Corporate and Independent Media, Established Power, and Jurgen Habermass Notion of the Critical Public Sphere-- The notion of the public sphere began evolving during the Renaissance in Western Europe. Brought on partially by merchants need for accurate information about distant markets as well as by the growth of democracy and individual liberty and popular sovereignty, the public sphere was a place between private individuals and government authorities in which people could meet and have critical debates about public matters. Such discussions served as a counterweight to political authority and happened physically in face-to-face meetings in coffee houses and cafes and public squares as well as in the media like letters, books, drama, and art. (wiki) Today, corporate owned media represents one realm of established power. According to Noam Chomsky, You can understand it from the point of view of established power. Its product is the result a distorting prism with enormous impact. In 1971, Lewis Powell, who would become a Supreme Court justice the following year, penned a memo calling on the American business community to aggressively engage in shaping the country’s political discourse and regulatory landscape. The “American economic system is under broad attack,” he wrote. He said the time had come to fight back. “Business must learn . . . that political power is necessary; that such power must be assiduously cultivated; and that when necessary, it must be used aggressively and with determination — without embarrassment and without the reluctance which has been so characteristic of American business.” (TruthOut) Many members of the top one-percent purchase or attempt to purchase media outlets that they can run and put to partisan tasks. Australian-Amercian Rupert Murdoch, New Jerseyan George Norcross, and those most well-known of well-known Republican sentinels, the Koch Brothers, whose quest to purchase the L.A. Times and other papers across the country failed due to a robust outcry by the public sphere. * * * * * * * * * * Q. What role should the media—particularly independent media—play in ensuring critical public interest issues like these are at the forefront? A. Independent media ought to be telling the truth about things that matter. That’s quite different from the task of the commercial media. As just stated in passing, they have a task or a mission to accomplish. Journalists are supposed to be objective, or taskless, and objectivity has a meaning in the world of journalism. In journalism schools objectivity means reporting honestly and accurately what’s going on within the Beltway, inside the government. So that sets the bounds. There are Democrats and there are Republicans. Report honestly what they’re saying—balance and so on—and then you’re objective. If you go beyond that and you ask a question about the bounds, then you’re biased, subjective, emotional, maybe anti-American, whatever the usual words are that get thrown around. So, that’s a task, and, you know, you can understand it from the point of view of established power. It’s a distorting prism with enormous impact. (Chomsky, via AlterNet) Note: Reader/viewer supported news outlets: ProPublica, Truthdig, Truthout, Common Dreams, Democracy Now, AlterNet. Theses non-corporate media outlets often favor left leaning points of view, however, what you discover makes it worth checking into.
Posted on: Fri, 22 Nov 2013 07:17:56 +0000
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