In My opinion The Media industry is the biggest and most powerful in it's country as it controlls what people know, What the don't know and even what people think, It has a massive influence on the population and it is in control of what information we are allowed to have.
Well, if we in the media control what people know and think, how did we miss you? Our mind-controlling powers must not be too powerful since sooooo many people out there dislike what we do.
One of the reasons our forefathers revolted against England was because they didn't want their newspapers operating under government license that could be pulled (and the paper shut down) any time the government disliked what they wrote. There are still countries where the radio and television stations are government property or otherwise government controlled. Lots of places where reporters have been killed for speaking out against those in power.
If we really controlled what you read and think, would newspapers be going out of business all over this country?
Think about this: how many newspapers do you read on a daily basis? How many magazines and books do you read each day? How much television do you watch and how much of that is news related? How many movies do you see? And most important, do they all agree on issues or do you get different opinions from different sources?
If the media and/or government were out to control your access to information or your thoughts, you wouldn't be plugged into the Internet right now where anyone can type in any thing they want, no matter if it's right or left, lies or truth.
Talk about the political power of the media always gives me a chuckle. We reporters generally take what's called "liberal arts" courses in college--history, English, language, sociology, very little economics, almost no business courses. The people who own and in an overall manner manage newspapers, magazines, radio and TV stations are business majors, accountants, lawyers. So here you have people with a liberal arts background going out and covering events, writing and editing or broadcasting reports with what I'll concede is a more liberal view, at least in comparision to the generally more conservative people who own the media outlets and who hire and fire us. The media hardware--presses, cameras, mikes, etc.--are big business with big investments and salesmen trying to sell advertising slots to merchants--very much a major part of the establishment. The "software"--the reporters and editors who gather and write the news--are more the hippy-dippy types with longer hair, beards, and dress kinda funky while working for wages. Nearly all of us got into this business because it's more fun than working. Now do you really think those two very different groups are going to agree on what "misinformation" to feed the gullible public? If that were the case, would there be a Wall Street Journal
and The Village Voice? The New York Times
and The Rolling Stone? A William Buckley
and a Gore Vidal?
To tell the truth, in more than 30 years as a reporter, I've never really cared what a reader thinks or learns. That's totally immaterial to me. I write for only one person, the editor who edits my copy and hands out assignments. I've covered the local Republican Party and the Black Panthers. I've interviewed cops and robbers. I've talked to Jane Fonda and Henry Kissinger. Princes, presidents, and bag ladies, it's all the same to me.
I once covered dueling demonstrators with pro-life on one side, free-choice on the other, the cops in the middle and me running from one bunch to the other. Later I got letters from the pro-life bunch complaining that I was biased toward the free-choice group, and from the free-choicers claiming I was in cahoots with the pro-life conservatives. I also got letters from other people on each side saying how fair and neutral my coverage had been. Go figure!
Truth was, I didn't even have an opinion on the subject. It was just another job to me. Do this interview, write up the article, give it to the editor, and go on to the next assignment.
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