Media vs Government

Media vs Government

  • Submitted By: freak
  • Date Submitted: 10/19/2008 3:42 PM
  • Category: Miscellaneous
  • Words: 407
  • Page: 2
  • Views: 1

“The media and government should be adversaries”
In my opinion, neither the press, nor the government should be trusted. The government is a red tape factory, the press thrives one distorting the truth. The government needs a watchdog, but the American society needs to beware of the words and motives of the press. Many of the issues the press publishes are biased or irrelevant. The press has two other motives than being the government watch dog.
I believe strongly in the freedom of press. It is essential to American way of life to be able to criticize government affairs, officials, and entities. I don’t believe in the press has the professionalism, to represent the people or the truth when sales are the motive behind the publishing. The need to exaggerate the situation in order to get the story that sells often compromises the information presented. The competition with-in the press is not keeping a level of honesty, but perpetuating the puffery of articles. Not only is the public duty of the press in mind when the editors select the content published, often the decision depends on what the public will pay to read.
The American people seem to thrive on gossip. The inclusion of scandals based on articles that exposed family secrets or personal mistakes that are totally unrelated to the public official’s position prove that gossip sells. The information distorts the publics’ opinion on ambiguous facts but sells. For example, Bill Clinton was national shunned for the sex scandal involving Monica Lewinski. Yet, she became a national celebrity for her part without a whole lot of consideration on her ethical conduct or motive. The press assassinated the morality of Clinton and made a “ho” famous.
The other agenda is to promote products. The main source of revenue in most media mediums in America is commercial promotions. The reputations of their “meal tickets” can also bias the information presented.
I’m not saying that the freedom of the press isn’t...

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