Archives - Media

This post is from the archives, years past. I did dig it out a few years ago with the idea of updating it a bit, put never got round to doing so in the end, so the original post is quite out of date now

References to buying newspapers being the most obvious, when the majority now get their news online. You can sustitute buying papers with online subscriptions or just online reading. The message is the same. It all generates revenue

My previous post and a comment under the line, got me thinking about this post again. I'm not going to update it for the modern age, as it's not necessary, so for lack of anything else to post this afternoon, here it is:

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We live in an age that is very much dominated by the exchange of information. Years gone by, people would not know what is happening in the next village, never mind in other countries throughout the world. Now we have access to news and information all around us. Newspapers, TV, Internet. Information = power = money.

Where do most people go for their information? The main stream media. Most people think the media exists as a champion of the people, getting information and news and reporting it to us. Fighting for free speech and the free exchange of knowledge. They couldn't be more wrong.

The media exists for one reason only. To make money. As much money as possible in the most efficient manner. Normally I wouldn't question this purpose, what I do question with the media is the methods they use. They make money through the sale of advertising space (Obviously the BBC is a bit of an anomaly but they do exist for the same reasons). The more high profile advertising space you can sell, the more money you can make. Sale of advertising depends on the number of people who read your newspaper or watch your television programme.

The media have many means at their disposal to convince you to part with your cash and buy what they have to offer. Take newspapers for example. The headline:

Footballer denies gay sex romp

will sell more newspapers than

British food production up by 4.5%

even though the latter will be the more important to the reader. Look at the wording in the first headline. Maybe the footballer denied having a gay sex romp simply because he just didn't have one.

There are possibly millions of stories that could be written every year. The papers only pick the ones that will sell the most copies. They cherry pick the news they think you should know and ignore the rest based on sales. The stories they do choose to print will often play on your fears or guilt. We live in a society full of some very fearful people so a story about

Terrorist threat at all time high, or
Iran builds nuclear weapons, or
Domestic violence is at epidemic proportions

will have the terminally scared parting with their money in order to get the latest "information" about the new situation.

People can often be particularly frightened by stories about kiddies.

New paedophile threat discovered, or
Children harmed by video nasties

will have the parents clamouring to get the latest info they need to protect their idiot spawn from the latest threat.

And the terminally guilty will always fork out good money to see pictures of starving babies in Africa or polar bears dying in the arctic.

The people that go out and buy these papers for the reasons above will never actually take any action. They will not hand over their bank accounts to the starving babies or sell their 4x4 to help the polar bears. Just reading the article and saying, "Something should be done", gives them the illusory comfort that they need. When told by the media that they should care, bleating in this manner makes them feel that they do. It makes them feel normal.

Apart from money, there is something else the media has in abundance. When an organisation can decide what you are scared of or dictate what you should feel guilty about, it has a lot of power over you. That power can be used to mould your life, alter your spending habits, change your beliefs and influence your voting choices.

What most people do not realise is that they are not being given the full story; they are not been given all the information they need to make the decisions they are making as a result. All they know is what the media choose to let them know, even though the full picture is much bigger.

The media love a good high profile murder.
Have you noticed that when a large story breaks and it is in the media for days on end, it always disappears in favour of the next big thing before it is over?

Madeline McCann, Jill Dando, Milly Dowler. The media give us the cases that will have us on the edge of our seat, the ones that will make us keep forking out for the papers or switching channels for more tastey titbits.

There are so many murders in the world that if you spoke as fast as possible you would never be able to list all the victims first names.

We have never met these people or their families and we never will, yet we are supposed to care deeply. Why? Because the media tells us to. And when the sheep realise down inside that they don't care all that much they feel wrong, so they go out and buy the paper to make them feel normal again.

Something else the media love; a good campaign. Look at us, look how good we are asking you to give money to people on the other side of the world who you don't know from Adam because something bad (insert natural disaster) has happened to them.

Notice how aid always flows one way? We got no help from Pakistan after the tragedy of Hurricane Higgins.

Entertainment can also be lumped into the same category when discussing media manipulation.

Television often has a very subliminal left wing message buried within. Film and TV producers in most areas tend to lean towards socialist viewpoints. It's usually the same story for anyone with an artistic persuasion. If you know anyone in "the arts", ask them if they believe the arts should be subsidised by government money.

I occasionally watch "only Fools and Horses" if it is on. There was an episode shown on Christmas day just gone. I'm not 100% sure but I think it's the last one. The episode was called, "Time on our hands", and it seemed to be one where the Trotters finally made the big time after all their years of effort. After they had made a few million and got everything they wanted, Del goes back to the old flat in a state of depression. He's suddenly bored of the rich lifestyle and is pining for the good old days. The message was that money is bad and if you get it you will not be happy.

Have you seen the film, Titanic? The one with Kate Winslet and Leonardo De Whatshisname? The message there is the same. The poor people down in steerage are dancing, laughing and having a merry old time, whereas the rich folk are sat round a table with straight faces and acting all stuffy.
The reality of steerage would be much different to the shiney, happy people portrayed in the film.

Money = bad, poor = good. It's everywhere.

How many cop shows are on TV now, showing our gallant police force upholding the law and fighting crime. To get the real picture of police harassing photographers, stealing children or detaining innocent people, you have to go to Youtube.

Look at shows like CSI. They have more technology at their disposal than a modern space shuttle. We always get our man. That's the message they want to give you. The coppers on the Bill solved every crime that came their way in the spaceof an hour.

The media is not a public service, fighting gallantly to get information to the masses. Most newspapers are nothing more than gossip columns, the more upmarket ones appeal to our guilt's and fears to sell papers. The TV spreads the message of poor is good and don't aspire to be anything more as you won't like it.

If you take notice of the media, treat it simply as a format for entertainment or diversion. It's not the champion of the truth that some people deem it to be.