Garbage In/Garbage Out: Reasons to Enforce New Regulations on the News Media

The US national government should implement official standards and practices for the regulation of news media for three reasons. First, as it now stands, the mainstream media is owned and run by a handful of corporations which do not have investment in the well-being of the population. Second, the news fails to add a broad perspective or comment meaningfully on it's subject. Finally, the news media is alarmist to its own detriment, driven to a distortion a reasonable perspective by its own contradicting motives.

Powerful large corporations own the mainstream media. Large powerful corporations generally have ties to other large corporations. Corporations exist solely as a mechanism to create profits. Profit by definition is the amount of money or reward a person can siphon from a system. It is simple logic to assume that it is easier to exploit and thereby profit from system that is filled by the ignorant as a majority. Allowing the conglomeration of news media is thereby giving the responsibility of informing the public to corporations that would have it be in their best interest to mal-inform or keep the majority clueless.

It is considered the purpose and responsibility of news media to cover current events in an immediate and factual manner and present the information responsibly. But, like a hound dog with nose to the ground, the media goes from one scent to the next, never looking up to place all the pieces into a broader context, to recognize patterns and draw meaningful conclusions. The media does not seek to enlighten its audience, but rather immerse it in meaningless seemingly unrelated events and factoids. This does a great disservice by giving the audience the impression of a random, meaningless and unchangeable world out of the reach of their comprehension.

In the interest of attracting an audience in a competitive market, the major news media has to play upon the fears of its followers preying upon their emotions to illicit the public's attention. Those willing to expose themselves to the "the news" on a daily basis are likely first to be infected by a state of panic, which then devolves into a numbness, resulting in a general depression, and after long enough, finally, a self-identity of a powerless and helpless individual.

The need for news media in society is not aligned to the needs of the current media conglomerates. Without the media being funded and controlled directly by the people, it will not be able to serve the people. Instead, as it is now, the media will be set up and run to manipulate “the people” for the purposes of its advertisers and its shareholders, benefiting the few at the cost of the many.