Underground Knowledge — A discussion group discussion

Excerpt from The Orphan Conspiracies: 29 Conspiracy Theories from The Orphan Trilogy:


Traditional journalism, where reporters deliver information in a balanced and unbiased fashion, is rapidly fading into obscurity. This is especially evident on television where high profile reporters become bigger than the story, delivering news with large dollops of personality and wit – almost as if they are actors. And is it our imagination or are TV reporters becoming younger and more glamorous every year?

To our eyes, on major world issues at least, it seems very little factual-based news reporting occurs these days. Instead, it’s nearly all opinion-based and colored to some degree.

Unfortunately, mainstream news has become infotainment, sharing more in common with the entertainment industry than with traditional journalism. Gossip, characterizations and injections of drama are subtly infused with facts, altering the truth in a similar way to how dramatists twist true stories to create greater excitement.

Another useful analogy here may be documentary movies. Although as filmmakers we only produce feature films, we know a lot of doco filmmakers and many tell us storytelling is just as prominent in reality-based productions as it is in dramatic ones. This makes sense because when a doco enters post-production after the filming period, the director has hundreds of hours of footage to sift through in the editing suite. The film then has to be edited down to around 90 minutes and there are often any number of stories a director can tell, depending on what is edited out, what is left in and what is highlighted.

In theory, documentary filmmakers are able to remain totally unbiased and allow the material to dictate the most relevant story to them. But only the very best are able to achieve this. All too often the filmmakers’ own beliefs end up convincing them to tell stories that don’t actually reflect the heart of the material.

Similarly, subjective storytelling is now almost as common in the news media as it is in feature films, TV dramas, novels or theater shows. Journalists at their worst are self-centered storytellers who either knowingly or unknowingly bend truths into stories that match their personal beliefs or those of their employers.

What is scarier however, is when entire media organizations craft fictional stories out of the truth to influence the masses on a grand scale.

I believe this recent article relates to why we are constantly being bombarded with storytelling and a consistent narrative with most news instead of just being presented with clean information for us to make up our own minds.

Storytelling affects human biology, beliefs and behavior, say DARPA researchers -- http://tvtranscend.blogspot.com.au/20...


By Steve Hammons

(This article was featured 12/28/14 in “Knapp’s News” on the Coast to Coast AM radio show website. "Coast" has the largest late-night radio audience in the U.S. Award-winning investigative journalist George Knapp of KLAS-TV News in Las Vegas is a popular "C2C" host.)

(This article was also posted 3/23/15 on the CultureReady blog of the U.S. Defense Language and National Security Education Office.)

Read any good books lately? How about a compelling TV drama or movie? We all like a good story, and good stories can affect us in significant ways.

As a result, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has been researching how storytelling affects you, me and other people around the world.

Throughout human history we have been telling and listening to stories. Ancient humans sat around the nighttime campfire and shared tales with the clan and tribe. Oral histories were passed on to the next generations, often in story form. And, of course, human societies and cultures used the written word to tell their stories.

Based on this, researchers at DARPA indicate that we may be somewhat hard-wired to respond to such narrative stories. A DARPA project called “Narrative Networks” explores the neurobiology of listening to stories and how attitudes and behaviors can change as a result.

A story may cause us to look at something in a new way and change our views about people, life and the world around us. Storytelling can change our behavior, for the better or worse. The human tradition of storytelling has significantly influenced individuals, groups and societies, according to DARPA researchers.


POWERFUL INFLUENCE

On the DARPA website, the Narrative Networks research page says, “DARPA launched the Narrative Networks program to understand how narratives influence human cognition and behavior, and apply those findings in international security contexts.”

The DARPA Narrative Networks webpage asks, “Why do people accept and act on certain kinds of information while dismissing others?” Answers to this and other questions “have strategic implications for defense missions,” the DARPA statement claims.

An article on the Live Science website about the project referenced DARPA language during the start-up of the program: "Narratives exert a powerful influence on human thoughts and behavior. They consolidate memory, shape emotions, cue heuristics and biases in judgment, influence in-group/out-group distinctions, and may affect the fundamental contents of personal identity."

