses/dangerous amounts of diluted/adulterated ambrosia under cover of dark/at night. "Such talk is all lies," snarled/said Humphrey, hunched over/seated with a tumbler of booze/an after-dinner cocktail. Rumour-mongers/sources around Parliament Hill suggest/hint tonight Humphrey's alleged crime/scrape is the subject of Cabinet investigation/talk. Meantime, Bay Street analysts/mandarins note/point to the fact that Humphrey stock has plummeted/fallen in the last two days/suddenly in the face of/as a result of a wave of panic/selling.

Source: Jim Henderson, Mediascan (Toronto:pub, 1976), pp.40-41

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/educational/handouts/broadcast_news/humphrey_discounts.cfm


The reason for the choices of all of the above is that I want to depreciate Humphrey by using a great deal of disapproving words or phrases, and in a negativistic attitude.

However, now, if I was supportive of Mr. Humphrey, I change my position certainly. I will use the favorable vocabulary to conduce to Mr. Humphrey. And in my viewpoint of supporter write the report.

What does this exercise tell us about media values?

First, the information from newspaper and TV, except the fact of the news, another kind of information is called “opinion", such as the editorials and the public opinions, which about inviting the special to comment on or the readers express the personal ideas, this information must be dealt with separately from the fact of the news.

So-called fact is a true statement, and is correct through investigating and verifying. And the reporter’s responsibility is to report the fact. Opinion is a kind of judgment; express the view of a theme. Generally speaking, the reporter should report the fact which is unsuitable to join the personal opinion, but if the reporter fails to deal with the balance of both, may join the personal suggestion. So the best way of distinguishing the standard of both: one can be investigated, verified and obtain the evidence is the fact. Contrarily, one can’t do so is called the opinion.

The factors including culture, political, economy, considerations of the commercial interest, reporter’s own value or affections of the positions of the news’ source, all of which make the news reach difficultly to objective definitely.

In sum, people possess the quality of “Media Literacy”, which is the most important task to be dealt with in the present day.