Blame Game

Ever since Noam Chomsky published his book Manufacturing Consent and the subsequent movie was made on his book, it appears that every young radical I meet or encounter both in person and online is utterly and completely infatuated with everything that book had to say. There has also been a move away from the writings of Chomsky and a move towards the expansion of "media conspiracy" arguments made at every term. The recent scandal involving Rupert Murdoch's News International and revelations about the relationship between police and media sources has only seemed to reinforce these views of the media.

There should be no mistake, there is evidence to support many things that Chomsky has to say. The relationship between the media and government and the ways in which media works on its consumers is truly fascinating, but I personally believe that Chomsky overstates his case. But to suggest such a position to young radicals in love with the thesis is to declare oneself a "shill" and a slave to the system.

But I don't see grand conspiracies or organized efforts between the state and media to produce desired effects. Instead, I see amoral institutions acting in their own self interest, namely achieving readership and thus profits. This typically creates ethically dubious relationships between the media and the contacts they maintain both among law enforcement and government (as well as any other story subject). Its fairly clear that the drive of news organizations is towards profit and survival, and when ethical issues arise they only form weak obstructions to the efforts of the more deplorable of journalists. There are structural pressures on journalists as the company for which they work demands results, and the journalists must either cave into the pressure or hobble their career to some degree.

Now, this does not, in any way, shape, or form excuse what Murdoch's News International has done. No, what it does is demonstrate the moral weakness of its members and its leadership. The greatest challenge for these editors and CEOs is to express some individual moral integrity to resist the structural pressures of being in a corporate environment. It is not easy, but that does not make it acceptable to surrender to such despicable forces in an effort to achieve the "story."

The irony is that now Murdoch's news empire is the story, and every other news outlet has pounced on it. While there is an element of justice to this turn in the road, there is also something to be cautious of as this story moves forward. Murdoch's various networks, most infamously FOX news, are notorious for their right wing bias in an ocean of liberally biased news sources. They are also notorious for their really poor reporting and hyper-distorting style of analysis. So, naturally, networks like MSNBC have pounced upon this crying for blood. There's a part of me, too, that wants this to cripple and alter the way Murdoch's news networks operate. But that may be a sign of my naïve nature.

But returning to my reason for writing this post: I remain amazed that people try to turn this into a Chomsky issue where the state-media relationship is the only one of value. But when you look at this whole thing, it speaks to the way we consume media, and how our consumption plays a direct role in the pressures and motives that engender stories like these. Its hard to believe that such a systemic failure of morality by these journalists and CEOs would have been possible if there weren't such a demand and environment around such deplorable reporting. Again, this is not an effort to let these people off the hook, but rather a long way of saying that people who blame the state-media relationship are shifting the blame and not being self-reflexive. At the same time, I am not trying to dismiss what Chomsky and his readers argue for- I'm just saying that its not the only story in town.

My little self-righteous blog will not change anything. Rather, this really serves to remind myself that I can be caught up in the sensationalization of news and the media wars that go on. Huge, amoral news corporations all circle one another in the tank, waiting for any sign that they can eliminate the competition. I believe that that is precisely what is happening, and viewers and read of the more leftist-media outlets are wasting no time in enjoying Murdoch squirm. But this is not just about Murdoch anymore. NPR did a story yesterday covering the systemic issues in the media-law enforcement relationship, and I appreciated it. Rather than delighting in Murdoch's discomfort, they tried to draw out the bigger question. And that, I think, is really important