TAPESCRIPT Livello 3

04 Media
Interviewer: Our country recently went through another election process and I also understand
that in other countries there were some elections taking place. In one particular
country there was so much voter apathy that no one showed up to vote. So the
question arises that citizens, in an effort to be good citizens and do their duty and
shape their own future within their community and world, need to be well-informed
before they go and vote and or become involved in any process that affects their
immediate and future lives. So in our 21st century, of course, we have so much
media now available and so many different sources and so many different opinions
out there that are spun in a positive or negative way for us by various journalistic
entities that sometimes a person could become quite overwhelmed in making a
decision, depending on what source they read and how much media they allow to
influence them. What are your thoughts on how the media, globally, shapes citizens
decisions in either an electoral process or in forming an opinion?
Interviewee: Well, I certainly agree that there are many different sources available today and they
can be quite confusing. I think in the U.S. in particular its confusing because there
is an assumption that the media will be unbiased. And so we are led to believe that
anything we read in the media is accurate and reasonably factual. Thats our societal
expectation from the media. Now of course any time you have people presenting
facts they are, as you say, going to spin them, theyre going to put their own slant on
their views. So in fact, the idea of the unbiased media is somewhat of a myth. But it
does confuse people if they think the media will be accurate to read one source
saying one thing, another source saying another thing. I think also people who
interact with a lot of media, for example many television commercials, start to get
blas or tired of all the input and they get to a point where they dont believe
anything. So you have a problem with people believing everything and then a
problem with people believing nothing. And, as you say, this leads to voter apathy if
they think Oh everyones just lying, I cant trust anyone. I think systems such is
the case in many European countries might, in fact, be more effective in which you
have several newspapers that present different points of view and readers know that
this newspaper is right wing and this newspaper is left wing, and they know to
account for the slant that they expect to see. And in countries in which the media are
run by the state you have less of a problem with intrusive advertisements that
blatantly distort the facts if the state exercises reasonable control over accuracy. Of
course you then have the problem that the state has to be responsible and make sure
that the state itself does not promote a bias in the kinds of programming that it
allows. So that particular solution to the problem is fraught with dangers as was well
as providing some solutions to the problem of media overload.