Pixelated Semantics

A schizotypical inventory

Beyond the tube

Very worthy item on the media's language in reporting on Hurricane Katrina in the News Journal Online:

'In the first hours after Hurricane Katrina's landfall, the media began shaping the perception of what the world would see. Newscasters, calling the survivors "refugees," referred to downtown New Orleans as a "third world country."

News media focused on the lawlessness and chaos, pointing blame and condemnation at looters, labeling them criminals even as many sought food and water for survival.

While the media played up stories of violence and rape in the Superdome, police leaders responsible for maintaining order there tried to get the word out those reports weren't true.'

The author draws out the way that 'misinformation took on a life of its own' and concludes by warning that the '...erroneous perceptions of the honorable people of New Orleans will linger like a malignant cancer in the psyche of us all.'

Item posted by AutoEditor at 12:37 pm ::