Special Report LAST UPDATE February 10, 2010
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November 26, 2009 Media Literacy – Replacing Trust with Skepticism
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“People are not stupid. The media makes them stupid with superficial information that says nothing about nothing” - Jasna Bastic

Everyday, billions of people around the world tune in to newscasts for information about local and international affairs. The information they receive will shape their opinions, influence their behavior and inform their plans for the future. Inherent in the consumption of news is the belief that the information shared is accurate. According to guest educators, Jasna Bastic, Nenad Fiser and Mori Tatsuya, complete faith in the media is both undeserved and dangerous. On board for different segments of the 67th voyage, each explored the issue of media integrity and the impact of mass media on modern society.

“All journalists lie, including me”. Peace Boat staff member and and veteran journalist, Jasna Bastic was unforgiving in her assessment of the newsroom. She accused the media of “taking more lives than bullets” by stirring up discord and hatred among the viewing public. Ms Bastic was born in Bosnia and witnessed the conflict that accompanied the dissolution of former Yugoslavia. Her criticism of the media has its roots in her quest to answer the question, “How do peaceful citizens become violent?” For her, the answer lies in the strategies employed by broadcasters to manipulate the emotions of their audience.

Ms Bastic outlined the factors that determine what is aired by mass media. “Editorial policy”, she explained, “is informed by ratings, profits, commercials and ownership”. With an eye on the bottom line, newsrooms generate stories that attract the widest audience. These stories are typically those that arouse and exploit emotions. Reflecting on media activity preceding and during the conflict in former Yugoslavia, Ms Bastic spoke of the use of provocative imagery, separatist vocabulary and emotionally charged commentary to transform neighbors into enemies.
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“You can fool some people sometimes, but you can’t fool all the people all the time”. Referring to a famous lyric from Bob Marley, Nenad Fiser was optimistic that mass media propaganda can be overcome.
Nenad Fiser, Research Officer with the United Nations Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) agreed that the media plays a central role in fueling hostilities. In his lecture, “Modern Society and International Justice”, Mr Fiser said “perception of oneself” and the “perception of others” were among the factors that contributed to the development of armed conflict. The media was instrumental in shaping these perceptions. Media priorities also quickly become public priorities. Citing the example of the eight minutes in airtime on CBS and NBC (American News Companies) committed to the genocide in Darfur, he suggested a correlation between public reaction and media emphasis.

Mr Fiser said the veil of media bias has been slowly lifting over the years. Journalists are now viewed with skepticism and even hostility. He explained that previously, reporters on the battlefield had a higher degree of immunity in observing the activities on both sides of the conflict. Combatants trusted the journalist to accurately represent their views and be even-handed in telling their story. Today, warring parties believe journalists are aligned and agents of propaganda. Mr Fiser point to the 63 journalists killed during 20 years of conflict in Viet Nam compared with 73 killed in the first two years of the American led invasion of Iraq.

Mr Fiser is convinced that mass media is actively employed by the political and economic elite to manipulate public perception on a national and international scale. He explained that individual assessments of personal happiness, contentment and security were all largely influenced by media content. For Mr Fiser, independent media plays a key role in challenging propaganda. He warned that whenever governments moved to stifle independent news agencies, a volatile environment - ripe with extremism - was likely to follow.
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Mori Tatsuya believes the evils of fascism would not have been possible without emotional manipulation by the media.
Like Ms Bastic, independent filmmaker and director, Mori Tatsuya argued that the biggest crime perpetuated by the media is the manipulation of emotions. Mr Mori explained that visual imagery has the biggest impact on emotions and is extensively exploited by producers. He gave participants an inside look at the production strategies that shape the way viewers interpret news. He shared the example of the images selected for a story on the fall of the statue of Saddam Hussein following the American led invasion of Iraq. The perspective used by many broadcasters gave the impression that there was cooperation and mass celebration by Iraqis at the destruction of the sculpture. During his lecture, Mr Mori showed extended footage of the incident from different angles. This recording revealed that the statue was in fact being pulled by an American military vehicle; amidst protests from Iraqi citizens.

Mr Mori, who abandoned his career as a producer for a Japanese documentary company, said he was deeply concerned by “the way information is represented, misrepresented and excluded in the news”. He was nevertheless quick to point out that the viewing audience bears much of the responsibility for media content. “It is very easy to criticize the media”, Mr Mori explained, “but effectively we are all a part of the media”. He explained that the media reflects what we want to see. It is incumbent on us to examine our values and priorities and then communicate them to broadcasters. Mr Mori encouraged participants to give feedback to the media both in criticism and approval.

“There are some people that believe everything the media says and others who believe nothing it says”. Mr Mori argues that both positions are incorrect. He insisted that the key to moving towards the truth was to recognize that there is subjectivity in all media. For Mr Mori, media literacy is the appreciation that every story produced by independent or mass media represents one point of view. He said that audiences in search of the truth have a responsibility to review material from different sources in order to develop a balanced perspective.