Thursday, September 15, 2005

Myth, Chronicle and Story on Rocketboom

The vlog Rocketboom does so much to perpetuate myths about the left through their construction of narrative in their daily newscasts. Bird and Dardenne argue that news “conveys an impression of endlessly repeated drama whose themes are familiar and well-understood.” (73). Just in today’s newscast, anchor Amanda Congdon and producer Andrew Barron furthered the viewpoint that the Bush administration does not care about the victims left by Hurricane Katrina. “…and to top that off, ladies and gentlemen, a never-before-seen apology from George Bush,” Congdon said. The statement precedes her almost daily request to impeach the president. Not only does Congdon further the myth that liberals care about the poor, she also furthers the myth that lefties are nothing more than bleeding hearts who care nothing about the way the law works.

Dardenne and Bird argue that in every news piece there must be a hero and a villain. Going through Rocketboom’s archive there is a pattern: The right beating down the poor, the disadvantaged and the minorities. The way they construct their narrative is not so different from the way Bill O’Reilly, Lou Dobbs and Nancy Grace do. In each case, the newscasters follow a pattern: In Rocketboom’s case, it is the right’s conspiracy to destroy the poor and their total disregard for the law that dictates the way most of their stories are told.

Sources: Bird, E. and Dardenne, R. “Myth, Chronicle and Story: Exploring the Narrative Qualities of News.”

Rocketboom

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