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Media not guilty of mind control
Societal woes should be blamed on citizens, not journalism
Amy
Uptmor
Columnist
T he media is one of the
most widely scruti
nized organizations in
the country.
If there is one organiza
tion that is in the hot seat
almost as much as the gov
ernment, it is the media.
They say the media does
nothing but publicize lies. It exploits suffering and pain, as
in the case of the Oklahoma City tragedy.
They tell me that if I become a part of the “liberal me
dia,” IT1 be in the business of controlling minds, because
the media tells us how to think.
How sad. The last time I checked, people had minds of
their own, and took pride in forming their own opinions.
The power of the media is undeniable. News would be
based on word-of-mouth without newspapers and televi
sion. Disasters such as the Oklahoma bombing would be re
duced to mere rumors without a viable, responsible media,
which is what we have.
The media has made a more educated public. Newspa
pers, radio talk shows and the nightly news make people
think. It makes us concerned about what is happening in
I the world. It makes us react.
They say the “liberal media” helped Clinton win the
presidency -— because of bias, that is.
I don’t think night reports on unemployment, violence
and lack of education represented a bias towards Bill Clin
ton. It was all true, and it made Americans realize a
change was needed.
As for those who think that members of the media make
a lifetime practice of publishing lies that reflect their own
opinions, I would encourage all of you to take JOUR 301. It
is called “Mass Communication Law and Society.”
The moral of the class is that any reporter who has any
[desire to stay in the field of journalism will do anything
[possible to ensure everything they ever print is accurate.
There is a thing called libel -— written defamation — that
[constantly hangs over the media’s head. Printing lies is not
Ian option — you can sued for it. And if you are even threat-
[ened with libel, your career is basically over. The media is
a little bit more ethical than most people think.
That leads to the issue of shows like “A Current Affair.” I
don’t really consider shows like this to be a part of “The Media.”
Nor do I consider tabloid newspapers to be legitimate
orms of written journalism. Their purposes are to exploit,
ot to inform.
Do these shows tell lies? Not usually. They just make a
practice out of exploiting things that, if nothing else, could
be proven to be true by their lawyers.
People say that shows such as these have no place on
TV. I agree, but the truth is that there is a huge audience
for such shows.
People watch tabloid TV, talk shows and anything else
that exploits people and their personal tragedies.
Soap operas just don’t do it for people anymore — the gener
al public wants real human suffering, and wants a lot of it.
This brings us full circle to the question: ‘"Why doe the media
go so far?” People often wonder why there are exposes of medial
problems on the nightly news. Or why the media feels it neces
sary to show bloody children being carried away from the
The media is not your enemy. Society is
not under the control of Big Brother.
Tom Brokaw is not in the business of con
trolling what you think, say and do.
bombed Murrah building, in Oklahoma City.
My answer is that the media is mirroring society. It is
all supply and demand.
The media shows what it thinks people want to see. And
we are a nation that is composed largely of tabloid junkies
who are, if nothing else, intrigued by tragedy.
It keeps us watching.
And, if there is a positive aspect to showing such gruesome
scenes, it could get some of us to send money or volunteer.
I’m sure that if an overwhelming proportion of society
boycotted the media for showing the horrors, like the Okla
homa City bombing, the media would calm down with re
gards to what they show.
In truth, society controls the media much more than the
media controls society.
The media is not your enemy. This is not “1984,” and society
is not under the control of Big Brother. Tom Brokaw is not in
the business of controlling what you think, say and do.
The media is powerful, but so is the human mind. People
are more than capable of thinking for themselves.
Unfortunately, they sometimes choose not to. After all, it
is much easier to blame the media for everything that is
wrong with society, rather than the people who make it up.
Amy Uptmor is a junior journalism major
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OKLAHOMA'
STATE PRISON
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The Battalion
Established in 1893
Editorials appearing in The Battalion reflect the views of
the editorial board. They do not necessarily reflect the
opinions of other Battalion staff members, the Texas A&M
student body, regents, administration, faculty or staff.
Columns, guest columns, cartoons and letters express
the opinions of the authors. Contact the opinion editor
for information on submitting guest columns.
