Evan Arant
Jamie Miller
English 103
11/25/2009
The Fall Of the Media
The television, radio, and most importantly news programs are used to entertain and insulate the public. News Stations, such as CBS, CNN, MSNBC, or Fox, no longer serve as instruments to inform or teach, but rather to distract and amuse. This is due to the general public’s willingness to be content in hearing the norm, to be fed a constant, accept lies, and to have a sheet of ignorance pulled over their eyes. There is a larger focus on the glamour, wealth, and the famous than there is focus on ideas, information, politics, policy, or international events. There is more news on celebrities, sports, or fashion than news on genocide, war, fraud, or unconstitutional acts. The mass media reports more on the looks or the sights, rather than the concepts or details. News in America has become superficial, lacking any depth or research. The mass media serves as evidence for the America peoples’ escapism and ignorance. The mass media is not the cause or outcome of America’s faults, shortcomings, or consumerism, however, it is a major component of its societal faults. People are not supporting the last outlet of true journalism, our newspapers or demanding change from our media. People must demand a change in our current system before our sources of information are completely corrupted by our current demand for entrainment. President Kennedy said in his address to the press,"the only business in America specifically protected by the Constitution- -not primarily to amuse and entertain, not to emphasize the trivial and the sentimental, not to simply ‘give the public what it wants‘--but to inform, to arouse, to reflect, to state our dangers and our opportunities, to indicate our crises and our choices, to lead, mold, educate and sometimes even anger public opinion." He called for the press to inform the public even during the Cold War era, now the public must call for the media to return to its true form as a tool against ignorance, rather then a tool for entertainment.
Gone are the days of Edward R. Murrow, Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein, or Walter Conkrite, ushering an age of commentators and broadcasters such as Bill O’Reilly, Tucker Carlson, or Sean Hannity. The news is controlled by the structure of networks, advertising agencies, sponsors, and political party influenced ownership. These news channels entertain the public with negative news and a circus act of celebrities, sports, and religion. There is no demand for integrity from the news channels, as the general public no longer kept the corporations in check and force honest news. The Fox News Channel Rupert, Murdoch's 24-hour cable network, has become a central hub of the conservative movement's well-oiled media machine, according to Seth Ackerman. Ackerman is a respected writer and winner of the Project Censor Award. He says, in his “The Most Biased Name in News” article, together with the GOP organization and its satellite think tanks and advocacy groups, this network of fiercely partisan outlets--such as the Washington Times, the Wall Street Journal editorial page and conservative talk-radio shows like Rush Limbaugh's--forms a highly effective right-wing echo chamber where GOP-friendly news stories can be promoted, repeated and amplified. Fox management is loaded with open members of the conservative party, a former campaign manager, and conservative board members. While Fox operates under the pretext of balance reporting and fighting the liberal bias of other news channels, the other programs join them in spinning stories.
News in America has sunk into a state were Jon Stewart’s Daily Show has become a major source of news for America’s youth. Jon Stewart has attacked the media for its faults several times. He appearance on CNN’s Crossfire contributed to its cancellation, saying it is was “hurting America“. His interview with Betsy McCaughey, whose articles helped start the “death panel” rumor, contributed to her resignation from the Cantel Medical Corporation board. He has been hailed as the last true journalist in America (Media Matters for America) and by Hub Brown, a chair of the communications department at Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and an associate professor of broadcast journalism. He says "There are days when I watch 'The Daily Show,' and I kind of chuckle. There are days when I laugh out loud. There are days when I stand up and point to the TV and say, 'You're damn right!'" Jon Stewart is not found on the CNN, MSBC, or Fox, but his show is one of the more trusted sources of journalism and honest news. Jon Stewart doesn’t have to flirt with a pretense of “balanced” reporting and he can deal with comedy and satire. He denies that he is a journalist, yet people rank him as the 4 most admired journalists in America and has a following of 1.8 million views (compared to Fox’s primetime show Hannity & Colmes of 1.9 million and CNN’s highest rated show, Election Center, which captured an average of 1.2 million viewers.) Jon Stewart still is hard hitting and honest about his views, unlike the mass media, despite his claim that he is just a comedian.
