We were assigned a research paper of sorts. The prompt had us identify eight different examples of the way the media "uses its power" from our text for a Poli Sci 101 course. It was, IMO, a fairly elementary assignment meant for students to use critical thinking skills. That's a big thing, apparently, in current collegiate curriculum. Anyway, I don't know that it is that great of a paper, but the standards were really, really low. Enjoy. ps - the weird format is what I understood as standard APA format as taken from Purdue's OWL site.

1. Running head: MANIPULATION: A SAMPLING OF MODERN MEDIA STRATEGIES 1
Manipulation: A Sampling of Modern Media Strategies
American Government 101
Louis Wischnewsky
Professor Naji Dahi, PhD
TR 12:00PM – 1:20PM
November 29, 2011

2. MANIPULATION: A SAMPLING OF MODERN MEDIA STRATEGIES 2
It is difficult to say when the role of journalism was deemed to have changed from one
that reported on the concerns of political or special interests groups, but there is little doubt that,
for decades now, the populace of the United States has expected the reporting of news to be un-
biased; free from the reporting observer's opinion. However, the printed word, whether hand-
written or the Gutenberg Bible, has always influenced minds and guided lives. The dawn of new
forms of communication transmission has not changed the purpose of media. Watching local
newscasts demonstrates that, while the techniques of persuasion from which media derives its
hefty power are often subtle, they are nonetheless ever present in modern journalism. To
demonstrate this point, recently three different networks in the Los Angeles area were observed.
The networks, dates, and times were as follows: KCBS - November 25 at 5:00 PM; KNBC -
November 27 at 11:00 PM; KABC - November 28 at 4:00 PM.
Thomas Dye and Bartholomey Sparrow describe the term “newsmaking” as, “deciding
what is 'news' and who is 'newsworthy” (Dye & Sparrow, 176, 2011). KCBS met this definition
in spades Friday. Tragic as the story of Bryan Stow may be, his beating was a single incident.
Rarely are people killed or beaten nearly to death after sporting events in the United States.
Regardless, the original incident was news. He survived and two suspects have been arrested
(Mauldin, 2011). One might argue it was all newsworthy. However, are regular reports of his
recovery necessary? Again, it might seem cold, but with many in LA on the verge of being
homeless due to a terrible economy, is it news? KCBS gets to decide the question demonstrating
the media's power to decide what is news and who is newsworthy.
Agenda setting is described as “the power to decide exactly what will be decided” (Dye
& Sparrow, 177, 2011). Again, KCBS met this standard handily with a series of stories of
particular subjects in an orchestrated sequence – that set a clear agenda. The first story led off

3. MANIPULATION: A SAMPLING OF MODERN MEDIA STRATEGIES 3
with news of the Occupy LA ordeal. True, that could be considered news. But the next two
stories were about violence among shoppers, specifically, violence at Walmart stores. The same
pepper spray story came again later in the broadcast (Mauldin, 2011). The choice of stories and
their sequence are strong evidence that there may be an agenda the station was trying to frame.
Should the 99% demand more responsibility from corporations like Walmart in preventing
violence among shoppers?
KCBS was also able to provide the perfect model of sensationalism to viewers. Sen-
sationalism as “a bias toward 'hype' in the selection of news, its presentation, and its inter-
pretation” (Dye & Sparrow, 182, 2011). In lay terms, sensationalism is the creation of hype, and
over-emphasis of an aspect of a story or the story itself. More than sixty percent of the stories
during the newscast involved Black Friday. The Friday after Thanskgiving is the busiest retail
day of the year, trivia well-known for decades. Why is this news? Who cares: the point is that
someone at KCBS decided that the most important news of the day was Black Friday. And if
viewers did not know how to be a part of Black Friday, KCBS gave ideas. Viewers could go
shopping at a mall, buy a new car, or shop online via their smartphones – three different stories
all within the hype, or sensationalism, of Black Friday (Mauldin, 2011).
Moving on, KNBC shows they are not above the fray, providing the perfect example of a
feeding frenzy. Political scientist Larry Sabato sums up feeding frenzies: the story grows
exponentially into a bigger ordeal than it really is (p.184, 2011). The Occupy story fits this
category, pardon the pun, to the proverbial “tea.” The movement has never had any cohesive
message and certainly no goal other than wanting everything to be free from monetary cost. Yet,
in true feeding frenzy fashion, Sunday night KNBC kept mentioning the mayor's deadline for the
Occupy seige, showing live footage of the scene througout the broadcast. There were three