Mark Smith
Editor in chief
Jay Robbins
Senior Managing
editor
Heather Winch
Matiaging editor
for Business
Sterling Hayman
Opinion editor
Erin Hill
Asst, opinion editor
Who knows Best?
Should doctors have to inform the parents of
a minor before an abortion is performed?
Last Wednesday, the Texas Senate
Health and Human Services Commit
tee approved legislation that would re
quire doctors to notify parents before
performing abortions on minors. If the
bill is passed by the full House, it
must go before the Senate and then to
the desk of Gov. George W. Bush to be
come law.
This piece of legislation will surely
be the subject of much controversy.
Proponents argue that the bill
should be passed. For one, it only re
quires notification of the minors par
ents, not their consent. Also, the bill
includes an “out,” which under certain
circumstances would allow minors to
challenge the notification requirement
through the decision of a county court.
Minors also do not have the right to
vote, nor should they have the right to
make choices about their pregnancies
without their parents’ knowledge.
Parents are, and should be, respon
sible for the actions of their children.
Parents are responsible for criminal
acts that their children might perform,
their behavior at public schools and for
their finances and debts. This realm of
responsibility should definitely include
the knowledge of a child’s abortion.
Parents have the right to know of
such an occurrence so that they may
be prepared to deal with the medical,
emotional, psychological or other rami
fications of the choice.
Opponents argue that this piece
of legislation is a smack in the face of
Roe v. Wade, and should not be
passed.
For one, the bill provides unnec
essary stress to minors who find
themselves in such a predicament.
Not only are they faced with the
choice of whether to abort, but they
also must worry about the reaction
of their parents.
This watered-down bill gives the par
ents no decision regarding the abortion;
however, it would allow for them to re
ceive information that the pregnant
child may not want them to know.
Abortion is an extremely difficult
decision for anyone to make — espe
cially a minor. Legislation that would
make public such private matters is
only detrimental to the relationship
between the pregnant minor and her
parents.
Whether to have an abortion is a
very personal, moral decision that
only the mother of the child should
make. If anyone should be informed
of the decision to abort, it should be
the father of the child — not the
grandparents.
were
ints
MAI i
CALL
y
Earth Day: does it raise our
awareness or cause trouble ?
While reading Zach Hall’s article in yester
day’s paper, I was appalled by his comments. To
begin, the Earth does not belong to humans. The
\ Earth existed for billions of years before humans
evolved. Humans could not survive without the
environment; however, the Earth could exist
| without humans. Each time a body of water is
polluted or acres of rainforests are destroyed hu
mans are hurting future generations.
Hall referred to statistics that show how the
l Earth has improved over the past hundred years,
but he failed to show them. Although extinction is a
natural process, since humans have inhabited the
Earth, the rate of extinction has increased one-hun
dred fold.
While it is true that some people have taken
advantage of Earth Day to voice political and so
cial beliefs, the purpose of the event is still evi
dent. Earth Day is still necessary to increase the
public’s awareness about the significance of eco
logical conservation.
Julie K. Young
Class of’96
• I’m writing in response to Zach Hall’s column,
“Activists overreact on Earth Day.” I feel that this
column represented an inaccurate depiction of the
environmental movement.
As a person who strives to be environmentally con
scious and thus recycles and bikes to school each day,
I resent Hall’s assertion that this makes me, and
those like me “Liberal environmental wackos.” My
guess is that conservation and natural appreciation
groups, such as Ducks Unlimited and the Audubon
Society would take issue with this label as well.
In my opinion, environmentalism should not be a
political issue, but rather a human issue. When per
sons like Hall seek to divide people along political
lines, we lose sight of the true issue at hand. Besides,
by sheer semantics, conservation groups would be
“conservative,” while those opposed to conservation
would logically be “liberal.” Seemingly, Hall’s column
is railing against persons with beliefs like his own.
Furthermore, if Hall only saw Earth Day as “liber
al, environmental indoctrination,” he missed the point.
The point is that we as students can educate our
selves on environmental issues and take simple
steps to insure that the earth and its resources are
passed on intact to the next generation. Hall, for in
stance, can do his part by refraining from polluting
our environment through columns like his last one.
In closing, my only complaint about the Earth
Day concept is that it hasn’t been expanded and cele
brated the other 364 days of the year.
