Understanding "The Bias of Language, The Bias of Pictures"

There are many differences between stationary pictures, moving pictures, and language as described by Neil Postman and Steve Powers in their essay “The Bias of Language, The Bias of Pictures”.  First, as someone views a stationary picture there is no words to accompany it. This allows the onlooker to come up with their own point of view, not the bias opinion of a reporter or any other person that may speak positively or negatively about the event taking place in the picture.  But as Postman and Powers (2008) explain, “individual pictures give us the world as object” (p. 485).  Thus, a picture is only one particle image at one particular time.  Second, there are moving pictures. This is what television provides for us. The pictures are able to tell a story without words.  The viewer is able to see what is actually happening.  People can make their own determinations about a particular situation; there are multiple images thru multiple moments.  Next, language is how things are described and understood.  The problem with language is the wide variety of word choice that may be used.  If someone uses any other way to explain something other than descriptive, then bias interpretations may be perceived.  When this happens, the audience may not be receiving the correct information (Postman and Powers, 2008, p. 483).  

When you use the different ways of expressing information you get different results.  The media is always trying to capture viewers, Postman andPowers (2008) says, “images can present emotions and rudimentary ideas” (p.485).  This is what gets viewers involved and wanting to see more.  Newspaper articles differ in content. They report with language and are more detailed in content.  A newspaper allows a reader to scan over many articles and choose how they receive the information (Postman and Powers, 2008, p. 488). 

            Neither way of reporting is 100% non-bias; they may not even be 50% non-bias. But, as educated viewers that understand how to interpret language and the use of different levels of abstraction, one can differentiate what they hear or see.

References

Postman N., & Powers S. (2008). Watching television. In E. Barrosse (Ed.), Pop perspectives

(pp.481-489). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill