Reasoned Opinions

My blog is mostly inspired by news stories that catch my attention during the week and you'll notice that I have written about more than electoral horse races and flag pins. The conversations Americans are having would be a lot different if people were informed. A friend of mine and fellow blogger came to the conclusion that "many Americans are either unable or unwilling to reach a reasoned opinion. They leave the thinking to someone else." The problem is that the people Americans unwittingly rely on to form their opinions do not have their best interests in mind. Here's a perfect example: Today on Democracy Now! I listened to a story about a lawsuit against American corporations who supported Apartheid in South Africa. Stories like this aren't going to find the front page in papers that could hypothetically (and realistically) be owned by the defendants. In other words, the media that people rely on for their information represent a giant conflict of interest. In theory (and ideology), journalism exists for the benefit of a given community. When I took journalism classes in undergrad, I was taught that journalists were watchdogs for the people. There's only one problem: 90% of the media is controlled by 6 mega-corporations; the same entities who by law place profit over people. The "best interests of the corporation" principle is a fixture in corporate law. According to this principle, a corporation can have no other motivation for its actions besides what is in the best interest of its shareholders. Thus corporations' only responsibility is to maximize profit which means genuine corporate social responsibility can not exist. So what does this say about media social responsibility?

Let's do a little detective work. NBC is generally thought to be the most "liberal" network news channel. NBC and its cable affiliates are owned by General Electric, not exactly a beacon of corporate responsibility. Here is a link to their corporate responsibility profile provided by coopamerica.org:
http://www.coopamerica.org/programs/responsibleshopper/company.cfm?id=231
Under the alerts section of the profile, see if you can find a story you'd expect to see in primetime on NBC or their cable affiliates. It's simply not feasible. This is an obvious case of privileging the profits of the corporation over the well-being of the people. Therefore the media should be at the center of any conversation that deals with the ignorance or obliviousness of Americans. Don't get me wrong, I am not letting the people off the hook. The apathy of the American people is mind-numbing at times. But there's no doubt that the media is largely responsible for the gap between mass-uninformed opinions and the truth. At the heart of any true democracy are the "reasoned opinions" of its people. Without reasoned opinions, the population becomes a herd.

All this being said, please check out Democracy Now! It's an independent media source available online and by video and audio podcast. It's an hour long 5 days a week and it will change the way you look at the world. Apathy is inconceivable.

Note: In light of all the talk about Obama and flag pins, my friend Luke and I have been going back and forth in agreement about how distorted the idea of patriotism has become. I'm going to use this opportunity to direct you to his blog "I Eat Media." There's nothing more I can say about patriotism that he hasn't already said much better. Do yourself a favor and read his newest post (linked in my blogroll).