TEA TIME WITH TINA: Forget Media’s Animadversion

TINA CHEN
Opinions Editor
Copy Editor

Sometimes, just sometimes, I feel like crawling in a burrow after People Magazine publishes about what it perceives as the “latest news.” Remember Obama and Romney’s third debate? Neither do I, but I do know that the media had Ann Romney dubbed as “Dress Barn’s Latest Model” on their front cover. Let’s also not forget the recent George Zimmerman Trial, where the death of an African American male, Trayvon Martin, became a race fiasco even before Zimmerman was acquitted.

It is no secret that the media is influential and even somewhat ubiquitous, but that is the sole reason its structure undercuts its ability to cover issues. When covering issues, the main focus does not answer the “who, what, when, where, and why” anymore, but instead, it magnifies a topic that doesn’t deserve the attention.

News itself is altered and fixated in a way where it provides information for the readers, but it doesn’t provide good enough information for them to be informed citizens. In a sense, what is published or said by the media has slowly become the “norm.” People are now so absorbed in miniscule topics that real news is now considered “boring.” As a society, ambiguous news has become our preferred choice of news.

Nowadays, news and truth are not identical. The way media portrayed the Zimmerman’s case to the public placed him under only negative limelight and when Zimmerman was found not guilty, riots ensued, but that doesn’t change what actually transpired.

People should not believe everything they hear or read. As informed citizens, questioning everything and finding out what is actually occurring around us should be a given. Instead of taking every word The Onion writes as the truth, be self-sufficient and find out the real truth.