Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Does BigMedia Mainipulate the news? Without a doubt.

It is not uncommon for media outlets to amend a story if there is a change in the facts that warrants correction. When they do so, they usually include a comment that the article has been modified from the original.

It might surprise yo to know that stories also get modified to change wording either as a result of pressure from political activists or to conform to political correctness.

For an example of manipulating news stories, let's take a look at this Reuters article.

If you are amongst those that think that this is the original version of this story are sadly mistaken. Sorry folks but this is actually version 3 of the same darned story.

This snippet is the first two paragraphs of the original story published August 6, 2007.

8-6 2143
BISBEE, Ariz., Aug 6 (Reuters) - An Arizona
judge ruled on Monday that a U.S. Border Patrol
agent must stand trial for murder for shooting
dead a Mexican immigrant in a case that
prompted condemnation and increased tensions with Mexico.

Agent Nicholas Corbett was charged in
April on four counts of homicide in
connection with the Jan. 12 shooting
death of Francisco Dominguez Rivera
shortly after he crossed a stretch of
desert border between Douglas and Naco.
--------------------

This snippet is from version 3 of the story published August 7, 2007 at 0734.

8-7 0734
BISBEE, Arizona (Reuters) - A U.S. Border
Patrol agent must stand trial for murder in
the shooting of a Mexican man trying to
enter the United States, an Arizona judge
ruled Monday in a case that drew criticism
from Mexico.

Agent Nicholas Corbett was charged in
April with four counts of homicide in the
January 12 shooting of Francisco
Dominguez Rivera shortly after he crossed
the border illegally on a stretch of desert
between Douglas and Naco.
------------------

The first difference is that the so-called victim in version 1 is referred to as a "Mexican immigrant" while version 3 now calls him a "Mexican man". While this seems minor, there is really a world of difference. A "Mexican man" could be tourist or businessman.

The second difference is also found in paragraph one of both snippets. In the first you will find the phrase "in a case that prompted condemnation and increased tensions with Mexico." In the second snippet, this phrase is now "in a case that drew criticism from Mexico".

The message here is very simple folks : do not trust BigMedia. Do not let BigMedia, or any other person or group ever think for you.

At the end of the day, the freedom to think and decide for ourselves is just about the only freedom that we really have.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Again, you're ahead of the game.

Here is an article that has a poll where more than half of Americans have a very dim view of the mainstream media.

11:30 PM  
Blogger RStar23 said...

THANKS for the kind words and link

Americans have got to learn to think for themselves. Trusting sources with a vested insterest such as political gain or cash money (ie advertising dollars) is stupid. Ain't no pc way to say it - it is stupid. Same goes for letting your union think got you.

The Good Lord gave each of us the gift of being to think for ourselves and being able to make our decisions based upon OUR OWN thoughts. It is high time we start using this gift.

8:08 AM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home