Opinion and Facts

Both the above factors describe the base upon which Media operates. Facts are necessary to substantiate a story to the Audience, and Opinion is needed to involve the Audience in a story that concerns them. The problem with both is that they can be manipulated, but both are indispensable to the working of the media circus. If they are indispensable but open to Manipulation, can they shuned away?

The premise from this comes from reading Edward Hermann's "The myth of the Liberal Media". In his book, he contends that the mainstream Media takes into account the facts and the opinions of individuals and sources that cater to the power elite. In such scenario, Media does not operate freely, and it is cowed down by the money power of the Corporates and Advertisers. This puts the question into a larger premise. All this while, have we been misinformed about events? Is the real world something different then what we percieve in our bubble?

The answer to all this is a blurred one. The power of the visual, and the importance attached to officials, condition the human mind to accept the status quo. The human mind, nowadays, gets bored of serious oriented stuff. The Dumbing Down has been so thorough that Man cannot think independently on any event. Opinions now start to get blurred, and the poeple speak blindly about an event. Opinion now starts getting divided, and thus the whole process of Media contibuting to Democracy comes to a stalemate.

The Second Gulf War is proof of this. The Media, and in particular the Bush administration, constantly cheered for the War, by highlighting Saddam Hussein's Weapons of Mass Destruction, and also that Iraq was a front in the War against Al-qaeda. Opinions in several nations were so polarized, that once again, the normal public did not know what is right and what is wrong. The scenario continues even today. The difference being that Bush is toning down his success quotient for Iraq.

Facts are very manipulative. If there is something that goes against the interests of companies, then they put pressure on the media and the story dies a slow death. The case of the Coke Pesticide campaign in India as well as the Cadbury Worm incident are proof of that. Inspute of several environmental and quality experts comment that both were contaminated, the Media did not actively follow it up. So, even today, inspite of the clutter of facts, people go on as if nothing happened!

The Media is in danger of having the rug pulled out from underneath. Somewhere down the line, lots has been written about this. But, such seems to be the influence of the Advertiser-Corporate Nexus, that Opinion and Facts will continue to be taken for granted.