media matters

I remember taking a class that hinted at the discussion of an interesting topic: the manipulation and entrenchment of the media in our daily lives. The teacher had us write down if we thought the media influenced our choices, and to justify our answers.

My answer was somewhere along the lines of I admit to getting swayed at times, like when I watch a Jollibee commercial and have a strong hunkering for their new tuna pies and macaroni soups. Or those mall-wide sales splashed across an entire full-page ad. But I emphasized that I sort out the information I am given, and would not call it a complete and total manipulation.

Imagine how flabbergasted I was (and how naïve I suddenly felt) when I read a Time Magazine article entitled McCain's Outraged and Outrageous Campaign.

It was about Steve Schmidt, John McCain’s bald message maven and how he is a master at creating outrage.

According to the article, “It didn't matter much if the outrage was fueled by fact — better if it was fueled by emotion, which would tweak the fury of his base, leading to exciting exchanges on cable television and fresh chatter around the water cooler. Unlike health care or foreign policy, the emotional charge of outrage has a magnetic effect; voters are forced to take sides and respond, shifting the debate.”

And goshdarnit of all goshdarnits, I fell for it. Take that lousy commercial comparing Obama to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. I watched Paris’ rebuff, smiling all the while since I thought she was putting McCain in his place, thinking he was stupid to air that in the first place. I even read a separate article on Time dissecting why it’s bad to be called a celebrity.

It threw Obama off, especially now that he’s finished with being defensive and unsuccessfully attempting to become more aggressive against McCain (Obama’s mocking of McCain’s many houses didn’t quite have that outrageous ring to it). Moreover, it threw the media off, realizing only now that they played right into Schmidt’s manipulating hands with their enthusiastic blurbs and late night jokes.

I remember the Ten Outstanding Students of the Region ’08 formation program last April in Dumaguete. We were talking about how one of the problems in print journalism these days was the political clans owning newspapers like the Gullases or Garcias. One of my fellow Mass Comm finalists said something about media literacy (since it was her thesis), and it stuck with me.

I know about how the media can manipulate my choices, and this is such a rich and lively topic for debate. But others don’t. Others who are not literate media-wise. Others who don’t Google to check if some things written are true or not. Others who immediately read an advertorial as news, and don’t know that the reason why a politician is placed on the front page for some charity mission is because the newspaper is backing said politician.

Media literacy should be given more emphasis in journalism classes (unlike that sorry excuse for a class I took before). It should be an advocacy in schools and of associations like the Cebu Alliance of Masscom Students.

Just a thought. And did I just really write goshdarnit?