Perhaps one of the only things that can connect all people is the spreading of news, whether it be by gestures, word, television, or paper, all humans are linked together in their deep-rooted desire to know things and share perspectives on their surroundings. Our world is formed by these connections and our politics are deepened by the passage of news from ear to ear. If reliable and truthful media is so important, how have we allowed the media to become so deindividualized, consolidated, and censored when being created and distributed?
From Gutenberg to Gates, the platform and distribution of media has undergone a multitude of changes. One of the most pressing concerns of the content civilians receive today is the mass consolidation of media outlets by only a small handful of major corporations. This media conglomerate has diminished the legitimacy of the published press; reducing investigative journalism and feeding different variations of the same story to major news outlets. Without the support of new and explorative content, journalism is left in the hands of the suits of Wall Street, a place where words are only valued by their dollar sign, not their meaning.
On top of that, a multitude of countries are still under the red hand of censorship. How are the citizens of North Korea supposed to fight for their political rights when they are fed media that forces them to support a centralized dictatorship? Aid and change cannot be provided for these countries until their voices can be heard in the news. This censorship and shortage of real news are contributing to the lack of cohesion and organization between rulers.
When the public is not allowed to find their own beliefs in the truth and is instead swayed to believe certain sides, politics does not bend on the scale to justice, but instead corruption. Still, why would the media consolidation be the world’s most pressing issue, when the amazon rainforest is in flames, Yemen is in a Civil War, and the United Nations and European Union often seem absent in times of need? The thing is, if the media remains unreliable and illegitimate, opinions and perspectives from major corporations will continue to be placed on individuals. This leaves our most powerful leaders, not working to better the same world, but in their own world, and nowhere closer to enacting solutions to the problems that plague this globe. When media is not truthful, how can world politics be?
While I agree that keeping media sources truthful is important to keeping the public informed and able to stand up for their rights, I think a really difficult issue lies in how exactly to achieve a system in which media sources are able to offer truly unbiased or balanced coverage... not even sure if this would be possible. It seems like there is almost no way to acquire information without also absorbing the underlying motive or opinion of those who present it. I guess the answer probably lies in being on guard about this? Great post!
ReplyDelete