The perceptions of members of the public can be warped in any way the media sees fit. The ideas that individuals call their own can never truly be organic. Every idea that an individual in our society has is shaped by the media that we choose to consume.
The stories of Matthew Shepard and Caster Semanya are great examples of the framing techniques utilized by the media to create a specific opinion or idea among the audience members. Matthew Shepard was constructed through the media as a lamb taken by wolves. Caster Semanya was portrayed as "manly" when described among media. Both have been represented in ways that have been set up to benefit the media writing the story. Though both of these stories were examples of how the media can shape our impressions on a topic they had different outcomes.
The construction of the Matthew Shepard story made the public seem to endure heartache. What if the heartache would of been present if the media would have framed the story in a different light? I believe that the thoughts of the public can be completely altered by the media. The media could have left out the details of his small stature and the use of the word "lamb" when describing the victim. These slight changes to the storyline could completely alter the perceptions of the audience.
The story of Semanya seemed to be portrayed completely different from the way the story of Shepard. Semanya was attacked by the media for an accomplishment in the Olympics, and was accused of being a man. The idea of her actual gender was a hard concept to grasp after learning what the media had to say. During the last class I found myself swapping her alleged sex with her actual sex due to the corruption of the media. The reports silencing after her "sex test" is a complete testimony that the media is quick to judge others, but when they are wrong they have no course of action other than silence.
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