News is not journalism - and vice versa. But what then, exactly, is news today? Even though three major US cable companies call themselves “news networks” - are they? And if so, what does this portend for an informed citizenry?
In this video mash I remind the viewer exactly how far mediamongers go to garner ratings. They not only regularly stage phony sensational events, they then turn around and promote these events as ‘must-see TV news’.
In disgust, I wanted to re-express their vulgar manipulation. So, in iMovie, I extracted the audio exchange, slowing it down and speeding it up. Over top, I added key words that exhibited a parallel profanity to the broadcast visuals.
But, importantly I wanted to impress the depth of collusion between these two pious FOX News personalities: Bill O’Reilly and Geraldo Rivera. I included the end sequence along with a fictional, ‘buddy’ text-message exchange between the two men.
This parody - fashioned in ethnographic surrealism - deepens our understanding of typical behind-the-scene ‘news’ production. At least it deepens ‘understanding’ for me.
Exactly as mediamongers manipulate their content, civic media can help expose, cleanse, and reclaim discursive terrain by parodically re-employing manipulative languages and techniques.
Fair and Balanced 2006 (2:10)
