Pre Class 4/1 Bourdieu

On page 330 Bourdieu states, “with [journalists] permanent access to public visibility, broad circulation, and mass diffusion – an access that was completely unthinkable for any culture producer until television came into picture – these journalists can impose on the whole of society their vision of the world, their conception of problems, and their point of view.” Before reading Bourdieu I never realized what a large effect television had and its overwhelming popularity over print. It is well know that the invention of the printing press was one of the most revolutionary inventions for the media but I do not think it is as well known that television has had such a huge impact. I guess it makes sense that people in such a fast moving society would not spend the time to read the newspaper or news magazines anymore and would rather just turn on the television and watch the news while eating dinner, folding laundry, etc.. In both CMC 100 and 200 we have discussed the problems with people viewing just one form of media. The news has a bias and by just viewing one news source, such as television, people are only getting one point of view and cannot formulate their own opinions. A major problem with television news is that news programs are not interested in getting people the right information but want to get the best ratings. Unfortunately there seems to be a discrepancy between what people need to hear and what people want to hear. Bourdieu talks about how news stations that air the least offensive news stories and spend time talking about unimportant topics, such as sports and the weather, are the stations that get the best ratings. News sources such as NPR and PBS that are known to deliver the most real news and the least bias are the ones with the lowest ratings while stations such as CNN and Fox News that are known for having a strong bias have much higher ratings. Bourdieu argues that if people need to start looking at this situation more critically and not supporting the more entertaining news programs and realizing the affect television news is having on our society.