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The news media can also be manipulated by the language of a statement that is artfully constructed and skillfully delivered. Ideally, such a statement should be uneducable, dramatic, concise, and synoptic. It should be capable of being delivered in less than thirty-five seconds by a skilled speaker. If it is delivered by a credible person, about an important topic,Cartier Earring in Stainless Steel with White Gold Plated and Di, and on an occasion accessible to the news media, it is virtually irresistible to the press. An example of such a statement Cartier Replica Watches was Bush's promise, "Read my lips, No new taxes." Carefully crafted synoptic statements can also create a context for viewing political information. Thus, for example, year 2000 Republican presidential hopeful John McCain indicted the tax proposal of his primary opponent Texas Governor George W. Bush and touted his own in a sound bite that focused press attention not on the amount of the proposed tax cuts (McCain proposed a much smaller amount) but on who would benefit. "Sixty percent of [Bush's] tax cuts are for the wealthiest 10 percent of America," noted the Arizona Senator. "I don't think that's necessary. I want the tax cuts for lower and middle income Americans."
Since more Americans read newspaper headlines than read the articles they describe, a candidate gains an advantage when a charge he or she has made is translated into a headline. Accordingly, Gore is given an advantage when USA Today's above-the-fold headline reads "Gore: Bradley could 'blunder' into recession."
Because television is a visual medium whose ordinary form is the narrative, a visually evocative narrative has special power. Because news employs a story structure, narratives are particularly attractive to reporters. In summer 1995, the Democratic minority in the House of Representatives used these conventions to create a favorable context in hearings on the 1993 clash between federal officers and people inside the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, that led to the deaths of many of those within the compound.
The clash began on February 28, 1993, when seventy-five federal officers, who suspected that the Davidians were making illegal drugs and stockpiling illegal weapons, tried to execute a search warrant at the compound. A shootout resulted,Cartier Heart Charm Bracelet in Stainless Steel with Diamond, leaving four government officers and six cult members dead. Who shot first is contested. Despite repeated requests, their leader, David Koresh, refused to surrender to the agents. On April 19, the agents launched a tear gas attack, and eighty-one people within the com-pound died in a fire. Davidian supporters argued that the fire resulted from the ignition of the tear gas; the Clinton administration claimed that it might have been set from within the compound. On the grounds that the search warrant was unjustified and the deaths needless, Republicans set up hearings in spring 1995.
When Clinton supporters argued that the hearings had been set up and witnesses scheduled to show the administration in an unfavorable light, the Republicans agreed to permit the Democrats to choose one of the early witnesses. They chose 14-year-old Kiri Jewell, who graphically testified that she had been sexually abused by Koresh. Front-page pictures and headlines and prominent broadcast coverage were the result. Her testimony corroborated the claim of Attorney General Janet Reno that one reason for the assault was the belief by federal officials that children were being sexually abused. It also shifted the attention of the hearing and the public from questions about administration decisions to Koresh. The effectiveness of the strategy led the New York Times to headline a summary story on the hearings, "Role Reversal: Expecting Waco Hearings' Triumph, Republicans Were Instead Surprised."
Language can be used to deter news coverage as well. For instance, the difficulties involved in covering highly technical, abstract material are exploited by those who want to minimize news coverage of their activities. Politics and the Oval Office, a re-port by the conservative Institute for Contemporary Omega Speedmaster Replica Studies, argue that the presidency has suffered from too much uncontrolled coverage by the media. To curb what it views as excessive coverage, the report urges the president to overwhelm media representatives with technical data: "This tactic should defuse complaints about total accessibility. It could reduce the total volume of reporting, since dry data are often de-fined as newsworthy."
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