After Session 1 · What is news?
Structured notes after the live class (June 1, 2026) — how advertising reshaped newspapers, why bias and objective language matter, who owns major outlets, how influencer marketing and public relations extend the old propaganda playbook, and why Christopher wants you to read the news like a show: track fear, shame, and worldview fit before you trust a headline. Not a substitute for attending.
Five through-lines from Session 1. The stack shows how information reaches you (platform → reaction).
Manufacturing Consent (Herman & Chomsky) frames media as a system that shapes what people accept — not only what they know.
Once advertising paid the bills, cover price could fall below production cost — distribution became a vehicle for ads, not only journalism.
Objective reporting is an ideal; bias, political base, and outlet ownership still steer framing — compare left and right sources on the same story.
Edward Bernays coined public relations; stories can feel organic while serving sponsors — organic, paid, and earned media are different channels.
Fear, shame, humiliation, and comfort keep average Joe watching — reactions feed algorithms and spread stories whether you agree or rage.
How we moved
This section follows the June 1, 2026 recording (same order and emphasis). Session 1 was a systems introduction — Christopher said you would drill headline vocabulary and grammar in later lessons.
After warm-up conversation, class opened on what news is through Manufacturing Consent, then walked bias and the advertising shift, mapped major outlets and wire services, introduced marketing and Edward Bernays, and closed on reading news as entertainment that still moves behavior — plus live homework to read one article with outlet and byline noted.
Christopher recommended Herman and Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent — breaking down manufacture (Latin roots) and consent (permission, legal and everyday use). Content means what platforms publish (images, video, words). The book argues elites who own media can steer direction, connect with politics, and tie news to the wider economy — linking back to themes from the Money course.
“This book is about how… Media, how news is used, to make people… Agree.”Christopher (Session 1)
Takeaway: Start every article by asking whose platform and whose incentives sit behind it.
Class contrasted objective truth (shared facts, like the sun being bright) with subjective beliefs (opinions on tax or phone etiquette). Bias means not staying neutral — illustrated with hiring a qualified candidate versus your brother. Traditional newspapers once bet that unbiased facts would win readers; advertising let companies buy space or stories that look like news, subsidize cheap papers, and push out outlets that refused ad money.
“Bias is when you are not objective.”Christopher (Session 1)
“The company makes money by selling advertisement.”Christopher (Session 1)
Takeaway: Low subscription price often signals ad revenue, not “free” journalism.
History sketched newspaper → radio → TV → internet; today many people follow influencers on social media. Influencer marketing pays creators to post about brands — Christopher noted most “official” information is sponsored, which is why cheap news exists. The course will focus on recognizable news outlets and the special English they use, while still understanding the wider attention economy.
Takeaway: Distinguish an influencer take from a wire-service brief before you debate facts.
Associated Press and Reuters were introduced as wire services feeding other outlets — AP event-focused and neutral-claiming, Reuters more business and finance. Named left-leaning examples: New York Times, Guardian, Washington Post (Jeff Bezos ownership noted), MSNBC. Vocabulary for skeptical tone: outlandish, far-fetched, versus celebrity tabloid stories (e.g. UK tabloids). Brief epistemology tangent: can we know facts at all? Class agreed to use “neutral” and “factual” as working tools while remembering total neutrality may be impossible.
Takeaway: Wire copy is a baseline; outlet choice adds political color.
Right-leaning examples: Wall Street Journal, UK Telegraph, Fox News. Strategy for filtering bias: read both MSNBC and Fox on the same topic and watch how each exaggerates for its base (audience following a political movement). Newsworthy parallels Money-course creditworthy — is the story “good enough” for news? Advertising economics and political ad buys (including leaked influencer group chats) explain why parties pay for amplification.
Takeaway: Pair opposing outlets; list three differences in verbs and adjectives, not only nouns.
Marketing split into organic (your own posts), advertising (paid interruption), and public relations (stories placed so they feel natural — earned media). Edward Bernays, nephew of Sigmund Freud, renamed propaganda public relations in his book titled Propaganda. Case studies: rebranding American breakfast around bacon and eggs; “torches of freedom” cigarette parade for women smokers; governments courting him. Propaganda today is what the other country does — domestically people call it “real information.”
“Propaganda now is a dirty word, and we need a new term for this.”Christopher (Session 1, paraphrasing Bernays)
Takeaway: PR is designed to feel like discovery, not an ad break.
Christopher urged reading news like a movie — serious topics on purpose to trigger strong feelings that change behavior. Average Joe after work may watch humiliation of powerful figures and feel better, or absorb fear (COVID example: behavior changed overnight though enforcement was mostly social — “consent was manufactured”). Stories that fit or attack your worldview produce comfort or anger; either reaction helps platforms via comments and engagement. Only a sliver of “truth” may be knowable between polarized narratives — more news is needed to verify, which keeps the cycle going.
“We should read the news. The same way that we watch a movie. It's a show.”Christopher (Session 1)
“Consent was manufactured.”Christopher (Session 1)
Takeaway: Name the emotion a headline sells before you repeat its claim.
Go deeper
Short add-ons: hooks if you want to read or discuss more — not a second lecture.
Session 1 explicitly bridged the prior Money course: advertising economics, political messaging, and words like newsworthy / creditworthy. Financial headlines you already parse (Fed, debt, oil) will reappear inside political framing — keep both vocabularies active.
The printed Session 1 card highlights passive voice in headlines (“Man arrested”). Live class did not drill headline grammar yet — Christopher said terminology would come in later sessions. Use the grammar card as prep; bring one headline to Session 2 if you can.
Homework
Aligned to the live assignment: read real news with outlet, author, and main points — plus vocabulary from the session card.
Optional: Skim one AP or Reuters brief plus one opinion-heavy cable segment on the same topic. Note how fear or shame shows up in the tone.
Words from this session
Say them in a sentence — not only define them. Mix transcript terms with Session 1 card pills.