As the well-educated and informed citizens of this great nation, we would know that the separation of powers and the checks and balances between the three branches of the government‒the legislative, the executive, and the judicial‒uphold the democracy that the United States of America loves to boast about. However, there is one more pillar that upholds this democracy. Acting like a watchdog, the media acts as the fourth, overall check on the powers and actions of the government as they closely monitor and report on the government and its officials. Acting like a buffer zone and a link, media connects the government to the private sector of the people. This is the duty of the media to the people.
American political writer and reporter, Walter Lippman, claims that the job of the media is to “provide a picture of reality upon which the citizen can act.” Unfortunately, these pictures are often edited, cropped, framed, disproportionated, or even a combination of the above. The link is decaying, rotting. …show more content…
Journalism is decaying, rotting.
The first signs of decay start to appear around the Vietnam War. When news reporters and writers in Vietnam send home horrifying images of civilians, children, burned by US napalm droppings and overall negative results on the American side of the war, the government gets concerned at the increase in anti-war sentiment and undermining of American patriotism and trust in the government. Then a few years after the end of the war, the Pentagon Papers were released as well as reportings on the Watergate scandal; more oil was added to the raging flame of distrust that burned in the hearts and minds of the people. It was an epiphany. They realized the power and influence media had over the people. They realized the amount of backlash one can get from being under a negative spotlight. They wanted that power under their control. Then the decay spread exponentially with the passing of the Telecommunication Acts of 1996. Corporate values increased with the deregulation of service ownership. Corporations could now own up to 35% of the television broadcasting services and up to 50% of the radio broadcasting services. At the worst, this means that it only takes three companies to dominate television broadcasts and two companies to dominate radio broadcasts, Three companies, three voices. Two companies, two voices. The possibilities for media bias increases by tenfold. The possibilities for corporate values interfering with honest reporting, 100%. Journalism itself was never a very stable industry financially. With these additional infestations, the integrity of journalism starts to deteriorate. Many job cuts are made, the most expensive aspects of journalism are thrown out‒the investigation, the research, the fact-checking‒replaced by whatever way of reporting is the cheapest and gains the most revenue or views, newspapers combine, and the result is mainstream media that reports on the same topic, the scandal or event or whatever that is entertaining not what is more important and relevant in the lives of the people, with the same view but a twist of words. …show more content…
We get hundreds of articles on politicians insulting each other, not their policies; on rescued cats in sock sweaters, not the thriving actions of environmental activists; on increasingly devastating hurricanes that wreck the eastern coast of America, not global warming and its effects. Then another problem arises
American political writer and reporter, Walter Lippman, claims that the job of the media is to “provide a picture of reality upon which the citizen can act.” Unfortunately, these pictures are often edited, cropped, framed, disproportionated, or even a combination of the above. The link is decaying, rotting. …show more content…
Journalism is decaying, rotting.
The first signs of decay start to appear around the Vietnam War. When news reporters and writers in Vietnam send home horrifying images of civilians, children, burned by US napalm droppings and overall negative results on the American side of the war, the government gets concerned at the increase in anti-war sentiment and undermining of American patriotism and trust in the government. Then a few years after the end of the war, the Pentagon Papers were released as well as reportings on the Watergate scandal; more oil was added to the raging flame of distrust that burned in the hearts and minds of the people. It was an epiphany. They realized the power and influence media had over the people. They realized the amount of backlash one can get from being under a negative spotlight. They wanted that power under their control. Then the decay spread exponentially with the passing of the Telecommunication Acts of 1996. Corporate values increased with the deregulation of service ownership. Corporations could now own up to 35% of the television broadcasting services and up to 50% of the radio broadcasting services. At the worst, this means that it only takes three companies to dominate television broadcasts and two companies to dominate radio broadcasts, Three companies, three voices. Two companies, two voices. The possibilities for media bias increases by tenfold. The possibilities for corporate values interfering with honest reporting, 100%. Journalism itself was never a very stable industry financially. With these additional infestations, the integrity of journalism starts to deteriorate. Many job cuts are made, the most expensive aspects of journalism are thrown out‒the investigation, the research, the fact-checking‒replaced by whatever way of reporting is the cheapest and gains the most revenue or views, newspapers combine, and the result is mainstream media that reports on the same topic, the scandal or event or whatever that is entertaining not what is more important and relevant in the lives of the people, with the same view but a twist of words. …show more content…
We get hundreds of articles on politicians insulting each other, not their policies; on rescued cats in sock sweaters, not the thriving actions of environmental activists; on increasingly devastating hurricanes that wreck the eastern coast of America, not global warming and its effects. Then another problem arises