Role of the (Bought) Media: Function vs Purpose

The role of the news media is to construct the reality of events to the public, rather educate the public on what is going on in society in order to stay informed citizens. This allows citizens to be aware of events and understand what is going on in the country, how society is being ran, and be up on the current political debates in order to carry out the civic duty of partaking in our democracy.

But the reality is that the news media has a conflict of interest. Their purpose should be to carry out that role, by having their function be to provide coverage of the news in an unbiased and balanced way. But because the news media is now privately owned and is incorporated, they now function to make a profit. Since they raise revenue by their ratings and through advertising, they are largely influenced by industry, making their purpose whatever appeases their financial backing.

In The Battle for the Control of Reality, Ross Gelbspan explains how the oil and coal industries have spent millions waging a propaganda campaign through the media and through politicians to downplay the threat of climate change. This is through lobbyists and through funding climate skeptics.

This is part of the "money-media election complex" of vested interests pay the right people to keep up the image of their industry and keep the right policies in play. The media and officials are pretty much bought through help getting votes and ratings. 

That is why FoxNews' policy of 'fair and balanced' coverage is a false balance. Instead of giving a proportionate amount of coverage to what is truthfully being debated, they give equal air time to both sides of the argument on climate change. By giving 98% of the scientific community that believes in and supports the science that proves climate change the same amount of coverage as the opposing 2% of the scientific community that are climate skeptics, they are promoting the fossil fuel industry's propaganda and confusing the public.

Now I understand that the facts about climate change is very depressing and nobody wants to end a discussion on TV on such a grim note, but it's only going to stay this grim if the new media doesn't inform the public and allow for a proper debate in our democracy.

Our country might want to follow other countries' example by having their news be publicly owned and funded. Our news media could even learn something from the FICTIONAL newstation in HBO's 'Newsroom', where they decide to actually covers the news despite the effect it has on their ratings. They choose this because they chose to change their purpose from making a profit to bringing integrity and truth back to the news. 

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