The Cost of the Corporate Press

I have to wonder why there is such a chasm in this country. Why has the gap widened so far between the left and the right, Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals? There was a time we could have a conversation, weigh issues by sharing informed facts and either agree or agree to disagree. I do not believe that such a conversation could last more than a few minutes in today’s polarized environment.

This is a sad and sorry condition to be in. The saddest part of it all is that if reasonable and informed debate could be accomplished, we would probably end up agreeing more than disagreeing. Reasonable people are reasonable people. Reasonable people are getting hard to find.

Unfortunately one of the main problems is a woefully misinformed populace. People now watch news that meets their views, not the facts. They visit websites and blogs that agree with them and slant the truth to control the debate. When the truth is reported and it is not aligned with their political preferences, it simply gets labeled “useless liberal press." Truth does seem to have a liberal bias, but today’s press is far from liberal.

 I remember when the Fourth Estate, once known as The Press, was a pushy, obnoxious, nosy and investigative body of individuals. People complained about them, but differently. I miss them as they were. They were our protection against tyranny and corruption. Today the mainstream media is simply “The Corporate Press.” The focus is glitz over fact and profit over proof. Fudge the facts as needed to protect the bottom line.

Once upon a time we had regulations that protected the Free Press. These have been eroded over the years by Republican and Democratic leadership. The television media is now primarily owned by six mega corporations, specifically Disney, General Electric, News Corp, Time Warner, Viacom and CBS. Privately owned newspapers are nearly extinct and independently owned radio stations are disappearing.

This leaves us in a bad place. Lies are now being treated as opinion. Everything that is going on in Congress is not fully reported on. The only way to stay really informed today is to work at it – who has the time? For example, are you aware that AT&T is working on merging with T-Mobil?  If this merger goes through jobs will be lost and the wireless market will be 80% owned by AT&T and Verizon. What do you think this will do for consumers?

I don’t have answers. I am concerned; the problem continues. Comcast is working on finalizing their purchase of NBC. Net neutrality, keeping the internet free and open is being challenged in Congress at the behest of the giant Telecoms. They want to be able to control speed and access. If they succeed we will lose our neutral, free internet access.  Website owners will have to pay more to be found. The biggest payers will be the biggest payers. 

I really don’t believe that most of our people want any of this to occur. We need to reasonably discuss what is going on with each other. We need to let our elected officials know about our concerns. We need to act, but will it do any good?