re:media Let first agree with you cde Kaizer that in deed there is a group of people who have organized themselves to oppose and lie about the congress movement in a public media (i.e. radio, TV, newspapers etc). You have dealt with this concerned individual by the name of Sparks. My purpose here is to further expose the underlying manipulation by these public opinion makers. First there exist no shall thing as “to articulate views objectively” in the news reporting, and this is inherent to all people because as you report you have your own views on the matter, so one can only strive for relative objectivity.
Before analyzing the media industry it would be important to first briefly analyze society in general. Here one can observe can give Marx conception of classes (mainly working class which include the unemployed and the bourgeoisie). Noam Chomsky (scholar) has also provided with a useful conception, he argues that it is best to view society based on classes which are active in economy, knowledge, and decision making. Here he says there a special class which plays a meaningful role in running of the country (i.e. politicians, economists, lawyers, teachers, academics, business people etc) and masses which is dominantly labour force. He further argues that the purpose of news is highly meant to influence the special class also most important to note is that within the special class there is dominance by elite. Chomsky's and Herman's propaganda model, the thesis that corporate media, as profit-driven institutions, tend to serve and further the agendas of the interests of dominant, elite groups in the society. For example even the ownership of media is just a monopoly by a small number of conglomerates and corporations. So surely this consolidation is by its nature detrimental, dangerous, or otherwise problematic. This propaganda model indicates a filter process which severely compromises our mass media (i.e. newspapers) and these can be seen in five steps: • Ownership of the medium: (the information presented to the public will be biased with respect to these interests and to maximize profit means sacrificing news objectivity). • Medium's funding sources: (Since the mainstream media depend heavily on advertising revenues to survive, the model suggests that the interests of advertisers come before reporting the news). • Sourcing: (need for a continuous flow of information to fill their demand for daily news). • Flak: is a targeted effort to discredit organizations or individuals who disagree with or cast doubt on the prevailing assumptions to negative responses to a media statement or program. • Anti-communist/ Anti-progressive ideology: exploit public fear and hatred of groups that pose a potential threat, either real, exaggerated, or imagined. Socialism/Communism once posed the primary threat according to the model. In a South African context, we have experienced a serious attack towards our political organizations SACP, COSATU and the ANC. The issue of media is really problematic. But there are ways in which countries can establish alternative media which can be government-owned and/or owned by progressive business. Aphiwe Bewana is the SASCO Provincial Chairperson (Western Cape), writing in his personal capacity. Mr. A.L. Bewana MSc. Conservation Biology Percy-FitzPatrick Institute DST/NRF-Centre of Excellence University of Cape Town Cell no. 073 4483 651 "All that we are is the result of all that we have thought. It is founded on thought. It is based on thought". ______________________________________________________________________________________________ UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN This e-mail is subject to the UCT ICT policies and e-mail disclaimer published on our website at http://www.uct.ac.za/about/policies/emaildisclaimer/ or obtainable from +27 21 650 4500. This e-mail is intended only for the person(s) to whom it is address ed. If the e-mail has reached you in error, please notify thenot use, disclose, copy, redirect or print the content. If this e-mail is not related to the business of UCT it is sent by the sender in the sender's individual capacity. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
