The Media

[Writer]

Not a day goes by when "The Media" aren't blamed for something. Violence in society. Drug use. Sexual habits of young people. The political state of the nation, etc.

But guess who comprises The Media?

Fellow citizens do.

Shouldn't we take some of the blame for the state of our media?



I'd like to read your thoughts on this idea. I'll take my answers offline.

[bdf]

1. I appreciate your suggestion, but...

...I'll reply online.

For one reason, because while you get to decide what you write and where you write it, you don't get to decide what I write or where I write it. That's just how the universe works. Sorry to disillusion you.

For another reason, because you didn't offer to summarize the responses. You just want to read them. No guarantee that you'll ever let the participants know what the responses indicated, let alone that you'll report the conclusion honestly.

The most important reason is that your attitude, since you made no promise to summarize, let alone summarize honestly, mirrors that of much of the mainstream media - they let us know what they want us to know. The virtue of this means of communication is that we all get to have a say, and can learn from what others say - if we aren't fooled into wasting time responding into a black hole.

For all I know you're one of the most respected posters on this board and made your suggestion with the best of intentions. If so, you phrased this particular post badly.

I don't consider myself responsible for failings in the mainstream media, nor do I consider that I comprise it. I don't write the articles. I don't dictate editorial policy. I don't own shares in it. I have absolutely no control over the mainstream media except in one respect: whether or not I consume it. If I regularly consumed biased crap like Morloch newspapers or Fox News, thereby increasing their audience, thereby increasing their advertising revenue, thereby keeping them in business, I'd consider that I was part of the problem.

Others in society who lap up Fox News are indeed part of the problem. If they weren't such avid consumers of crap and instead sought out quality reporting then the likes of Fox would switch to honest reporting or go under.

So if by "we" you meant society as a whole, the answer is yes. If by "we" you meant the perceptive readers of this board, the answer is no.

[Writer]

3. When I said I'd accept my responses offline, I said I wouldn't respond to responses, only read them.

But seeing that you acted like a complete asshole in your response, I'll grant you this one exception.

[bdf]

5. Thanks for making the exception but...

I wrote what I did not to provoke a response from you but to inform others.

[spanone]

2. i am not responsible for a corporate entity. corporations are not fellow citizens. imo

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

4. -4

How many anchors/producers/correspondents do you know?


No blame.

[devilgrrl]

6. Uh no. I am NOT responsible for the abysmal state of the media. What a bizarre notion.

[Greyhound]

7. Not at all. "The state of our media", as you put it, is the result of a series of laws

passed by the representatives of corporate power, not We The People. Raygun, 41, and Clinton, are the perpetrators. Trying to lay the blame for this on us is just another example of why we are so screwed.

"I freed a thousand slaves, I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves" - H. Tubman