All media is scripted.
That’s the first lesson in Media Literacy 101. In media, the constraining factor is the audience’s attention span. This appears in various forms.
In print media, article length is the key deciding factor. On video, it’s time. That’s why video makers such as Nas Daily constrains himself to making short videos. That is how much attention a viewer has.
In so doing, media has to be scripted. Unscripted media rambles on, and quickly loses the attention of the viewer. To hold attention, the media publisher must keep their content short and interesting.
And so, they have to script it to make it so.
In so doing, content needs to be edited. Shaved, cropped, cut to be concise and clear. Things must be left out in order to highlight the essence.
Some times, media takes artistic license. Using half-truths, they can and tend to paint a picture that is not real. So long as it gets read, so long as it gets views, advertising can then be sold.
For us consumers of media, this means that not everything we read or see in the media about a person is true. That is why we need media literacy. We need to understand that the media has a job to do, and that is to hold our attention, so that they can deliver more ads to us, and that is how they gain revenue.
It can be dangerous to consume media blindly. Even more so when you forget that the media that is made about you, assuming you’re a newsmaker, is scripted.
Say something, anything, often enough, and it becomes the truth.
Don’t forget who you are.
You’re not as great and wonderful as the media makes you out to be.
All media is scripted.
Remember that.
Daniel Tay 