Heart of the Matter - The State of the Media

By Tom Kocal, Publisher

Most people rely on information provided by daily newspapers and television networks to be aware of current events and how those events might affect their lives. Unfortunately, many media sources have become so “politically correct” and fearful of losing advertising that they no longer serve the public, but their dwindling bottom lines.

Many have heard that the Federal Reserve gave some media such as MSNBC “bail-out” money, thereby compromising their reporting. Their credibility is down the tubes. Other television is compromised with huge sums of advertising from mostly big pharma and other large multi-national companies like BP. Will they report on the adverse affects of many of the new drugs being released or continue to perpetrate the myth that a pill can and will fix anything imaginable, like the newly found “restless leg” syndrome, one of many newly formed diagnoses that purportedly will be mitigated with a pill? Or, do you hear about the damage in the Gulf of Mexico from the BP oil spill and their “clean-up” with toxic chemicals like you did with the Exxon-Valdeze spill that pales in comparison?

Does our government or big corporations care if the news media fails and the public is no longer informed? On the contrary, they couldn’t care less and there are some who would celebrate the loss of transparency to the public. In fact, that has essentially already happened.

Divide and Conquer

With fragmented audiences, it is easy to manipulate the populace into opposing groups with talk of racism, conservative vs liberal, Republicans vs Democrats, gays vs straight, pro-choice vs pro-life, and the list goes on and on. Let’s be honest - how many “racist” people do you personally know? Most topics of controversy in the media today just divert attention away from truly important news, like the passage of extending tyrannical provisions of the Patriot Act where the government can, for any reason or no reason, invade the privacy of citizens in the name of homegrown terrorism. They can then hold a person without due process and the rights afforded a court hearing for indefinite periods of time. It has been done and is done more frequently as this law stays in effect. Do you know about that? There’s many more details that can’t be covered here.

The television media has taken to marginalizing people who have valid concerns, giving the public the impression that they’re kooks or crazy.

The Obama birth certificate is a forgery and you may well marginalize me for saying that. After inspection in Adobe Illustrator of the document downloaded straight off the White House web site, there is no question in my mind about the forgery, and we have been working with that software for more years than I care to think about. But, when Bill O’Reilly says he’s “looking out for you,” you can’t assume it’s a fact just because O’Reilly says so. Having a known Obama supporter on his TV program who says it is a “legitimate document,” doesn’t mean it’s the gospel truth.

These issues brought up here are only the tip of the iceberg. There is much information that the public rarely has access to.

Then there’s “news” on the web, a good deal of which is neither sourced or backed up. The news agencies that could and should investigate releases almost never do. It’s simply less expensive and much more profitable and safer to regurgitate what is often unsubstantiated hearsay. Most people don’t know that only 40-45% of households in the U.S. actually have internet service in any event. That leaves many people without any access to good, solid reporting of news that can be found on the internet.

Don’t Kill the Messenger

Does the Prairie Advocate meet with irate readers or business people who don’t like what we report? Absolutely. Have we lost advertising because of it? Oh, yes. There are times when our information is misconstrued because of personal bias or people don’t like the fact that there is no “off the record” at public meetings. Or, they think we have no business in making them or their community look bad, when the fact is that we only report what they have said or done. What we do is inform you - in every way our small enterprise is able - of local, along with state and national news if we believe it’s especially important for you to have that information because of the potential impact on our lives and livelihood here in Northwest Illinois.

For example, do we think that it’s reasonable that our Carroll County Board Chairman appointed a former Republican to fill a resigning Democrat’s seat, going against the recommendation of the Carroll County Democratic Committee? (May 25, 2011, page 3, section one)

No. Who does it serve, the public or some other agenda?

What really matters is if you feel it was the right thing to do, and if not, will you take your responsibility as a citizen seriously and take action. We have to commend Don Mantze as a Republican for doing the right thing and voting against this county action.

We, at the Prairie Advocate, know that we are sometimes biased one way or another. Everyone is, but our intent is to provide the best possible information available. Yes, we do make mistakes and will readily tell our readers with corrections and clarifications. Because of deadlines and news cycles, it is part of the business in informing you, our readers, to the best of our abilities. as best as is possible.

Think about what the media does for you and consider supporting media that supports you, like the Prairie Advocate.

We always appreciate our readers supporting the advertisers that bring you the news each week, but we will not alter our news for them.

 

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