hey mittens and smee,
Okay, i typed all this out before but it got wiped, stupid comp.. i'll do it again.
With regards to that question, it's asking how representation can in fact be MISrepresentation due to the inaccuracy of truth. Truth is dependent on personal opinion or past experience and thus there are as many truths as there are people.
"Any representation of the truth is just someone's version of reality"
Okay, well along that idea, you could incorporate how the media can wrongly portray a 'truth' through editing and music, etc.. Also, a strong part of this topic is to recognize that there are two features of truth that cause it to be misrepresented. It can be manipulated, and controlled. It is important to notice that often, the media will manipulate the truth in accordance with other motives, ie sponsors, or control certain aspects of the truth, thus creating bias.
In Frontline's "The Siege", Marty and the Frontline team manipulate the truth in a huge way, esp when Marty says, "just beyond those trees..." when in reality there is a 5km buffer zone. The clothing, performance and editing all contribute to the manipulation, to make Marty appear in potential danger.
A control of truth for eg, is when the Frontline team pay for the legal fees of the gunman, to ensure exclusivity. Their story thus is a huge hit/exclusive and they reap in the financial benefits. Also when Brooke says, "Do you think you could cry again?" she is creating biased content in the interview through emotion, another control.
In "Smaller Fish to Fry", Brian is told to scrap Mike's groundbreaking story on the corrupt bank, due to their sponsors. The execs from 'upstairs' are giving Brian an ultimatum, do the story and lose his job or leave it and deal with more fickle issues. The bank seems to be one of the major sponsors of the Frontline company, therefore we see a massive control. Instead of relaying the truth to the public, they hide it to ensure their own survival. Thus we see via manipulation and control, articles which appear to be truth, but are really misrepresentations. It is important to remember that Frontline is a satire, therefore only REPRESENTATIVE of 'truth in the media' and the biases shown themselves, could be a misrepresenation (too much for my brain too handle)
Upon seeing Michael Moore's "Bowling for Columbine" the idea of the manipulation of truth and the representation of someone's own reality is more clear. According to this 'documentary', every American teenager is a potential killer. A time bomb just waiting to explode with frustration. Although SOME of what Moore has included is fact (some of the stats), this 'truth' has been altered with extreme bias, through the use of music, influential artists (Manson) and strong editing. Thus Moore's representation of what WAS truth turned into a highly biased version of what HE believed to be true. The use of influential images helps turn this movie into more of a propaganda piece than evidence of anything.
Along this path of propaganda, following the election campaign is highly interesting and relates to this topic well. For example, to the Coalition, it may appear as truth to them that Latham is not capable of handling the Australian economy, and using several sources they have turned this into an attack point. Through the use of short and concise ads, big words and a respectful-sounding deep voice, the Howard govt slowly indoctrinates the nation, making them believe an opinion, that Latham is incapable. Thus we see through manipulation of truth, that truth is dependent on the way it is presented, dependent also on the person behind its representation.
Kapeish? Sorry this turned into an epic, hope i didn't waffle on too much
Good luck, let me know if you need anything else.. It's good prac for me
x
