Lies in Main stream Media; Time for a reality check

The mainstream media can be defined as the sources that disseminate the news via the largest distribution channels. Beginning in the 1990s many of the large news conglomerates merged raising concerns of a homogenization of viewpoints presented to news consumers. Media by its nature has a huge effect on the thoughts of the consuming public, and therefore has a duty and even a moral responsibility to produce unbiased clear information that the consumer can study and evaluate.

There are different sectors of the media, including the entertainment sector, the news/local happenings sector and the elite sector. The entertainment sector consists of magazines, radio spots, soap opera and family shows and movies. The news sector mostly consists of newspapers and local radio and the elite sector consists of newspapers and broadcast channels aimed at the wealthy and “high class” population.

In smaller media outlets such as local newspapers and radio shows, the writers have a great amount of latitude to go out, and gather the facts about their story. They produce the article with very little pressure from the involved parties and subjects of the story, and therefore produce fairly accurate and relevant news. This is not so in the mainstream media outlets. The writers are under great pressure from the editors to produce articles and stories with a very definite set of criteria.

Since the major news conglomerates are owned by even bigger corporations, and the corporations are almost indistinguishable from the government, it is not surprising that the stories that are put out daily are very carefully chosen to direct the public’s interest and focus. And herein lays the cause for a reality check.

One of the things that goes mostly unknown, is the daily “Notice to Editors” that goes out from the Associated Press. This notice determines what will be released for the next day, and is expected to be followed. The writers and editors of the many news sources generally follow this guideline or face being considered “out of line.”

This is but one example of the power system in action, the news that is released to the public is carefully controlled by the power elite. All that is needed to confirm this reality in the media is to look at what is published every day. Sex scandals, Hollywood drama, professional sports events are just a sample of the type of “news” that the people in power want the public to focus on.

Why then, does this happen. The structure behind this mainstream media phenomenon is very much like the structure of the elite culture worldwide. The people that own the media have all been through the “elite education” system and are part of that elitist attitude. They have certain things they want the public to hear and nothing else. This is similar to the way major corporations are run. The media is not in the business of selling the news, it sells advertising and the clients are the big money corporations.

It then follows that the product, “the news” will be exactly and only what the money people want the public to hear. There is an underlying attitude in the elite circles that the general public is too ignorant to concern themselves with important issues and should stay out of the “discussion.” This attitude is pervasive in politics, the world of money and in the elite group that controls the higher education and media in this country.

What this all boils down to, is the media is controlled, the controlling people are also the politicians and wealthy, and the public is the rat in a huge political social experiment. It is beyond time for the public to stand up, take notice, and speak out not only against this biased system, but the very anti-social attitudes that are so pervasive in government and the money circles.