Again, I agree with Assange on this. He writes
The condition of the mainstream press is so appalling I don’t think it can be reformed. I don’t think that is possible. I think it has to be eliminated and replaced with something that’s better.
When I look at our press, I am often forced to agree with Henrik Ibsen in the enemy of the people, where the press is portrayed as really not after truth but working with the highest bidder to manipulate the people to think or act in a certain way. And this is the problem of the present century. Most media houses are either beholden to the state or big corporations. They lie through their every orifice.
Random thoughts 
You might like to look at Eva Bartlett’s blog – Canadian independent journalist who has been visiting Syria and Gaza in times when few other mainstream journalists would dare, though were quite happy to publish made-up news. Here she’s featuring comments on the MSM from veteran journalist John Pilger: https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2018/09/20/john-pilger-hold-the-front-page-the-reporters-are-missing/
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I will check it out
Thanks for the link
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What was the name of that documentary on propaganda we were talking about a few months ago?
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Found it…! ๐
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I’m glad you found it, because I might’ve had problems, though the name Edward Bernays has lodged in my brain.
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Propaganda always wins, if you allow it.
The problem is that for most people, propaganda is all they get. To get alternative views takes effort and many people are trying just to survive.
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That most people are just struggling to get along is much relied on by those who speak with forked tongues.
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What’s “propaganda”? All I need know is MAGA!! MAGA!!! Mexicans are rapists! The FBI is out to get an innocent Trump! It’s a witch hunt! MAGA!!! Everything else is propaganda. OK. Got it.
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That’s real witch hunt. How can anyone doubt the stable genius?
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Has it not ever been thus? I think of the American Yellow Journalism phase. Iraq was not the first war ginned up by or with the deeply implicit cooperation of the press. Reading the history of the hysterical buildup to the Spanish American War is intriguing. Truly independent journalists have always been a rare and special breed. The problem with journalism is not really “bias”. It is the lie of “objective truth”, and the reality that the right wing is so much better (in the United States at least) at generating and reinforcing propaganda. ๐
The problem is not institutions. The problem is people. (Why I am skeptical that abolishing The Church would do much. That would just open up the religion field to a vast panoply of evangelical charlatans. In Latin America, the political landscape is increasingly dominated by new right wing churches. And these pastors, too, like to provide SPECIAL counseling to their flocks, IYKWIM.)
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look up: Propaganda – La fabrique du consentement – ArteTV
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It is people who make up institutions. And it is people who are a problem. They define how institutions will act and respond to issues while pursuing their own private interests.
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I agree wholeheartedly with both the author and your remarks, my Kenyan brother. Those reporting the news too often take the official editorial policy of their publication or broadcast outlet and offer only their perspective on issues and incidents. Rarely is any reporting neutral and objective. It is a sad commentary on what was once a noble profession. Why else was it protected legally for so long? Naked hugs!
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We don’t reporting to be neutral. We want it to be honest and closer to truth as is possible. We can decide for ourselves what to do with what we know.
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Investigating a possible career in politics? ๐
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The truth is a slippery thing, of course. True for whom? In what context? What about value judgments? Ach…I am going down a wormhole ๐
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Good questions my friend. Good questions.
I will use an extreme case. There are enough reports that the liberal press in the US lied to the public during the Iraq invasion or even the reporting about Syria. SO we can say there is need for objective reporting that is nearer to the facts than what the establishment wants said
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Except for a few government-funded presses (BBC), which have their own problems, the media has always been biased towards the owners of capital…or whoever funds them.
I wonder if there is always an “unbiased” approach on all issues. The secret is to have a combative, ideological press that does not “lie” per se…and a population able to read and understand when they are being fed a line. ๐
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Well, I don’t think it would be any other way. Who pays the piper calls the tune or something along those lines. It would be suicidal to speak against the hand that feeds you. You can do it once in a while, though.
Having an ideological press that informs the public would be a hard sell in the current regime where money is king.
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Excellent post.
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Thanks Jeff
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