Media Manipulation or People Manipulation?

When one sets out to manipulate the media, there are plenty of checks against the power of the demagog. The frontline reporter who recieves press releases and phonecalls from those who would have their story told are not without their integrity. There is sympathy for their plight as servents to the corporate "give em what they want" mantra, and they are criticized for their bias and ambitions, but they are generally concientious people do what they can to ensure some version of the truth makes its way across their desk. The next line of defence is the editorial staff, who feel a disproportionate share of the pressure to sensationalize and encite, but who also know that being manipulated is a sign of weakness and incompetence. Publishers and producers are perhaps the last and best line of defense against spin and context creation because they have final say as to what makes it into or on their news outlet, and though they certainly create a context within which all news they approve is expected to fit, this context has little room for outright manipultation. A sponser or advertiser can place pressure on an outlet's leadership, but they are more interested in reaching demographics and avoiding controversy than controlling the spin on a particular story.

These defenses are nothing more than defenses. And as they rely almost completely on integrity and self-preservation as motivating instincts, human history provides adequate lessons about trusting such instincts over time. Corruption and laziness are indemic to integrity and diligence. They are each other's complement in a zero-sum game of human striving. Media personel have exhibited no special skills in this struggle - in spite of how we wish them to be.

But there is a big difference between manipulating the media and manipulating the people who rely on it as a portal to the world at large.  To do that, one would have to create a context, fill the context with the elements of a debate, make a case and argue against whatever opposition arises.  This is not easy to do.

to be continued...

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