Has the purpose of the media changed

silverharp

I tend to listen to some US alternative internet radio shows, normally revolving around business issues and occasionally they do a piece on media in general and make observations that before the 70’s the news was more about reporting the facts but that the trend has changed and that the main objective now is opinion forming. Supposedly this trend started in the universities. Is this true? And is it a good thing?

What prompted the question was listening to RTE1 this morning where they said that the change in stamp duty regs was partly due to the campaign by independent newspapers.

flogen

silverharp wrote:

What prompted the question was listening to RTE1 this morning where they said that the change in stamp duty regs was partly due to the campaign by independent newspapers.

Who said that? It's a pretty mis-informed conclusion to come to and one that only encourages them.

As for the media's purpose changing... opinion in the media isn't anything new, if anything it's what newspapers were all about when they first started. Maybe things moved away from that and are now moving back, but I don't think news media was ever 100% hard news, 0% comment.

There's no doubt that the balance has swung towards comment in many places lately - that's an economic thing though.

Tom Dunne

The purpose hasn't change, the slant has.

Influenced by vested interests and the unforgivable birth of those wretched "human interest" stories, a general dumbing down of the media has occurred. The focus is not on some funny little foreign men blowing each other to bits, or the plight of starving kids, it's more concerned with Posh'n'Becks' new haircut.

And form my own experience lecturing at third level, I do see an element of opinion forming, purely because the students want their opinion formed - they don't want to think for themselves. They want to absorb facts to regurgitate them at the exams, they want to be spoonfed. I recall in one class remarking how the students believe everything I said, without questioning, a trait which they appear to be carrying into their working life.

A worrying trend.

constitutionus

well im just a guy whos consumed media and like to be informed but i have to admit the last 3 yrs or so has seen a marked change in the media for me. its way too biased in a particular direction and now i find myself actively trying to find out if theres a vested interest involved in whatever medium im using and thats something i never did before.

the problem , from my point of view, is theres just a severe derth of investigative journalism in lieu of opinon which lets face it is cheaper. but more than that now im starting to see particular political spins being thrown on stories instead of straight reporting so to me at least it does look like the purpose of the media has changed from an informative investigative force to a form of social conditioning which tries to get particular views taken on board by the populus.

of course it doesnt work

for all their faults people arent thick and if the media could do this we wouldnt have the government we have now. still it doesnt stop em trying. for instance theres a big push to get the EU constituion back on track and despite the fact its somewhat undemocratic to force something on the people of europe when theyve rejected it (ok theyve changed the name chucked out the flag and the hymn but its essentially the same fecking deal) the media completly skews past this to focus on poland and start ridiculing them when they take an anti treaty/constitution stance.

ok the whole dig at germany was too juicy for a bored hack to miss but no one seems to be asking why were back to this failed document which makes me think alot of our media types are just too close to the establishment for comfort. sad fact is now most media in this country is controlled by too few people and thats just not healthy