Kaishawn Scott
ENG 1161
Professor Corbett
April 2, 2020
What are the five ‘filters’ that determine what media is produced and reproduced for your consumption? For each of them explain why they matter.
The five filters that determine what media is produced and reproduced for our consumption is media ownership, advertising income, the source of news stories, how groups and individuals respond to stories, and the avoidance of communism. The first filter is media ownership, and that is crucial for viewers to remember, because understanding who controls a mainstream media outlet will influence the news coverage that we actually receive. For instance, two news mediums such as Fox and CNN may report the same presidential conference but due to their own separate entities of obligation the viewers will receive totally different reports. The second filter is advertising income. This occurs in order to promote that specific station. Effectively doing so will impact the severity in the number of people who are attracted to this formatity. Profit from ads is the expense the company incurs in selling the concepts and the company itself in order to receive more opportunity to grow that company. The source of news stories presents itself as the third filter that determines what media is produced and reproduced for our consumption. The third filter focuses on the origin of our media consumption. This is important because when we look at the bigger picture all media outlets are biased in their own ways. It’s even more important as viewers that we are aware of these things and we select the best outlet that fits our personal perceptions or else things will never make sense to us. The fourth filter is how groups and individuals respond to stories. This particular filter is self-explanatory. Furthermore, most news media commentary on COVID-19 in such a way as to confuse and scare the viewers. This is especially relevant to remember during such a period when the majority of news media end to focus on the tragedies rather than mentioning the amount of individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 or are in the process of healing from it. It only makes me wonder about the ideology behind the government and those who are in charge with what the world sees. The final filter refers to the avoidance of communism as a whole. This particular component focuses on the negative perspective communism has on people. This is highly important in our contemporary political environment, as several news media during this pandemic describe lawmakers as communists. For example, every reasonable individual may see that Cuomo works solely for the public good, but since some people disagree with his behavior, some sources have opted to mark him as a “communist” believing the term would evoke intense negative feelings against Cuomo.
Is the manufacture of consent purposeful or automatic? What is the role of ideology here? Argue your position.
The manufacture of consent is most definitely purposeful although in many cases media outlets would prefer the public to perceive it to be an automatic function. In fact, when we consider the five filters that determine what media is produced and reproduced for our consumption, it wouldn’t serve much justice to say that the manufacture of consent is not purposeful. However, this way of thinking is efficacious due to two concepts. The two concepts are news outlets are biased and each news outlet has their own specific set of ideologies intentionally attempting to force on their viewers whether the viewer realizes it or not. Even if a person watches the television merely to be aware of the truth, logically their intention is to just listen to a single collection of information created by that particular news source, which in effect allows an individual to shape their own specific views close to those of the news they are being influenced by. Every news media reflects just partly the truth and they do so because they seek to impose their own agendas on the viewers.
