See also: Mainstream | Journalism | Communication
AKA: the press, the media
Mass media includes television, radio and newspapers to keep informed and gain knowledge about the world in which they live. Mass media increasingly includes the Internet and other new media platforms, although previously they were excluded or nonexistant. Mass media refers to the mainstream press. It does not refer to the less popular, alternative, independent outlets which act as news sources.
Unfortunately, fairness and equity does not really exist in today’s news broadcasts as a great many conflicts of interest now exist. The broader social imperatives and ethical considerations are forgotten as market culture thrives.
For instance, TV networks that will benefit from the new FCC rules on media ownership have been keeping their viewers in the dark about the changes. And the popular cable news channel CNN is owned and operated by AOL/Time Warner, a very large media company with a very wide variety of interests. CNN is very profitable to its parent company and is often accused of bias.
Corporate journalism is a large global industry with many loyal viewers. Because these corporations can fund excoursions into dangerous areas and offer better pay and technology for journalists, it consistantly beats out listener-supported media such as NPR and Pacifica.
Some trust that big business can be a reliable source of important information. The media routinely focuses public attention on a limited set of topics, particularly those that may be identified as more entertaining than informative or political sensitive.
The longer the mass media is unwilling to truthfully discuss issues of great social magnitude with proper informed debate, the worse problems become. An excellent example of the lack of real debate occurs when the medoa discuss file sharing and piracy. A measured analysis of mass media communication reveals there are many issues regarding democracy, revealing the platform is a poor source of integral information.
Ongoing Problems
- Is not an independent of politics but a part of it, that flourishes under a system of copyright
- Editors and publishers act together because they share the same goals – to generate profit for the proprietor.
- Monopolies and the increasing concentration of the corporate media into fewer companies
- People working for large corporations within the journalism industry have a fiduciary duty to nurse the stockmarket for the benefit of their shareholders
- Public relations experts abuse the mass media. Discussion is dominated by spin-doctors and media cronies playing with public opinion and people’s perception of current affairs. There is repeated exageration, under-estimation and obscuration of important information.
- Evaluation of historical accounts are highly selective, selective reporting of facts and selective interviewing and selective association between events and people. The cutting off or stopping short of legitimate avenues of inquiry, which then become continously “off-limits” is to be replaced by personal dramatic stories, particularly drawn out pointless observations from murder trials in a court room, for example.
- Extremism, propaganda and offensive material go un-moderated.
- Is often American-Centric and lavishes in socially engineered inferences, at the exclusion of minorities interests and preferences.
Related Topics
- Mass Media/iADiscussion – an infoAnarchy discussion concerning Censorship and Mass Media.
Links
- Newspaper Index – Journalist edited index of the most important newspapers in every country.
- Fair.org – Media watch-dog group encouraging fairness and accuracy in reporting.
- Who owns what? – A list of big US companies and holdings.
TakeDown.NET -> “Mass-media”