4. MANIPULATION: A SAMPLING OF MODERN MEDIA STRATEGIES 4
reporters, not including the helicopter voice, on scene the entire broadcast – an upgrade from the
Friday before when only two reporters had been present. Yet, despite the journalistic sharks
smelling blood, nothing came of the ordeal (Smith, 2011).
Surely there can be nothing wrong with patriotism, though. Right? As Dye and Sparrow
explain socialization briefly, socializing is showing patriotic images, such as flags or feel-good
moments among government leaders so that audiences “learn[] of political values” (p. 178,
2011). One can include loyal, patriotic Americans as icons of patriotism. KNBC does this in a
unique way. It's hard to imagine a news station not giving due reverence to America but the
broadcast almost forgot do to so. Saving the day, KNBC ran with the story of three American
students being released from Egyptian custody and returning home to the U.S. Now, in any other
part of the world, the average citizen would have wanted to smack the three dolts on the back of
their heads for not being respectful of a host country. But not in the U.S. Instead, the three young
men received a hero's welcome home. Of course, one of them revealed the shocking news that
they had done nothing wrong. Worse, those dastardly Egyptian police threatened to torture the
three (Smith, 2011). To make sure audiences are socialized correctly, no one from Egypt was
quoted. But that is okay because everyone knows that three college-aged young men would
never lie about their prankster guilt.
Doubting those young men are being completely forthright is pessimism. What KABC
does in the three opening stories of their broadcast, however, is journalistic negativism. Dye and
Sparrow say the media has a bias towards bad news because audiences are more likely to watch
bad news than good news (p. 183, 2011). But what is negativism? Negativism is a heavy focus
on all the bad aspects of a story. The first story tells viewers to be careful shopping for bargains
that are too good to be true on the internet. It turns out bad people are selling counterfeit goods.

5. MANIPULATION: A SAMPLING OF MODERN MEDIA STRATEGIES 5
Someone missed the “if-it-bleeds-it-leads” memo at KABC but they made up for it in the next
two stories. Up first was a follow up on that “violence” at the Porter Ranch Walmart (turns out
the woman who turned herself in still has not been charged with a crime). That was not bloody
enough and neither was the third story of the newscast, but it was quite dark and negative,
nonetheless. Not only does Penn State have coaches that think little boys that are hot, Syracuse
apparently has a coach that thinks young men are sexy, too (Kleiner, 2011).
The story regarding the coach raises a question about journalistic power but not nearly as
directly as the KABC story about Michael Jackson murderer Conrad Murray's sentencing.
Apparently KABC is second guessing the new “re-allignment” law regarding prison over-
crowding. Non-violent or not-so-violent convicts are to be housed at county jails. The station
makes a compelling argument that this law essentially lets sick bastards like Murray pretty much
get away with murder (Kleiner, 2011). The point is that this is persuasive journalism. When
media outlets “engage in direct efforts to change our attitudes, opinions, and behavior,” they are
persuading viewers to adopt a view the outlet holds and compel citizens to take action to make
that view policy (Dye & Sparrow, 178, 2011). What should have been a story about Murray's
pending sentencing became an opportunity for KABC to make a pitch toward new social policy.
The problem with not realizing the power that the media has is that sometimes they get
the story wrong. It has been some time since the story of Miley Cirus toking on a bong was in the
headlines, but the evidence at the time indicated she was not using anything illegal. Unfor-
tunately, the media seems unable to accept that the appearance of the young lady using drugs was
not the reality. KABC aired a story about Miley's recent birthday party where her friends pulled a
prank, having something on her cake about her being a stoner (Kleiner, 2011). It was simple
chiding among friends but KABC does its best to interpret the gesture as something else. The end

6. MANIPULATION: A SAMPLING OF MODERN MEDIA STRATEGIES 6
result is that appearance and reality are two different things. This is called interpreting by Dye
and Sparrow and the particular instance falls into the category “appearance versus reality” (p.
178, 2011).
There they are, eight different examples of the way media weilds its power. However, the
reality is that the debate of whether or not bias exists in reporting news is, frankly, an idiotic
argument. Man's very nature precludes bias will affect all that he repeats to others. Even when
the story neutrally affects a reporter the story must be spiced with adjectives, which are usually
opinionated in nature, so that others will be willing to listen to the story. Imagine Ben Stein
telling the news in his famous monotonous tone, never once using adjectives to describe the
story, “A man died in Los Angeles today.” Rather, to be willing to sit through a half hour of news
that mostly does not affect the audience directly, Don Henley's bubble-headed, bleached blond of
“Dirty Laundry” fame has to tell audiences of tragedy or disaster with a gleem in her eye.
Ridding the news of bias is not prudently possible nor necessary. It is not necessary
because educating the masses to the different forms of rhetoric and how to identify them negates
the power of the rhetoric. Yet, it takes more than knowledge of how media attempts to guide
viewers' thoughts and opinions; it also takes strong critical thinking skills in order to see through
the “fluff” and hype of stories. To believe otherwise is naïve and to make that point this paper
concludes with a quote from one of the original modern manipulators of information, Edward
Bernays:
“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the
masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen
mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our
country [Bernays, 37, 2005].”

7. MANIPULATION: A SAMPLING OF MODERN MEDIA STRATEGIES 7
References
Bernays, Edward. (2005). Propaganda. Brooklyn: Ig Publishing.
Dye, Thomas, & Sparrow, Bartholomew. (2011). Politics in America. Longman: New York.
Kleiner, Arnold J. (President). (November 28, 2011) KABC-TV Los Angeles [ Eyewitness News
11:00PM ]. Glendale: KABC-TV Los Angeles.
Mauldin, Steve (President). (November 25, 2011). CBS Los Angeles [ CBS 2 News at 5:00 ]. Los
Angeles: CBS Television Stations.
Smith, Cy (Producer). (November 27, 2011). Channel 4 News [ Channel 4 News at 11PM ]. Los
Angeles: NBCUniversal, Inc.