ABOUT media


It is objective knowledge and hereby something we cannot deny meaningful if we speak rationally together, that there is a logical relation between persons and persons rights. Persons should be treated as persons and therefore as having rights. If we deny this postulate it goes wrong: here is a person, but this person should not be treated as a person, or: here is a person, who should be treated as a person, but not as having rights. Therefore we can only talk about persons in a way that makes sense if we know that persons have rights.
It is a fact and hereby objective knowledge, that Concentrations of power not always respect the rights of persons. If one denies this fact one gets: concentrations of power always respect the rights of persons. This does not correspond with our experiences. Concentrations of power characterize our society. Concentrations of power force persons to concentrate on participating in competition and power games, in order to create a social position for themselves. Concurrently with the concentrations of power dominating our conscious mind and being decisive to our situations, the significance of our fellow humans diminishes. And our own significance becomes the significance we have for concentrations of power, the growth of concentrations of power, and the conflicts of concentrations of power. It is of the utmost importance that we try to find ways of organizing with as small concentration of power as possible.
Mass media such as newspapers, television, radio stations, books, magazines etc. are to be considered concentrations of power, and at the same time, they represent other concentrations of power and their interests, for example government and commercial interests. Mass media also represent different ideological and religious points of view. Ideologies and religions are expressions of subjective opinions, social conventions and habitual conception and do not necessarily respect conditions for description such as the logical relation between persons and persons rights.
Media play a decisive role in anything from the initiation of wars to the way persons live their daily life. They influence what persons think and do, how they treat each other, and what their desires for shelter, food, sex and work etc are. Also what fields of knowledge persons get access to. Media have an important influence on what is considered significant in a society, by directing attention at certain events and persons and avoiding others Media have an interest in maintaining a stable audience that is easy to influence politically and economically with propaganda and commercials, and that hold certain views, fit a certain profile, so they can attract the investors and commercials etc. that fit this profile. (Thus the workings of media are based on a reduction of persons into certain stereotypes).
Media are considered an important feature of democracy and are believed to be a proof of freedom of speech and thus of one important right But as power concentrates around media, the democratic aspect of media diminishes, because it is by definition impossible to represent all persons. Instead what happens is that what is supposed to represent all persons, what we have in common, gets reduced to the lowest common denominator.
Journalists refer the opinions that they suppose people have.The process of selecting news for broadcasting itself is an example of concentration of power, where respect of persons rights, fact and conditions for description not necessarily prevail The media has no sincere interest in educating persons or to support other ways of thinking than the ideologies and religions supported by large concentrations of power, because they are themselves large concentrations of power and are financed by other large concentrations of power. The function of the media is often that they infantilize persons and exclude critical voices. And that they have no interest in mediating uncensored information of facts, because such facts could harm the interests of concentrations of power and hereby also the media.
To create fear and anxiety in the populations is one of the tools used by media and the other concentrations of power that they represent, in order to preserve ignorance and stability. This is done by deliberately selecting certain categories of news to be reported out disproportionally, like crime news The persons who work in media often have a high level of education and are trained in communication. This education process itself is frequently an exercise in leaving out facts, events and persons that are considered irrelevant. Once these persons enter a position where they have a decisive influence on what other people think about and talk about and how they spend their money and their lives, they ought to be conscious of their responsibility and their power. This is often not the case. On the contrary, they believe that what they are doing is right, that they are more intelligent and competent than others, and that they are doing their best.
Persons who work in the media and have personal success, meaning that they confirm the subjective opinions, social conventions and habitual conceptions, that correspond to the interests of large concentrations of power, easily become role models for others persons. Their behaviour becomes the behaviour that shapes subjective opinions, social conventions and habitual conceptions One should not take on the responsibility of mediating anything without being conscious of the dangers of concentrating power. Persons working for mass media should first and foremost try to protect the rights of persons and not the interests of concentrations of power. It is necessary to try find ways of organizing media with the smallest concentration of power as possible.
Thus, media apparatus represent concentration of power on all levels: from rendering of concrete events and conversations, to the different stages of decision-making about what will be published, to the concentration of power on the corporate level including mergers, the creation of media conglomerates with their actual ownership hidden, etc. The media have no interest at all in changing this situation. On the contrary, being a large concentration of power is necessary in order to attract the capital and attention needed, in short, attract the attention of other concentrations of power At the same time, the media is an enormous industry that supports a lot of persons with the subject of their needs and desires, such as a good job and the possibility to support their children, etc Since the media are concentrations of power and also represent large concentrations of power, they don’t necessarily try to respect the rights of persons. What they first and foremost have to do is to try to survive in the struggle and competition with other concentrations of power One should not rely on mass media for information on what goes on in the world. The less persons use and rely on mass media, the less influence the media have In order to find ways of organising with as small concentrations of power as possible, it is important to find ways of reducing the influence of mass media and find other ways of distributing knowledge and information.
the rights of persons. What they first and foremost have to do is to try to survive in the struggle and competition with other concentrations of power One should not rely on mass media for information on what goes on in the world. The less persons use and rely on mass media, the less influence the media have In order to find ways of organising with as small concentrations of power as possible, it is important to find ways of reducing the influence of mass media and find other ways of distributing knowledge and information.




Back to manual for DISCUSSIONS



Back to manuals
Back to HOME