Introduction
The current world revolves around information sharing, and the issues that are dominant in the minds and eyes of the people, as well as policymakers, are informed by such information. Technology has evolved and grown drastically, and the information is transferred from one person to the other irrespective of the geographical location. Information is power, and who controls that information holds power to shape perceptions, public opinions as well as policies in government. In the United States of America, mass media is predominantly embraced by both the government and the citizens. The realization of how powerful the mass media is in the society has made the control of mass media a battleground between the administration and the dominant corporations. Although numerous legislations exist to proliferate media freedom, this is contrary to the truth in ground level. Mass media has been used by the government as well as other influences to shape public opinion towards their favor. By controlling what information reaches the public, entities can manipulate issues that are deemed important, where others are exaggerated while others downplayed. This paper will investigate this claim through the use of mainstream and non-mainstream media. The aim of this paper will examine how these types of media contrast by the choice and manner of stories they publish and present.
Media organizations do not exist in a vacuum; they thrive in an economic world where all their activities require funding. This is because of information collection, as well as broadcasting is not an easy affair. Therefore, media owners result to seek advertisers, sponsors as well as private investors. This is described by Dr. Parenti in his book the democracy of the few when he discusses the issue of "he who pays the piper.” Due to the economics of the news media, the mainstream media is pinned into a corner. On the one hand it has the interests of the shareholders, media owners, sponsors as well as advertisers and on the other hand, it possesses and obligation towards information sharing. A tag of war erupts as the mainstream media risks losing its funding when a story that negatively impacts one of the key investors in the media. Therefore, compromised and censored information is produced for public consumption, and in some cases, other stories are prevented from being produced. To protect their investments, the mainstream media takes sides on issues at a subtle level. Media owners have actively participated in presidential elections campaigns as well as fundraising for particular political candidates. This is done to find favor in the government as well as other benefits. The predicament of the journalists is therefore clear as information that is potentially negative to the preferred or supported candidate may not be published. Further explanation by Dr. Parenti describes the ideological monopoly that the mainstream media perpetuates. Conservative ideologies are the underpinned by the mainstream media, and there is little to no room for contemporary issues. For instance, the mainstream media will focus on the US dedication towards free trade, capitalism, and promotion of democracy across the world. They will often forget to mention the controversial issues that the US has used those ideologies to cause instability, as well as the U.S, supported atrocities. Labor issues, as well as the American economic instability issues, are downplayed by the mainstream media.
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The role of journalism has expanded and evolved tremendously, the rise of investigative journalism has empowered the public in their effort of understanding the root causes as well as the whole story. Non-mainstream media has excelled in this section: having no economic or political affiliations; the media can investigate issues in the international arena as well as the domestic issues. This is regardless of who or which organization is targeted by the issue that is of interest to the public. For example, the democracy now program under the banner of KPFK discusses issues and investigates the underlying and hidden truths about issues. For instance, a program on July 6 th, 2017 discusses the Syrian situation titled “ Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently: Syrian Citizen Journalists Document a City under Siege.” Therein, a discussion evolves on the role of the U.S in the Syrian war and what it means for PresidentTrump top meet with the Russian president on the issue of Syria. The discussion highlights a city in ruins where people are dying of hunger and being killed by the U.S led airstrikes. In the debate, a Syrian activist journalist is interviewed by the name Abdulaziz Alhamza who reiterates the inhuman actions of the U.S troops in Raqqa. In this program, the issue of the root causes of ISIS is discussed, and the solutions are therein. Alhamza explains how the U.S created chaos in the Middle East and then abandoned that chaos which created the ISIS. Further, he explains that the solution to the ISIS is not through physical war but rather an ideological phenomenon that initially created ISIS.
The media is often used as a tool to modify and create perceptions by the controlling parties of the media. This is heightened in the democracy for the few by what Dr. Parenti terms as official manipulation. The mainstream media is often used by the government to produce stories and perpetuate what the government says despite the truth of the information. For instance, the United States used the banner for war against terror to lead the airstrikes discussed in the democracy now. The mainstream media in support of the government position highlighted a city under control of ISIS, and the bombings that were taking place were targeted to the terrorist combatants. These created an image that U.S used to fund the SDF and achieve its interests in the Middle East. It took the effort of the non-mainstream media to unearth the hostilities and killings of civilians that took place in the hands of the U.S led troops; the U.S sponsored SDF and the ISIS. More shockingly, the program unearthed that the United States efforts were responsible for more civilian deaths and displacements than the ISIS as a terror organization. The reports made by the mainstream media are in support of the government position and are not interrogative of the information.
The struggle for democracy highlights issues of prevailing themes in the thepolitical news where the mainstream media subscribers. For instance, the programs and news include themes of pro-American patriotic news, negativity and scandals, government criticism and social democracy among others. Similarly, the mainstream media subscribe to the issue of limited, fragmented and incoherent political information as most of the information being produced may be out of context and is presented in pieces. For instance, while watching the mainstream media, the news is presented in segments with commercial breaks in between. The presenter introduces a news piece that hypes the coming story before going on commercial break. This gives more attention to the advertisements and endorsements made in between. In contrast, the non-mainstream media presents information with detailed facts; it's consistent with no commercial breaks. Therefore, in mainstream media, more emphasis is laid on the commercial and entertainment part of the news as opposed to information.
References
Aziza, S. (2017). Meet the Syrian Activists Fighting ISIS—With Cameras . The Nation . Retrieved 14 July 2017, from https://www.thenation.com/article/meet-the-syrian-activists-fighting-isis-with-cameras/
democracy now. (2017). Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently: Syrian Citizen Journalists Document a City Under Siege . Democracy Now! Retrieved 14 July 2017, from https://www.democracynow.org/2017/7/6/raqqa_is_being_slaughtered_silently_syrian
Parenti, M. (2010). Democracy for the Few . Cengage Learning.
