Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Media Manipulation

With the murder rate running at around two a day, why does the media nearly always highlight the untimely death of young blond women?

12 comments:

  1. Watch it Ben you could shortly be accused of hating all women and your sentenced increased because you are not of sound mind. LOL

    But in all seriousness could it be there is a hierachy or a league table of importance of victim?

    On a side note I was pondering the other day why the authorities deem fit to pump shite into your cell via the gogglebox and yet deny you access to the internet to inform and be informed.

    The only conclusion I can come to is the TV in lots of ways is used as a system of control to keep both you and me ignorant.

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  2. The cynical answer is that the vast majority of murders are solved by going to the partner of the deceased and asking "it was you wot dunnit, wasn't it?". This is repeated several times, occasionally with the interjection of "where was you when it was done like?"

    Also, it is a sad fact that most murder victims are ugly, old, unpleasant, or a combination of all of these.

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  3. @ anon, I don't think the media is that conspiratorial, although it certainly is twisted and does disproportionately report deaths, mayhem and murder. News reporting and the so called free press is manipulated by Editors rather than journalists, and the obsession with young blond women victims probably is something that feeds their own fantasies.

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  4. @Sophie J so having agreed that the media and is twisted and disproportionate therefore all Editors of any media must be male?

    Or they must be Lesbian?

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  5. I have noticed with the BBC, and other Marxist-Feminist media organs, that when the victim is a woman, they are referred to as "a woman"; but if the victim is a man, they are referred to via some other capacity, such as fire-fighter, soldier, bank clerk, etc., rather than as "a man".

    Needless to say, when it comes to perpetrators, the accused is referred to as "a man" when male; but if a female perpetrator, then they are referred to as a nurse, a care worker, a teacher, etc..

    This gimmick is all about training the viewer via classical conditioning, to regard men as perpetrators, and women as victims, by reserving the 'trigger' words for their respective associations.

    A brilliant, and more full analysis, can be seen here:

    http://www.youtube.com/user/manwomanmyth#p/u/0/6ZAuqkqxk9A

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  6. Here's an interesting and somewhat self-reflective article from the Indy on exactly this subject:

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/the-week-four-people-vanished-ndash-and-only-one-made-the-news-2186297.html

    There are many reasons why this happens and why some disappearances are newsworthy and most are not. Not everything has to be about sexism and do we really have to make every thread here a "debate" on that subject??

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  7. I suspect it is more simple than that. It sells more newspapers.
    Loved your comments though Anon #1 Jan 18 @ 8.45pm.

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  8. As Sir Ian Blair said on Newsnight "Madeleine McCann and Joanna Yeates are ideal victims"!

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  9. I agree, Anon1 and coff coff (great if inscrutable moniker). An unemployed labourer was bludgeoned to death in the next street a few weeks ago. Just one bunch of garage flowers on the grassy bank where he expired; 1 col inch in the local freesheet. No obvious signs of the blueclad boys and girls busting a gut. Not a sexy murder at all.

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  10. @Sophie J Did you know that until fairly recently the "Chief Editor" of The Sun was Rebekah Wade. She's now chief executive of News International which includes the Sun, News of the World, the Times, the Sunday Times, and the London Paper. She was arrested for domestic violence against her husband some time ago. I can't recall his real name but he played hard man Phil Mitchell in Eastenders.

    Do you think she had fantasies about young blond women victims?

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  11. Well, it is for the same reason that "honor killings" or stonings in the middle east are only reported when a woman is a victim, to the point that many people actually believe male victims don't exist: compassion for men in the public is simply a lot lower.

    In my opinion, especially the term "young woman" which is often found at least here in the German media really means "fertile woman" - someone who could have been the mother of your children one day. That just hits home, it strings a chord in regard to some very basic instincts.

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  12. Sexism does work both ways, in my opinion. Young homeless men, who should be regarded as vulnerable to drugs, crime etc, still have much more difficulty getting decently housed than young women. Also on a lighter note, look at today's TV adverts, especially for cleaning products, and see how many mock the male species! Yes I am a woman, but I have a husband, father, brother, son and male friends/colleagues. Being a woman we are bound to have our own experiences which colour our views but let's try and keep a balance. We need each other!! :)

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