Are Media the Enemy of the State?

in #society7 years ago (edited)

Donald Trump is the one saying it, and you just have to wonder whether he might be right.

Because love him or hate him, we have to admit that it’s a completely legitimate question that we should all ask ourselves.

Let me ask you a few questions. Questions are more powerful than statements because they force you to think by yourself and find an answer instead of just accepting whatever statement it's put in front of you. Let’s put those brain juices into motion!


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Who are the media?

What’s a reporter’s job? Should he report information to the public? Or is he just a medium to communicate contents decided by someone else?

What does a journalist do in order to prepare an article? Does he research? Does he investigate?
Does he ask the right questions until he find the information he was looking for?
Or does he find the information he was looking for somewhere else? Perhaps content that is already prepared and ready to be spread to the masses?

Where do information that reporters use come from? Do they come from their investigations?

Or are they the result of press releases prepared by institutions (political, religious, military, industrial and so on?).
So, who prepares these press releases?

Who are Spin Doctors?

What to they do? What do they “spin”?

Why do they work with governments, politicians, big multinationals?
What’s their objective?

Do they inform the public about what is really going on within these institutions or do they just gather consensus for their employers?


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How do you gather consensus?
Do you use journalism and communications techniques….or should you perhaps use psychology?
How do you change the public’s opinion? How do you manipulate it?

Isn’t there a risk of giving the public a false perception of reality?
Or perhaps, giving a false perception of reality is the objective?

What happens when people don’t have the right information?
What happens if people can’t make their mind up about what goes on in their world?

What are fake news?
What really are fake news?

What is manipulation?
Do the people know when they are manipulated?
Do the journalists know when they are manipulated?

So, who are the media?
Who owns the media?

Is the media enemy of the people?
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.
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"Repeat a lie a thousand times and it becomes the truth."

Joseph Goebbels (Propaganda Minister of the Third Reich)

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A reporter can be independent, but the company where they work can not do it, thus affecting the Reporter's idealism.

Absolutely. But news companies should be independent as well, don't you think?

To the question in your title, my Magic 8-Ball says:

Outlook not so good

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