Media Tactics

I highly recommend reading this article- https://www.gavindebecker.com/resources/article/media_fear_tactics/ Media Fear Tactics by Gavin de Becker.

I want to help you break the code of alarming newspeak so that you can more easily find the valuable information that may (or may not) be part of a story….Though not offered as a comprehensive glossary, here are some examples of words and phrases I think you’ll quickly recognize:

POSSIBLE: As in “Next Up: Possible links between Saddam Hussein and tooth decay…” Anytime you hear the word possible, it’s probably not happening right now.

LINKS: “Next up: Possible links between convicted murderer Charles Manson and yesterday’s traffic jams in the downtown area.” Almost always when you hear the word link, there is no confirmed link.

“OUR NATION’S…”

“…our Nation’s water supplies…”

“…our Nation’s roadways…”

“…our Nation’s shipping ports…”

They use this trick to imply some large scale to a story. When they say “our nation’s” anything, they are usually trying to give grand significance to something that doesn’t have grand significance.

SHOCKING NEW DETAILS: “Shocking new details when we come back.” Well, first of all, the details are not likely to be new, and if so critical, why are we waiting till after the commercial, and anyway, what does shocking mean at this point? Unless the news anchor reaches through the screen and pulls my hair, I don’t imagine he could shock me.

AUDITORS

OBSERVERS

ANALYSTS

INSPECTORS

LOOPHOLES

“Auditors cite loopholes in security at our nation’s libraries.”

That’s right, anytime you have an audit or an inspection, you’re going to find something. Auditors are people who’ve been hired to write reports identifying deficiencies. Have you ever heard of a one-line audit report? “The auditors didn’t find one thing that could possibly be improved.”

“IN A CAREFULLY WORDED STATEMENT…”

“In a carefully worded statement, the President said…” Is this as distinct from those statements that world leaders just have the kids throw together?

SERIOUS… “Officials consider the threat to be serious.” Is that to distinguish this threat from the threats they laugh about over lunch?

COULD

PERHAPS

POTENTIAL

MIGHT

“NASA reports that a large piece of space junk -PERHAPS as big as a freighter– COULD enter the Earth’s atmosphere sometime tonight over North America. Experts warn that it is could potentially slam into the earth.”

What are we to do with this report? Move a little to the left or right? They don’t say, of course, that every night, thousands of pieces of space junk enter the Earth’s atmosphere and completely burn up before ever hitting the ground, or that no person on Earth has ever been struck and killed by a piece of space junk.

AN ALARMING PERCENTAGE…

15%, 20%, 25%…

“15% of Americans are at risk of being seriously injured in car accidents on our nation’s highways this year.” Whenever you see a percentage cited, reverse it and think about the other share in the equation. For example, from the story above you can conclude that 85% of Americans are not at risk of being seriously injured in car accidents this year. Sort of good news, all things considered.

AS MANY AS:

“Experts warn that as many as 25,000 people in America may be carrying the deadly gene…” or “As many as twenty states may be susceptible to radiation leakage disasters.”

“As many as” means somewhere between zero and the number given.

“IN A DEVELOPING STORY…”

A phrase used when they don’t really have the story yet.

FORMER EMPLOYEES:

“But one former employee at the doomed refinery reveals shocking new information…”

Truth in advertising would require the reporter to say: “We interviewed one man who hasn’t been to the refinery in three months – his opinion, next.”

DEADLY:

As in the popular “deadly virus;” this word is used to imply that everyone who gets the virus perishes, when the truth is that very few people die from the virus. If a really serious virus ends up being fatal for 20 percent of the people who contract it, then truth in advertising would require language such as: “Next up, a local man is stricken with a highly survivable virus.”

I severely edited the portion I posted, and there’s lots more to this article on the website. Parts of it are hilarious. I recommend reading it thoroughly and then recalibrating your brain to recognize these words and phrases that mean absolutely nothing, and then apply what you’ve learned to every story you hear.

The man might not be a Christian (de Becker) but sometimes I think he’s got more horse sense than wagon load of Fundies. I can actually say that reading de Becker’s books changed how I think about the world.

Ya’ll can thank me later…. I like dark chocolate fudge, by the way. No nuts- I’m allergic.