"What is a ‘media narrative,’ and is it really useful?" - Obama, Jindal, Rand Paul

[TomCADem]

It is interesting the degree to which even liberal and Democrats fall prey to the media narrative in which the media only reports facts that fits the narrative, or makes them up out of whole cloth, while ignoring facts that undermine this narrative.

1. With Rand Paul, the narrative was about the Tea Party finding voice in Rand Paul, and prevailing against an establishment candidate. Ignored were the facts about Rand Paul's extremist views against equal employment laws.

2. With Bobby Jindal, the narrative is about a young Governor taking charge, protecting LA from the oil spill, and demanding help from the federal government. Ignored is Jindal's outspoken support for deep water oil drilling, including his sponsorship of the 2006 DOER Act.

3. With President Obama, the narrative is that the oil spill is Obama's Katrina and that Obama is not doing anything. Ignored is the fact that hurricanes along the Coast often occur on annual basis, and with respect to Katrina, Bush had five days notice to evacuate the City. With the gulf oil spill, this is the first time you have such a massive oil leak more than a mile below the surface. The primary problem is engineering related. How do you stop a leak in an environment that human beings cannot even survive in? Also ignored is the fact that Republicans are still actively opposing regulations and laws that would limit the oil industry.

The media narrative is powerful, and it often amounts to censorship, as the American people are forcefed a narrative, which makes it difficult to objectively view reality. Often times, what you see on DU are "liberals" repeating the media narrative with liberal sounding language. The narrative stirs emotion and anger, and causes the listener to also filter facts that would contradict the narrative.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=post&forum=389

My Behind the Headlines blog post yesterday was about how the media was handling Elena Kagan’s nomination to the Supreme Court.

The New York Observer observed that by noon Tuesday, the media had yet to “find a narrative” by which to explain events as the process unfolded.

What is a narrative? Does the media really need one?

Here’s a scholarly explanation from Mediaknowall, apparently a media studies course.

“In media terms, narrative is the coherence/organisation given to a series of facts. The human mind needs narrative to make sense of things. We connect events and make interpretations based on those connections.”

“The human mind needs narrative to make sense of things.”