12、語言作為媒體中的政治因素
Language may also be seen as a political factor in mass media, particularly in instances where a society is characterized by a large number of languages spoken by its populace. The choice of language of mass media may represent a bias towards the group most likely to speak that language, and can limit the public participation by those who do not speak the language. On the other hand, there have also been attempts to use a common-language mass media to reach out to a large, geographically dispersed population, such as in the use of Arabic language by news channel Al Jazeera.
Language may also be a more subtle form of bias. Use of a word with positive or negative connotations rather than a more neutral synonym can form a biased picture in the audience’s mind. It makes a difference whether the media calls a group “terrorist” or “freedom fighters” or “insurgents”. For example, a 2005
memo to the staff of the CBC states:Rather than calling assailants “terrorists,” we can refer to them as bombers, hijackers, gunmen （if we’re sure no women were in the group）, militants, extremists, attackers or some other appropriate noun.
13、資金在新聞業中的作用
Since the mainstream media depend heavily on advertising revenues to survive, the model suggests that the interests of advertisers come before reporting the news. As a business, a newspaper has a product which it offers to an audience. The product is composed of the affluent readers who buy the newspaper—who also comprise the educated decision-making sector of the population—while the audience includes the businesses that pay to advertise their goods. According to this “filter”, the news itself is nothing more than “filler” to get privileged readers to see the advertisements which makes up the real content, and will thus take whatever form is most conducive to attracting educated decision-makers. Stories that conflict with their “buying mood”, it is argued, will tend to be marginalized or excluded, along with information that presents a picture of the world that collides with advertisers’ interests. The theory argues that the people buying the newspaper are themselves the product which is sold to the businesses that buy advertising space; the news itself has only a marginal role as the product.
14、廣告的影響：媒體內容
The propaganda model posits that advertising dollars are essential for funding most media sources and clearly have a clear effect on the content of the media. For example, when Al Gore proposed launching a progressive TV network, a Fox News executive told Advertising Age （10/13/03）: “The problem with being associated as liberal is that they wouldn’t be going in a direction that advertisers are really interested in. If you go out and say that you are a liberal network, you are cutting your potential audience, and certainly your potential advertising pool, right off the bat.” Furthermore, an internal memo from ABC Radio Networks to its affiliates reveals scores of powerful sponsors have a standing order that their commercials never be placed on syndicated Air America programming that airs on ABC affiliates. The list, totaling 90
advertisers, includes some of largest and most well-known corporations advertising in the U.S.:Wal-Mart, GE, Exxon Mobil, Microsoft, Bank of America, Fed-Ex, Visa, Allstate, McDonald’s, Sony and Johnson & Johnson. The U.S. Postal Service and the U.S. Navy are also listed as advertisers who don’t want their commercials to air on Air America.
15、黃色新聞
Yellow journalism is a pejorative reference to journalism that features scandal-mongering, sensationalism, or other unethical or unprofessional practices by news media organizations or journalists. It has been loosely defined as “not quite libel”.
The term originated during the Gilded Age with the circulation battles between Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World and William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal. They ran from 1895to about 1898and can refer specifically to this period. Both papers were accused by critics of sensationalizing the news in order to drive up circulation, although the newspapers did serious reporting as well. The New York Press coined the term “yellow kid journalism” in early 1897after a then-popular comic strip to describe the down-market papers of Pulitzer and Hearst, which both published versions of it during a circulation war. This was soon shortened to yellow journalism with the New York Press insisting, “We called them Yellow because they are Yellow.”
16、媒體權利和個人隱私
Ethical restraint would set guidelines for journalists and protect individual rights. The first issue would be to set objective and universal guidelines, so that there would be no debate over who sets the ethical code. The problem would be enforcing these guidelines. The Radio Television News Directors Association and the Society of Professional Journalists both have ethical codes, which include respecting those whom you are reporting about and keeping confidentiality. Those ethical standards are not enforced and so some do not follow them. Some people believe in free speech at all costs. Free speech without restraint causes public outcry and violates people’s civil rights like their right to privacy. The difficulty is that people see any form of restraint as censorship and then claim that the government will begin running our lives and making our decisions. If the ethical standards agreed upon were universal they would satisfy everyone and if the journalists would follow them there would be no need for government intervention.
