There was a movie made in the 1970’s that you might be familiar with called “Network.” It’s main character is a TV network news anchor who has finally had enough of the B.S. and declares as much during his live broadcast with the line, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore!” His angst became a rallying cry for a public fed up with the cynicism of their government and the superficiality of their daily lives, both of which were piped to them daily by an ever-present, over-hyped media driven culture. Though written at a time when the general public still viewed mass media as trustworthy and respectable, the movie’s message is eerily prescient of the state of our information industry today.
It is generally believed that those who hold the reins of power never want their subjects to know too much about what is going on, only enough to make them think that all is well, or soon will be well if it is not already. In an effort to combat that type of imperialistic attitude, the U.S. Constitution was written with a provision forbidding our government from abridging freedom of the press. In conjunction with the freedom of speech, these provisions were meant to encourage a viable “Fourth Estate” of government that would act as a voice of conscience, reason, and truth in an effort to keep the government from screwing everyone over and stealing their hard earned fruits of labor. Almost immediately, the powers that be figured out how to restrain that fourth estate by collaborating with the owners of newspapers, and later radio and television companies, offering access to information in return for favorable press. Those with less integrity succumbed to the pressure, and were rewarded handsomely for their spinelessness. The relationship continued with the discovery of the radio spectrum and the government giving away something they didn’t even own- the airwaves- to favored businesses. Now that the broadcasters could reach many millions of people, there was some real money to be made. And to make money you have to appeal to viewers and listeners.
The truth of the matter is that the bulk of today’s mass media is controlled by a small collection of corporate conglomerates, and the information that their media outlets offer is based on two things: the opinions of the majority owner(s), and the generation of profit. The sharing of information and news is no longer considered a respectable career of public service, but a commodity to be bought and sold and tailored to each listener’s personal likes and dislikes. Rather than be a collection of voices across the country telling each other about the latest changes in the world, our main media outlets are tightly controlled and highly competitive dispensaries of information that is filtered and whitewashed to reach the largest possible audience.
Further clouding the availability of factual, relevant news information is the somewhat incestuous relationship between the news reporting media and the entertainment media. More and more often, news programming focuses not on the issues that affect our pocket books and our freedom, but on the themes elevated to popular status by the entertainment industry. Crime, sex, and celebrities seem to top the list of hot stories day after day. Cross promotion of movies, music, and television shows fill up hours of daytime programming. Even the reporting of critical issues is portrayed in a sensationalistic fashion to appeal to a particular demographic. Sound bites. Headlines. Fancy graphics. They are all meant to hold your attention while telling you nothing of value, or at the very most, not enough for you to be informed.
No matter which side of the fence you sit on politically, odds are you view mass media, also known as Main Stream Media (MSM) with a certain amount of skepticism, if not outright disdain. Conservative thinkers exclaim that the media is overly liberal while Liberal thinkers bemoan the media as being biased and one-sided. Citizens complain that the line between fact and opinion is becoming too blurry to distinguish while reporters and editors increasingly rely on unverified reports and copied information in an effort to be first with the details. Who is right? Who is wrong? Whatever the answer, the reality is that more and more people are turning away from the more in-depth sources of news and information in favor of polarizing talk radio and opinion driven TV talk shows that masquerade as straight, unbiased news. Rather than actually be informed, our politically correct society would prefer be affirmed and the process becomes a self-fulfilling slide down the hole to absurdity.
In another ironic twist, our national quest for profit has once again turned one of our most special, trusted institutions on its head. First to go was the notion of representational self-government, which has deteriorated to the point that most elected officials don’t even know the full text of things they vote on, let alone care about their constituents beyond what they need to say to them to get re-elected, and who instead pander to business and union interests for campaign contributions and personal perks. (Who now equates the words honorable and politician?) Second to go were the courts and the rule of law, made a mockery by the ineffective and often suspect criminal system and the gambling fever mentality that has turned our civil courts into a lawsuit lottery system. (Ever heard of unequal sentencing, early release programs or exorbitant jury awards?) Now we see the demise of the honest media, lay victim to its own lust for cash while ignoring the fact that without their free public airwaves they would have no profit, no business at all. (By all reports, subscriptions to newspapers are down, TV news ratings are down, and radio news is mostly traffic reports and weather forecasts surrounded by opinionated talk show hosts.)
