For example, suppose Senator John Doe says, "I think Frank Jones is not a man to trifle with." Then the anchor of a major TV network either gleefully or perhaps even unintentionally reports it as, "Sen. John Doe says his opponent Frank Jones is not a man." That is taking John Doe's words out of context. By not including the entire statement, the reporter has given the statement a completely different meaning.
John Doe's statement means that he thinks he has a formidable opponent; that is, he obviously respects his opponent as being tough. But when the statement is taken out of context, it makes it sound as though Senator Doe has insulted his opponent by questioning his manhood. Once a statement is reported out of context like this, other broadcast, print and online organizations begin reporting the same thing and a media firestorm is soon created.
Flickr Creative Commons photo of Shirley Sherrod by USDAgov
Wow. I understood the concept of fallacies, but I didn't think such important organizations would be so blatantly "snookered" by them. That was really appalling.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading about the controversy when it first occurred, and I assumed that the myriad of prominent people speaking out against Shirley had a reasonable basis for their outrage. That's why I was so shocked to find that they would be so quick to make such an important decision without taking the basic precaution of fact checking. It makes you want to reevaluate everything that you hear.
ReplyDeleteThe video and article really shocked me. To make such a grand mistake without properly checking for something as simple as facts is quite astounding. It also makes me a bit angry they didn't take the time to go through the entire story before reporting on it.
ReplyDeleteI shocked that such a big organization would fall into that trap. It is true that you really can't believe everything you read. That poor woman's reputation was ruined because someone wanted a good story.
ReplyDeleteThis story really stunned me. It is hard to believe that such a big company could be fooled by one controversial blogger. It is also shocking to see that they didn't even try to get the full story until much later. These organizations should know that not everything you know it true.
ReplyDeleteThis video and article was really surprising! I could see that a magazine based on gossip would do something like that, maybe even on purpose, but it's amazing that so many different news stations could get caught up in this perfect example of fallacies. It's actually kind of scary, especially since Mrs. Sherrod was so high up in society.
ReplyDeleteWow, this story was very eye opening. It made me realize how a few fallacies can hurt someone's reputation. Their position in life can be jeopardized just because someone else didn't play by the rules of good journalism. Also, I think the company should of fact checked the story way before they made the hasty decision to fire Mrs. Sherrod.
ReplyDeleteThis story really emphasized the seriousness of falliies in the media and that we must take extra caution in preventing them and even making them up. People who view the news can't just hear what reporters say and agree. They have to o their own research and find out who is telling the truth and who isn't. It's scary to think how the media can distort information and make such an impact on people's views of others.
ReplyDeleteI am very surprised about this story. It makes me sad that fallacies such as this do occur. I feel terrible for Ms. Sherrod because when she was really trying to do good, she ended up getting fired and being humiliated.This story showed me the importance of preventing fallacies and making sure to double-chack our information.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this and watching the video clip, I was definitely convinced that fallacies do occur sometimes more often than one would think. It really shocked me though, that someone would either maliciously or carelessly take someone's words out of context. But it even disturbed me further that this rumor about Ms. Sherrod spread until she lost her job. All in all, any journalist must be careful that they take a person's words exactly fir what they mean.
ReplyDeleteI would have never expected for such a prominent business to fall into that kind of trap. They should have known better than to believe everything they read. And that you can't take what you read out of context. They should have done a better background check on their information and they probably will, this is too big of a mistake to repeat.
ReplyDeleteI was completely appalled watching and reading about this incident. Taking things out of context caused such a major disruption in politics and this woman's life. They caused to lose her job just because they didn't discuss the complete meaning of what she said. The reporters not researching the speech more in depth was really surprising. Trying to manipulate a story in your favor is just wrong and very unprofessional.
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how something so innocent and simple taken out of context could be so misinterpreted and lead to such massive unrest. Because of a small mistake, this woman's career and reputation are likely to be forever damaged.
ReplyDeleteThis story really showed me how ridiculous and intense a fallacy could be. Sherrodd, intending to give a speech empowering all people to work together, is fired due to an edited video clip claiming she is a racist. Hopefully, the media has learned their lesson and will try to not repeat a mistake as large as this one again.
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how they were ruining that woman's reputation by giving the public only half of the story. It's appalling to me that a news organization can actually do this
ReplyDeleteIt is shocking how mis-characterizing a quote can completely change the nature of the quote if considered in its proper context. This is the same as a journalist reporting something that he or she knows to be untrue. There must be confidence that journalists take seriously their responsibility to report the facts of an event rather than only certain facts or quotes that will support the position he or she wants to put forth.
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed that so many people could be mislead and that none of them bothered to double check that the clip's portrayal of what she said was accurate and not taken out of context. I'm grateful that I was able to read and see this story because it really helped demonstrate how imperative it is to check that quotes attributed to people are not out of context.
ReplyDeleteI was so surprised by the power of using a quote out of context. It is truly shocking to see how such large government organizations can be so easily mislead. It demonstrates how important it is to never use fallacies.
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