Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Silent Conversation

http://nyti.ms/1fPUfhK

Watch the above video and then respond to one of the two following questions in comment on this post.

HOW does this video show that sometimes the facts can get lost in sensational news stories?
HOW does this video show how sometimes special interest groups can distort the facts of an event to further their own goals?

16 comments:

  1. Facts can get lost because people want to just have something exciting to say. The statistics and facts can sometimes by boring so when you have to write a short piece you go straight for the juicy stuff. This video shows that the only thing people cared about was the money the woman had original been given from the settlement. They didn't care about her third degree burns, her medical bills, MacDonalds coffee being way too hot, and the fact that she never actually got the original ammount of money.

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  2. It shows how the news station can hype it up and embellish a story to make it more interesting while disregarding the facts. Also how when the story is spread from the source the articles may not include as much information since its not as relevant, and people end up assuming instead of getting the facts.

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  3. Sometimes the facts can get left out or distorted because the news casters want to make the story more sensational, to attract more people. In the video, they showed how the news had left out that she had only asked for Mcdonalds to cover her medical bills, whichever as $10,000, and they also left out that she only got $600,000 instead of 2.9
    million

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  4. This video demonstrated beyond doubt that a special interest group, in this case republicans, can twist the facts of an event to further their own interests. When the lady was burned, and it become a sensational story, republicans seized the opportunity to prove to Americans that ridiculous lawsuits needed to be stopped. They ignored the fact that it was a carefully deliberated case by an intelligent jury, and propped up the sensationalized side of the story. They threw the number 2.9 million out there repeatedly, despite she was only awarded about five hundred thousand. Essentially, the republicans used this story as an opportunity to further their goal of ending what they saw as "ridiculous" lawsuits, or those against corporations. They twisted the facts and ignored some of the most important details of the case.

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  5. I think this story just proves that the news is willing to do anything to get there ratings up. At the time the news reporters probably new about the specifics to what was happening. But instead of only a half a million they did the 2.9 million because it sounds better and more people would pay attention to that. The news just took the best story out of the whole story to make what they were reporting sounds like it was even bigger then it really was.

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  6. The video shows clear examples of lost facts. The video showed many news stations and late night talk shows stating false facts. Many facts were left out of the media such as the fact that the lady asked mcdonalds to pay her medical bills before she even thought of a law suit. Whenever this case is talked about nowadays, there are still facts being left out. Many people, including myself, were under the impression that she received millions for a little bit of damage, but in reality she received much less for some far more serious damage.

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  7. This Video shows how sometimes the facts can be lost in sensational news stories in the way of the reporters changed the story a little by saying that she was driving and that she was over reacting offer a little coffee. They left out the fact that she wrote a letter to Mc Donald's asking for them to pay her medical bills after she had gotten burned.

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  8. When "sensational" news stories are reported, most news stations try to be the first ones to report the story. It's all about who can report the story first. When that happens, people can easily miss tons of information just because they are rushing to report the story. Some news outlets will even twist information to make it look like something new has formed. Such as the George Zimmermon case. ABC news photoshopped his picture to remove the bruises he had just so they can make him look like the definite bad guy. Fox News even stole a news story from the onion, which is a fake news website. Facts can easily get mixed up by news

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  9. This video shows that sometimes the facts can get lost in sensational news stories. I would compare this to the game telephone, and sometimes the truth gets distorted when it gets from placeto place. Since the story was so famous it made world news, and that's a lot of places. It also just seemed like a believable, yet ridiculous story, so people didn't ask questions when they heard the story. The fact that so many large news companies were saying the same thing also distorts the average persons view on the story.

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  10. The stories that catch people's attention in America are ones that seem ridiculous and outlandish, like a woman spilling coffee and making millions. The facts being accurately reported would make this story less interesting and therefore the news reporters chose to leave those out in order to make the story sell.

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  11. It explained some of the missing facts of the case. Some facts that may have not lead to such a large outbreak. It also might have saved that old women a lot hate mail and public stress if they had known that the news station were still displaying old facts. Obviously media was to focused on what the numbers were at the beginning and never went back to find out how much she actually made out with. Those burns were pretty severe but half a million is a little much for a coffee spill that only cost her $10,000.

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  12. This video shows how the news reporters only report on the big facts of news stories. But inside those general facts there are the little details which no one knows about. The readers of the stories only know about what they hear in the papers or on the news. It's story was so big but there was only general information reported.

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  13. This vidio shows that stories can get lost in the news. If people knew that the lady only wanted McDonald's to pay for hey medical bills people would not have reacted the way they did. I think that McDonald's should have paid for her medical bills because they had no caution hot labeled on the cup anywhere. By the looks of the pictures, that is a serious burn.

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  14. This story is the perfect example of how the facts of sensational news stories can get left out or lost. There were many factors and important details that made the lady who got burned file a lawsuit against McDonald's. When the story was reported on the news the reporters only stated a few key facts and the facts they did report were wrong.

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  15. This video show that the fact can be lost in new sensational new story by showing this elder getting badly injured from this cup of hot coffee.The reporters made up bunch of stories about how she got injured. The elder didn't asked for that 2.9 million dollars, she sent letter and asked MCDonald to pay for her medical bills.

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  16. I feel like after the video/story, so many different news centers share their facts that much information gets lost because it's been transferred around so much. People get excited that there is something to talk about, but then many of the facts get confused and lost or misrepresented. Such as the "news" only wrote down that she received $2.9 million, but really in the end she only took home $500,000. Yes it's a lot of money, but not everyone knows all the facts and that all she got was $500,000. It's a big difference from the $2.9 million that was first decided.

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