Trash Journalism

Before I get onto the topic of people's opinions on the Australian Government's expenditure on refugee's and 'boat people' vs the Australian Governments expenditure in our own backyard (as promised in my entry: Critical Thinking - A forgotten art?), I'd just like to give an example of the kind of trash journalism I wrote about in the same entry.

Mainstream media present stories as "truth" but they bundle it with so much melodramatic garbage that it becomes more of a soap opera than an actual legitimate source of news and information. Perfect example, Australian 6:30pm news program "A Current Affair" hosted by Tracy Grimshaw and Co:

(http://aca.ninemsn.com.au - 4th June 2011)

They've taken a fairly mundane "who gives a shit" story about someone's loud neighbor, added a few fancy (this writer refuses to use the word "clever") phrases like "Nightmare on Noise Street" (genius) and "ALL OUT WAR" (is it really?) and suddenly this shit story is their TOP story on the front page of their website and the feature of our 6:30 nightly news?

It's this same kind of main stream media sensationalism that is shaping the average Australian's views on legitimately important issues such as Australia's stance and expenditure on refugees, our involvement in the "war on terror," the global economic crisis, and information censorship among a whole range of other issues. As mentioned in my previous entry, People buy into the 5 second highlight reels offered up for consumption by our key media outlets without giving it much thought, and subsequently base their opinions of the tidbits that they have heard or seen on TV.

Just something to be aware of.





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The well-cultivated critical thinker:
Richard Linden and Linda Elder, 2008

• raises vital questions and problems,formulating them clearly and precisely;
• gathers and assesses relevant information;
• carefully interprets information to form well-reasoned conclusions;
• tests conclusions,evaluating against relevant criteria;
• thinks open-mindedly,avoiding the influence of untested or irrational concepts and beliefs;and
• communicates effectively with others,particularly in the development and testing of conclusions or solutions.

References:

Richard Linden and Linda Elder, 2008
http://www.criticalthinking.org/store-page.cfm?P=products&ItemID=156&catalogID=224&cateID=132