The Media's Motive is Not Facts, its $$$

The Business Model

To understand the media we consume today, we have to go back. Back to the beginning of when televisions were invented. Black and white television sets were a commodity in the 1940's with only about 6,000 sets in use in 1946. By 1951, there were 12 million television sets which made it the quickest invention to enter American homes. Then, cable news entered the scene when Ted Turner launched CNN in 1980. It became one of the most watched stations in 1991 due to the coverage of the Gulf War. 

This new medium of media was a child of paper journalism and radio, but it was hopped up on steroids. The business model was not yet understood in its entirety but what they did know was that they needed viewership; the more viewers a station had, the more money they can charge for placing ads on their channel. Eventually it became clear that to retain an audience, the news being broadcasted needed to be exciting and the coverage of that news event needed to last weeks, if not days. What was the best way to do that? Evoke emotion from the audience.

This was studied by experts during the coverage of COVID-19. They wrote that 52% of news headlines evoked negative sentiments, 30% evoked positive sentiments, and 18% were neutral. "Fear, trust, anticipation, sadness, and anger were the main emotions evoked by the news headlines."

Why evoke or enhance emotions within people? A lot of people say it's because the news stations want more people to watch the news to increase their ratings and keep viewers engaged. They exaggerate and propel fear to get every penny they can.

Show of Power

The news is also an excellent medium for leaders to assert their power and convey their message to millions. There is a time period called the "Golden Age of Presidential Television" which lasted from the 1960s-1990's. This was a time that Americans were hearing directly from the Presidents. Presidents at this time were conveying a certain message or giving an important speech they wanted everyone to hear. It was a way to reach citizens and gain support for policies. We are all human at the end of the day which is why leaders of a nation look for reasons to show their power. We all realized this way too well with Donald Trump. He scattered protestors with stun grenades and tear gas on live television to get from the White House to the St. John's Episcopal Church, and that was an act of power. It is in all animals DNA to show power or flex before an altercation. That was his way. But he showed it to the world.

You can read more about how other presidents did this in The American Political Science Review journal article published in 1999 titled, "Has Cable Ended the Golden Age of Presidential Television?" (if you'd like to read a copy, email us at thebrowncapitol@gmail.com). Here's a snippet from the journal article:

Big Media fluctuates. It catches the wave of a newsworthy event and rides that wave every few years. That is what was done to us when COVID-19 first broke. We gave business to Big Media. We are essential to their business plan. You can read about how "Big Media" has declined since the beginning of the internet boom and how these companies are fighting to recover and figure out the business of how to use emotion to gain viewership. Granted, COVID-19 was actual news. We needed to stay informed. But the news companies saw the revenue and were compelled to propel the coverage to get every penny they can.

Misinformation and fear

The news industry was extremely lucrative during a time in the early 2000's. Everyone was watching. The media would present certain news stories that would make the assumption that the world’s 1.8 BILLION Muslims were all in cahoots and were following a religion of terror and anarchy. That they wanted to overthrow the government and nonsensical claims of such. They coined certain phrases that are still used today to invoke fear like Extremist Islamic Terrorists. Although, very little of it may be true, we can all agree looking back, that most of that was untrue.

Where are the facts?

So, what happened to actual news agencies? The ones that actually report news with non-biased facts. Well they're dying out. Most local newspapers contain some of the most factual news you can get for your region. The thing is facts are boring. Those newspapers are can't survive off of just facts. They are migrating to the internet where they have ads on their sites or they force you to turn off your adblocker before you can read an article. It's all unappealing to the average citizen and they lose business before they can even retain a user's attention. But if you have the means, support your local newspaper.

Most of the news that people digest anyways is from their phones and specifically from social media. Social media shows a wide array of news coverage from multiple sources. That is because they also took a nugget from Big Media in regards to their business plan. We are the product for social media's business plan. They need us to be engaged and remain as active users so they can flood our screens with ads. And they keep us engaged by using algorithms that recommend content that we support, thus showing only one side of the coin.

Social media giants have an obligation to flag misinformation, to distinguish facts from fiction, and to ensure that freedom of speech comes with a responsibility. If a certain news event is deemed not important or a conflict of interest, social media giants should not silence those certain opinions. For example, social media giants are complicit in disseminating only a sliver of the details when in regards to certain news events, specifically Palestine. But the floodgates are opening and more people are seeing the horrors inflicted on people all over the world. 

Big Media doesn't show the constant chaos and psychological torture endured by the Palestinians at the hand of the Israeli military. For example, 80% of Israel's Air Force is made up of unmanned drones. These surveillance drones fly over Gaza daily and they're not quiet about it. There is a constant buzz in the sky. Even at night when Palestinians are trying to sleep. They are under constant fear of drone strikes and that takes a toll. This is just ONE of the many ways Israel keeps a boot on the neck of Palestinians. To assert their dominance.

Why does CNN or ABC not cover this? Is this not newsworthy enough? Do they believe Americans would not care about this kind of news (especially since our tax dollars are being used to fund this)? Well that's because they allow Israel to conduct their business with impunity. CNN specifically is biased towards Israel and have even fired commentators that speak out against Israel's occupation.

In a turn of events though, Israel is losing the media war. They care so heavily about their reputation within the media but due to the many who are vocalizing their opinions and broadcasting live footage to the world, Israel's true colors are showing. They are committing war crimes like blowing up hospitals, places of worship for all faiths, and historical landmarks. Not to mention, they are actually killing CIVILIANS on a daily basis. Human shield or not, that is not an excuse to disproportionately kill thousands of civilians. The same people who were subjected to ethnic cleansing during the holocaust are committing ethnic cleansing of another people. Even The Jerusalem Times, a pro-Zionist publication, has said that Israel needs a better PR strategy because how dare social media show the facts on the ground of how Israel is blowing up buildings and killing children, i.e. they want to hide this from the world.

How to navigate the news

Be wary of the news you choose to digest. There are multiple opinions out there. There is coverage from many different sides that support the ideology of a certain narrative. Choose facts and understand that the media you are consuming may have ulterior motives: whether that is to gain viewership to appease their business model, a show of power by a leader, or just spreading misinformation to cause chaos. 

Stay informed and spread the word.

- TBC