Friday, March 4, 2011

The Emporer's (bloody) New Clothes

Recently in class we have discussed "soft" news in the media and there is one article/slideshow in particular that stands out as the epitome of soft news.  As Libyan soldiers begin killing their own civillians to keep Gaddafi's evil regime in power, Time Magazine has once again proven why it is plummeting into oblivion.  Time has published an article concerning Gaddafi's wardrobe.  Is that really important to point out in this time of crisis? And the editors of Time are wondering why they are becoming more and more irrelevant with every seemingly worthless article they publish.  See this gem of a slideshow right here: http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2055860_2248097,00.html/?xid=yahoo-feat

1 comment:

  1. Unfortunately, Time is not alone in making fun of Qaddafi and his wardrobe. Jon Stewart of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" did so too. http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/thu-february-24-2011-austan-goolsbee

    Granted that the slide-show is humorous, it may not have been created solely as "soft news." It is possible to discredit Qaddafi by portraying him as vain and untethered (which is exemplified by his wordrobe). Such a portrayal would cause people to view him as unfit to rule and give support to the opposition. So maybe "soft-news" is not the (sole) cause for the slide-show.

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