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EDITING REALITY "In the final analysis, power is the right to have your
definition of reality prevail over other people's definition of
reality". Which brings us to a parable; Three umpires or referees, sitting in a bar, were discussing their function in the games they adjudicated. The first, with an empirical turn of mind, state's "I calls 'em as I sees 'em", The second with a more metaphysical approach, asserts "I calls 'em the way they are". While the third with a nod towards quantum physics, declared "They ain't nothin' 'til I calls 'em". The events on the field, the views of the players or spectators, don't create the final result, a win or lose score-line that is the function of the adjudicator. For our purposes, we could substitute three media people for the umpires and the conversation could be the same. People and their behaviours do not create a general reality. Media people interpret the raw material of events and in the process create a reality for us to consume. "They ain't nothin' 'til we calls 'em".
The history of media technology has been dominated by the drive for 'greater realism'. For mainstream media this is interpreted as a technical challenge to the innovator, or an aesthetic challenge to the producer. For the community broadcaster it is also a social and cultural issue about how we represent events and ideas to our community. Realistic media texts, such as news, current affairs and documentaries are predicated on the assumption that they say something about the real world, and journalists work within strict codes of professional behaviour. However, community media people should not take such a situation as offering sufficient guarantees. When we use the tern 'reality' this generally means a 'personal reality' that we construct for ourselves, -what we perceive, know and believe. A personal reality is, then, reality as experienced and put together by an individual person. We form our world-view from information received from a variety of sources, but we mainly internalise the dominant realities which reach us we from a top-down, centre-to-periphery transfer of ideas. … The media are the dominant conduits for the transfer of information. Is community media to be part of this reinforcing dynamic, or can we offer an alternative world-view? Now that you are part of this media process, you should understand how it works. The media provided some of the ways you found out about the world. People in the mass media saw something, decided to record it, interpret it, edit it and tell you this story. It was not 'reality' itself, but one media professional's interpretation of events. The story was also told in a certain manner. When you, in turn, produce a programme by selecting material, order images and sounds, and represent ideas, you are involving personal and cultural values that are not neutral or objective. While they are certainly based on your own experiences, those experiences in turn were shaped in the main, by your on-going mass media experiences. … As you learn how to operate equipment remember something about the way the mass media manipulate information, reality and the emotions of people. This critical awareness, once acquired, can assist you to act upon and transform your world, devising programmes that challenge others in your community to also re-examine long held, top-down, attitudes. |
