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By Andy Slater
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Oct. 9, 2003 |
The totalitarian power of the media is one of the most pressing social issues of our times, yet it remains largely undocumented because the media do most of the documenting. Nowadays, the media themselves their increasingly unrivaled power over our daily lives, as well as their massive concentration is the story.
Total Media Power
Do you find that network sitcoms are too edgy in their humor, that cable news channels are too critical of the government or that multiple daily newspapers give readers too many perspectives to handle?
If so, you should be overjoyed that on June 2 commissioner Michael Powell and the Federal Communications Commission he controls will announce a plan to eliminate the last remaining rules governing the diversity of ownership of the nation's media. As it stands, only six major corporations (General Electric, Viacom, Disney, News Corporation, Time Warner and Liberty Media) own three-quarters of the television stations in the nation, according to the Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports.
Corporate synergy is very profitable: Corporation X makes a movie with its film division, runs previews on its television stations, praises the movie with its newspaper division and sells the soundtrack through its music division. You can forget about risk-taking and profundity American culture will be 100 percent money-driven.
Well, you say, popular culture's not that important; I can live without it. Perhaps more important are the legal changes that will allow a company that owns a town's major newspaper to own the TV station as well. This means nothing less than absolute control of the most essential resource in American democracy information. Next scenario: Corporation Y owns the TV station and newspaper along with investments in producing arms for the Pentagon. Corporation Y will exaggerate conflict with a foreign country to push the nation into war, sending Y's profits through the roof.
This country was founded on two principles: A democracy needs an honest and independent media to inform its citizens, and citizens need to consider a range of ideas to arrive at the truth. Media concentration undermines that foundation.
The Spin Doctors
In collusion with the less-than-independent media are public relations people spin doctors, if you will who shape the public's view of those in power.
As Elisabeth Bumiller wrote in her May 16 article in the New York Times, "Keepers of Bush Image Lift Stagecraft to New Heights," the Bush White House is brilliant at spinning and has made politically effective PR the centerpiece of its agenda. (It's interesting that an organ of power like the Times published such a revealing piece. The article generally glorified the "stagecraft," but we have to take what we can get.)
Possibly the famous example of image-making is Bush's recent "Top Gun" photo-op, objectionable not merely because it cost taxpayer dollars, but also because even war heroes like Eisenhower and Kennedy never wore military uniforms while in office. Bush, a pro-war draft-dodger during Vietnam, blurs the line between civilian and military roles as he struts his stuff.
Bumiller cites more examples: Bush speaking with a bullhorn at Ground Zero; a speech in Mount Rushmore, during which image-makers forced news cameras to capture Bush in profile.
Why has the Bush administration been so effective at turning a bumbling neophyte into a confident commander-in-chief? According to Bumiller, "It is all by design: The White House has stocked its communications operation with people from television who have expertise in lighting, camera angles and the importance of backdrops."
We understand that current politics is just a PR game that's why more than half of us don't vote. We can't even really trust an "honest" candidate because that "honesty" is just a PR creation. And the media won't expose all the lies; run by huge corporations with ties to the government, the media are only too happy to play along. The spin doctors concoct something photogenic, the media make profits by broadcasting it, and the government rewards the media with further deregulation.
Everyone wins except the people. |
