the State and the Media

[Rawthentic]

I have been debating lately with some left-liberals the idea that the current State and government is simply a tool that is used to cater to the ruling class, and the media as its mouthpiece. How can I prove this, using theory and concrete examples from today?
Thanks comrades

[YSR]

In terms of examples, I think it's not too hard a statement to prove. Sit down and watch the news for a few minutes with these folks. Particularly an "unbiased" national news network like MSNBC or (better yet) CNN.

Turn off the TV and discuss what you just saw. The parallels between what the State and the ruling class want to be the public perspective and what the media says are incredibly clear.

It's important to remember, however, that difference between propaganda and brainwashing. Propaganda is that kind of Fox News stuff. Overt lies, misdirections, and blustering statements based on little fact. The more threatening thing is the CNN effect, the brainwashing effect. Rather than trying to convince you of something, the "mainstream" "unbiased" perspective simply tells you of the world the way it is. By removing explicit ideology from their presentation, the media make it far easier to accept the implicit ideology that their images contain.

In terms of theory, I know it's a wee bit dated, but Guy Debord's Society of the Spectacle is pretty fantastic. It's thick as fuck and I'm only a quarter of the way through, but it's pretty enlightening.
http://library.nothingness.org/articles/SI/en/pub_contents/4

[Rawthentic]

Thanks comrade, that helps a bit.

[Morpheus]

The book Manufacturing Consent by Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky has lots of good info on the media. So does http://www.fair.org You may also find my essays Ideological Hegemony: Thought Control in American Society (http://question-everything.mahost.org/Socio-Politics/thoughtcontrol.html) and On The State (http://question-everything.mahost.org/Socio-Politics/State.html) useful.

[BobKKKindle$]

Well, to begin you could talk about how one of the most important economic trends for the 20th century has been the centralisation and concentration of capital in the hands of fewer and fewer corporations, and how this applies not only to industries that produce a tangible commodity but also in the media industry. This means that most countries are dominated by a small number of large media conglomerates which limits the breadth of the ideological viewpoints that are expressed. Chomsky offers figures on this in the first chapter of MC (Already mentioned by a previous poster)

To bring in theoretical substance, you can discuss Antonio Gramsci's ideas on Cultural Hegemony and Ideology. Ideology is essentially a set of ideas and concepts that dictate how we percieve the society in which we live and how we relate to our fellow human beings. Gramsci recognized that the class consciousness of workers was not solely dictate by the material conditions in which they live, but also by their ideology, which was part of the worker's identity which was independent of material conditions to a greater extent than had previously been appreciated by Marxists. Gramsci belived that one of the primary ways in which the ruling class dominated the proletariat was through their control of culture and the means of communication - the instruments through which ideology was formed.

Of course, some people point out that this is an over simplification of the relationship between the media and individuals and that people are to an extent, able to criticaly analyse and look beyond new broadcasts and other forms of media.

[shadowed by the secret police]

Yeah Chomsky's "Manufacturing Consent" is good to dissect the propaganda put out by the media. It is a detailed analyses of the media in the U.S. I highly recommend it!

Chomsky also says in his small pamphlet "Media Control" that "Propaganda is to a Democracy what Brute Force is to a Dictatorship." In a dictatorship people are controlled by force. In a so-called "democracy" like U.S. of Britain people are controlled by propaganda although force can theoretically be used.

Have you guys looked at your local evening news on the telly? What do you see as the headline story? Some poor blokie got run over by a truck. Or some guy robbed a liquor store. Or it's been raining the last two days. It's stupid. They never mention how our so-called representatives have been robbing the people and all he had to wield was a pen.

[Dimentio]

During some times, they do not mention anything else, especially when media and government are against each-other.

[Marsella]

I have been debating lately with some left-liberals the idea that the current State and government is simply a tool that is used to cater to the ruling class, and the media as its mouthpiece. How can I prove this, using theory and concrete examples from today?
Thanks comrades

Check out OutFoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzBpPd8XpqY...related&search= (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzBpPd8XpqY&mode=related&search=)

The above provides some interesting statistics and so forth.

On a theoretical level:

'On Freedom of the Press' Karl Marx (I haven't read it but it may be worthwhile).

http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works...f_the_Press.pdf (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/Marx_On_freedom_of_the_Press.pdf)

In my opinion, talk on a 'free media' and an 'objective media' are raving babble. The media cannot disassociate itself from the conditions which it reports on. In a capitalist system, the media with a capitalist consciousness, will inevitably promote such views. They like to apppear to be objective by presenting two views: 'Democrat v Republican' etc. Clearly, there is little difference. The best we can hope for is a media which is not profit driven but serves its purpose of educating and entertaining people. Trivial reporting (e.g dog rescues cow) should be made unlawful. That goes along with celebrity 'news'.

However, you should also note the recent trends in media reporting; there are far greater sources and versions of events on the internet which are written by individuals not by corporations.

[which doctor]

It's rather simple. The same people who fund/bribe the politicians in Washington are the same people who own the media corporations. In all effect, its not really different from a state-run media.

[Dimentio]

Hm, different media conglomerates are aligned with different political parties. It is a complex system where both aware censorship and unaware leanings exist.

[Jazzratt]

Originally posted by [email protected] 02, 2007 06:00 pm
Hm, different media conglomerates are aligned with different political parties.
They are, but they are also all aligned with the idea of the state and with capitalism. The media and the various conglomerates feed off of capitalism and the state in turn gains a propaganda tool, as most media outlets promote an implicit support of capitalism and the capitalist state - albeit occaisonally recommending a change of the figurheads.