Main stream media no longer is the best source for complete, unbiased news, but it is still the easiest way to get information. But despite attempts to portray themselves as real information authorities, too many recent reports have been uncovered as slanted and contrived or completely fabricated altogether. Events are described in terms of spin instead of in terms of what happened or what was said. And more attention is being paid to keeping up with the latest famous indiscretions than explaining geopolitical instability or our own domestic dilemmas. With each passing day, faith in the Fourth Estate grows weaker. Instead of being the champion for openness and truth, it is seen as an old and tired creature, bent on defending the status quo against all odds that it is losing.
The internet information explosion, and out of that the phenomenon known as “blogging” has begun to change the face of media, turning back towards the original intention of the Fourth Estate. And while so much that comes out of the internet journalists screen is just bits and pieces of a story, taken together with other bits and pieces they offer the bigger picture that main stream media isn’t showing or won’t spend the time to learn. And they offer a more comprehensive analysis of what actual people think and feel. Internet journalists force things to the surface when they might otherwise have remained secret forever. Internet journalists are picking up the challenge that the mass media has abandoned. And while individually these journalists are no more likely to have the whole story than a rip-n-read radio host, they will once again assure that somebody is always watching those who hold the reins of power. Someone is watching and someone will tell.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 6th, 2005 at 6:54 am and is filed under Common Sense, Media, Politics, Reform, society.
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July 6th, 2005 at 4:17 pm
Certainly noone will ever accuse The Rudicus Report of being unbiased, but yes, bloggers are at least attempting to restore some commentary to the fray.
The thing that concerns me that I have been noticing is that even blogging is being hijacked by the great institutions. If you go through a majority of conservative blogs – you will get an inescapable sense that they are part of the propaganda machine – they blog about the same topics, take shots at the same groups and people and tend to use much the same language.
I also think a big amount of culpability goes to people themsleves. The populace as a whole seems disinclined to even think about the things that drive some of us crazy – the sound bites are good enough for them and they don’t care to look closer or deeper for any kernels of truth or apply critical thinking skills to what they are hearing, reading or seeing. Even with the blogs – people tend not t read the long posts – they don’t like the depth – too much to process I suppose.
It would be nice if bloggers could somehow get their hands on the raw feed so we could present a more pure accounting of things, but I guess it is best to just keep writing.
Personally I have accepted the idea that I am never getting the full story and that the vast majority of media/government/business is corrupt. I wonder if the blogging media will go the same way once money starts to be made?
I think the important thing about blogging IS to write opinion pieces to get voices out there into the world – even if you are just asking the questions to try and trigger some people to say “hmmmm”
July 6th, 2005 at 10:17 pm
One of the things I find most fascinating about the blogging phenomenon is how it’s turning the world into the barber shop. People used to congregate with neighbors and discuss politics, but it was always flavored with the local “take” on how and what things are aceeptable. Now those barriers are vanquished — bloggers have a stream of opinions, fused with unending local variences.
While not true journalism, because of the national scope of the community, it becomes a much harder to control arm of the Fourth Estate.
July 7th, 2005 at 2:15 am
When I was commenting at a right-wing site, I happened to write that the MSM are largely a bunch of right-wing shills. The Blog’s owner practically had a seizure, as if he had never heard anything to challenge the longtime, popular definition of the “liberal media.”
I went on to explain that the American MSM are big business and their allegiance is to their shareholders and corporate sponsors. But many on the right still swear that American MSM are tools of marxists bent on socialist revolution.
Howard Beale is right: Go to the Window!
July 7th, 2005 at 4:23 am
Another fine post Ken. Your remarks are timely as well given that one of the reporters in the whole Rove Leak situation is selecting to go to prison over telling of sources. If you look at the surface of the situation at first blush, the Mainstream Meadia Propaganda Machine assisted the W, Rove and Co further their agenda by soiling the credibility of a guy who wrote an editorial exposing the fraud being manufactured to push us to war. Now if that is liberal bias, someone needs to dust off their dictionary.
Anyway, blogs are refreshing. This doens’t relieve the MMPM from their responsiblity to conduct investigative journalism. I am very tired of people reporting (ala Jeff Gucker/Gannon – by the way, I am quite surprised no one has raised him in a comment thus far)”news,” but simply restate what the taking heads tell them.
Where are the hardball journalists? I suggest they are sitting behind keyboards, witnessing life as it happens and reporting it on their blogs.
Blog on Brother,
Oh, and P.S. I think the “mad as hell, and we are not going to take it anymore” is originally from the movie Soylant Green (http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue55/classic.html) – check it out some time, it is very twisted – and, perhaps some of the scenarios may actually be coming true.
