we're likely to have grown up thinking
that the mainstream media was our friend
the common sense natural judge of
everything that matters and is important
and a reliable guide to existence but we
might also be realizing that isn't quite
true let's take a moment to remind
ourselves of some of the things that
might be slightly or even very wrong
with mainstream media it's pretty easy
to do no one can pass such headlines
without giving way to a click in order
to gain money from advertisers or
governments the media has to hook us in
and it knows our minds are helpless in
the face of such headlines we look to
the media to tell us about what matters
but it cares predominantly about what
will excite us sometimes the two
categories coincide what's most
important in the world maybe what's most
immediately exciting too but usually
that's not the case we're built to have
an almost irresistible attraction to
certain stories involving power Fame
disaster and sex and yet we're tempted
to yawn about schools developing world
problems and the money supply we're not
evil it's just the equivalent of our
fatal weakness for processed sugar fat
and salt and the media does everything
it can to exploit this in theory the
media has a deeply important function to
play in a democracy it's meant to direct
a mass audience to engage with the
greatest problems in society so as to
push politicians to make necessary
changes but as it is the media is
obsessed with scandals it focuses
relentlessly on the rather thrilling
misdemeanors of a few people rather than
the large systemic failings that are
harder to see and far less sexy to
describe it gives the population of
feeling that it's on the side of the
little guy against the big guy
far from it the sacrifice of the odd
bigwig in a scandal and nothing and
reliably take our eyes of pushing for
proper large-scale improvements most
problems in society take time to fix but
by constantly changing the topic of
national conversation the media ensures
that nothing will remain a priority for
long one always makes more money getting
someone scared about bugs viruses
explosions than getting them to a sane
correct assessment of the dangers facing
them and a melancholy acceptance of
death and compromise in general one
makes more money getting people furious
than patient before the challenges of
writing or wrong or philosophical in the
face of human evil it reports in
impassive terms about adultery in
Hollywood marriage or the bad behavior
of a model it pretends to care about
so-called transgressions while not
admitting that it's at the same time
titillating the audience most of whom
deepen their unconscious would love a
chance to do what's being condemned on
the surface the media therefore
hypocritically satisfies both our
fantasies and on need to think ourselves
normal and respectable it's called the
news because of an obsession with the
notion that the new and important go
together but much that just happened is
far less important that many things that
occurred thousands of years ago there
are things we need that lie further back
the most significant bits of information
could not always have happened in the
last 24 hours
as the news pretends
when the media is in a serious mood it
will give us six thousand word essays on
global warming but only a handful of
people read it seems the choice is
either between a sexy and banal or the
serious and starchy in the utopia what
we need is the most serious issues
presented in the most engaging ways it's
not enough for serious journalists to
plunk the important stories before us
they need to work doubly hard to get the
story and then also to make it exciting
as exciting as the latest from Taylor
Swift there's nothing wrong with having
famous people in a society the reason
why celebrities become a dirty word is
that we've got the wrong celebs in front
of us we need the media to anoint people
with Fame but Fame for doing noble and
good things that really help a nation we
don't need to get rid of celebrities we
need better varieties we like to think
we've got a good media because it's free
freedom is a wonderful privilege no
doubt but on its own it's nothing we
need a media that isn't just free but
also good that is able to direct a mass
audience towards what truly counts which
is as it's been since the days of Plato
justice truth and wisdom
you