I haven't written a diary in quite some time, and I’m better at quick snark than composing a coherent composition, but here goes...
We have been very frustrated here lately with the accuracy, or lack thereof, of the reporting done by the Media. Never mind Faux News, we have finally even begun to dissect the stories put forth by the AP, CNN, MSNBC and the rest. Not just occasionally, but every single day. This is a good thing because for too long we have given the other outlets somewhat of a pass. The Media is no longer the Fourth Estate, but merely a tool used by others to either spread their ideology or to make money. It is no longer a tool to help us be informed in our lives. And so, I feel it should be labeled as such.
We give labels to things to make it easier for us to store them away in our memory. These labels help us to process the vast amount of data we take in each day. So much data in fact, that many of us suffer from data overload, so we don’t take the time to reexamine the old labels we have placed on things. Take the News.
Many of us grew up with the News as the source we went to in order to be informed, to be brought up to speed on current happenings in our city and around the world. We trusted it because the News was on our side. That is no longer the case, and many of us already know it. Now we need to share that knowledge with the rest of our friends. How? By applying new labels.
When I say ‘Hillary,’ you automatically know whom I am talking about. But if I were to say ‘Michaud,’ for many people I would have to add another label, and that would be ‘Democratic Congressman from Maine.’ Hillary is so well known that she doesn’t need the secondary label, but Congressman Michaud does so you can file him away as being a Democrat. You now have pigeonholed him as ‘on our side.’ Now, what do you think of when I say ‘News’?
They’re on our side, right?
Wrong.
Now, here’s what I propose: Apply new labels.
Example: Fox News today reported that Hillary eats kittens... (so it must be true)
Instead: Fox News, owned by the controversial conservative billionaire Rupert Murdoch, today reported that Hillary eats kittens...
Example: CNN today reported that Michelle Obama is actually an alien...
Instead: CNN, owned by Time Warner, the largest media conglomerate in the world, today reported that Michelle Obama is actually an alien...
You get the idea. By applying new labels, these entities go from being on ‘our side’ to being there to ‘spread their ideology’ or to ‘make money for the shareholders.’ They are no longer the Fourth Estate because keeping us informed of current events is no longer their goal. By re-labeling them, the public also may eventually come to understand that, if it’s on the News, it isn’t necessarily what they need to know.
That’s it. That’s the whole of my idea. I know it would take longer to type and to say out loud, but until our friends and family are no longer blind to the charade, it will continue to be hard to convince them that the ideas put forth by the News are not gospel.