QUESTION 9

9) Find a “news” story from the Onion News Network, and compare it to a contemporary news story or clip from a “real” news source (a TV channel, newspaper, etc.). Discuss them both in terms of gatekeeping and agenda-setting functions, as well as the breakdown and reevaluation of discourse that Baym talks about in his article. Citing Baym will help (100-150 words).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kx-FkpSDyu4

The Onion news I choose was "missing girl probably rape," this video is outright about it's news and holds nothing back, by suggesting what might happened to an attractive teenage girl who is missing/kidnapped.Gateskeeping insures what subject are aired on TV, this would never be aired on TV purely for sensitivity matters. The main gatekeeper for a television news program is the news director. After watching a real news broadcast shortly after on the disappearance of Madeline Mccann, there was never any reference to what might be happening to Madeline but was aimed around the pleading to return the child. In Onion news when the father tried to plead for his daughter to be returned the reporter returned with heartless comments, this would never happen on real television. There are certain information that is often left out, especially through the news. The editors will often decide what is considered important for the world to know. Therefore some information reaches the audience, while some does not. With the example of Maddie, there was big controversy in England because on the hunt for the child the parents where made to seem extremely innocent and shocked, it was later revealed that they had left their 3 year old daughter in the vacation apartment without Adult supervision while they went to dinner with friends. Certain information like this determines how the audience perceives or may feel about a certain situation. "The blending of news and satire confronts a system of political communication that largely has degenerate," Baym informs us that the Daily show uses humour while still addressing the news. This is something that is missing as there is a lack of discourse and communication between the public and sometimes in politics and the news.