Issues affecting communities and their well-being on a large scale are quite difficult to approach when shedding light on them in public media. On the one hand, the context and extent of the issue need to be provided; on the other hand, maintaining objectivity and neutrality remains a concern. However, the manner in which the MRC presented a recent water crisis observed in Jackson, MS can be seen as inappropriate, at best, an insulting to the audience’s intelligence and sensibilities, at worst, due to the evident attempt at manipulating the public’s opinion.
When considering the tweet, particularly, not only its content, but also the manner in which it has been shaped and the rhetorical tools used in the process, one can claim that MRC is engaging in a bullying behavior. Namely, the MRC seeks to ridicule MSNBC and represent its position as risible, yet it does so by making a personal attack and introducing subjective qualitative characteristics of MSNBS’s position by defining it as “deranged” as opposed to considering an objective stance (@theMRC). Furthermore, the openly aggressive and possibly exaggerated manner in which the tweet and the article uses specific qualifiers, such as “vile,” diminishes the quality of the argument and makes the readers question the trustworthiness of the author’s opinion (@theMRC). As a result, the representation of the issue suffers from the lack of an objective perspective.
By introducing blatantly obvious rhetorical tools for controlling the public opinion on the issue of water crisis in Jackson, MS, MRC not only failed to represent MSNBS’s coverage of the issue as problematic, but also shaped the viewers’ perspective on themselves as not meeting credibility standards. Therefore, the integration of a more nuanced and objective argument would be welcome. The specified change will help Media Research Center adders the issue at hand in a more nuanced and credible manner.
Work Cited
@theMRC. “Deranged Hayes Blames Mississippi GOP for Water Crisis under Dem Mayor.” Twitter, 2022, 5:00 p.m., Web.