So the country is in its usual and permanent state-of-uproar
over something. ANYTHING! This time? PRESS FREEDOM!! This latest furor started
with the ‘raid’ of Anti-Corruption Bureau police officers on daily newspaper, Newsday’s office. This ‘raid’ was targeted
at journalist Andre Baghoo and spilled over into his home. The reason? An
article written using some leaked documents originating from our country’s blighted
Integrity Commission.
I constantly ask the question captioned above.
However one faction of society is clamouring about the Police and (in their reasoning)
the Government’s heavy hand in trying to muzzle and retard the ‘free press’.
The other faction? They prefer to keep quiet...or is
it that the very media silences them by not publishing their points of view?
The Media is to be fair and balanced; detached from all individual
emotions and views. However, what I find in our practitioners’ vigorous pursuit of the truth (do
you detect my sarcasm?) is that each journalist has a personal agenda which
sometimes coincides with the media house’s agenda setting policy. Also, WE HAVE
THE LAZIEST AND MOST UNETHICAL JOURNALISTS ON EARTH!
I also observe that journalists vacillate on an
issue to give the impression of
balance. Any trained eye will see straight through that ruse like those leggings
being worn by women today. But alas, the VAST majority of our country is not trained in journalism and definitely does not have critical and analytical
thinking skills (another blog for another time). So the media frames and primes
us and we happily digest.
Then there's the Executive arm of Government.
Successive heads have waged war on the media. A silver fox’s insult; one megalomaniac’s
visit in studio fresh from the barber; and it would seem a nation’s mother
using various indirect means to stifle. They and the business elite control
information by being the official news sources. Have you ever noticed the 3 dailies
have the SAME stories, in the SAME order on the SAME day?
Chomsky and Herman’s Propaganda Model and its 5 filters fit our country perfectly!
What Press?
What Freedom?
We have neither.
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Further readings:
http://mediafail.com/why-a-news-reporter-needs-to-report-accurately/
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