Criticism Politics

How to Spin the Press

I’ve been thinking about how the media works, and how to push the press to cover a particular side of the story because at work, I’ve been dealing with this. (Which is one story in this whole slew of stories.) Here are my thoughts based on my experience as a student reporter, as a political candidate who relied on the media to some extent (again in college), and on my experience in the middle of the two waves of coverage in the previously mentioned story (first a few months ago with the noose, and now with the plagiarism charges).

Reflections

What has passed for objective journalism in recent history consists almost entirely of “he said, she said” recitations of competing allegations.

Headline: John Kerry Denies He is a Traitor
“He said John Kerry is a traitor.”
“She said he’s not a traitor.” ((This Washington Post article from September 2004 doesn’t delve into the issue much more than this above summary – except second to last sentence which says, “some of the independent organization’s assertions were refuted.”))

Anyone reading this is left uncertain as to whether or not John Kerry is in fact a traitor. This is a typical problem in much media coverage – and one which extremists and media spinners of every political stripe have learned to exploit. Glenn Greenwald described precisely how this style is actually an abdication of the responsibility of a journalist in this post this past November:

When a government official or candidate makes a factually false statement, the role of the reporter is not merely to pass it on, nor is it simply to note that “some” dispute the false statement. The role of the reporter is to state the actual facts, which means stating clearly when someone lies or otherwise makes a false statement.

As more academics and senior journalists echo Mr. Greenwald’s point – and given the reality of being misled in the run-up to the Iraq war and during the 2004 election, many reporters to become more resistant to the simple “he said, she said” school of journalism. But they still try to maintain their facade of objectivity, which they associate with avoiding making overt judgments about what they are covering, while also telegraphing what their judgments to their readers. A prime example of this can be seen in the coverage of former Senator John Edwards. To telegraph their private belief that Mr. Edwards was a phony, many reporters included such sentences as “John Edwards, who recently made news for his $400 haircut, continued to talk about his poverty initiatives.” ((It is certainly astounding to look at how many times the $400 haircut came up in coverage of Mr. Edwards’ campaign.))

Especially given these realities about reporting, “spinning” the media coverage becomes essential for any subject of reportage. Spinning can be defined as an attempt to get journalists to insert implied judgments and premises favorable to a particular side into their reporting.

Effective spin is a dialogue; it takes this into account each reporter’s preconceptions (and as most of the press operates as a herd, this isn’t as hard as it could be) and excuses these preconceptions while pushing the story in a friendly direction. This involves creating storylines that engulf the previous stories: taking all the other angles into account, explaining them, and setting the reporters in a different direction. The last thing any reporter wants to hear is that they are wrong or biased – rather they must be told that they only were able to get to half of the story by their deadline. When the other half of the story unfolds, the reporter is able both to save face and move the narrative in a favorable direction. This is successful spin.

49 replies on “How to Spin the Press”

[…] while ago, I wrote a piece about a fundamental flaw in the mainstream media coverage of virtually every issue, every event, and every policy. While opinion columnists and the partisan […]

[…] is hard to think of a more basic description of what the job of a journalist is than to say, “He or she should try their best to state the facts, and when there is […]

Y eso fue CUSEC viene pulg Se adapta perfectamente a grandes candidatos que quieren trabajar para una empresa (las otras grandes personas que no están interesados no se molestan en aplicar) con las empresas que buscan contratarlos.Explotadordeinformaticos

Sobre la única manera de contratar es a través de recomendaciones.NegroPollon

Creo que las ferias de carrera son una buena cosa. No sólo reducen los costos, sino que dan mucha credibilidad a la conferencia. Por primera vez estuve al otro lado de la feria de la carrera.Disiarte

Es la mejor manera absoluta de encontrar personas que no sólo quieren trabajar para usted, sino que desea también! La mayoría de los candidatos que obtiene de la publicación de trabajos en lugares como monstruo o workopolis son absolutamente terribles.Venganza

Sobre la única manera de contratar es a través de recomendaciones.NegroPollon

Así que al final es ganar-ganar. Las empresas obtienen los empleados que buscan (y saben que es mucho más probable que el solicitante sea un empleado que buscan si están solicitando en cusec) y los delegados obtienen las oportunidades que han estado buscando.NegroPollon

Nunca quise un trabajo en una compañía grande así que las ferias de la carrera generalmente no me han interesado mucho. Pero, ahora en el otro lado, veo lo útil que realmente son.NegroPollon

Estoy buscando el azul, tres arrinconado profesional viagra, 100mg, que havea ugr estampado en la parte posterior, gracias Disiarte

Nunca quise un trabajo en una compañía grande así que las ferias de la carrera generalmente no me han interesado mucho. Pero, ahora en el otro lado, veo lo útil que realmente son.NegroPollon

Sobre la única manera de contratar es a través de recomendaciones.NegroPollon

Nunca quise un trabajo en una compañía grande así que las ferias de la carrera generalmente no me han interesado mucho. Pero, ahora en el otro lado, veo lo útil que realmente son.NegroPollon

Estoy buscando el azul, tres arrinconado profesional viagra, 100mg, que havea ugr estampado en la parte posterior, gracias Disiarte

Nunca quise un trabajo en una compañía grande así que las ferias de la carrera generalmente no me han interesado mucho. Pero, ahora en el otro lado, veo lo útil que realmente son.NegroPollon