Do you think the words and phrases that are used in the media influence the perceptions that you have of events and social problems? Why or why not? What is one example of a word/phrase choice that may affect how people think about a particular social problem?

Diction, or word choice, influences perception of a story. For example, a media headline explaining a robbery: "Man robs convenience store, kills woman in car accident in escape." versus "Man robs family-owned business, kills local librarian in car crash." The second makes you hate the "man" more. A social problem example would be, "Boy hits his school bully" versus "Black child attacks white peer." The second sentence implies the boy's race and perceived status makes him a violent attacker, while the first implies self-defense.