Elizabeth Loftus: The fiction of memory

Memory-manipulation expert Elizabeth Loftus explains how our memories might not be what they seem -- and how implanted memories can have real-life repercussions

A classic study of "Hostile Media Effect"

The Hostile Media Phenomenon: Biased Perception and Perceptions of Media Bias in Coverage of the Beirut Massacre

Robert P. Vallone, Lee Ross, and Mark R. Lepper-Stanford University

After viewing identical samples of major network television coverage of the Beirut massacre, both pro-Israeli and pro-Arab partisans rated these programs, and those responsible for them, as being biased against their side.

This hostile media phenomenon appears to involve the operation of two separate mechanisms.

First, partisans evaluated the fairness of the media's sample of facts and arguments differently: in light of their own divergent views about the objective merits of each side's case and their corresponding views about the nature of unbiased coverage.

Second, partisans reported different perceptions and recollections about the program content itself; that is, each group reported more negative references to their side than positive ones, and each predicted that the coverage would sway nonpartisans in a hostile direction.

Within both partisan groups, furthermore, greater knowledge of the crisis was associated with stronger perceptions of media bias.

Charges of media bias, we concluded, may reflect more than self-serving attempts to secure preferential treatment. They may result from the operation of basic cognitive and perceptual mechanisms, mechanisms that should prove relevant to perceptions of fairness or objectivity in a wide range of mediation and negotiation contexts.

Download the study (pdf)

Narawani: "Hollywood in Homs and Idlib?"

By Sharmine Narwani - Tue, 2012-03-13 15:12- The Sandbox

Last October I was asked to write an article on the direction of the crisis in Syria – a month later, I had still not made it beyond an introductory paragraph. Syria was confusing. The public discourse about events in the country appeared to be more hyperbole than fact. But even behind the scene, sources strained to provide informed analyses, and it was fairly evident that a lot of guesswork was being employed.

By December, it occurred to me that a big part of the problem was the external-based opposition and their disproportionately loud voices. If you were actually in the business of digging for “verified” information on Syria last year, you would have also quickly copped on to the fact that this wing of the Syrian opposition lies – and lies big.

This discovery coincided with a new report by US intelligence analyst Stratfor that claimed: “most of the opposition's more serious claims have turned out to be grossly exaggerated or simply untrue, thereby revealing more about the opposition's weaknesses than the level of instability inside the Syrian regime.”

Full Article: Hollywood in Homs and Idlib?

Hollywood in Homs and Idlib?

رؤيتان مختلفتان، و مقارنتهما بواقع الأزمة في سوريا

لعله من المتوقع أن يعمل كل من النظام و مناوؤه بشكل دؤوب على التأثير على الرأي العام، سواءً منه الداخلي السوري، أو الخارجي العربي و الدولي. و مع أن آراءً كثيرة تتفق على أن أدوات النظام الإعلامية، سواء منها الرسمية أو غير النظامية، يجب ألا تمنح مصداقية عالية، إلا أننا لا نجد هذه الدرجة من الحذر في التعامل مع ما يرد من الطرف الآخر. بل إن هناك تماهٍ و تصديق شبه أعمى لكل الأخبار و التحليلات التي ترد من طرف مناوئي النظام، و سنحاول هنا أن نقارن بين طروحات الطرفين:

رؤيتان مختلفتان، و مقارنتهما بواقع الأزمة في سوريا