Post by Sirenna on Jul 5, 2006 12:44:58 GMT -5
It's an interesting question, Trisha. I'm enjoying reading everyone's responses. CNN's take? CNN will be worse.
Can I change the focuse slightly to comment on what is defined as news?
In fact I think CNN is part of a government conspiracy to underwhelm us as a public into a national stupor with inanity and mediocratie 24 hours a day, until thinking about, let alone discussing anything emotionally or intellectually taxing becomes impossible. So we won't and they don't have to mount a defence against pesky constructive criticism which is time consuming and expensive and often backfires (see Ann Coulter.)
By no stretch of the imagination is Katie Couric a journalist. She's there as a mouthpiece. To illustrate how important it is that journalists stay that way in today's political world I have this story.
Be warned: It's about pop music.
Much Music is fairly popular here in Toronto and whenever artists come to town they stop off there for interviews and showcases. A band called DeLite who did a song way back when called Groove is in the Heart' had an interview and the interviewer asked them The-question-no-one-must-dare-ask: Are you a one-hit wonder? The lead singer said no, of course but was seriously ticked and the interviewer lost her job over it. That the two incidents are cause and effect is undeniable because Much Music later did a talk-back segment about media interviews and the interviewer said she was asked to take another position as a result her interview with the pop group. The pressure was that future acts would bypass the station because of this interview and the station couldn't survive if they did that.
If there is intense pressure to keep to the party line in an area as fluff as pop music can you imagine how much more pressure there is to stick to the script when political candidacy and issues of should we go to war or not depend on public perception?
That's not to say I think the media has no influence. I believe every best supporting actress oscar in the last seven years has been bought for the actor by their studio and it seems to be growing because the movies are getting worse.
I do believe, in spite of the overwhelming (or is it underwhelming ) wealth of mediocre news out there that there are pockets of journalists who still have integrity. I cite the relatively right-wing magazine The Economist as an example. They report on issues including but not predominantly fluff. But they do so with a stated editorial bias meaning each article is full of critical thinking and ownership of opinion.
I do believe there are journalists all over the world that risk their lives on a daily basis to tell the world about real injustice. Ken Wiwa comes to mind. He was a television producer and children's writer. In 1994 he was imprisoned by Nigerian dictator, Sani Abacha, He had strongly defended the rights of the Ogoni people and criticized the government's oil policy with Royal Dutch/Shell. Despite wide international protests, Saro-Wiwa was hanged after a show trial with other eight Ogoni rights activists in Port Harcourt, on November 10, 1995. His son currently lives in Canada and writes on political issues for radio, TV and newsprograms.
www.kirjasto.sci.fi/saro.htm
But since him, there have been literally hundreds of others who have died for their right to speak out. But they are part of an independant press not part of the most powerful media outlets like Rupert Murdoch's empire. Just as there is a separation of church and state, on paper at least, there should be a fourth pillar: a separation of media and state too otherwise (and I'm not exaggerating when I say this) we are doomed.
Can I change the focuse slightly to comment on what is defined as news?
In fact I think CNN is part of a government conspiracy to underwhelm us as a public into a national stupor with inanity and mediocratie 24 hours a day, until thinking about, let alone discussing anything emotionally or intellectually taxing becomes impossible. So we won't and they don't have to mount a defence against pesky constructive criticism which is time consuming and expensive and often backfires (see Ann Coulter.)
By no stretch of the imagination is Katie Couric a journalist. She's there as a mouthpiece. To illustrate how important it is that journalists stay that way in today's political world I have this story.
Be warned: It's about pop music.
Much Music is fairly popular here in Toronto and whenever artists come to town they stop off there for interviews and showcases. A band called DeLite who did a song way back when called Groove is in the Heart' had an interview and the interviewer asked them The-question-no-one-must-dare-ask: Are you a one-hit wonder? The lead singer said no, of course but was seriously ticked and the interviewer lost her job over it. That the two incidents are cause and effect is undeniable because Much Music later did a talk-back segment about media interviews and the interviewer said she was asked to take another position as a result her interview with the pop group. The pressure was that future acts would bypass the station because of this interview and the station couldn't survive if they did that.
If there is intense pressure to keep to the party line in an area as fluff as pop music can you imagine how much more pressure there is to stick to the script when political candidacy and issues of should we go to war or not depend on public perception?
That's not to say I think the media has no influence. I believe every best supporting actress oscar in the last seven years has been bought for the actor by their studio and it seems to be growing because the movies are getting worse.
I do believe, in spite of the overwhelming (or is it underwhelming ) wealth of mediocre news out there that there are pockets of journalists who still have integrity. I cite the relatively right-wing magazine The Economist as an example. They report on issues including but not predominantly fluff. But they do so with a stated editorial bias meaning each article is full of critical thinking and ownership of opinion.
I do believe there are journalists all over the world that risk their lives on a daily basis to tell the world about real injustice. Ken Wiwa comes to mind. He was a television producer and children's writer. In 1994 he was imprisoned by Nigerian dictator, Sani Abacha, He had strongly defended the rights of the Ogoni people and criticized the government's oil policy with Royal Dutch/Shell. Despite wide international protests, Saro-Wiwa was hanged after a show trial with other eight Ogoni rights activists in Port Harcourt, on November 10, 1995. His son currently lives in Canada and writes on political issues for radio, TV and newsprograms.
www.kirjasto.sci.fi/saro.htm
But since him, there have been literally hundreds of others who have died for their right to speak out. But they are part of an independant press not part of the most powerful media outlets like Rupert Murdoch's empire. Just as there is a separation of church and state, on paper at least, there should be a fourth pillar: a separation of media and state too otherwise (and I'm not exaggerating when I say this) we are doomed.
Patrick Roy, 2006 inductee into the Hockey Hall of Fame
