Power To The People?

The problem with power lying in the hands of "we the people" is that people these days get their news and form their opinions through the media. So the media effectively control a proportion of that power.

Of course, if you have a fair and balanced media, that is not a great problem. But when you have media outlets like Fox News actively courting government favour and inflaming public passions for the benefit of their shareholders, there is a problem. And when politicians learn to design carefully orchestrated news stories and manipulate the media for political leverage, there is a problem. And when these politicians perfect the art to the point where they can actually lie on a regular basis, even in parliament, and not be held accountable, there is a problem. And when the media stations get caught up in these big lies to the point where they have to accept some of the blame, but Damage Control says it's too late to admit they got it wrong now, there is a problem.

And when most people only take a passing interest in news stories anyway, picking up a well-pitched line here and there before going out to vote, there is a problem. When these same people cannot be bothered trying to understand the substance of serious allegations against their leaders - to whom, thanks to prime-time media, they have formed a symbiotic emotional attachment - there is a problem.

Maybe we should just change our constitutions (US, Australia and Britain) to say that power now lies with Rupert Murdoch and the other multinational media corporate conglomerates. Maybe we should abolish bothersome public outlets like the BBC and the Australian ABC and SBS (does such an outlet even exist in the USA?). At least that would absolve the public of their share of the guilt.