The man on the street, April 2012

Big Brother Follows You: Like?

I'm not sure what the phenomenon is called: "street-steering?" The thing that happens when a journalist calibrates the range of responses to a question in man-in-the-street interviews, whether deliberately or subconsciously, according to her sense of where the acceptable limits of discourse lie. We're human, and it's reasonable to assume this happens, whether through avoiding interviewing certain persons, how she asks questions, or simply discarding some interviews altogether when the answers are not TV friendly. Or Youtube friendly, if you prefer.

Clearly I don't know if this is happening here, and possibly I pick on Lori Harfenist too much, but I wonder if people really have such sheepish views about a security state. Then again, maybe I'm sheepish too.