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Is fear what you feel when you watch the news? The fear that news portrays to be around every corner has caused a lack of trust and unity in communities. The stories that are put on the news to get our attention are more exaggerated than down to earth. In How to Watch TV News Neil Postman and Steven Powers argue that the news is more often made than gathered. It is made on the basis of what journalist think that the audience thinks is important or interesting. That is a reason why broadcasters make news segments sound more dangerous than they really are. The news uses alarming words to get our attention and to make things sound like we the viewers need to be worried about them. In “Media Fear Tactics,” Gavin DeBecker argues that there is a code of alarming newspeak. Reports and experts do seem to warn, fear, and worry a lot. For example “officials are worried about the possible attacks against …” mean there has been no such attacks. Any time you hear the word possible, it’s probably not happening right now. These are all done to get our attention. In “The Fear Industrial Complex,” John Stossel and Natalie D Jaquez argue that fear gets your eyeballs and for the broadcast media, eyeballs equal ratings. The bottom line is that worry and fear sells. This is why the news stations put across the message that the world is a scary place, and you should be worried. This is why the media provides so much on the news for us to worry about. This causes the public to start to panic over the thing shown and talked about. For instance if you are a parent and the news is showing about a kidnapping you are going to start to freak out about your own children and their safety. Even though unknown to you there is less kidnappings than the news puts on to be. Stossel and Jaquuez state that there are only about 115 kids a year who become those kids who are taken away in the most serious way, kept a long period of time, victimized in the most serious way News stories like these have caused parents to be extra cautious when it comes to their kids. Parents are unable to trust strangers to be around their kids at the park or even public restrooms. I remember growing up and we were allowed to play outside in our neighborhood, we were even able to go to the park as long as we were home by the time the street lights came on. There was no fear of what might happen. We were allowed to be kids. I don’t even think that our streets were any safer than they are now. I think that the fear of what if, or it could happen to you wasn’t being pushed on to our parents when they watched the news like it is now. There was a trust that went through our community it was kind of like everyone watched out for everyone. It was nice to be able to feel safe and even kind of reassuring that there was always someone watching out for you. It’s no longer like that, now there is no trust with in most community. I have kids myself and I don’t allow them to play out front or even in the neighborhood, because of what might happen. I live on a quiet street and I have been in the same house for almost two years and nothing has ever happened, but there is that what if. I don’t know my neighbors so there is no unity like there was growing up. So for me to let my kids play outside or in the neighborhood without me with them there would be great fear in me. The stories that I have seen on the new would keep going through my mind. I also remember growing up that we didn’t lock the door when we were home during the day. It wasn’t a big deal if you forgot to lock your car at night. You could even camp outside in your yard. It is no longer that way. You now lock the door to your house behind you and you set the alarm on your car after you get out. And camping outside in your yard is just totally out of the question. This all has to do with the culture of fear we live in. That fear has caused us the people of the United States of America to live as if something is always going to happen. People have gone out and bought security alarms for their houses and special alarms for their cars. Some people have even bought guns for protection. Even though these people have never experiences any crime burglary or kidnapping they still live in this fear. They fear those around them to possibly be unsafe. In “Living in a Culture of Fear” Ron Kaufman argue that the amount of violence that appears on television during an average news broadcast is much more than the amount of violence that really occurs. This has cause the culture of fear that we live in, and what we never realized is that these fears are not natural but are driven through TV. That is why growing up we were able to play outside and go to the park, was because there was no fear. We are not meant to be fear full of the boogie man or the shadows that are out there, but we are cause of what is shown on the news and TV.
I am starting to take a stand in my own life and the way I raise my children. I know that I don’t want my kids to grow up with the fear that everyone is out to get them and hurt them. I have begun to allow my children go out front to the car or the garbage cans without me going with them. They like doing that it helps make them feel like their growing up. But I still don’t let them play out front because that fear of what if is still there cause it has been so instilled into me. It is going to take time before I believe I will allow that to happen.
The United States of America was formed with the ideas of having freedom. And if we live in a world that is full of fear than how free are we really? We shouldn’t be afraid of the what if’s, the person next door, the stranger at the park, and the unknown. We live this way because of the news and it is time to put a stop to it. When we watch the news we should look for the over exaggerations, that way we know how to take the news. Then hopefully we will no longer be so afraid of everything. I believe that this would help make a difference in our communities and possibly our world.