Pre-Class Bourdieu, 4-11

After reading Bourdieu I have learned taken a different critical approach on journalists and the news television media. Journalists are the face of major news media organizations. Some of us may agree that we do not believe in Glenn Beck's or Bill O'Reilly's philosophies, yet they are the face of Fox News and pull in millions of viewers every night. Journalists have a certain power of persuasion and after we have followed them for long enough, we gain trust in that their news shows and segments will be informative and fact-oriented. As CMC majors, we recognize that journalists must have an attractive appeal to the camera and the media has recognized we enjoy directly staring at attractive people while they tell us news. Honestly, would news be more boring if someone off camera was simply reading news to you? I know I do not nearly enjoy news as much reading it in newsprint or on the radio, than on television.

I had taken a sociology course last semester, in which we read an article about how human beings are programed to naturally trust attractive people more than unattractive people (Off the top of my head, I cannot remember the article, but will try to find it soon). There is no coincidence a nice face sells on television and there is no question that giant media outlets can use attractive people to push persuasion, rather than factual news. Not to point fingers or start political fisticuffs but Fox News explicitly uses attractive journalists for their news segments. Notable primetime Fox News journalists: Shepard Smith and Megan Kelly.