The Live Science article also noted, “Despite the functional goal, the early parts of this program seem more like a literature class at a liberal arts school than a secretive military operation.”

Wired also covered the program and reported in an article, “Another reason the Pentagon would want to spend time upping its sensitivity quotient is because of an ongoing effort on its part to understand the ‘human terrain’ of the battlefields in which they fight.”

An Information Week article on the program noted, “The agency [DARPA] said that because of these influences, narratives play an important role in the context of security during military and intelligence engagements.”

In addition, DARPA researchers say that understanding how storytelling affects human neurobiology may lead to insights about helping people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).


MEANINGFUL OR MANIPULATIVE

Storytelling has also been put forth by marketing people as a method in advertising, brand identity and customer/consumer acquisition and loyalty.

An article in today's New York Times said, “It’s been called a strategic tool with ‘irresistible power’ by Harvard Business Review and ‘the major business lesson of 2014’ by Entrepreneur magazine. What exciting new 21st-century technology is this? The age-old art of storytelling – something humans have done since they could first communicate."

"Learning – or relearning – how to tell stories requires some skill. And consultants are lining up to teach it – sometimes for a hefty fee,” the Times article stated.

The DARPA project on storytelling is part of a much larger recognition that stories seem to affect people on deep levels that we may not fully understand. There are indications that human neurobiology and neurochemistry may play a role. Chemicals in our brains and bodies may be released when we are exposed to a story that resonates.

Today, stories are told via many kinds of open-source media platforms and devices. TV, movies, digital, print and other media all serve as types of open-source intelligence for people around the world.

And there are many kinds of stories to hear.

Which ones click? What stories use "positive psychology" and resonate as truthful and meaningful, while others are recognized as false and manipulative? What storytelling lifts us up, or brings out the worst in us. What narratives take us to a better world, or to “the dark side?”

The DARPA study may find some answers.

i've noticed that trend too. also news articles are much simpler and shorter now. it used to be you had to have a college education to read the paper. also articles were much longer and informative. then articles were written 8th grade level. now some papers are between 4th and 6th. i hate reading the paper now because the information is lacking. it might answer the basic questions (who what when where why how) but now it seems one sided depending on house style and i have to get other papers to get "the full story".
i have noticed the sexing up of the news. there are young beautiful people on (taking advantage of the hi def) and reports are much simpler (if you want more, go on news channel's website! for even less!!). there isn't a lot of fact checking and seems to be more pulp. i can see why my mom gets depressed watching or reading the news...
i also noticed a manipulative trend on newscast where the format is always the same: breaking local story, murder, politics, robbery, fire, war, race issue, religion, fluff piece, sports. on my travels the local news were in that format no matter the city i was in. whatever happened to just telling the news as it happens? whatever happened to pure muckwracking journalism where the *truth* mattered? even the so called alternative press are falling into same trap (with more hipster bs).
ooh, dint mean to rant...

K.P. wrote: "i've noticed that trend too. also news articles are much simpler and shorter now. it used to be you had to have a college education to read the paper. also articles were much longer and informative..."

It's a much called for rant, K.P., I personally agree with everything you say: modern "news" reporting is a mess!

I wonder how a media organization would go if they broadcast a new TV show called something like "Just News, No Opinions" where they just have a boring unsexy but professional newsreader simply read the news and not give any opinion or imply any story or otherwise hint at any narrative?
I think maybe this was what the news used to be like when TV first began?

Anyway, the other thought is TV is kinda dying and most are getting their news through a combination of different sources (but probably mostly online including on their smart phones). This makes it trickier still to get the truth as everything is reduced to headlines or soundbites and the truth is easier to manipulate.

whew at least im not the only one... online news is even messier. you can easily hack the sites and change the articles and no one would notice (unless something totally egregious). there are so many purported news sites its hard to tell which is really "just the facts" and others shilling agenda... i feel so out of my element....

