Monday, February 4, 2008

Let the Battle Continue: Independent vs. Mainstream Media

In a previous post, I wrote about the conflicting feeling of immediacy that director, Michael Winterbottom, creates relative to his filming and advertising methods. As a result of this week’s class discussion on the credibility of independent media, I became aware of ways in which I could link the film, In This World, to other developments across the media landscape. The ongoing battle surrounding the credibility of independent media compared to that of mainstream culture can be identified from this film. The popularity of documentaries such as In This World exemplifies how audiences are currently looking to documentaries rather than traditional news sources get their hard news.

Society has come to realize that everything in the news is not truthful. Reporters often search to make a story, leading to the twisting of facts. As a result, many viewers turn to documentaries that spend an extended time looking at a topic in a more connectable way. However, if the mainstream media is capable of falsification, can’t the same be true of independent media? Audiences viewing a documentary, no matter the content, should remember that it is not necessarily the right facts being shown. Rather, it is those facts that the director wishes to emphasize.

In terms of which type of media is more credible, let the battle continue. Although both forms of media convey factual information and demonstrable advantages, personal interpretations of the media creator influence the stories being reported. In turn, it is my opinion that neither type of media is fully credible. It is the responsibility of the viewer to question what he absorbs, fully investigate the facts and reach his own conclusions.

1 comment:

I. Reilly said...

while it's important for newsmakers (reporters, journalists, documentary filmmakers) to disseminate accurate, verifiable, and reliable accounts of the world, we should always be discerning in the way that we read the news. where do we find credible/reliable media content? information is gathered in both indy and mainstream media; therefore these are the places to find a broad range of "factual" accounts of the news. the only way to get access to the bigger picture is to read as many divergent/conflicting accounts of a given news story. like you stated, "It is the responsibility of the viewer to question what he/she absorbs, fully investigate the facts and reach his own conclusions."

do documentaries provide greater context for more complex issues? if so, how can we profit from them?