For discerning news consumers then, the MSM brands have for decades been engaging in the dissemination of fake news and alternative facts (might we be so bold as to add another to the lexicon, complementary realities), manifesting itself as an unholy trinity of nonfeasance, misfeasance, and malfeasance in the provision of informed, clear-eyed, objective political opinion, policy analysis and public interest insight in an age where doing so has never been more important for our society, our economy, and humanity as a whole.
To illustrate the abject state of denial the MSM occupies insofar as to how low their reputation has sunk, the recent report by Wired magazine on the New York Times' "strategy for the future" is a perfect example. In this thinly disguised exercise in cross-media hagiography, there was little mention of the NYT's strategy past. Like their hand-wringing, righteous confreres at the WashPost and other assorted 'well passed their UBD' MSM marques, the has-beens of 'hasbara' at the NYT seem unable or unwilling to acknowledge the deterioration of their precious brand reputation and the real reasons for it. After referring to a NYT television advertisement -- presumably part of the above strategy to rehabilitate itself -- Chris Hedges sums their situation up this way:
[blockquote]'"The truth is hard to find. The truth is hard to know. The truth is more important than ever," reads a television ad for The New York Times. What the paper fails to add is that the hardest place to find the truth about the forces affecting the life of the average American and the truth about empire is in the Times itself. News organizations, from the [NYT] to the tawdry forms of entertainment masquerading as news on television, have rendered most people and their concerns invisible.'[/blockquote]
For the NYT then, well might reasonable commentators suggest the following: As per the fundamental principles of ethical journalism, try some old school, honest, responsible, accurate reportage as the basis of a genuine change strategy; holding the powers that be accountable and then being accountable themselves; protecting the rights of those who speak truth to power, doing so with a keen eye to encouraging open, transparent, intelligent, informed, deep and meaningful public discourse; and when required, providing full disclosure on people and events. Whilst it is unlikely to erase the sins of the past, at least it might be able to re-position itself as the paper of record in the future and do so without any sense of irony impeding folks' response to the narrative. Otherwise, they might as well assume the jig is up, pack up and go home, and take their fake/junk news, complementary realities, alternative facts, and post-truth solipsism with them.
Truth be told: The so-called Gray Lady long ago morphed into a decrepit Old 'n Gray, Bitter, Cynical, Lifeless prostitute (mucho disculpa to self-respecting emeritus ladies of the night). No clever strategizing about targeting new demographics, embracing new-fangled technologies, or rolling out novel business models designed to refurbish its dated, faded, shop-soiled marque or claw back its former glory in the media marketplace is going to change the status quo.
Now that it's time to resurface for a much-needed breath of fresh air after our exploratory dive into the deep end of the cesspool, it is perhaps fitting the final word should go to Huxley himself, one that it is difficult to see his dystopian-minded contemporary Orwell -- and indeed Postman himself -- would have much difficulty with now.
Taken from his 1958 book Brave New World Revisited, Huxley defined two propaganda types -- rational propaganda in favor of action that is consonant with the enlightened self-interest of those who make it and those to whom it is addressed, and non-rational propaganda that is not consonant with anybody's enlightened self-interest, but is dictated by, and appeals to, passion. For him, where the actions of individuals are concerned,
[blockquote]'there are motives more exalted than enlightened self-interest, but where collective action has to be taken in the fields of politics and economics, enlightened self-interest is probably the highest of effective motives. If politicians and their constituents always acted to promote their own or their country's long-range self-interest, this world would be an earthly paradise. As it is, they often act against their own interests, merely to gratify their least creditable passions; the world, in consequence, is a place of misery. Propaganda in favor of action that is consonant with enlightened self-interest appeals to reason by means of logical arguments based upon the best available evidence fully and honestly set forth. Propaganda in favor of action dictated by the impulses that are below self-interest offers false, garbled or incomplete evidence, avoids logical argument and seeks to influence its victims by the mere repetition of catchwords, by the furious denunciation of foreign or domestic scapegoats, and by cunningly associating the lowest passions with the highest ideals, so that atrocities come to be perpetrated in the name of God and the most cynical kind of Realpolitik is treated as a matter of religious principle and patriotic duty.'[/blockquote]What's not to like about all that? OK, time then for your humble author to go take a long, hot shower!
Greg Maybury
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