Our media today fails to live up to this ethical code on a widespread basis. In standard TV shows real issues are portrayed in blatantly altered ways, where soap opera drama shifts an issue into an entirely new state, destroying the original idea. While this is allowed because it is described openly as fiction, people's ideas can still be unethically shifted by the use of Ethos and Pathos in TV.
However, the obfuscation is not limited to fictional shows. In the news there are often examples of biased information that are skewed by uses of Ethos and Pathos to limit the viewer's ability to understand the real issue. Many news media groups have a prejudiced political bent for example, and show issues about current candidates in completely off-color, out-of-context ways that turn a harmless comment into hateful speech.
1 comment:
I really enjoyed this blog J.P. I agree with you on every level, and you said exactly what was on my mind. Your point that people's opinions and minds are altered as a result of television is a brilliant one, and it even goes so far as the news. The press really isn't fair, and can be very heavily biased. Many things about the media are anything but ethical.
Post a Comment