I've copied this from a comment I wrote on my blog. I think it's important, and interesting, enough to have it's own post.
Make your own call...
I'm not quite sure if this fits into this week's topic; it could be appropriate to any number of topics we've covered but I'd like to draw people's attention to the following Media Watch clip that, in a word, is remarkable.
http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s3035307.htm
It recaps a past episode showing evidence that the cover story of a women's magazine, on soap star Kate Ritche's wedding, was completely fabricated. The magazine photoshopped the pictures and the magazine went to print before the wedding even took place. But, a reader wrote to the magazine and complimented them on their coverage. When Media Watch confronted the reader and asked if she was aware the story was fabricated, the reader replied, "It wouldn't bother me that much... Because it's media... I'm not that stupid to realise everything's true in the magazine."
Hmmmm...
Great post Jess. While many of us have been focusing on the idea of subjectivity and how a journalists interpretation of an event can never be truly objective due to human falibility, this just takes the idea of truth in journalism to a whole new level.
ReplyDeleteWhile many of us have come to expect fluffy and "not completely" true stories from women's glossies, it is crazy to think that a media organisation would purposely create a lie and manipulate images to accompany this lie. It is instances like this that give journalism a bad name and contribute to poor quality journalism. While I agree these magazines defintely have entertainment value, to purposelfully contruct and publish a lie is going a bit far I think...