July 7th, 2005 at 12:19 pm
Ken,
GREAT piece! Unfortunately, I do not have the faith that some do in blogging as a replacement for the overall failings of our mass media outlets, because blogs have all of the same problems in microcosm.
People talk about the increase in information flow as a good thing, but the problem is that with that increase has come a huge increase in the noise-to-signal ratio. Sure, like Fox Mulder’s motto, “The Truth Is Out There”, but it’s out there amid hundreds of thousands of other, less truthful, less reliable voices.
Blogs have certainly increased the opportunity to find out what the populace is thinking, but that can’t take the place of a news media, people can not form valid opinions in a vacuum of fact, or you get what we have today, a situation where most people pick a political party like a favorite sports team and root for it to the exclusion of all else, taking their cues as to what is correct by what that party says and does.
The fact is that most bloggers (myself included) do not have the resources to actually gather the news ourselves, we can merely sift through what we find on the internet and other sources, attempt to correlate it until we have what we believe is a balanaced picture, and then opine endlessly about it.
Don’t get me wrong, I love blogging (although I’m sometimes dismayed that my political ramblings seem to be far more popular than my humor column, which is what I got into blogging to write), but I don’t think anyone should ever confuse my site with “hard news”.
So, what do we need to repair this problem?
1)We need a federal protection law for journalist’s sources. Whether you like leaks or not, they are a time honored way of getting news out to the public that those in power would rather sweep under the rug (from Watergate to Monica Lewinsky), and like the old dictum “t’were better that ten guilty men go free than that one innocent man be hanged”, it’s far better if ten top secret information leakers are not be caught to retain the chance that when there’s something going on that we SHOULD know about, someone will be willing to get that information out as well.
2)We need to return to the older, more restrictive laws on media ownership, or perhaps even more restrictive ones. I don’t recall the previous specifics, but due to the importance of a varied media voice, no media outlet should be allowed to own more than 10% of any media outlets in an area, more than one of the broadcast media types in an area (radio & tv), and no one media outlet conglomerate should be able to cover area totalling more than 15% of the populace. All of these designed not to harm corporate profits, but to ensure that one or two rich men sitting in a cigar bar somewhere can’t decide what version of reality the American public should hear.
3)We need a more robustly funded PBS system, and one made entirely free from political influence. Whether you like PBS or not, it should be like the Federal Judge of media outlets: Funded by the government, appointed by the government, but not subject to the temptations to slant their reportage for profit or ratings in much the same way a Judge is appointed but then free to make unpopular decisions because they are also free from reelection concerns.
I’m sure there are other things we should do as well. Another down side to the whole blogging arena is that most of us have day jobs and other real world concerns that sometimes force us to bring an argument to a halt before we may be done talking.
Either way, though, great piece, Ken, and certainly we’re better for its being out in the blog world.
Liam.
July 8th, 2005 at 3:56 am
Hi, windspike – the “mad as hell” line did come from “Network.” But, I’m sure a similar sentiment was uttered in Soylent Green. Maybe we could make a drinking game out of that phrase?
July 8th, 2005 at 6:23 am
(responses)
Rudicus- Good to hear from you! And it’s true to a degree that we are all biased in some ways, but it that extra effort to dispense reasonable information with some attention to fact, reason, and relevance that differentiates quality journalism (or blogging, for that matter.)
Conservative bloggers that you allude to have taken their cue from the right wing propaganda machine, but so too do the organized liberal blogs. And though the method of multi-voiced single issue rants can be effective, they too often devolve into a pissing match or back patting festival. Indeed, I’m surely guilty of engaging in some of that myself in commenting here and there. The difference, to me at least, between the conservative and the liberal media is the vehemence with which they opine and the bias which with they report. A fourth estate, to be effective, must attempt to remain neutral at worst, and evenly balanced at best.
Certainly society has its share of the blame, but I almost think it’s a conditioned attitude in the younger generations, having learned their short attention spans from their most frequent babysitter and playmate, TV.
There will always be elements of things we won’t know about until those in charge have enough faith and trust in their populations to tell the unvarnished truth.
And I concur with your closing statement. It is, after all, what drives Common Sense.
Jet- I like the digital barber shop analogy. I’ve found that my writing also has openned my personal door to others in real life too, making me less hesitant to offer my views to others and get a dialogue going.
Thanks for the comment.
