Global Media
Canadian & World Issues
Global Media
• Information Highway
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Credibility of Resources
Perspective
Bias in Maps
Bias in the Media
Measuring YOUR Perspective
• Propaganda
– The Global Media
– Manufacturing Consent and The Assault on Reason
– Doublespeak
Global Media
• Television
– Analyzing the News
– Toxic Sludge
• Magazine
– The Genocide in Sudan
• Newspaper
– Reported: “Beslan School Reopens”
– Comparing Canada’s Newspapers
• Hollywood
– Hotel Rwanda
Credibility of Resources
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Paradigm
Facts
Opinions
Bias
Ethnocentricity
Propaganda
Doublespeak
Perspective
A Matter of Perspective
• What do YOU see?
A Matter of Perspective
• What do YOU see?
A Matter of Perspective
• What do YOU see?
A Matter of Perspective
• What do YOU see?
A Matter of Perspective
• What do YOU see?
A Matter of Perspective
• What do YOU see?
A Matter of Perspective
• What do YOU see?
A Matter of Perspective
• What do YOU see?
A Matter of Perspective
• What do YOU see?
Bias in Maps
• The Earth is a sphere (three-dimensional) and a
map is flat (two-dimensional), so it is impossible
to produce a map which combines the true shape,
bearing, and distance.
• ALL map projections misrepresent the surface of
the Earth is some way. There are errors in
distance and distortions in shapes.
Bias in Maps
• Cartographers try to preserve four things on a
map.
• Shape – an area’s shape is directly related to the
actual shape in the real world
• Area – an area’s size is proportional to its actual
size in the real world
• Direction – the lines of constant direction remain
constant anywhere on a map
• Distance – distance measured on a map are
accurate
Bias in Maps
“A knowledgeable map reader,
recognizing that a map is both a
simplification and a distortion of reality,
will look for clues to the cartographer’s
purposes and biases.”
Bias in Maps
• Mercator Projection
• Used for navigation since 1569, is most common
• Compass direction along a straight line between 2
points on the map are accurate
• Distortion in shape & size of regions (north is
larger, tropics are smaller)
• Polar regions are larger, equatorial regions are
smaller
• Still used by ships & pilots, in many atlases for
school use
Bias in Maps
• Robinson Projection
• In use from 1988 - 1998 by National Geographic
• Minimizes the distortion of size & shape of most
regions
• Badly compresses & distorts the shape of
countries in polar region
Bias in Maps
• Winkel Tripel Projection
• Created by Oswald Winkel in 1921
• Prime Meridian & Equator are straight lines while
all other parallels & meridians are curved
• Adopted by National Geographic in 1998,
replacing Robinson as it better represents the
size & shape of Earth features, especially in the
polar regions
Bias in Maps
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Gall Projection
Used in many textbooks
Shows area-accurate view of the world
Land mass size accurate, shape distorted
Bias in Maps
• Which one is “reality”?
Bias in Maps
• Which one is “reality”?
Bias in Maps
• Which one is “reality”?
Bias in Maps
• Which one is “reality”?
Bias in Maps
• Which one is “reality”?
Bias in Maps
• Which one is “reality”?
Bias in Maps
• Which one is “reality”?
Bias in the Media
• Every media story we see, hear, or read is the
product of reporters, editors, camera crews, TV
anchormen and women – people who hold points
of view which may be different from our own;
people who choose what events to cover, who to
interview, and what words and pictures to use.
• In other words, the media story which is
presented to you is not necessarily “the truth,” but
rather one person’s or a group of people’s idea
about the truth.
Bias in the Media
• Our news is brought to us by a surprisingly small
number of organizations.
• 3 major TV news services use microwave and
satellite to relay their camera footage to TV
networks all over the world.
– Viznews (British)
– UPIIN (British-US)
– CBS Newsfilm (owned by VIACOM)
Bias in the Media
Broadcast International
• Think you’ve never heard of VIACOM?
• VIACOM owns:
Blockbuster
CBS Entertainment
Infinity Broadcasting
BET
Paramount Pictures
MTV
Viacom Television Stations Group
Paramount Television
King World Productions Inc.
United International Pictures (UIP)
Famous Players
Simon & Schuster
Viacom Outdoor
CBS Enterprises
United Paramount Network (UPN)
King World International Productions
Bias in the Media
• Okay, but Canadians get their information from
the Canadian Press, right?
