I was watching some alternative news sources, alternative to what the average American is exposed to anyway, and one of the things that caught my attention for the first time is that the journalist asked the audience to email opinions of the program and requests on what stories they would like to see covered. There are certainly a lot of stories on this planet these days, unfortunately not all of them good, but certainly most more important than what the latest fashion is in Hollywood or other things that I see in mainstream Western media that can divert peoples' attention to what is happening in the rest of the world. It seems a bit like media, instead of religion, being the opiate of the people: you give them information through the media that keeps them calm, and they will be calm. Makes sense to me.
The western media corporations, whether they are consciously aware of it or not, give people stories that are pretty sedating compared to alternative sources. They certainly have their moments when it comes to meaningful journalism, credit where credit is due, but considering the state of the world in 2011 one would think that news editors might choose more of those meaningful stories for the west to see. So why don't they? There are respectable journalists in western media who want tell a unique, thought provoking story that is worth listening to. The answer is likely money. The people who pay the checks, the advertisers and so on, have a very powerful voice regarding what the western media does and doesn't do. It actually doesn't sound so threatening, but when one considers that there are a lot of advertisements and only a few corporations that pay for them, that narrows down where the checks are coming from and the voices who have a say in this or that. All is not lost, though.
Even though this kind of thing kind of sucks for everyone except the few who make some money, the times are changing. With more options to media information throughout the world people can get opinions and ideas about themselves and other people. It's interesting, for example, to hear what citizens in other countries think of Americans--not just Iraqis or Afghanis--French, Irish, Australian, Canadian, just average citizens from all over the globe. Most think Americans are pretty arrogant, if that's any surprise. I wish I could offer link to a documentary that was done, but the best I can do is tell where I found it: Linktv.com it is an alternative new source website with a wealth of news sources from around the world. Very intriguing.
