The Free Press, Tabloid Journalism, and Spin

Some say there’s a “free” press, others do not. Almost every press has degrees of freedom and degrees of control, even if that control is just “public opinion” and how journalists and the owners of media select the news.

Most people watching international television, even “national” telemundo find that the news is differently selected. Americans, for example, get very little international news, and certainly they don’t get news from perspectives other than America’s.

Every now and then when there’s a news event, they’ll decide to let you hear what others in the world are saying, and is this truly what others in the world are saying, or only what they want Americans to hear.

Americans should every now and then watch international television. Especially those who have Satellite TV. And also, don’t just listen to what Americans are saying about others, but what others are saying about America and Americans.

As for journalism, tabloid & spin, many of these journalistic techniques which have been used throughout journalistic history, even in the ancient world, shouldn’t work anymore. Why these techniques still work is amazing. This is amazing.

Maybe they don’t still work and people just pretend they do. This is amazing.

It’s like the techniques of advertising. Everybody should know these techniques by now. That they still work is amazing.

But they appear to still work.

Yet there are more and more people for whom these techniques don’t work anymore. They talk to these others and “pretend” they don’t understand. Or maybe they truly don’t understand. But many are no longer joining these others in pretending. They do understand.

To quote from Tabloid America: Myth-Making, Mythology and Sensationalism by Douglas Herman: Said noted gadfly Gore Vidal, “The corporate grip on opinion in the United States is one of the wonders of the Western world. No First World country has ever managed to eliminate so entirely from its media all objectivity–much less dissent. ”

We would suggest that there is no such thing as a “free press,” that there are probably degrees of freedom, but that the “free press” is probably as much mythology as the other freedoms.

For the very naive, perhaps, who know little about journalism, even mediocre journalistic techniques, perhaps the press appears to be free, even The Free Press.

Those interested in this subject should read this article for its discussion of “the tabloid American government,” “the tabloid American society,” and “the tabloid American press.”

Certainly this can be said of almost every society and every history. Americans must not only look at the virtues of its press, its government, its society, but also its vices.

The press is necessary and society’s need a press. They need an honorable press and a press that has integrity. However, given the nature of most human civilizations is this even a possibility.

Mostly when people want to get beyond the true lies they sometimes find this from the great novelists, like a Leo Tolstoy. Sometimes citizens find truths speaking privately among themselves. Sometimes not.

The greatest of the internet, is that it allows many different voices to be heard, and in a study of the many different websites, there are many alternatives to the “free press” in the printed versions. For some the internet is perhaps “too free” nevertheless the internet is a complement to the press. Many voices and opinions that might not otherwise be heard are heard.

Certainly the internet has its own vices and its own virtues.

Of course when reading web content readers must use their judgement as in traditional print and other media, must distinguish between shoddy content and quality content, accurate information and propaganda, ethical commentary and “dirty tricks” spin, etc. Nevertheless, all of these many different voices need to be heard, including bloggers journalists, multiethnic journalists, international journalists, etc.

Although these journalists certainly have their own control and spin, it’s not so easy to control and spin them.

Many of the “every publishes” websites that might not appeal to the traditional print media in which every body doesn’t publish. Certainly these websites have their quality standards, such as the good commentary that the editors of Associated Content make on articles that they don’t deem publishable, but nevertheless reading websites like this and others offers truly more variety than many of the standard print media.

Many people who might have gone to the traditional media to find information and commentary are now going online, and we also find many traditional news items in which bloggers have countered the “true lies” of the traditional media.