Once I got over how overwhelmingly ignorant Senator Santorum sounded, I started to think about how this story was told. I think we can all agree that the interviewers views and opinions were very clearly expressed both in is questions and responses to the Senator. To me, it felt more like a debate or even an interrogation than an interview.
Although Senator Santorum is chiefly responsible for how he appears in this video, the certainly did not help. I believe it is the place of the news to simply report events, or in this case, allow someone to express their views in a non-judgemental environment and allow the viewers to judge for themselves. I could be wrong but it seems to me that this is not what is going on in this video. The interviewer's harsh tone of voice and constant interruptions showed that Fox News was clearly trying to portray Senator Santorum in a specific manner, which is absolutely not their job. Santorum was asked harsh and judgmental questions and then often wasn't even allowed to express his views fully due to the interviewer constantly interrupting. Then to top it all off, the interviewer read the quote about mixed races in the army to Santorum as if to say "gotcha". Fox was clearly trying to invoke a specific reaction, which robs us of the potential for individual thinking and making our own decisions.
This clip has really made me think about the stories we are told, particularly by the news. In this case, the bias was fairly obvious, but it make me wonder, how often does this happen? How often are components of stories left out, or are people portrayed in a certain light because it makes a better, more provoking story?
What do you think the place of the news is?
What an interesting post! I believe that these situations occur a lot and there very hard to prevent. The interviewer interviewing will want to get the most out of the interview to make it as interesting as possible. In doing so, the interviewers usually pushes questions and phrases statements differently to emphasive a point. To me, this post really reflcts the degree in which the interviewer questions someone to an uncomfortable point, just to create an interesting news story.
ReplyDeleteI found the same video on Facebook as well and had a similar reaction. I was shocked by how biased the interviewer seemed to be. He kept asking leading questions and cutting Santorum off whenever he tried to explain his point of view. I also agree that the quote they used was a "gotcha" to Santorum and unfair. The interviewer is trying to make it seem like Santorum shares the same views as a general who was against racial integration into the military. However the quote was obviously just a small excerpt and does not give a clear background to the subject matter the general is talking about, so it is unfair to assume that if he agrees with this one quote he agrees with everything the general is saying.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Abbey that sometimes the truth is pushed aside in order to create a more interesting story. Although its unfortunate that this happens, we have to keep it in mind and make sure we're getting the whole story when we read the news.