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"The Media Is Going To Hell"
(and there’s nothing you can do about it)
A Heathen Middle
Commentary by Staff Writer Fritz Alvarez
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The media in the United States is becoming
anti-intellectual, devoid of community input, and devoted to
making sure the public doesn’t think for themselves.
It may surprise most Americans to learn that more than 85%
of the media distribution in the country is now owned by six
companies. When we say more than 85% of the media, we are
talking about radio, television, newspaper, magazines, dish,
cable, internet, and movie production. Six companies, how’s
that for power?
In this era of conglomeration of ownership, the government
has given up its obligation to create and protect speech
opportunities for the public on what are our public airways,
and certainly on the more private cable-connected and print
media.
This highly concentrated ownership calls for huge
profitability, and demands that every bit of programming be
only that with proven marketability. In simple terms that
means the lowest common denominator which sells. The media
is now controlled only by the free flow of huge corporate,
market forces and has little relationship to the free flow
of ideas of citizens.
You will notice that big media now decides who the
intellectual elite will be; in other words, decides who will
tell us what to think. There is a constant parade of
so-called “experts” we have never heard of. They are people
from this or that “think tank,” people from “The Society for
the Protection of Freedom’s Heart (or something),” or
whatever else they can claim to represent. Few viewers ask
where these talking heads come from, or why anyone should
believe them.
These people are what mass communication researcher Mark
Fishman refers to as “authorized knowers” in the society.
These are people the media approaches as the official
community opinion leaders on a topic, with little question
as to the source of the authority. The idea of manufacturing
experts to sway public attitudes is taken a step further by
researchers Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky in their book
“Propaganda Model,” in which they claim it is powerful
political and social entities who are establishing this
group of elites in the society, and setting them up as so
called “experts” on various issues of concern. They claim
“the process of creating the needed body of experts has been
carried out on a deliberate basis and on a massive scale.”
The recent approach is bringing about an exclusion of those
who were previously considered the elite in public discourse
in our country. This sometimes excludes hearing much of
anything from those elected to public office (regardless of
their political party), religious leaders, values leaders,
and thought leaders, whom we used to hear from (despite the
fact they may not have agreed with broadcast ownership). In
this new world of media, members of the black community, the
main stream religious community, the academic community ,
the middle of the road community, and many other Americans
who have important perspectives to share may be precluded
from doing so, because their views don’t serve the
commercial purposes of the concentrated media ownership.
Instead the broadcasting staff searches around for people
who will say what they want said to boost the ratings.
Public expression is suffering. As an example, consider a
National Telecommunications and Information Administration
report as long ago as 2000 which claimed that ownership
consolidation in a few corporations threatened the survival
of minority owned media in the country. The consolidation
has become even more marked, and big owners have all but
wiped our local and our minority-owned radio broadcasting in
many communities in the U.S.
One owner now has more than 1200 radio stations. Owners
sometimes have six , or so, radio stations and a couple of
television stations in a single market. They may syndicate
programming for that market from far away. There is little
local voice. Americans are expressing their opinions now
mostly through the web. That freedom too is under attack.
Anyone who is a thinker would do well to think as much as
possible. Media conglomeration will make damn sure thinking
goes out of style soon, replaced by jingle-think and
fear-based motivation. Clearly, only six big businesses want
to decide what we should believe to be important. While this
is happening, the real journalists are dropping off,
replaced by “news” entertainers who are highly motivated to
go for the most high drama story of the day, to appeal to
the largest (and in many cases lowest) common denominator of
the public interest (in order, of course, to get ratings).
The Media is going to hell, and there’s nothing you can do
about it.
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About The Heathen Middle
Comments? Send your comments and commentaries to
editor@heathenmiddle.com
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value"
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