Truth In Media

Understandings

• U1a: Our perceptions and biases influence our understanding of what is true.

• U1b: The search for truth is difficult

Perceptions

• We all have different views, or perceptions based on our life experiences or stories told to us by others.

Biases

• Biases like optical illusions allow us to see what we would like to see and even distorts the truth unconsciously.

Changing Perspectives

• Often insight and behaviour-change happens when we start viewing things from different perspectives.

• What you see, feel and respond to is connected to your perception.

• This is the inner world of your learned biases.

Natural Story Tellers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylhqasb1chI

What is truth?

• O.E. triewð (W.Saxon), treowð (Mercian) "faithfulness, quality of being true," from triewe, treowe "faithful" .

Discernment

• late 12c., from O.N. skil "distinction, discernment," related to skilja (v.) "distinguish, separate," from P.Gmc. *skaljo- "divide, separate" (cf. M.L.G. schillen "to differ;" M.L.G., M.Du. schele "difference;"

Intelligence• intellect (n.) • late 14c. (but little used before 16c.), from

O.Fr. intellecte "intellectual capacity" (13c.), and directly from L. intellectus "discernment, a perception, understanding," from noun use of pp. of intelligere "to understand, discern" (see intelligence).

Intellectual Character!

Knowing

Blind Faith

• Why is justice blind?- Objectivity- vs sensationalism (Truth)

Themis

Discernment

Intelligence Knowing

Objectivity

How do we discover what is true?

Truth

Manufacturing Consent

Manufacture of Consent- Propaganda• That the manufacture of consent is capable of great refinements no one, I think, denies. The

process by which public opinions arise is certainly no less intricate than it has appeared in these pages, and the opportunities for manipulation open to anyone who understands the process are plain enough. . . . [a]s a result of psychological research, coupled with the modern means of communication, the practice of democracy has turned a corner. A revolution is taking place, infinitely more significant than any shifting of economic power. . . . Under the impact of propaganda, not necessarily in the sinister meaning of the word alone, the old constants of our thinking have become variables. It is no longer possible, for example, to believe in the original dogma of democracy; that the knowledge needed for the management of human affairs comes up spontaneously from the human heart. Where we act on that theory we expose ourselves to self-deception, and to forms of persuasion that we cannot verify. It has been demonstrated that we cannot rely upon intuition, conscience, or the accidents of casual opinion if we are to deal with the world beyond our reach.

• — Walter Lippmann, Public Opinion

• “Growth, Progress: Necessary Illusions” What model is the world evolving to?

Manufacturing Consent

• World War II• Propaganda• And of course Donald Duck!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqMVpcbhpqw

The blurring of the lines between the Government, Corporations and personal freedom and choice.

What does a journalist do?

• Respect for truth and the public's right to information are fundamental principles of journalism.

• Journalists describe society to itself. They convey information, ideas and opinions, a privileged role. They search, disclose, record, question, entertain, suggest and remember.

• They inform citizens and animate democracy.

Code of Ethics

• Journalists code of ethics - an oxymoron?• Most media journalists belong to the

Australian Journalists Association, a division of a trade union called the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA). Members are required to follow a code of ethics

Code of Ethics

• Members engaged in journalism commit themselves to– Honesty– Fairness– Independence– Respect for the rights of others

Media: Big Business

Is there a difference between the story and the advertising?

Media Manipulating Truth for Profit

• Fox News: The investigators

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZkDikRLQrw

The news is what we say it is!

7:00min

When things become not so ethical!

• Decline of News of the World

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIXk33Goizc

Truth Stranger then FictionHumans insatiable need to be entertained.

VsFact.

Clockwork Orange

London Riots

George Orwell’s 1984

Smart- TV

Thank Goodness for the ABC

2005 Word of the Year

• Truthiness "act or quality of preferring concepts or facts one wishes to be true, rather than those known to be true,"

American Dialect Society

• http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-to-stop-misinformation-from-becoming-popular-belief&fb_action_ids=10151274379199747&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582

Discernment

Intelligence Knowing

Objectivity

Truth

Can you handle the TRUTH?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j2F4VcBmeo

Could you weigh up honour versus truth? Someone's life Versus Truth? Justice Versus the Truth?

Read between the Lines!

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Thank You.

EXTRA EXTRA Read All About It!

• From “The Corporation”• Why did Fox news want the statement about

the growth hormone in Milk have the word “CANCER” omitted and instead replaced with “Human health implications” ?

EXTRA EXTRA Read All About It!

• Your Turn:• Create a headline for the following stories.

• Policeman finds dog walking on its own on the street.

• Middle Eastern Man stopped by customs official with a expired passport.

Lecture Created and presented byRagnar Haabjoern

Blog| http://thewonderingecologist.blogspot.com/

Twitter | @whyhowwho