NOURNEWS- The most dangerous slop that transforms a media from an information-giving institution to a mentality-creating and illusion-creating enterprise, is to confuse “news gatekeeping and publishment” with “information Switch man” and to give in to publishing biased news.
If news gatekeeping is the professional and intelligent selection of news with the aim of ensuring the health of the news and reducing the mental disturbance of the audience, information policing and information switch men is the creation of a new perceptual sphere that does not necessarily have a commitment to the existing realities and wants to create ideas by manipulating the images arising from the reality or create a new one or give direction to existing ideas and circumstances.
It may not be possible to find any media that openly admits that it seeks to falsify reality and wants to use tricks to substitute “false information” for “correct information”, but distinguishing the mind-building media with propaganda-oriented agendas from the informative media does not seem to be a difficult task, although there are complications regarding this task.
The slippery slope of information, although it is a potential danger for all media, including domestic and foreign media, or written, audio and video, or traditional and new gen media, but let's quickly review the behavior of Persian-language media outlets abroad on the eve of the anniversary of last fall's unrest and riots.
Although numerous of these media have included special focus to subject of the past year’s riots in their daily agenda for some time, but for some reason, it is more important to focus on the activities of 3 media outlets that are the main actors of this scene: Iran International, Manoto and BBC Persian.
These three media institutions, despite the specific and distinct priorities, approaches, and goals that each of them has, they all seem to be committed to a common style guide and specific narration style in dealing with the issue of the anniversary of last year's fall events. Paying attention to these common behavioral principles is very important and instructive:
First; fast-paced countdowns
Iran International, Manoto, and BBC Persian have been taking a stand to address the anniversary of Riots for a long time, but at least, since a month ago, they intensified their critical programs and the destructive tone of their content towards Iran.
These televisions and media outlets talk about 16 September in such a way that they place the audience in the atmosphere of a critical and decisive moment with apocalyptic literature, as if a certain and inevitable event is coming, and we are getting closer to this special moment every day.
The purpose of this technique is to create anticipation and show the conditions of social inflammation for the audience. As if there is going to be a magnificent and attractive festival in the next few days, and the media should provide the psychological excitement necessary to welcome this spectacular festival.
The beginning logo of each news segment in these media is like a countdown to the beginning of a special and new event.
With this technique, without explicitly calling the audience to participate in this illusory and unknown event, the media manipulates their audience’s minds in such a way that if they do not participate in the illusionary event, they have lost a unique and once of the lifetime opportunity.
Through this technique, the audience, who is not specialized and literate in the field of media, will assume that they will soon witness a critical and apocalyptic moment in the political scene of Iran, and they take this assumption as a certain fact.
Second; It's merely a story…!
In order to make something important, you don't need to shout and announce that it is important; As soon as you remove the light, the focus from everything and remove the color and illustrations from it, it is enough for the audience to have no other choice but to consider what you consider important as important for him/her self.
The trio of the Persian-language media, of course, say that nothing is more significant than the story of the anniversary of last year's fall events, but with the technique of focused lighting on the subject which they want, they completely and constantly shine the light only on their own narrations regarding this issue to manipulate the audience's mind and to perpetuate what these media consider indispensable to become critical for their audience as well.
For a long time, these media have reduced everything about Iran to a story and a single issue in order to create an equation in which, in this equation, Iran and its issues are equal to only one issue and only one thing matters and that is 16 September.
Other matters and positive and negative issues regarding Iran remain in the dark and stay out of their focus during a media frenzy, and the artificial light of the media only sheds light on those stories that are favorable to the media itself and their agenda’s.
The reality of Iran is something else, and it has significant complexities and variations, but the focused light of the information Switch man media and their propaganda-oriented approaches has no will to illuminate other issues of Iran.
Another name for this distorting lighting is “highlighting”, a trick that represents multilayered reality, a thin and one-dimensional entity, because it has been learned from the knowledge of psychology that the audience's mind, in the absence of media literacy, is more inclined to listen to simple stories and a single hero and believes such narratives more easily.
Third; Repeat it enough and everyone will eventually believe it
Although a simple story is easier to read and believe, if it is going to be more lasting, its roots should be spread to the depth of the audience's mind with the “repetition” technique. Repetition complements the previous two techniques. Descartes, the great French philosopher and one of the founders of Western modernity, once said “divide and conquer”, but, today's information experts in news and analytical companies and media outlets say “repeat and conquer” because the path to success is repetition, and single-minded focus on the same story with the same simple narrative and one layered depth.
In accordance, every day and in all news sections, the supposed resurrection of September 16 and this event is represented in different languages, images, and techniques so that it repeats itself and leaves no room for thinking about anything else in the mind of the audience.
Fourth; Hear the news from a friend!
The most obnoxious and unethical technique in manipulating the audience's mind is speaking on behalf of somebody else. The desire of the said media outlets, is to create and induce real life violence on the anniversary of last year's fall events, and this fact is not a secret, and understanding it does not require much intelligence.
However, the Persian-Language media trio express this burning desire by using the guests and invited so-called experts in the form of recommendations to “maintain the security of the protesters”.
The expert turns to the audience and teaches violent methods that in a compassionate and caring literature.
Whatever it is, even if the speaker claims that he is saying these things to save the lives of citizen, this is not a media or informative behavior.
Clever teaching of violence and intensifying the intense and emotional atmosphere is what these media do by using a so-called “friend of the people”. No matter how dirty this act is, it is not media behavior, and it is a clear example of the extreme bias of a media.
This behavior takes the media away from its awareness-giving nature and turns gatekeeping into a biased and propaganda-oriented institute which control its narrations and gives specific direction to the news, furthermore, these kinds of media, turn shedding light on reality into burning the realities and facts.
BY: Mohammad Ghaderi
NOURNEWS