INFORMATION OR INFLUENCE?
“Mass media:” a fourth estate or fifth column?
The former would refer to the independence of the media from government, and the media’s role in a democratic society as a provider of carefully investigated (“checked”) information, independent of any opinions of the mass media provider.
The latter refers to the role of mass media, not necessarily independent of government, class, power or other influencer groups, to present the widest possible range (or select “fringe” or otherwise unrepresented) opinions, ostensibly to influence readers. This sometimes includes the inclusion of extreme viewpoints, “fake news”and even “spun” editorial opinions from the mass media provider’s point-of-view.
In practice, “mass media” typically refers to “means of communication that reach large numbers of people in a short time, such as television, newspapers, magazines, and radio,” and includes varying degrees of both these functions. To this definition, these days, I feel compelled to add “social media.”
So which mass media are primarily fourth estate and which are fifth column? My experience reminds me that today’s mass media providers are first and foremost businesses, whose existence depend on not just “cash flow” or profit, but increasing profit. The need to “capture” readers and sustain reader interest to support the “business” of mass media, rather than provide an objective, humanitarian information service seems of increasingly importance, especially in these COVID-19 days. This when advertising, one of the primary sources of income for mass media is rapidly shifting, and our particular form of government in the USA — a “modified” democracy — ultimately depends on the votes of well-informed citizens.
So, is our current media a fourth estate or a fifth column? It seems to me an admixture, with increasing, often obscurely, opinion entwined with fact, a form of reporting at times in the past called propaganda. And yet, the “free press” of the Western world, as wild and opinionated as it sometimes appears, still retains a its core purpose: to inform voting citizens from a non-partisan point-of-view in support of our democracy.
Raymond Gaynor
Author of THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020)
Co-author with A. G. Hayes of QUANTUM DEATH (Savant 2016) and with William Maltese of TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009)
Author website at https://garymartine.yolasite.com/raym...
Author Facebook site at https://www.facebook.com/raymond.gayn...
Author Twitter site at https://www.savantbooksandpublication...
Amazon author page at https://www.amazon.com/Raymond-Gaynor...
Amazon Goodreads author page at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
NetGalley at http://netgal.ly/7GXa50
Savant Books and Publications | Aignos Publishing author page at https://www.savantbooksandpublication...
The former would refer to the independence of the media from government, and the media’s role in a democratic society as a provider of carefully investigated (“checked”) information, independent of any opinions of the mass media provider.
The latter refers to the role of mass media, not necessarily independent of government, class, power or other influencer groups, to present the widest possible range (or select “fringe” or otherwise unrepresented) opinions, ostensibly to influence readers. This sometimes includes the inclusion of extreme viewpoints, “fake news”and even “spun” editorial opinions from the mass media provider’s point-of-view.
In practice, “mass media” typically refers to “means of communication that reach large numbers of people in a short time, such as television, newspapers, magazines, and radio,” and includes varying degrees of both these functions. To this definition, these days, I feel compelled to add “social media.”
So which mass media are primarily fourth estate and which are fifth column? My experience reminds me that today’s mass media providers are first and foremost businesses, whose existence depend on not just “cash flow” or profit, but increasing profit. The need to “capture” readers and sustain reader interest to support the “business” of mass media, rather than provide an objective, humanitarian information service seems of increasingly importance, especially in these COVID-19 days. This when advertising, one of the primary sources of income for mass media is rapidly shifting, and our particular form of government in the USA — a “modified” democracy — ultimately depends on the votes of well-informed citizens.
So, is our current media a fourth estate or a fifth column? It seems to me an admixture, with increasing, often obscurely, opinion entwined with fact, a form of reporting at times in the past called propaganda. And yet, the “free press” of the Western world, as wild and opinionated as it sometimes appears, still retains a its core purpose: to inform voting citizens from a non-partisan point-of-view in support of our democracy.
Raymond Gaynor
Author of THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020)
Co-author with A. G. Hayes of QUANTUM DEATH (Savant 2016) and with William Maltese of TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009)
Author website at https://garymartine.yolasite.com/raym...
Author Facebook site at https://www.facebook.com/raymond.gayn...
Author Twitter site at https://www.savantbooksandpublication...
Amazon author page at https://www.amazon.com/Raymond-Gaynor...
Amazon Goodreads author page at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
NetGalley at http://netgal.ly/7GXa50
Savant Books and Publications | Aignos Publishing author page at https://www.savantbooksandpublication...
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