The Iraq War: American media’s largest fiasco

In the previous few posts, I discussed the rampant bias that appears to be an intrinsic property of American media.  Due to the free-market manner in which our system of media is established, news corporations are not urged to present the facts impartially; their sole purpose is to increase dividends.  Therefore, American media has become a circus of talking heads attempting to rile up, scare, and entertain their audience to ensure that they will tune in the following day.  It is nearly impossible to rile up an audience without presenting a clear message; simply stating facts won’t energize anyone.  Therefore, our media has gradually shifted from a presentation of fact to a presentation of opinion.  One example of our media distorting reality and horribly failing in its purpose in order to increase ratings was in the aftermath of September 11th, during the debate over the Iraq War.  American media stations each attempted “to outdo each other in patriotism and hawkish support for the administration.”  Rather than present both sides of the controversy, news anchors felt like they had to prove their undying loyalty to our nation, and therefore were restrained from presenting any criticism of the government or the war.  Our media didn’t stop at distorting the news with subjectivity; they essentially “functioned as an electronic arm of the Pentagon and the Bush administration,” urging their viewers to attend pro-war rallies.  One of the most harrowing instances of media bias during this period was the firing of a technical employee working for the San Fransisco Chronicle for walking in an anti-war rally.  Former BBC director Greg Dyke examined media in the United States, and returned to London with the conclusion that “if Iraq proved anything, it was that the BBC cannot afford to mix patriotism and journalism. This is happening in the United States and if it continues, will undermine the credibility of the US electronic news media.”

What is the solution?  Is is possible to legitimize America’s media?  I believe that the answer may be yes, although the solution may not be popular.  If we remove the profit motive from American media, news anchors will no longer care about who has the highest ratings.  All that will matter will be reporting the news honestly.  How can we remove the profit motive?  By socializing American media.

In my next civic issues blog, I will discuss the plausibility of this solution, along with the success of other socialized medias, such as the BBC.

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One Response to The Iraq War: American media’s largest fiasco

  1. Elizabeth (Lizz) Carney says:

    Removing profit, while ideal, will never happen in America. Ever. I think the problem with a lot of the biased arguments is that we view “the media” as this entirely separate entity for the rest of the public. The problem is not entirely with the media, but with the people who would rather watch the news as a show and not as a presentation of fact. Until the public starts demanding less biased news coverage and stops giving in to high interest stories over important political stores, then nothing will change. People control the media because the public controls profits. Only the public attitude can make a difference.

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