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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.
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