The media can certainly be relied upon to convey a truth. Truth as in not a genuine truth but a fabricated truth. Why do I say so? Media is a transporter of news and events to the masses so that the people know what is happening around them. It is just like any other professions but should be a more truthful one as it has to report what it sees. However things are not like what it should be because to a certain extent media is controlled by external forces and internal greeds as explicitly shown in the article. Sometimes media has to cover up the seriousness of the truth, as in the event of the Iraqi war being an unnecessary invasion fueled by corporate-controlled news media’s lust to boost profits, and present things in a nonchalant manner. This is to avoid criticism of the media so that it does not loose its viewers and remains popular. Its more safer for the media to go with government than to go against it as in the case of McCarthy’s “Great Lie Theory” which was disemminated to the public by the media too.
Sometimes there maybe “deals” between the media and some powerful forces so that the media gains a profit .An example would be when Powell’s son Michael changed F.C.C rules so that the media empires could acquire even a greater share of the marketplace. In return all these empires had to do was endorse, the warmongering lies of the Bush dictatorship, and accept, or at least not question, the fraudulent results of the 2000 and 2004 presidential “elections.” This illustrates that the media can be bribed!
Sometimes media is prejudice against some people. After all, it’s the ordinary people who control news publications and they do edit news to their own gain so much that in the end the news becomes a tripe of dishonesty and fabrications, with a few seconds of condensed truth. The author’s experience ,as stated in the article when he was asked to contact the proper investigative agency regarding the issue that local community people were being unjustly purged from voter registration rolls, confirms that the media gives a overall false and dishonest product for the sake of earning profits. Moreover at times, media is influenced by relations as in the case when the author’s article was rejected because it could be construed as an attack on the professionalism of the local police department. Later the author found out that the editor who had reviewed his article and the police officer who had belatedly espoused her “doubts” were friends, and this was the real motive behind the censorship.
As such when media is being influenced by many factors like Prejudice, Profits and Popularity, how can it be relied upon to convey the truth? Of course people can argue that there are television programmes like Comedy Central’s satirical program “The Daily Show,” for example, often covers current events with more insight than the so-called cable “news” networks, where “discussion” routinely consists of “experts” of dubious qualifications shouting and interrupting each other.
Media adapts to different situations. For example, during the controversy between Italian football player and Zidane at the world cup, the media never failed to report it all clear and transparent because the event was witnessed by thousands of people. Moreover by reporting such a “hot” news as it was, it was able to increase its popularity!
Media can be trusted to report the happenings around the world but if one were to analyze the truth in it, it might be discovered that there are some fabrications. Thus if one wants the truth, one should search for it alone.
No comments:
Post a Comment