NationStates Jolt Archive

The problem with the media today is that no news is good news. Practically all the press report is bad news (lets have no smart alec links with "ah but X is good news for Y" because you are all perfectly aware of the general trend). War, crime, scandal etc, all these are considered shock events and there value is for selling newspapers. The more shocking and somehow "interesting" the events, the more attention it recieves. This of course leaves society with a bad taste in its mouth, thinking that all around us the world is falling to ruin. So what is the answer. Its simple. Make the free press free. Make it actually illegal to make a profit of any kind from reporting the news. This way the news no longer is reporting what sells, but what happens. Funding the news could be done by government (but somehow made independent as to avoid state based propoganda machines where the press pander to the government to get funds) or by some form of charitable enterprise. Either way to make the press work you have to make it free.

So what you'd be talking about is making the press non-profit with an oversight comittee to ensure that this follows through?

I think it's an excellent idea. We'd see the "influential media" being less able to influence public opinions with regard to whatever political party it finds in favour of its profits this term.

Anyone who is familiar with the Sun newspaper in the UK can probably imagine what I'm talking about.

However even "state owned" or controlled media outlets can show a bias. A problem the BBC has been criticised for in the past.

Additionally does anyone think that this can be related to the BBC in any kind of way?

So what you'd be talking about is making the press non-profit with an oversight comittee to ensure that this follows through?

I think it's an excellent idea. We'd see the "influential media" being less able to influence public opinions with regard to whatever political party it finds in favour of its profits this term.

Anyone who is familiar with the Sun newspaper in the UK can probably imagine what I'm talking about.

However even "state owned" or controlled media outlets can show a bias. A problem the BBC has been criticised for in the past.

Additionally does anyone think that this can be related to the BBC in any kind of way?
I like The Sun... well I like Hagar the Horrible and Ally Ross. This is a good idea.. can't see it happening though..

bump (no one else got any thoughts on this?)

Innit weird what people comment on and what they don't...

Additionally does anyone think that this can be related to the BBC in any kind of way?

What needs to be done is for the competeative element to be removed from the media. So that the BBC would be the only broadcaster in the UK and thus would be able to put on good news as well as bad because it isnt based on what would be attention grabbing, but on what has happened.

So what is the answer. Its simple. Make the free press free. Make it actually illegal to make a profit of any kind from reporting the news. This way the news no longer is reporting what sells, but what happens. Funding the news could be done by government (but somehow made independent as to avoid state based propoganda machines where the press pander to the government to get funds) or by some form of charitable enterprise. Either way to make the press work you have to make it free.

No, thank you. Fascism for a "good" cause is still fascism.

What needs to be done is for the competeative element to be removed from the media. So that the BBC would be the only broadcaster in the UK and thus would be able to put on good news as well as bad because it isnt based on what would be attention grabbing, but on what has happened.

So a lack of competition in the news media is a good thing?

Yeah I guess I'd agree with you.

No, thank you. Fascism for a "good" cause is still fascism.

Why is making it illegal for the press to be paid for facisim?

bump

Just my little 2 cents.

If you don't like hearing about all the "bad uppsetting news" stop listening or buying the papers when they report it.

Also a non-profit media would lack the motivation to go the extra mile for the scoup or the story. Competition is always a good thing.

Supressing competition is the worst thing we could do. The biggest proof of the dangers of anti-competitive news is the situation of the 1950's and 1960's US media, where the monopolized, noncompetitive media went hand in hand with the government and outright lied about or covered up the situation in Vietnam, the nuclear and biological weapons tests, McCarthyism, espionage in the USSR, attempts to assassinate foreign leaders, the CIA's role in the Middle East, and so on.

A free, for profit press with no government intervention is best, because competition is the wellspring of independent thought. The last thing we need are bureaucrats or board members for charities determining what is acceptable and unacceptable as news. It would end in disaster.

Supressing competition is the worst thing we could do. The biggest proof of the dangers of anti-competitive news is the situation of the 1950's and 1960's US media, where the monopolized, noncompetitive media went hand in hand with the government and outright lied about or covered up the situation in Vietnam, the nuclear and biological weapons tests, McCarthyism, espionage in the USSR, attempts to assassinate foreign leaders, the CIA's role in the Middle East, and so on.

A free, for profit press with no government intervention is best, because competition is the wellspring of independent thought. The last thing we need are bureaucrats or board members for charities determining what is acceptable and unacceptable as news. It would end in disaster.
hmmm.. yes.. maybe it just needs to be taken out of the hands of huge corporations.. especially out of the hands of News Corp.

The last thing i want to see is the news media being funded or controlled by the government. And while having organisations like News Corp in charge of what gets reported is not ideal, there are many many alternative sources of news and politics and current affairs out there.
Way back in the cobwebbed recesses of my mind I seem to remember a newspaper that only printed good news and went bust pretty quickly. If people want to read about death, tsunamis, war, famine, rape and drug addicts let them. It certainly makes my life seem that little bit better on a Monday morning. Feel good bad news.