Ah, indeed, this FOXNews article says so much about dumbing down the news: an article on dumb people, composed by a journalist in a jargon-free commerical manner (i.e. dumb) and mounted onto a news website feted for its dumbing-down of the news. The actual content of the article (if I am to ignore the other redundant news on the page, including "TOP VIDEO: Pricy Plate - Vanity license plate goes for $14 million in Abu Dhabi") makes obvious a point we covered in our presentation about the cause-and-effect nature of the dumbing-down debate. The idea that the British public hold Winston Churchill in mythical esteem is a monster created by the media. As a youngster under twenty i do not struggle to believe that other kids in my generation would think of fabled figures as fictive creations. If I consider an example from my own childhood - Ned Kelly - I'm sure there are a vast number of Aussie children who think the man in the big tin hat is just another bed time story. By the same token, the problem also extends to contemporary figures (I have wasted much too much of my life explaining that Chopper IS based on the life of an actual criminal, who still stalks around in the Melbourne underworld, and whom has now developed a knack for stand-up comedy and unnerving audience members on late night tv shows). Just as the broadcast media occupy a position of authority and truth in the UK (however removed this may be from reality), so too do the film industry enjoy a reputation for bringing fiction and fable to life. The only conclusion I can draw from the FOXNews report is that perhaps viewers aren't able to scrutinise beyond these stereotypes of news and cinema - that is, being unable to see the news as a platform for fiction/sensationalism or film/drama as occasionally striving for verisimilitude. As for dumbing down the news, an audience's increasing lack of prior knowledge creates a bigger challenge for journalists. Perhaps in the future we might see a mode of journalism which assumes no general knowledge, or a reliance on popular culture. Perhaps technology could create opportunities for viewers to do their own ground work by pressing the red, blue or green button. Until then, however, we may have to news-write for a generation which neglected The Gathering Storm - and instead gleaned their prime ministerial knowledge from watching Hugh Grant dance around Number 10 to the sweet sounds of The Pointer Sisters.
While this article does show how we are dumbing down the news, the thing that caught my eye was the text speak used by you in the headline for this blog post.
I am inbetween two minds on the use of text langauge.
Those of the Daily Telegraph disposition believe that txt spk spells d end ov propa English, but reali it iz hard 2 see y.
When pictograms and hieroglyphics were replaced with letters and numbers did anyone paint angry pictures on walls in protest at the deterioration of the common form of written communication?
The alphabet for instance has constantly changed. It was not until the fifteenth century that we were given a J and the W didn't join us until the tenth century.
Shaespeare spelt his name differently on each of the five occasions he is known to have written it. Spelling in fact was not that much of an issue.
Here - we are not taught Teeline, but it is optional and works quite well.
So why the obsession with the ABC?
For instance...
2day i wnt 2 go 4 a run
Who can't understand that?
I don't see the use of txt spk as dumbing down the news....in fact I see it as aperfectly acceptable form of progression in the use of langauge.
Although somehow I don't think my first news editor will agree....
2 comments:
Ah, indeed, this FOXNews article says so much about dumbing down the news: an article on dumb people, composed by a journalist in a jargon-free commerical manner (i.e. dumb) and mounted onto a news website feted for its dumbing-down of the news.
The actual content of the article (if I am to ignore the other redundant news on the page, including "TOP VIDEO: Pricy Plate - Vanity license plate goes for $14 million in Abu Dhabi") makes obvious a point we covered in our presentation about the cause-and-effect nature of the dumbing-down debate.
The idea that the British public hold Winston Churchill in mythical esteem is a monster created by the media. As a youngster under twenty i do not struggle to believe that other kids in my generation would think of fabled figures as fictive creations. If I consider an example from my own childhood - Ned Kelly - I'm sure there are a vast number of Aussie children who think the man in the big tin hat is just another bed time story. By the same token, the problem also extends to contemporary figures (I have wasted much too much of my life explaining that Chopper IS based on the life of an actual criminal, who still stalks around in the Melbourne underworld, and whom has now developed a knack for stand-up comedy and unnerving audience members on late night tv shows).
Just as the broadcast media occupy a position of authority and truth in the UK (however removed this may be from reality), so too do the film industry enjoy a reputation for bringing fiction and fable to life. The only conclusion I can draw from the FOXNews report is that perhaps viewers aren't able to scrutinise beyond these stereotypes of news and cinema - that is, being unable to see the news as a platform for fiction/sensationalism or film/drama as occasionally striving for verisimilitude.
As for dumbing down the news, an audience's increasing lack of prior knowledge creates a bigger challenge for journalists. Perhaps in the future we might see a mode of journalism which assumes no general knowledge, or a reliance on popular culture. Perhaps technology could create opportunities for viewers to do their own ground work by pressing the red, blue or green button. Until then, however, we may have to news-write for a generation which neglected The Gathering Storm - and instead gleaned their prime ministerial knowledge from watching Hugh Grant dance around Number 10 to the sweet sounds of The Pointer Sisters.
While this article does show how we are dumbing down the news, the thing that caught my eye was the text speak used by you in the headline for this blog post.
I am inbetween two minds on the use of text langauge.
Those of the Daily Telegraph disposition believe that txt spk spells d end ov propa English, but reali it iz hard 2 see y.
When pictograms and hieroglyphics were replaced with letters and numbers did anyone paint angry pictures on walls in protest at the deterioration of the common form of written communication?
The alphabet for instance has constantly changed. It was not until the fifteenth century that we were given a J and the W didn't join us until the tenth century.
Shaespeare spelt his name differently on each of the five occasions he is known to have written it. Spelling in fact was not that much of an issue.
Here - we are not taught Teeline, but it is optional and works quite well.
So why the obsession with the ABC?
For instance...
2day i wnt 2 go 4 a run
Who can't understand that?
I don't see the use of txt spk as dumbing down the news....in fact I see it as aperfectly acceptable form of progression in the use of langauge.
Although somehow I don't think my first news editor will agree....
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