Anyone else noticed how the mainstream media is starting to be quite critical of all that surrounds Iraq and US Foreign Policy?
Or is it just me and the hours I keep that have lead me to feel this way?
I do feel the winds of war are a changing, the tired and lumbering world of multinational corporate media are moving away from regurgitating official press releases and actually presenting perhaps the ‘truth’ for a change, or atleast increasingly a version of it that has thus far been all but buried. The stories themselves are very old for them who've been following this folly of a invasion/occupation/pacification but I do feel things are coming to light that need to from the quarters that have still the greatest access to the masses.
It’s with a sense of déjà vu I sit and watch stories unfolding that for myself and many millions of other war/US/Bush watchers have read and often debated about on the net for ages, years in some cases.
I can’t help thinking that Bush and Co (TM pending) are finally reaping the rewards of the seeds they sowed. The lies, the manipulation, the false reporting, the arrogance and the disastrous policies his administration have put into practice are starting to bite Bush and Co on the bum. That must hurt almost as much as the thought that them who so blindly supported and reported on all that went down on Capital Hill and the results thereof are starting to maybe cover their own arses.
After all the people are themselves starting to question more than blindly follow and thus the media need to shift to retain what credibility they can in the publics eyes and dish up the sorts of articles they have all but buried since that fateful day of September 11.
I’m a cynical guy and figure not much will change for the better, the average non news follower will change their mind with the wind and the media will continue to retrench and regurgitate anything that helps them retain any readership/ listener ship/ watchers they can. It’s tough out there and competition is fierce for all media outlets. Better that they lift their game than continue to dumb shit down.
The internet has risen and risen and has arisen. As such increasingly the people are not reliant on mega corporate for their slice of news and commentary. Yet another facet of the digital revolution is coming of age (come of age?) and them who have basked in the vast wealth of serving up our news are desperately trying to play catch up in a medium that is not profitable for them and their shareholders, man that must do them in charges heads in. Understandably so.
I imagine the catch cry in many a board room is back to basics, core business and strange words like truth, investigative journalism and independence from government intervention. Hopefully so, for we live in a world where we have millions of highly qualified journalists who are seriously intelligent and with a bit of prompting most of them could even become independent thinkers, of that I am sure. Imagine the stories these bright young, and not so young, things could present us with given the freedom and support of their masters.
None of this is really new nor news, but I do feel that changes are afoot and perhaps for a nice change we the ordinary will actually benefit.
Knowledge is power and an empowered population is the greatest platform for a healthy and freedom loving society, I reckon.
Who knows… maybe pigs can fly after all.
1 comment:
No, you're not alone in your impression although I would not put as positive a spin on it. Two things:
My general belief is that the corporate media tends to report what it thinks people want to hear. When they believed the majority of Americans wanted war, they supported war, now that the majority has turned, they have turned. Sadly, people don't like to watch news that conflicts with their world view, and nobody watching means no profits.
Perhaps too cynical. Less negatively, nobody wants to go out on a limb in a corporate news world.
Second, after Plame, the Whitehouse lost their focus, and their teeth. Nobody is afraid of the dreaded Rove retribution both in the newsrooms and at the leaker level, Thus, there are suddenly more sources leaking to protect themselves by implicating others.
And I think Murtha may have been the Cronkite moment that woke up the press in relation to Iraq.
Just riffing.
Mike
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