The Anchorperson and Bad News Essay -- TV Television Media Essays

The Anchorperson and Bad News Government policy and public opinion work on a two way street. Opinion reacts to policy; in turn, opinion shapes policy. Broadcast media speeds this game of table tennis to an even more personal and democratized level, often bypassing several filters as the information television provides streams into our living rooms. Print media lags and becomes increasingly visual - the bright colors and pictures of USA Today contrast the stark factual spreads of the Wall Street Journal. Television becomes an emotionally charged and urgent medium when the viewers can hear voice intonation and see facial features accompanying by the minute at the scene events. The figures at the fore of these transmissions are the television newscasters, familiar names such as Jennings, Brokaw and Rather, persons who have held the public's trust for two, perhaps three generations of viewers. I hope to explain the connection I see between television technology, public opinion, and foreign policy. I believe that technological factors such as television have disseminated more power to the masses in terms of the ability to receive information, but also has given power to those who relay it, namely anchor persons. I also take into account the role of the media in times of crisis, which is commonly to simply relay government information and policy instead of being a watchdog of it. Briefly summarizing author Bethami Dobkin, in terms of terrorism, television media reinforces government frameworks and rhetoric, and conveys them in a fast, but at the same time intensely personal way. The results increased popularity rating for Presidents. "The public has rewarded those presidents who have taken action and have seized center stage... ...rmation is national security. Obviously, journalists should not endanger lives to publish where the Navy SEALS will be landing. Television technology and its representatives do play a crucial role in this recent terrorist event. In one sense, we are more informed about happenings, but we are forced to see it through an unchallenged framework; one that prescribes drastic actions that many people are reticent to fully commit to before further exploration is done. Simultaneously, many people are prepared to take action after seeing the immediacy and size of the matter firsthand on television. Works Cited O'Neill, Michael J. Terrorist Spectaculars: Should TV Coverage Be Curbed? New York: Prirority Press Publications, 1986. Dobkin, Bethami A. Tales of Terror: Television News and the Construction of the Terrorist Threat. New York: Praegar Publishers, 1992.