Quote:
Originally Posted by Boon Mee  |
Since when does the media prefer to report good news?
The media conspiracy theory is just a bit of right wing paranoia.
People don't want to told over and over again that things are going well, but when things are going bad they want daily updates. The media makes its money by selling stories about things that are extraordinary because that's what people want to hear about. Eg: Zimbabwe make the international media news headlines just about every day now because whats happening there is extraordinary. Same with Iran and the tussle over their nuclear energy project. Whats happening in Iraq today is pretty tame now compared to what it was a couple of years ago (though its still pretty fucking bad if you happen to be an Iraqi).
What ever happened to Osama Bin Laden and the war in Afghanistan? Well it was overshadowed in the media by the war in Iraq wasn't it.
Plus you got a world financial crisis and a US election to divert attention this year.
The media are not the moral watchdogs of society in a democracy, although they do play an integral part in the process. But basically the media is out there to make money by selling stories people want to hear about. And good news stories don't sell. Plus after all the lies and distortions the US government has fed into the media about Iraq in the past, the general media has become a little more objective and therefore reticent to become the mouthpiece of the US government.