Posted on 12/04/2006 8:24:04 AM PST by MNJohnnie
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1747605/posts
Communication Professor Examines Media Bias in President's Speeches Virginia Tech News ^ | 11/30/06 | Jean Elliott
Posted on 12/02/2006 5:28:58 PM CST by LS
BLACKSBURG, VA., November 30, 2006 -- Jim A. Kuypers, assistant professor of communication in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech, reveals a disturbing world of media bias in his new book Bush's War: Media Bias and Justifications for War in a Terrorist Age (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 2006).
Convincingly and without resorting to partisan politics, Kuypers strongly illustrates in eight chapters “how the press failed America in its coverage on the War on Terror.” In each comparison, Kuypers “detected massive bias on the part of the press.” In fact, Kuypers calls the mainstream news media an “anti-democratic institution” in the conclusion.
“What has essentially happened since 9/11 has been that Bush has repeated the same themes, and framed those themes the same whenever discussing the War on Terror,” said Kuypers, who specializes in political communication and rhetoric. “Immediately following 9/11, the mainstream news media (represented by CBS, ABC, NBC, USA Today, New York Times, and Washington Post) did echo Bush, but within eight weeks it began to intentionally ignore certain information the president was sharing, and instead reframed the president's themes or intentionally introduced new material to shift the focus.”
This goes beyond reporting alternate points of view. “In short,” Kupyers explained, “if someone were relying only on the mainstream media for information, they would have no idea what the president actually said. It was as if the press were reporting on a different speech.”
The book is essentially a “comparative framing analysis.” Overall, Kuypers examined themes about 9-11 and the War on Terror that the President used, and compared them to the themes that the press used when reporting on what the president said.
“Framing is a process whereby communicators, consciously or unconsciously, act to construct a point of view that encourages the facts of a given situation to be interpreted by others in a particular manner,” notes Kuypers.
At the heart of each chapter are these questions: What did President Bush talk about, and how did he want us to think about it? What did the mainstream news media talk about following president Bush’s speeches, and how did they want us to think about it?
According to Arkansas State University’s Dennis W. White, a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, "This is a time of maximum danger for our country—a time of crisis. The American people historically turn to the President during these times for explanation, for comfort, and for exhortation to purpose. Yet, the President does not speak directly to the people. His speech is mediated; he speaks through the media, members of the media comment on presidential speech, and others comment on the comment. Jim Kuypers is the best in the business at explaining presidential crisis communication and its relationship to the media.”
"This is a skilled and thoughtful work of scholarship, well worth a careful reading,” said Stephen D. Cooper of Marshall University. “Kuypers's book is provocative in the best sense of the word: It can stimulate fresh thinking about presidential rhetoric and press reporting of it—which Kuypers shows can be two very different things.”
Kuypers, of Christiansburg, Va., received his Ph.D from Louisiana State University and both his bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from Florida State. He joined Virginia Tech's Department of Communication last year after having taught political communication for tens years at Dartmouth College
Good post. The worst problem that Big Media has is not outright lying but ignoring the other side of the story. That holds true for not just about Bush and Republicans but also for many other issues not involving politics. The half-truth is in many cases worse than the outright lie.
You got that backwards. BTS(beyond the sea) is bashing everything on the thread. I was suggesting we replace BTS with EC(eeevil conservative).
May I remind you that it is standard FR etiquette that when a FReeper is mentioned in a post, he or she should be pinged to that post.
:-)
Be well.
Thanks for that link. Got the book.
I noticed that you have decided not to respond to EITHER of my posts to you. What's wrong? Hillary got your tongue?
You are just a Drive-By poster and nothing else.
Well said, driftless2, If I may say to you.
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The socialist/Marxist/liberal media is the most destructive, relentless, and ruthless enemy of this Republic.
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Do not fear the enemy, for your enemy can only take your life. It is far better that you fear the press, for they will steal your HONOR. That awful power, the public opinion of a nation, is created in America by a horde of ignorant, self-complacent simpletons who failed at ditching and shoemaking and fetched up in journalism on their way to the poorhouse. -Mark Twain
BTS, in the private mail you sent me, using inappropriate words, you attempted to train me on the proper etiquette.
However, the post you were responding to, where I originally suggested EC replace you, I in fact did include your name in the "To:" box, so, in effect you were pinged.
Just to be clear, I state this:
From now on, you are dead to me in the Rush threads. No matter what your attempt to contribute to any Rush thread, to me it will be treated as though it did not exist. You will not be pinged, and any inclusion in my "To:" list will be by pure accident.
I hope that in other threads, we can remain civil, and maybe agree. There is hope, that should you and I get along, that we can re-establish a sense of communication in the Rush thread.
Very ominous.
;-)
There is hope, that should you and I get along, that we can re-establish a sense of communication in the Rush thread.
Wow................your moods are swingin' like a baboon in a mango tree there in a sentence or two. (Just kidding with you.)
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Please be well, I'm rather sure we are working for the same thing in the end.
Glad to hear you got the book. Michael Class is really great.
My favorite quote from your profile: “That [state] which separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards, and its fighting done by fools.” - Thucydides
Oooooh! I have "A Patriot's History of the United States!" Great book. But it's in storage right now.
Can't wait to unpack it.
Hope you enjoy it. We have a paperback edition coming out in February that is updated through 2005. It also has the entire Rush Limbaugh interview with me reprinted at the end. (They told us it was only the second time Rush ever gave rights to re-print an interview).
LS
You are absolutely right. We had the dems dead as a doornail after 2004, and let them off the mat. If the GOP congress had done ANYTHING right, people would still be picking up the pieces of that stupid party.
I have the hardback and have used it for reference many times. It's a privilege to FReep with you.
I wrote a musical called "Shipwrecked" based on the founders intention for America. I wish I had your book at that time. Many of my references came from quotes from the Founding Fathers, David T. Moore's "America, Too Young To Die", and "The Light and the Glory" by Peter Marshall.
Thank you for your wonderful gift to us.
My pleasure. I wish the next book was as clear to me as the last two have been. I'm somewhat adrift now.
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