"Our democracies would be in even more trouble than they already are if anyone voicing suspicion of mainstream media was dismissed as a conspiracy theorist. It would be a world where the far right has successfully monopolised the terms of media criticism."
- #SeanPhelan, 2022
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/on-the-inside/462677/why-legitimate-criticism-of-mainstream-media-is-in-danger-of-being-hijacked-by-anti-vax-and-freedom-movements
#media #MSM #MediaStudies
- #SeanPhelan, 2022
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/on-the-inside/462677/why-legitimate-criticism-of-mainstream-media-is-in-danger-of-being-hijacked-by-anti-vax-and-freedom-movements
#media #MSM #MediaStudies
Why legitimate criticism of 'mainstream' media is in danger of being hijacked by anti-vax and 'freedom' movements
Analysis - One striking feature of the "freedom convoy" protests in Ottawa, Wellington and elsewhere has been the intense antagonism towards "mainstream media".Sean Phelan (RNZ)
Strypey
•#media
Hypolite Petovan
•Strypey
•I agree inequality is a serious and growing problem. But how do we reduce it without the means to achieve a broad consensus on the exact nature of the problem and what actions to take to fix it? I don't see how we can solve our economic or ecological problems without solving our media problem.
Hypolite Petovan
•To go back to one of your earlier questions: "How can we learn to disagree gracefully?" We already know how to do it, but as long as there will be people paid to provoke, there will be public instances of people strongly disagreeing for good reasons.
These people are paid either by people who believe there is a culture war and that it can be won somehow, or by people who have a vested political or economical interests in stoking said culture war. As long as there will be an incentive to do so, they will continue to fund incendiary radio host, podcasts, cable TV, newspaper and websites.
There's one of the root causes. When this is out of the way, we can talk about the second leg of the problem, advertisement encouraging people to strongly identify with brands and products. At least in the West, there is no incentive f... show more
To go back to one of your earlier questions: "How can we learn to disagree gracefully?" We already know how to do it, but as long as there will be people paid to provoke, there will be public instances of people strongly disagreeing for good reasons.
These people are paid either by people who believe there is a culture war and that it can be won somehow, or by people who have a vested political or economical interests in stoking said culture war. As long as there will be an incentive to do so, they will continue to fund incendiary radio host, podcasts, cable TV, newspaper and websites.
There's one of the root causes. When this is out of the way, we can talk about the second leg of the problem, advertisement encouraging people to strongly identify with brands and products. At least in the West, there is no incentive for anyone to find a sense of self outside of consumerism. So people have heated arguments over science-fiction franchises and sports teams.
And then finally, there's good ol' jingoism that makes the world looks like Black (bad) and White (good) for the benefit of governments. Then people strongly feel about a country they didn't choose and you have all sorts of non-conversations between people from different countries who talk past each other.
So yeah, for me the issue is way larger than just media literacy.
Strypey
•Content warning: Long post
Hypolite Petovan
•In practice, though, it doesn't reflect any reality. We are constantly exposed to opposing views on social media, if only because our immediate contacts who vehemently disagree shared them to vent.
I believe the reality is the exact opposite, we are bombarded with so many opposing views that we have to react by tightening our social media circle in order to reduce the received mental damage.
My strategy would rely on taxing corporate profits and capital gains that I believe make right-wing patronage so widespread in the first place. It would have other benefits for society although I'm not able to predict which ones with certainty. It wouldn't completely solve the capitalist power dynamics but I believe it would take the edge off it.
Now I don't think it's going to happen, because... show more
In practice, though, it doesn't reflect any reality. We are constantly exposed to opposing views on social media, if only because our immediate contacts who vehemently disagree shared them to vent.
I believe the reality is the exact opposite, we are bombarded with so many opposing views that we have to react by tightening our social media circle in order to reduce the received mental damage.
My strategy would rely on taxing corporate profits and capital gains that I believe make right-wing patronage so widespread in the first place. It would have other benefits for society although I'm not able to predict which ones with certainty. It wouldn't completely solve the capitalist power dynamics but I believe it would take the edge off it.
Now I don't think it's going to happen, because of the current power dynamics in favor of capital, but I don't think communication education, while good on its own, is a path towards that goal, mainly because I don't believe we aren't lacking the ability to communicate with people, we just have no incentive to do it.
Strypey
•Hypolite Petovan
•Strypey
•Strypey
•Hypolite Petovan
•For example, it’s been fascinating to me to witness the shift in communication about China as more and more of the major US companies started to depend on this fast-growing market for their income. From defiance and exoticism to unabashed pandering, US companies have stopped biting the hand as it started to feed them more and more.
So in my experience the system changes despite the self-reinforcing communication you described, which seems to make communication literacy secondary to enact any sort of changes. It’s definitely welcome, but perhaps not indispensable to any system-changing endeavors.
Strypey
•Hypolite Petovan
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