A question posed in class was this: How much control does Hillary Clinton have over her image? In a word, none. The short answer is that the media controls pretty much everything, and an individual has very little control over the way that they are portrayed. It would be easy enough to leave it there, but then I wouldn’t have a 500-word blog post so I’ll elaborate. The media, news sources in particular, craft their message very specifically in order to get you, the viewer, to adopt a certain viewpoint, or cater to a viewpoint that you already hold. If not for that reason, then they do it to boost their bottom line. Either way, those news sources, which by the way, 90% of which are controlled by just 6 corporations, dictate how a person or issue is portrayed. They do this by using a variety of techniques, a few of which I’ll discuss later. In the case of old ‘HRC’, a relatively small issue, her comment about baking and staying home, was blown into an otherworldly scale, which tarnished her image. Of course, the former First Lady did what she could to minimize the damage, but unsurprisingly, any coverage of her apology attempts was minimal in comparison to “Cookie-Gate.” When you think about it, it really is quite sad how little control people have over their own image. If the media wants to put you in a bad light, they certainly will and you can’t do anything about it.

Among the many different techniques used by news sources is repetition. Repetition, as we learned in the article, has the ability to construct truths. For example, if a news outlet makes an outlandish claim about a person, people may not believe them the first time the story is aired. But, if that same story is repeated over and over again, then perhaps picked up by another news outlet, people start to think “Huh, maybe it’s true after all.” Nothing about the story itself is changed; it is just repeated multiple times, which somehow gives it more credibility. If the media can persuade millions of people that what they are saying is truth simply by saying it over and over again, it is a little daunting to think of what they are able to accomplish with a whole arsenal of rhetoric at their disposal.

I think that we, as a younger generation of viewers who have been exposed to this kind of manipulation, can do a better job of recognizing this when it happens but without a good education in visual rhetoric, quite a lot gets through without us ever realizing it. That’s why I believe it is so crucial to check your sources before you believe anything to be fact. The saying that numbers don’t lie is a naïve statement; it is only too easy to hide behind facts and figures because people rarely check to see where those numbers came from. The mainstream media is powerful, no doubt, but as educated viewers we have the ability to take some of that power back by being vigilant when watching or reading news. As Jon Stewart said in his final address on ‘The Late Show’, “The best defense against bulls**t is vigilance. So if you smell something, say something.” Couldn’t have said it better myself.