• Canadian Press (CP) gathers up news from
across Canada to be used in Canadian
newspapers. But for its international coverage,
CP relies on its agreements with foreign
companies which allow it to “Canadianize” wire
stories – changing the American spelling and
adjusting other minor points – and print them as
CP stories.
Bias in the Media
• This means most of our international news is
reported from an American or European
viewpoint.
• Here is the emphasis on “international” news that
we see in Canada:
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US
Europe
Asia / Australia
Latin America
Middle East
Africa
34%
28%
17%
11%
6%
4%
Bias in the Media
• September 1, 1983: A Soviet interceptor plane
blows up a Korean passenger jet. The New York
Times Editorial, “Murder in the Air”:
– “There is no conceivable excuse for any nation
shooting down a harmless airliner… no circumstance
whatever justifies attacking an innocent plane.”
• July 3, 1988: US forces blow up an Iranian
passenger get. The New York Times Editorial?
– “While horrifying, it was nonetheless an accident… the
onus for avoiding such accidents in the future rests on
civilian aircraft: avoid combat zones, fly high,
acknowledge warnings.”
Bias in the Media
• In each of these examples, what factors could
have caused the difference in media coverage?
• Which government involved is a friend of the
United States?
• Which isn’t?
• Would you expect to see a similar lack of balance
in the Canadian media?
• Why or why not?
Bias in the Media
• Some people are trying to undo the effect that
media has on us, such as “Adbusters” Magazine.
• On the next few slides are a few examples of their
advertisements.
www.adbusters.org/spoofads
• Nearly 50% of
automobile
fatalities are linked
to alcohol.
• 10% of North
Americans are
alcoholics.
• A teenager sees
100,000 alcohol
ads before
reaching the legal
drinking age.
• Detecting Bias in Media
• Political Perspectives Quiz
Bias in the Media
• Bring to school 2 different examples of articles or
editorials on international topics:
– One which you consider to be a good one: balanced,
containing good factual material, and unbiased;
– One which you consider to be an example of bad
news coverage: unbalanced, distorted, lacking
sufficient information, etc.
• Write a 1 page, (max. 300 words) response where
you refer to these 2 articles, pointing out the
differences between good and bad news
coverage.
Measuring YOUR Perspective
• Complete the
questionnaire
• Record your
answers in the
appropriate
column on the
answer sheet
• Map your score
on the chart
The Global Media
• Exposure to media has become a major factor in
shaping the economic, political, social, cultural
and environmental make-up of the world.
• Not everyone has equal access to media and an
information gap exists between rich and poor, and
between the more powerful groups in society and
those who are marginalized individuals cannot
address serious issues if they are unaware of
their underlying causes and interconnections.
The Global Media
• In a democratic society, information should be
designed to help people become well informed
and better able to protect themselves.
• There are so many opposing claims and ideas in
all types of information that it is hard to tell
rhetoric from reality.
• Accurate well balanced information allows
individuals to form opinions and to make informed
decisions on whether and how to take action.
The Global Media
• But what is the quality of the information
received?
• Information itself is a resource. To be used
effectively, it has to be turned into knowledge and
understanding.
• A wide variety of views about issues must be
studied and challenged before analysis of the
issues can be effective.
Manufacturing Consent
• Manufacturing Consent:
The Political Economy of
the Mass Media (1988)
• Noam Chomsky
• Edward Herman
The Assault on Reason
• The Assault on Reason
(2007)
• Al Gore
Doublespeak
• Doublespeak is language deliberately
constructed to disguise or distort its actual
meaning.
• NCTE awards an annual
“doublespeak award” for
particularly brutal usage of
doublespeak by various
officials in the U.S.
Doublespeak
• In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, President Bush
says:
– “As all of us saw on television, there's also some deep,
persistent poverty in this region, as well. That poverty has roots
in a history of racial discrimination, which cut off generations
from the opportunity of America. We have a duty to confront
this poverty with bold action. So let us restore all that we have
cherished from yesterday, and let us rise above the legacy of
inequality.”
• However, a week before the President’s speech, he
signed an executive order suspending the 1931 DavisBacon Act, thereby allowing federal contractors
rebuilding in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to pay
below the prevailing wage.
• Think doublespeak
only happens in the
United States?
• When Eaton’s was
still around…
Television
• Analyzing the News
• Toxic Sludge is Good for You
Magazine
• The Genocide in Sudan
Newspaper
• Reported: “Beslan School Reopens”
• Comparing Canada’s Newspapers
Hollywood
• Hotel Rwanda
Hollywood
• Shake Hands with
the Devil
Hollywood
• Blood Diamond