LAST WEEK, News Corp’s newspapers The Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, The Courier Mail and The Adelaide Advertiser caused controversy by publishing front page “exclusives” and “special reports” alleging that more gas is needed to avoid electricity blackouts in the future.
If readers turned the page and read the fine print, they would learn that this so-called “news” was actually not news. It was an advertorial (a fancy word for an advertisement), paid for by – you guessed it – the fossil fuel industry.
Why not both? The media should absolutely be forced to do their job properly, and people should absolutely be educated to spot bs.
@Moc
‘Forcing’ is akin to tyranny and would limit our ability to explore and debate perspectives other than our own thereby closing ourselves off from any possibility of ‘learning’, ‘growing’ and bettering ourselves.
I’m curious as to your perspective. Laws are rules under threat of force. Are you implying that having laws and enforcing them is tyranny? Would a society with no rule of law be better in your opinion?
@Moc
I think you’re reading me wrong. A discussion on law and order would be too long winded (and peppered with points of view - some irreconcilable ) for me to entertain at this time. Let’s just say that ‘muzzling’ the citizenry is a double edged sword. We ought not invite anarchism nor encourage tyranny, it’s a fine balance. And where the fourth estate is concerned, a rocky path at best where, should we tread too heavily, we will impoverish our society. I hope that makes my thinking clear on this issue my friend. It is hardly controversial.
#lawAndOrder #FeedomOfThePress
I used to think like you. I almost completed a journalism degree in Australia— so I’m well aware of the role and necessity of the fourth estate. Having seen years of the awful effects of Murdoch’s propaganda rags on my country’s culture and government, I think media should be subject to certain laws.
For example, News Limited’s news media companies only serve propaganda for fossil fuel magnates. It’s not news. They have never and will never do their job as the fourth estate, because they are propaganda for those in power, nothing more and nothing less.
Yes, free political expression should be protected and is important for the function of democracy. So it not conflating literal propaganda with news.