I am 100% sure that we have all questioned the credibility of media outlets, and even more so with the increase of our polarized world. As years have gone by, we have seen countless examples of news outlets misshaping truths to conform to specific narratives or blatantly spreading defamation and lies for the sake of gaining public support for military initiatives. Fast forward to today, with news being easily accessible compared to 20 years ago, I believe it’s imperative to consider the question of whether we can trust the media or not.
“The picture of the world that’s presented to the public has only the remotest relation to reality. The truth of the matter is buried under edifice after edifice of lies upon lies. It’s all been a marvellous success from the point of view in deterring the threat of democracy, achieved under conditions of freedom, which is extremely interesting.”
– Noam Chonksy, Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda (1998)
Social critic, Noam Chonksy outlines the failures of capitalism and corporate control, especially in the US. In the book’ ‘Manufacturing Consent (1988)’, Noam also pinpoints the continuous role that the media has played for decades by where they’re manipulating public opinions for the benefit of private interests. If you look at current times, it’s not hard to find people who criticize the mainstream news for spewing lies and fabrications, but in the same realm, rely on these outlets for a reliable source of information, not realising that these people they listen/watch are unfortunately controlled by organisations who do not care if the presented information is trustworthy or not. News outlets today only focus on two things: pandering to the biases of their audience and indirectly promoting the financial agendas of specific industries.
Hoorah for social media!
Drawing from Naom’s argument, I do think with the rise of social media platforms (TikTok and Twitter to be specific) that most of us who are deeply consuming news through these apps have begun to decode and identify what is and isn’t a reliable source to the point where the government are now realising this and are scrambling amongst themselves in utter panic. Let’s look at the current issue hovering over Palestine, for example. Actual Palestinians, living in Palestine, witnessing atrocious acts, are uploading live content for the world to see, broadcasting real truths that are evidently contradicting to what these news outlets are presenting to us. This has caused such a shock to us that we are now even boycotting companies that support these war crimes.
In light of these findings, I am honestly so happy that social media has provided the space for not only free speech but also the opportunity to actually voice obvious corruption with confidence and the ability to choose what we want to see/listen to, as opposed to when the internet was only just small “project” where people were confined to only TV, radio, and newspapers, and as I delve deeper into this, it does make me incredibly grateful to experience media as it is now. I think a lot of us forget how crucial it is to have options and choices, but at the same time, it does make me feel sorry for the generations before me whose experiences may have unfortunately not been the same.
References:
Imgflip. (n.d.). maury povich lie detector results hd. [online] Available at: https://imgflip.com/i/2h8zaa [Accessed 19 Nov. 2023].
www.goodreads.com. (n.d.). Media Control Quotes by Noam Chomsky. [online] Available at: https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/2935858-media-control-the-spectacular-achievements-of-propaganda.
