Walter Fisher's Narrative Paradigm

Introduction: The Narrative paradigm is an ideology created by Walter Fisher. The Narrative paradigm is defined as “a theory of symbolic actions—words and/or deeds—that have sequence and meaning for those who live, create, or interpret them” (Fisher). If you trace humanity back to it's roots, you will find there has long been word of mouth accounts of history. Things that are spoken about time after time, only to finally be notarized in some way shape or form. Whether it be writing on the wall of a cave, or an internal memo; these “truths” will come to light. Knowing the totality of what really happened can be quite difficult. It appears (to me) that more often we hear of stories that seem reasonable, but in reality may not be true. This is the true nature of what is known as the Narrative Paradigm. It is in my opinion that this form of thought is inherently flawed. I do not mean that it is without it's merits however. A good story always needs some embellishing.
This is done in order to find ways to affect audience behavior. It is when the media uses the Media effect Paradigm to control and shape the ideals of its viewer, that these two accounts of information processing take a more sinister form. The media has done a great jobs on both ends of the spectrum. Pushing their goals, alienating their viewers from other viewers, and reporting things how they see fit. Just look at the Trump and Clinton campaigns. One side was brushing Trumps transgressions under the rug and vehemently attacking Clinton. The other was doing the exact opposite. Both sides selectively reported, and went down the rabbit hole on certain things. It is in my opinion that the media is flawed. It uses a combination of the Narrative paradigm, and the Media affect paradigm in order to control the opinions of it's viewers. Through this paper it is my goal to highlight this