Classmate Comment

Since most of my teammates have been focusing on their Wikipedia edits for blog entries, i decided to look at other classmates blogs to find one to comment on. I happened to look at Lauren Pittaro's blog. She had posted an article about an independent radio station in Russia that, under new management, will report 50% positive news. The article caught my eye because I had head it mentioned on the Colbert Report the night before. Lauren made a good point when she brought up the issue of freedom of speech. I don't know what the conditions are in post-communist Russia but I can imagine the press and citizens do not enjoy the amount of freedom we do in America. It seems to me that the new managers of the station are looking to gain favor from the government by taking this approach. Since it is technically an "independent" radio station I assume it has minimal direct control from the government. this lack of control may be at the cost of certain benefits the new managers are seeking to achieve by promoting this positive media policy.

While I do not believe the coverage of positive news stories is outright propaganda, it does raise questions if in the pursuit of this goal the station manipulates facts, omits details or ignores stories all together in the hope to make the news more positive. Someone who posted a comment on the original article stated that news of a derivation from the norm, which tends to be a negative deviation. Based on the logic of this individual the majority of bad news is news and positive happenings are not as noteworthy. Another individual commented on how news stations love bad news because it sells and the public are gluttons for disasters and negative stories. I believe this is true which makes it harder for us to understand the idea behind positive news. We are so conditioned to turning on the 5 o'clock news and seeing murders and rapes that we doubt the significance of the world of positive things going on.

The part about the article, which Lauren mentioned, that bothered me the most was that the radio station will portray America as the enemy. Our foreign policy is already in shambles and to think this station may be turning potential allies into enemies is a disturbing thought. Freedom is speech and public dissent are one thing, but this sort of propaganda is how blind hatred and international distrust form.