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Originally Posted by OddjobXL
But I don't think you can just say that conservative conglomerates are pushing out propaganda in mainstream American media (aside from the Murdochs of the world). What we have is a public that will watch a car chase before a talking-head policy discussion and that for a very long time was unwilling, because it seemed so unlikely and troublesome, to believe an administration would lie to them in a time of war. And we had a media that was chasing that market more than the underlaying stories.
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I would argue that the relentless pursuit of profit and market shares above genuine reporting is a result of conglomerate ownership of the news media. It is the nature of corporations to pursue revenues above all else. There is no moral compulsion to be a good citizen or to be a responsible
Fifth Estate (as I was taught it, not the Fourth, but that might be a cultural difference). Another thing to consider is that the larger conglomerates are owned by massive ownership corporations themselves and ultimately any agenda pushed by these corporations are out of self interest to their profits.
Certainly the mood of the people over the last 30 years and especially since 9/11 is one where dissent was at first not popular, but that goes with the policy of selling newspapers. Selling to the mood by not being controversial means a wider interest. And lets face it, no matter your politics or mine the average adult isn't interested in whats going on. Mostly they want reinforcement of their convictions and any affront to that tends to drive down sales.
I don't by any means think that it is just the corporatization of the news media. However it is a major consideration. But in a discussion of the lack of investigative journalism today the corporate element is the most significant I feel.