I recently watched a Korean drama, Pinocchio, and realised that 'facts' may not be true.
It is a pretty old drama but definitely worth your time because it has so much meaning in it.
This drama is about reporters and the grey area about their job. Its title, Pinocchio, refers to a disease that causes the person to hiccup whenever he/she lies. Just for the record, this disease is not real but there is something called the Pinocchio effect. The Pinocchio effect has been scientifically proven to be biological changes when we lie. It may not be hiccups like in the drama but it may manifest in the form of licking dry lips, eyes twitching etc. The main plot of the drama revolves around a misreported story of a firefighter. He lost his life trying to save lives but was framed to have misled his men into the dangerous fire and disappeared (instead of died because his body was not found until many many years later). This misreporting brought about a lot of hate on his surviving family members which eventually forced the wife to commit suicide with the younger of their two sons. The younger son did not die and grew up with the intention to avenge his father. The younger son became a reporter and his journey to becoming one shed some light on the field of news reporting. As the drama slowly unfolds all the mystery behind the misreporting, including an additional case of similar misreporting surfacing, I gained so much insight into ‘facts’ as a concept and the power play behind news.
The field of news reporting
Before I watched this drama, I did not have the best impression of news reporters and war photographers. I did not understand how they could film and comment on people dying, animals dying etc etc, without actually putting down their camera and microphones to help out. Honestly, I found it inhumane and cruel.
There was this scene in the drama that played out my exact thoughts. The reporters were tasked with filming a scene of people falling down on slippery roads. However, two rookie reporters with the same sentiments as me just could not do it. They ended up spending the whole day breaking coal briquettes and helping people down slippery stairs (coal briquettes apparently makes roads less slippery but as someone living in a country without seasons, I have not seen that). When they returned to their company, of course they got scolded but the reasoning given by the senior was so convincing that it convinced me as well. He said that if they didn’t break those coal briquettes for the people, they would have had a video of people slipping on slippery roads. The government would have seen it and perhaps put in more structural help for the people (he lists some examples but I didn’t really get it because these things are not really native for me). The people would have seen it and travelled around with more caution, effectively reducing the number of people who will fall in the long run.
Such a simple example and unsophisticated explanation, and I was convinced. I know that news reporters and war photographers are there to be the eyes of the people, to help raise awareness and blah blah. But it was really this drama that showed me exactly what these means (prior to this, everything I knew were dictated to me by teachers and weren’t very convincing).
Another thing is that should news reported be what the viewers want to watch or what the viewers need to know. For me, there is only one answer - what the viewers need to know. News is no entertainment industry, what has it got to do with what the viewers want to watch. However, in the drama, it was brought up that even the news segment have viewer ratings and broadcasting channels compete with one another for viewer ratings, which is also why they are always craving for exclusives and tempted to give the viewers what they want to watch, instead of what the viewers need to know. More about this under ‘Facts’ as a concept later.
Lastly, I didn’t know that so much work was put into verifying whether statements are facts or not. I thought that reporters were fed all the information in conferences and what not. The drama showed that reporters camp out in police stations and run to many many places during the day to verify facts and to put stories together. It is really such hard work.
‘Facts’ as a concept
Facts are facts right, why are they a concept? ‘Facts’ are subjective because of the way they are presented. This concept is amplified in the field of news reporting because of how much impact ‘facts’ have.
Consider the following:
‘97% of traffic cases were investigated’ vs ‘3% of traffic cases remain uninvestigated’
If the first one was reported, most people would just move on with their lives because the statistics look nice, majority of traffic cases are handled appropriately, assuming investigations are fair and rigorous.
If the latter was reported, more people would criticise the government because the statistics and the following statements are not nice. 3% is a low percentage and ‘remain uninvestigated’ calls for criticism that the government is working inefficiently and perhaps there are significant numbers of negligence.
Both statements are facts. They are the reverse of each other, but they can induce very different reactions from the public when reported as news. Should we report the good news ‘97%’ or the bad news ‘3%’? Since both numbers are facts, perhaps we can go with the one that brings about more viewer ratings, the one that gets people’s attention and invites people to talk, the 3%. We will give people what they want, something to criticise.
But now, consider this:
‘I have a ticket for your favourite band for you’ vs ‘Your medical report shows that you have cancer’.
You will definitely want to hear the good news, but is the bad news not worth reporting?
‘Facts’ are always subjective based on the way it is presented and talked about.
Power play behind news
Rather than the usual textbook saying that power play of news is having powerful people manipulate the news by reporting good news about them or their company and by covering up bad news, this drama brings in a whole new perspective. Powerful people with control of news broadcasting stations can paint a different story by asking different questions and shifting the focus of the story. For example, for the story of the firefighter losing his life in the fire, the focus of the news story shifted from finding the cause of the fire to blaming the firefighter for misleading his men into the building (people told the firefighters that there were still people stuck in the fire when there actually aren’t) and thereafter disappearing because he does not want to take responsibility (in fact, he was caught in an explosion and his body was not found). Just like that, the powerful people protected the fact that they caused the fire. This was done by a news reporter who asked a different set of questions, instead of who set the fire or what led to the fire, she asked questions like where is your husband (to the firefighter’s wife) and did he mislead his people into the fire. And slowly, the narrative changed.
To end things off, this drama was such a meaningful entertainment. I would totally recommend this to anyone feeling bored stuck at home during this COVID situation and to anyone prepparing for the General Paper (for A-levels). I kinda wished I watched this drama before A-levels because it really broadened and deepened my knowledge and perspective of current affairs (and piqued my interest). So here is a little illustration for you: is beer bitter or sweet for you?
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