17、新聞對保密信息的使用
Off-the-record material is often valuable and reporters may be eager to use it, so sources wishing to ensure the confidentiality of certain information are generally advised to discuss the “terms of use” before actually disclosing the information, if possible. Some journalists and news organizations have policies against accepting information off the record because they believe it interferes with their ability to report truthfully, or because they suspect it may be intended to mislead them or the public.
Even if they cannot report certain information directly, journalists can use off-the-record information to uncover related facts, or to find other sources that are willing to speak on the record. This is especially useful in investigative reporting. Information about a surprise event or breaking news, whether on or off the record is known as a “tip-off”. Information that leads to the uncovering of more interesting information is called a “lead”.
18、新聞封鎖
In journalism and public relations, an embargo （sometimes called a press embargo） is an agreement or request that a news organization refrain from reporting certain information until a specified date and/or time, in exchange for advance access to the information. For example, if a government official is preparing to make a short speech announcing a policy initiative at 1:00pm, the official’s staff might transmit expanded details of the initiative to news organizations several hours ahead of the scheduled announcement, with a notice indicating that the contents are embargoed until 1:00pm. This gives the news organizations time to research and prepare complete stories that are ready to be disseminated when the embargo is lifted. In theory, press embargoes reduce inaccuracy in the reporting of breaking stories by reducing the incentive for journalists to cut corners in hopes of “scooping” the competition.
19、新聞封鎖的目的
Embargoes are typically used by government or corporate representatives working in publicity or public relations, and are often arranged in advance as part of a formal or informal agreement. Sometimes publishers will release advance copies of a book to reviewers with the agreement that reviews of it will not appear before the official release date of the publication. Complex scientific news might also require advance notice with an embargo. Governments also have legitimate reasons for imposing embargoes, often so as to prevent news reports being an unfair or undue influence over votes in legislative bodies. Artists’ names and locations of performances are sometimes embargoed pending the official announcement of the scheduled performance tour. Sometimes publicists will send embargoed press releases to newsrooms unsolicited in hopes that they will respect the embargo date without having first agreed to do so.
News organizations sometimes break embargoes and report information before the embargo expires, either accidentally （due to miscommunication in the newsroom） or intentionally （to get the jump on their competitors）. Breaking an embargo is typically considered as a serious breach of trust and can result in the source barring the offending news outlet from receiving advance information in the future.
20、新聞業中的反意識形態
A final filter is anti-ideology. Anti-ideologies exploit public fear and hatred of groups that pose a potential threat, either real or imagined. Communism once posed the primary threat according to the model. Communism and socialism were portrayed by their detractors as endangering freedoms of speech, movement, press, etc. They argue that such a portrayal was often used as a means to silence voices critical of elite interests.
With the Soviet Union’s collapse, proponents of the propaganda model have argued that the functionality and credibility of anti-communism has been fundamentally compromised. Proponents state that new, more functional anathemas have arisen to take its place. Chomsky and Herman argue that one possible replacement for anti-communism seems to have emerged in the form of “anti-terrorism”.
21、安全考慮和新聞
Security concern is proportional to the relevance of the story for the individual, his or her family, social group and societal group, in declining order. At some point there is a Boundary of Relevance, beyond which the change is no longer perceived to be relevant, or newsworthy. This boundary may be manipulated by journalists, power elites and communicators seeking to encourage audiences to exclude, or embrace, certain groups:for instance, to distance a home audience from the enemy in time of war, or conversely, to highlight the plight of a distant culture so as to encourage support for aid programs.
22、觀眾眼中的新聞：新聞是風險信號
Audiences may interpret news as a risk signal. A “risk signal” is characterized by two factors, an element of change （or uncertainty） and the relevance of that change to the security of the individual.
The same two conditions are observed to be characteristic of news. The news’ value of a story, if defined in terms of the interest it carries for an audience, is determined by the degree of change it contains and the relevance that change has for the individual or group. Analysis shows that journalists and publicists manipulate both the element of change and relevance （“security concern”） to maximize, or in some cases play down, the strength of a story.
23、新聞業中的“高射炮”
Flak refers to negative responses to a media statement or program. The term “flak” has been used to describe targeted efforts to discredit organizations or individuals who disagree with or cast doubt on the prevailing assumptions which are favorable to established power. Unlike the first three “filtering” mechanisms—which are derived from analysis of market mechanisms—flak is characterized by concerted and intentional efforts to manage public information.