|
The Authority
by
Gordon Francis Corbett
Becoming our own authorities will take work. Television encourages
passivity. Too, newsreaders sound well-informed. They look straight ahead,
seemingly at us viewers, and tell us what is happening. We see neither the
phalanx of copywriters who told them what to say, nor the TelePrompTers that
make their delivery seem spontaneous and sincere.
We start by watching the newsreaders not passively, but actively.
We select, from their fruit salads of news-items, the ones that really
count. We cross-check them with information from other sources, such as our
newspapers and the various Internet news services. We then decide what the true
facts are, and integrate them into our picture of the world.
The first step is simple: we simply do not turn off our minds when
we watch the evening news. We regard the newsreaders as actors and
actresses who recite lines. We remember that their scripts are tailored
to fit their employers' broadcast time and political preferences.
The second is more complex: determining which stories are most
important. In his book, "None Dare Call It Conspiracy," Gary Allen
referred to the children's magazines we all once read. These magazines featured
line drawings, each of which concealed one or more figures: perhaps,
within a pastoral scene, a boy, a cart, and a donkey. However we tried to
discern their shapes, we would fail. Finally, we would turn to Page 95 and see
the drawings, with the formerly concealed shapes outlined in bold ink. When we
turned back to the originals, the shapes stood out so starkly that we wondered
how we had missed them.
He wrote his book to give his readers the background they needed to see the
"shapes" of the stories that were most important.
|