Let’s all do our part to make that a reality.
Brian Bullard
Graduate Student
• I would like to thank Zach Hall for his column
“Activists Overreact to Earth Day.” He has it totally
right in his comment, “It is long overdue that we
start putting humans before the environment.” In
America we still have rape, murder, children living
in poverty and discrimination.
How many members of these environmental
groups visit the elderly in nursing homes regularly?
They will tie themselves to a tree to prevent it from
being cut down while a 90-year-old lady is longing for
someone to talk to. I am not saying conservation and
recycling shouldn’t be an issue, just not as big of one.
In some parts of America a black man will be dis
criminated against no matter how many whales are
in the ocean. Although it is good there are organiza
tions there to clean our Earth, they need to get their
priorities straight.
Shelia Boudreaux
Class of’98
America's Future in good
hands with Generation X-ers
Michael Landauer produced a memorable column
April 21 on the spirit of Aggie Muster and why Ag
gies should participate. He wonders about his own
generation and whether it can prove worthy.
It can.
Do not put down your own generation. You are
our future, and the future could not be in better
hands.
If you want to know how the older generation
did all that we did, survived the Great Depression,
World War II, the Korean War, ask us.
We’re all over. We’re your grandparents — yes,
even women played major roles in everything — your
great uncles and great aunts, even your professors.
If you did ask us, we probably would tell you
that we just did it, that we did what we had to do,
the same as your generation is surviving and over
coming challenges and accomplishing great deeds.
In truth, your generation has fought and is
fighting wars — hot and cold. You fought and died
in Desert Storm, and you are fighting and dying in
Korea, the Middle East, the Balkans, and Africa,
and even in Oklahoma City.
As you pointed out, you are fighting other wars:.
AIDS, drugs, a yo-yoing economy and apathy.
The old values are still there. They need to be
implemented by more people more of the time. Just
as it was in earlier times.
Douglas P. Starr
Journalism Professor
Orwellian-style authority not
answer to global terrorism
This is in response to Adam Hill’s April 24 arti
cle on a solution to terrorism.
What an interesting theory, giving “Total Au
thority without fear or repercussions” to our gov
ernment. This is the same government who with
out fear of repercussions sent thousands and thou
sands of our brave men to die in the jungles of
Southeast Asia, without any truthful accountabili
ty to the public for which it exists.
Yeah, we really need to create a group or
“agency” who is not accountable to anyone or
anything. A group who has all power and every
unlimited means to do what they feel is in our
best interest. Boy, it scares me to even read your
article.
Here we are struggling to keep our government
from achieving such powers and now you just want
to give it to them?
That sounds like a terrorist group to really be
feared!
Gee, we wouldn’t want these agencies with “to
tal authority without fear of repercussions” to hesi
tate and think rationally or logically.
I guess that is the problem with too many of
us old-fashioned Americans today.
We like to exercise our freedom to come up
with solutions to our own problems without hav
ing to rely on our “Big Brother,” the govern
ment, to do what they know is best for us little
people.
Would you hire an exterminator to come into
your home, who told you he mercilessly extermi
nated all living creatures inside your house at
any cost?
Kurt Heidmann
Class of ’95
Lallapalooza should provide
cutting edge music, not Live
I was writing to comment on Rob Clark’s article
on Lollapalooza. I think before disregarding bands
such as the Jesus Lizard and The Mighty Mighty
Bosstones, that he should acquaint himself with
music besides “popular” music shoved down peo
ple’s throats by Z-Rock.
Clark says Perry Farrell, the creator of Lolla
palooza, is trying to give the public “cutting edge”
music. Well, he gave Lollapalooza “cutting edge”
music and Clark turned it down.
He said popular bands such as Live and Nine
Inch Nails should be headliners.
Clark tries to dictate what “cutting edge” music is
without opening his ears to music other than com
mercial rock. The true purpose of Lollapalooza is to
accommodate everyone’s taste and not just regurgi
tate what is played on the radio.
So, when I go to Lollapalooza this year, I will en
joy watching and listening to the bands Clark called
“curious at best” just as will as the “headliners”. I
myself, will keep my enthusiasm the whole day, just
glad I won’t have to listen to another Live song.
Scott Mareh
Class of ’98
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