Unfortunately (for Joe Citizen) mainstream news is all about ratings these days. Hence the swing from hard news to entertainment. Hence the term infotainment.

Never thought I'd hear myself say this, but I've been watching Al Jazeera TV recently. Worth watching. Its newscasts remind me of how mainstream news here in the West used to be.

Lance Morcan wrote: "Unfortunately (for Joe Citizen) mainstream news is all about ratings these days. Hence the swing from hard news to entertainment. Hence the term infotainment.

Never thought I'd hear myself say thi..."

Your first post here had me slow clapping Lance. I have been relatively off the news for a long time now. And particularly documentaries which my husband loves. And he is highly educated. I have been having powerful discussions with him about docos giving the spin of the producers and only presenting one view. If the journalists are doing their job, they would be filming and interviewing people with various viewpoints. There is always another side. Maybe they are doing their job properly but can't get the full story exposed.

How do we fix this? I think the media like to promote their opinion as gospel and probably lean to creating a controversial story where there is really none because they feel the viewers like controversy and news to be exciting (something to discuss and argue about). There would be nothing to argue if we could only get the full story. We would have the best of the facts available to make up our own minds.

Laureen wrote: "Lance Morcan wrote: "Unfortunately (for Joe Citizen) mainstream news is all about ratings these days. Hence the swing from hard news to entertainment. Hence the term infotainment.

Never thought I'..."

As for how to fix this problem...Well, Citizen Journos are taking it upon themselves to provide alternative news outlets to the mainstream via their news blogs, websites etc. However, these require consumers to be discerning as well, as some, or perhaps many, of these (alternative) news providers are also pushing their own barrows.

Yes, I didn't like to say, but you are correct. I know a news & doco cameraman who most definitely has a strong bias in his opinions and is most obnoxious about his view being correct. I don't believe he would work for anybody who didn't support his particular view. I think he believes there IS only one view to be had. Everybody should just have the facts so they can make an objective judgement about any issue.

laureen & lance, i agree with you both. it's difficult to discern truth without the hype, as even the doco makers and journos have their own inherent biases and push that forward. i too tend to watch documentaries and get miffed when it ends up one sided. my fave is ken burns but he isnt too unbiased (he proclaims to be a yellow dog democrat) so he sometimes skew things a tad negatively about topics or groups he doesnt like. i hadnt found anyone truly unbiased as it seems to be difficult for most. in the end it is ratings. good ratings mean money for the next research & production...

James Morcan wrote: "K.P. wrote: "i've noticed that trend too. also news articles are much simpler and shorter now. it used to be you had to have a college education to read the paper. also articles were much longer an..."

The PBS News Hours is only a little bit better than the broadcast stations, but I became convinced they plan their stories around the schedules of the local and national news. Their fluff pieces tend to air about the time your local news runs their sports coverage because if your watching PBS, you're probably not a big sports fan. Your choice comes down to watching a fluff story, or sports coverage you're not interested in. Conversely they run the harder hitting pieces at the top of the hour when the local news runs through their real news stories, and then again the first ten to fifteen minutes at the half hour point when the national news rushes through their real news stories. Then they finish up the hour with another fluff piece or human interest story when it's time for the national news to shift to coverage of Youtube videos and thinly-veiled advertisements for the network's other programming.

Sorry ABC, but I don't watch news to find out what happened on Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune last night or learn about this season's Dancing with the Stars line-up.

J.J. wrote: "James Morcan wrote: "K.P. wrote: "i've noticed that trend too. also news articles are much simpler and shorter now. it used to be you had to have a college education to read the paper. also article..."

Yep... Infotainment.

News as Entertainment: The Rise of Global Infotainment

Definition of Infotainment by Merriam-Webster https://www.merriam-webster.com/dicti...

"television programs that present information (such as news) in a manner intended to be entertaining"

Definition of television by Norman Mailer: "A pig pen for the mind." (Just joking, Lance!)

SUBVERTING THE MEDIA http://www.deepblacklies.co.uk/subver...