Since the advent of social media, the war for hearts and minds is a battleground which has exploded into the palm of every hand holding a smart phone and every set of eyeballs trained on the glow of their computer screen. The war of information, opinion, and conviction is being fought, hour by hour, to sway people, votes and power into the direction of competing ideological groups. With an increase in media delivery outlets and a diminished trust of the establishment, there is virtual chaos in what people accept as true and what they dismiss as false. Most are rightfully wary of news stations, their agendas, and their political ties.
Recently, Deadspin released a video collage of numerous news stations delivering a prepared script which warned local viewing audiences around the country of fake news and biased one-sided news coverage. They were warning of the dangers that biased news, which was heavily weighted in personal opinions, presented to our democracy. What did all of these news stations have in common? They are all owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group. Sinclair currently owns 193 media stations around the U.S. and has a pending merger deal with Tribune Media to acquire an additional 43 which would expand their footprint to nearly 3/4 of American homes. That’s a lot of power and influence for one company to have. This sort of thing isn’t new, however. This is very reminiscent of William Randolph Hearst owning 28 newspapers in the late 19th century, having a readership of over 20 million people. Known for using “yellow journalism” tactics, Hearst was said to use sensational headlines and eye-catching features which were often lacking in substance and sources.
https://youtu.be/TDYgKDJSybQ
The video received a lot of attention as soon as it was released because of the extremely creepy 1984 “thought police” vibe it has and the politically charged atmosphere we live in these days. Twitter and Facebook were instantly alive with comments ranging from conspiracy theories to mentions of fascism and the return of the Third Reich. However, it has long been standard practice for news media companies to get their marching (and speaking) orders from the top; this is just a dramatic combination of verbatim delivery of an odd message about news being manufactured. The optics of it spliced together are horrible for what they were trying to get across.
It’s no secret that controlling information has long been a way to control people. Just ask the Nazis who burned libraries or take a look at North Korea who only allows its citizenry to consume government approved and state scrubbed internet. I watched a documentary once that highlighted “historical facts” that many North Koreans have been taught in school. One of those is that it was the United States that invaded their country in 1950 (teaching them to hate and fear us), rather than it being themselves who invaded South Korea that same year. They are also taught randomly absurd falsities such as them having won the last few Olympics.
President Trump, who has been very outspoken concerning “Fake News” weighed in on his Twitter account, supporting Sinclair Broadcasting while calling out other networks for criticizing their recent move.
Before we start calling this mass scripted delivery a recent phenomenon though, we have to acknowledge this has been going on for a long time. Let’s take a look at the below videos which are just a small example of the scripted content news stations are provided with to standardize a message:
https://youtu.be/DzAytlDjl7E
It’s scary to think how centrally controlled the information we receive is. With the number of large media corporations down to just a handful, the diversity in opinion is severely limited. One thing’s for certain, wherever there’s money, there’s corruption. Church, courts, politics, and media are a few examples of institutions we’d have hoped were above it but so regularly prove themselves not to be. Information is power and if you control what people think, they’ll put and keep you in power. That is clearly the real danger to our democracy.
I don’t have the answer. The idealist in me says there’s a way to overcome this and utilize the great communication powers that the internet and social media provide for the greater good. If we can find a way to effectively offer alternative but trustworthy news sources, there is a potential to decentralize the control of information. Right now, however, it just seems like everyone has an opinion and their own megaphone.
Phil
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