So many times it’s possible to see and come to understand how differences of opinion can come about. No matter the point of view, it can only be appreciated by one person because we can’t see through other people’s eyes in the real world. In photography we see what the auteur, the artist, sees and then captures with the result of light-on-silver in the old days and now pixels-on-pixels. No matter what the subject the interpretation is what drives the appreciation of perceived fact.
There are hundreds of different news outlets across the world from which you can pick and chose the subject-du-jour and gain reference to subjects of minor and major import. If you want a pro-Arab slant to the news, you might choose Al Jazeera. If you want pro Catholic news source to reflect your interests you could choose the Catholic News Service to indicate the direction you approach topics from. The BBC differs from the American broadcast network CBS as does CBS differ from Fox and Christian Broadcasting Network.
For every nation there is an acceptable forum for the dissemination of information. Under the umbrella of cultural similarity people are going to decide their beliefs based on the objective and the subjective points of view offered by those controlling the media in that region. We, in America, are just as susceptible to the sway of partisan perspectives on news stories as any other people. There are liberal and conservative biases displayed by all members of the press.
The members of the Fifth Estate, the press, are quick to tout their lack of prejudice when they “report the news”. They’re “fair, balanced and unafraid”. They “print all the news that’s fit to print”. The clichés roll quickly from beneath the ball scratching the ink into the reporter’s notebook. As the indigo pollutes the page so does the interpretive perception of the reporter as he/she experiences the impact of the event they cover.
They want you to feel the immediacy of the event, the emotion, the sounds; the palpability of the fear. They seek to make real the taste of terror and the reality of death delivered swiftly and without the remorse of personal contact between combatants. They describe the elements of nature affecting the community or the commonality of pain suffered by those in his/her immediate area as you are distanced by the fact. You aren’t there. But it’s their job to make you feel as though you are.
But when it comes to reporting on politics, reportage takes a back seat to commentary. Somebody takes what should be objectively reported and develops definitions and explanations for you to mull over and then decide which explanation best suit your belief systems. Similar people bond under similar circumstances and draw their solace by associating with people of similar visionary development. Therefore people will regularly go to the news source they find fulfills their need for a particular slant on the news and their understanding of people abroad they’ve never met or know to a point of understanding.
The same goes for how the people of Bosnia have a different view of American foreign policy from a citizen in Israel. There are people in under-developed countries can’t perceive of numbers over a million let alone trillions of dollars being mismanaged as a n economic and fiscal reality. They believe we’re all wealthy, we all drive the most expensive cars, we all eat with solid sterling silver implements and we waste more than we produce.
Their perceptions reflect their behavior on the world stage. Belgians and the Swiss have a different view of Americans based on a lower amount of foreign aid received than an underdeveloped nation like Somalia or the Sudan. Economic forces lead people to react in different ways from nation to nation on a continent where politics is not homogeneous. It is not the same from one neighbor nation to the next.
This manufactured and quite frankly prejudicial format of news reportage in the world press draws a great deal of its power from reporters inside and native to the country being watched as it displays itself before the audience watching that world stage.
(To be continued)
