Does the media have a responsibility to monitor what they say because
some people in the audience may not understand how to interpret it
properly? That was the main question from a call into my talk show
on WWL. It’s a great question and I applauded the caller for actually thinking about the role of talk radio and the media in society.
The caller was concerned that there are many Americans who are
gullible and easily swayed by information that is not true. He seemed to
suggest a fear that many people act on misinformation in a way that is
negative and detrimental to society and he wondered if the media has a
responsibility to avoid expressing opinions and avoid anything that
could be considered misinformation.
Of the three major cable news channels, Fox News is the cable news
channel most guilty of misleading the audience. CNN and MSNBC are
biased, but neither goes as far as Fox News in trying to dictate behavior, and if it takes misinformation to accomplish that, then so be it. Recently, Fox News posted stories about President Biden banning religious symbols from the annual Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House, knowing that when he was president, Donald Trump also banned religious symbols from the Easter Egg Rolls at the White House. In fact, the ban on any religious symbols at the White House Easter Egg Roll has been in effect for nearly 50 years.
The Fox News story was misinformation served to rile up the
conservative audience. Then the conservative audience spread, as fact, that Biden banned religious symbols at the Easter Egg Roll all across
social media.
ALL of the cable news channels are biased and feed their audiences, but
Fox News has gone to extremes to support hosts, like Tucker Carlson, to
promote total lies about things their audience wants to be true. Fox
News was so desperate to avoid going to trial on charges they lied about
the 2020 election and in doing so slandered the Dominion Voting
Systems that the conservative network agreed to pay a whopping $800
million settlement because they knew the evidence was there that they
had been lying to the American people and they knew it.
The domination of right-wing conservative radio talk show hosts across
the country are not always beholden to the truth or standards we think
they should adhere to. Many radio talk show hosts are interested in
inciting their audiences for attention and ratings and can be loose with
the real facts.
The concern the caller brought up about misinformation leading to
negative actions by the audience is a legit concern. We have lost respect
for the truth and audiences are entertained by what they want to be true
and the cable news channels and radio talk shows across the country are
forms of entertainment. As long as the goal of the media is to attract the
largest possible audience for the purpose of generating the most revenue,
then the truth will always be a sacrificial lamb.
It is true that many who consume the media do not possess the intellect
to interpret the contents of many programs and hosts and they will
inevitably be prone to negative actions, like spreading misinformation as
fact. But how do we prevent that?
It is the opinion-driven content that is the most explosive content and the content that is most likely to affect people who are easily convinced to act or spread lies. But since banning content that is opinion-driven could be a form of censorship, we must hold the consumers of the media accountable for their actions, regardless of the content they consume.
Society is polluted with complicated problems and conflicts with political parties and issues and many individuals who are desperate to find answers tend to believe in conspiracy theories and misinformation that provide an explanation - though a false explanation - for what they can’t explain in their own minds.
Leaders anointed as trustworthy and righteous become the leaders many follow and their bond with these leaders, often politicians or media hosts, becomes so strong that any attack on the leader is perceived as a personal attack on the individual who has put their faith in the leader.
When the truth or facts contradict the words and actions of the leader, individuals who have bonded with the leader completely disregard the truth or the facts and defend the misinformation promoted by the leader. Bias toward leaders has become so strong that the truth and the facts are considered nothing more than slander against the leaders.
The media has a responsibility to be honest with its audience, but that is more a hope than it is reality. It’s 2024 and it seems the goal of the media, overall, is to spread information that ignites the emotions of the audience - even if that information is not based on facts. The media has strayed from informing the American public to inciting the American public with the intent of creating hysteria.
Since censorship is not an acceptable alternative, it’s important to remember that as Americans we all have a responsibility to seek what is true over settling for a primal response to the news and content we are exposed to every day. And information about a candidate, for example, that is negative should be accepted as a lie - if the information is true. There has been a trend enhanced by former President Trump that anything negative is equivalent to a lie. That is a lie.