ShaeNC- Funny how an oft repeated fallacy becomes taken for truth. But society is full of many such things, and this is just another example.
As for the revolution bit, isn’t that what the right are trying to accomplish? A backwards revolution that will return us to the glory days of white, christian, male dominance?
The fourth estate is corrupt and becoming less relevant every day, simply because it has sold out its integrity. It’s only positive qualities come out when breaking news is on hand and people need quick info. In depth? Hardly ever…
Glad you dropped by.
Windspike- Soylant Green is people! (see ShaeNC’s second comment.)
Blogs don’t necessarily have to be all factual, at least not if they are upfront about it. The beauty of the blogger is that opinnion is often suggested by the nature of the medium. We offer links to stories, we check out facts and run down leads and call BS when necessary, but we also interject our own thoughts and ideas. That makes bloggers important, but not necessarily unbiased. But the MSM is supposed to be unbiased in its reports, factual in its information, and they’ve really dropped the ball there.
(But Soylant Green is pretty good with ketchup!)
Liam- Thanks for the great comment. I may have already addressed some of your main points in previous responses, and your point about too much noise is quite valid. But which came first…the apathy or the lack of quality information?
Because of the points you’ve made, a lack of time and/or resources to find the news, I usually avoid topical discussions and stick more to the “politosophical” issues, generating ideas and discussion on how to fix the big picture by making Common Sense changes. I am no more “hard news” than the Boys Life magazine, but I think I offer some rational thought and debate.
I agree with a federal shield law for journalists, but would go further to make sure that the journalists were actually taught and tested on the ethical responsibility of the Fourth Estate. And I would expect other information to corroborate the anonymous source information before I could blindly accept the initial anonymity or conclude it required a shield.
I also agree with returning media ownership rules. I’ve worked in the media industry for 15 years, both in the entertainment and news fields. I left the news arena because I could see through its shallowness. Entertainment is just as shallow, but it doesn’t pretend to be serious. Conglomerated media ownership serves no one but the corporations who run them, stifling lesser voices and deciding what is or isn’t important by the size of the type or the placement in the newscast.
I also support public programming options, and would further take back some of the air time from the profit networks and stations to be used for non-commercial, educational and political programming. The media operates on the publics airwaves, generating huge profits in doing so, and offers little more than mindless entertainment in return.
ShaeNC- A shot of soylant green each time someone says they are mad as hell?
July 8th, 2005 at 6:10 pm
Ken, as always, a very well thought out post. I agree with you that internet journalism provides a previously unavailable sense of what people are thinking and feeling (although I often think the conscientiously political blogs more often present what Bill O’Reilly and Al Franken are thinking and feeling. I have real concerns with the idea that blogs are reinvigorating journalism since I doubt 5 are written by people who do the real work of journalism and none are accountable in any real way.
Only because I can’t resist: “Your righteous indignation has been noted now sit down!” (Robert Duvall in Network
July 8th, 2005 at 7:14 pm
The media has a tendency to simplify things much.
After the LA riots, America was close to race war.
In the ninties, angry white males were taking over everything.
After OJ, America had “lost faith” in its courts.
Iraq today is nothing but pointless suffering, and Americans are fighting in the streets over politics.
The truth is alwasy more subtle. This is why blogs are needed.
July 8th, 2005 at 7:47 pm
Please come visit The Big Red Blog: A Political Road Sign Transcending State and Party Lines.
July 8th, 2005 at 7:48 pm
Big Red Blog
July 9th, 2005 at 6:24 am
(responses)
Doug- Thanks! But I have to wonder how many “journalists” today are “doing the real work.” Having been around new professionals for many years, I can certainly say that the bulk of what passes for news these days is not original, researched, or unbiased. And accountability is not for the public but for the share holders. A sad turn of events that has compromised journalistic integrity.
My indignation has only just begun!
John- It’s called dumbing down to the lowest common denominator, and it is a self-perpetuating cycle. The dumber the news, the dumber the folks…(at least in an “informed citizen” point of view.)
Blogs may not have the inside sources, but they lack the necessity to make a profit for someone and instead are borne of passion and love of freedom. Passion may not always be right, but it is always persistant and in this day of secrecy, persistance is a definite virtue.
Thanks for speaking up.
Zack- Now that you’ve made your pitch, feel free to leave a relevant comment next time.
July 9th, 2005 at 7:27 pm
Saw your Blog on BlogExplosion. Loved your article. Ty for saying what needed to be said. Take care and God Bless.