Postmodern Culture

Everything you want to know about postmodernism, postmodernity, and postmodern culture. Your guide to achieving postmodern literacy from The Notorious Dr. Rog and the class of ENG 335 at Rollins College.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Gary-Herman & Chomsky

Recently the news has been filled with stories regarding the health of Fidel Castro, the contemptuous leader of Cuba. While the U.S. media has gone as far as claiming his death, Fidel has emerged to yell "I'm not dead yet", and vow to remain in power for many more years. Interestingly, his every move is reported carefully by the Cuban operated media machine, or should I say the communist controlled media machine. The media reports what the government tells them to, and the public believes what they are told because they have no choice...the beauty of communism!

We have choice in America...just look at your TV controller. I have CNN, HNN, FOX, CBS, NBC, ABC, WGN etc that I can switch to and receive totally free and unbiased reporting. (LOL) Unfortunately, our media has much higher powers to answer to than the American public. We must remember that they are a company and they are not a "non-profit" organization. They exist to make money, plain and simple. They employ popular faces carefully positioned in prime time slots to increase their popularity. Its not about accuracy of reporting or content. They are more concerned with how many Nielson points Katie Couric draws on the 6:30 time slot than the accuracy of her newscast. Chomsky said " the gain or loss of one percentage point in the Nielson ratings translates into a change in advertising revenue of from $80 to $100 million a year"(268). The network went as far as presenting a "slimmer" Couric by digitally altering her image before it appeared on bus billboards in New York.

The networks have to walk a fine line between advertising and government control. Their licensing and very existence relies on the government controlled FCC. According to Chomsky "the legal dependency has been used as a club to discipline the media" (265). During this latest political campaign that the media has plenty of leverage when it comes to reporting on the despicable members of the political arena-such as the Foley scandal. Years ago Dan Rather attempted to tarnish the image of President Bush during a period of very high approval ratings. The incident, dubbed "Rathergate" was subjected to immense scrutiny, and Rather, along with three co-workers were forced to retire. CBS claimed to have launched an independent investigation, but one has to wonder what kind of government, advertising, or audience pressures had emerged to force this punitive action?

This is a great article by Herman and Chomsky that was written almost twenty years ago. The foundation for our media network was built upon this model platform, and it has grown enormously ever since. The internet has recently become a huge thorn in the side of our government. In fact, the government spends millions of taxpayer dollars every year fighting internet companies in an attempt to gain greater control of YOUR freedom. One has to wonder why?????

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