It’s a rare thing that can unite Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, socialists and capitalists, libertarians and monarchists. moderates, progressives, fascists, anarchists and well, everyone.
We’re so used to hearing the same arguments over the same issues by the same parties year after year; it’s hard to even think of political issues we all agree on. “Yeah, freedom!” All right, we’ve got one, but it’s pretty a pretty abstract concept. What about the nitty-gritty, down-and-dirty social and policy issues, the practical ones that will make a difference in everyone’s lives? Is there bipartisan agreement on any of those?
Last week, I saw a video by AJ+ called “How the Media Ruins Elections.” In it, Amy Goodman, host of the progressive new show "Democracy Now!" rails against the media, the networks and the corporate media for giving Donald Trump more coverage than (she thinks) he deserves.
“Whether it’s Fox or MSNBC or CNN, you often can’t tell the difference. You’re flipping from one channel to another, and it’s all Trump all the time! It’s Trump land!” After then arguing that Bernie Sanders deserves much more coverage because he’s broken “all the records,” she makes a few vague suggestions for what “the media” needs to start doing, summed up by the last one: “We need a media that covers static and creates history.”
Rewind to last summer when the Planned Parenthood scandal erupted. The online conservative newspaper, The Federalist, covered intensely the release of the videos depicting the negotiation of sales of fetal tissue by Planned Parenthood employees.
In addition, The Federalist sharply criticized the mainstream media for its lack of coverage of what it perceived as a serious issue. As I went to look for a specific article to exemplify how they decried the rest of the media, I eventually stopped searching because I found articles with titles like these: “3 Examples Of Media Hypocrisy On Political Rhetoric And Gun Violence,” “Surprise! Facebook Blacklists Trending Topics And Conservative News Outlets” and more. Clearly, The Federalist doesn’t like the media.
Isn’t it funny to watch, read, and hear about everything that’s wrong with the media from the media?
Is there anybody who thinks the media consistently does a good job? Anyone? Bueller?
Here’s the thing: Most people think the purpose of the media is to tell the people what they need to know. Wrong.. sort of. OK, that’s actually correct, but it’s not the whole story. The media is also supposed to tell people what they want to know.
If the media is reporting poorly, it’s because what the people want to know is chosen poorly.
Instead of thinking of the media as an information feed, think of it as a set of eyes. The eyes see what they see, sometimes better, sometimes worse; it depends on the level of light, how tired you are, and how near or far away your object is. But the eyes only look where you decide, and you decide what to look at based on what is most important to you. If Trump’s buffoonery, Kardashian glamor, and impassioned pundit argument are what you, deep down, like to see, then that’s what you will see.
The media is the eyes of the people, and if the eyes are looking at all the wrong things and only briefly examining the important things, it’s because the people don’t know what’s important to them. There are so many different kinds of people in our great country with so many different beliefs and priorities. For one news company or network to cover what’s important to everyone is impossible.
So, stop complaining about “the media.” Find a source you trust that reports on what’s important to you and your community, and let the other ones rot.
