From: Ryan (dna@pc.dk)
Date: Wed May 22 2002 - 16:45:45 MDT
Because man is practically non-existent in the greater perspective of time
he has always sought ways to immortalise himself. Mainly by leaving a
glorious legacy behind for his descendants to reflect upon and perhaps even
dream about. Plato, Attila the Hun, Shakespeare, and Einstein - These are
but few of our numerous immortals and while few remember their actual
accomplishments the mere mention of their names trigger feelings of respect,
admiration, and perhaps even envy.
Today mediocre men and women readily try to achieve immortality by
putting their body and lack of soul at the disposal of the so-called reality
shows on TV in exchange for their Warholish fifteen minutes of fame.
With television’s peaceful conquest of our living rooms people have
become dangerously aware of their insignificance and ultimately their own
mortality. Unfortunately, there is not much publicity to be gained from a
boring, yet virtuous existence; people have an easier time making a hero of
a small-time criminal who does something extraordinary than a chivalrous man
with a quiet, ordinary life. A good example is the communion of saints known
from the Roman-catholic church: No pious and reserved monk or nun was ever
made a saint but the legendary death of St. Sebastian, tied to a pole,
dramatically pierced by arrows, and eyes firmly fixed on the heavens secured
him instant sainthood.
As mentioned above, many are dissatisfied with their anonymity.
Unfortunately, the biggest celebrity-factory of today, Hollywood, recognises
only its own. Hollywood’s concept of an everyday hero is an overweight Texan
who patrols the southern border in his pick-up shooting illegal immigrants
with his shotgun on his own time. Unfortunately many victims of the stardust
syndrome realise later on, that their fifteen minutes of fame been reduced
to fifteen minutes of shame.
The ethical responsibility of the media is an enormous one. It has been said
that mass media is the fourth power of society (the government, police and
judicial system being the other three) and for good reason. The power of the
media may appropriately be described as the determining power of society as
the ability to control what reaches the ears and eyes of the public is left
almost solely up to the media. So even though the media does not have any
concrete power, they control the stream of information.
If the media singles out an individual, a corporation, or particular sub
culture the target is in for a rough ride. The financial magazine ‘Børsen’
featured an interesting article on the effects of the media a couple of
weeks ago. This article concluded that the stock prices of today no longer
represent the actual value of the stock but its PR-value. It also stated,
that the worst thing that could happen to a company was getting caught in a
media storm.
Sadly, it happens all too often that journalists put ethics aside and
focus on broadcasting a good story instead. By now, it is a well-known fact
that Danish media has an ongoing campaign to worsen the already rampant
xenophobia by always announcing the ethnical background of suspected
criminals. In Sweden the media has agreed only to mention the nationality of
criminals in cases where it is relevant to the crime committed. Likewise,
journalists release the names of suspects (sometimes even accompanied by
pictures) prior to their conviction. On the topic of pictures it is peculiar
to observe how reporters always select the one picture of the person in
question, which embodies what they are trying to say in an article (e.g. if
a celebrity has been suspected of violence, there is a 90% chance that the
persons teeth are exposed).
In conclusion the media does live not up to the ethical standards one
could expect of them but all things considered it is somewhat
understandable. After all, the contents of the media is but a dim reflection
of what the public wants, and the media cannot be expected to commit
financial suicide to uphold a its ethical code.
Time for ignorance and tobacco.
- blackwater
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Wed Sep 25 2002 - 13:28:47 MDT