Funding is rapid exhausting itself as the American investors, corporations, and public abandon the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and the Post, forcing them to cut their reporters and journalists. In this vacuum, created by the fall of unbiased, informed reporting, the media has disaggregated into entertainment. Newspapers no longer can afford to report the news, as their stocks are at an all time low. They are becoming vehicles for advertisements and sports pages. They no longer have enough subscribers or sponsors to support their news. The newspapers are traditionally the least affected by the influence of corporation as they rely less on advertising and more on subscribers, and thus more likely to stay true to journalism. The Audit Bureau of Circulations said that total average daily circulation declined 7.1% in the 2007-2008 year. This is an acceleration of newspaper circulation decline which was last reported at a 4.9% lost. The decline of newspaper circulation can be blamed on the Internet, news channels, economy, or basic apathy of the public. Whatever the cause of the lack monetary support for newspaper, it is eliminating one of the last dependable and independent sources of news in America.
Today, over half of Americans no longer trust the media, according to the Harris Interactive Poll. According to the BBC, American’s trust their government more that they trust the media (67% to 59%). This is contrary to most countries, including both the developed and developing. Americans, who traditionally have an innate distrust of their government tracing back to founding fathers and their attempts to limit “big” government., have lost their trust of the media. In our history, the people have turned to the media to expose the government’s cover ups, frauds, and mistakes. The media broke Watergate, exposed Vietnam, brought down McCarthy, and inspired a revolution. However, today, we are losing respect for the media, as they choose to entertain and delude rather than report and inform.
The America media no longer reports the news on a consist basis, preferring to entertain the public. They entertain the public the news that applies to celebrities or fashion, rather than substance. When reporting on politics they prefer to focus on the vision aspect to entertain their viewers. During the campaign for the Democratic and Republican nomination and during the ensuing presidential campaign, CNN, Fox, and others focused on what each candidate was wearing or how or she looked. Often, when watching a presidential debate, one will hear comments on if the person is wearing a “power” tie. With Hilary Clinton, there was a focus on whether her outfit showed to much cleavage. With Obama, there was a focus if he was wearing the flag pin, to see if he was unpatriotic.
Edward R. Murrow said “This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and even it can inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it's nothing but wires and lights in a box. There is a great and perhaps decisive battle to be fought against ignorance, intolerance and indifference. This weapon of television could be useful.” Murrow, in his RTNDA Convention Speech, spoke and predicted a possible fall of the media in America. He was seeing the transition of what he saw as a tool to inform and teach, begin its transformation into one that deludes and entertains. He called for the changes necessary to right the path of media in America. Murrow was correct in his observation, but failed to stop the transition and how in this day and age the transition is completing itself, giving us media design for our pleasures, not our mind. Murrow had faith in the American public to desire true information from the media and a desire to become informed. People need to demand a change in their media and demand to be informed or, “Otherwise it’s nothing but lights and a box”.
Works Cited
"The Decline and Fall of the Newspaper ." Mother Jones. Web. 01 Dec. 2009.
"Journalism, Satire or Just Laughs? "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," Examined Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ)." Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) Understanding News in the Information Age. Web. 02 Dec. 2009.
"The Most Biased Name in News." Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR). Web. 01 Dec. 2009.
"The New York Times Log In." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. Web. 02 Dec. 2009.
"YouTube - Complete Murrow Speech From Good Night, and Good Luck." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 01 Dec. 2009.
"YouTube - FOX News Whistle blowers. UNBELIEVABLE!!!" YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 02 Dec. 2009.
"YouTube - Jon Stewart on Crossfire." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 02 Dec. 2009.
