If something is good enough, I take that to mean its okay but it can be much better. I'm not sure how this concept can be acceptable in the world of journalism. If something is "True Enough," what does that really mean? I've been reading True Enough by Farhad Manjoo and like my instructor Gil Thelen said it has made me see people differently.
I think back to the documentary "Loose Change" which challenges people to think about what really could have happened during the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon. The government and media told us, the people, that the attacks were planned and executed by Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda. We were told that in defense of our beloved nation, war would be launched to defend our country. However, Loose Change told us of a government conspiracy to invade a nation in an attempt to take over the oil market. In fact, this documentary alleged the government killed thousands of innocent Americans out of greed. In this scenario, what's true enough? Is it the videos released from the government showing the Afghan people celebrating the demise of the trade centers, which could easily have been recorded from a separate celebration and taken out of context? Is it the documentary which show digitally enhance video graphics and still images that show damage to structure, which their experts say, planes could not have done? True Enough points out that people live their lives based on their own personal truths.
The controversy that came out of the 9/11 attacks are an example of selective perception. People hear what they want to hear and people believe what they want to believe. Not everyone in the United States trust the government but most are in agreeance that having a government is a necessity. For decades, centuries and maybe beyond that point there have always been conspiracy theorists. Some people believe the government is responsible for JFK's assassination, the existence of Area 51, and 9/11 attacks. Personally, I don't know what to believe. Following a career in television and being a professional photographer has taught me a few things; video and still images can easily be manipulated to reflect whatever a person wants it to reflect. So documentaries tend to turn to the "experts." Loose Change interviewed experts who said it wasn't possible that the amount of fuel carried by one plane could take down one of the twin towers. Yet one plane hit each building and both came down. However, if there is one expert who says it isn't scientifically possible for one plane to bring a tower down, I'm pretty sure there's another "expert" some where that says the opposite. According to Manjoo, experts can push public opinion more than 3 percent towards the positions they're speaking for. People rarely asks the questions, what makes that particular person an expert on the specific question? If what an experts says falls in line with a person's general perception, they will choose to believe it.
Lee Ross makes two great points in the book. He says, "“if we think we see the world the way it is then we think reasonable people ought to agree with us and we all want objectivity in media, but we disagree about what objectivity is." As someone aspiring to work in media I have to admit that I want to be able to show people my view of the world and my views of what I believe is right. I want to create documentaries myself and hopefully be able to impact the nation possible even the world. The challenge facing journalist today is the ability to be objective. To tell a story from all angle and allow the audience to decide for themselves. When it comes to 9/11 attacks I've seen two distinct views; media reporting from information gathered from military personal or government officials and I've seen conspiracy theorist using the event to refuel their fire. But I have never seen one documentary (I'm not sure that one exist) that tells both sides and include all the facts in order to let viewers decide for themselves. Not all arguments have a solutions and in many cases audience members may walk away agreeing to disagree. Let's face the facts or whats true enough, reality is that we may never know. Theories are just theories, ideas that may never be proven as fact or fiction. People are free to go one with their selective perceptions, believe what they want to believe.
I hope that as I graduate with the next generation of eager young journalist stepping out to change the world one story at a time, that I, like most others don't succumb to the biasness of some media today.
No comments:
Post a Comment