Actually, the “begin” part of the title might be a bit of an exaggeration as we have heard whining on this front for some time. Allow me to offer a recent – and rather blatant – example:
Press Versus Liars: Doing Good Journalism in These Trying Times
That’s the headline at Spiegel. Perhaps it doesn’t come across the same way in German, but it sure sounds over-the-top in English. There is what you hear from the (established) press, and there is what you hear elsewhere. What you hear from the press is true; what you hear elsewhere is lies.
Spiegel recognizes that credibility is lost; restoring that credibility is, somehow, your responsibility (emphasis added):
We are living in times of growing tension and near societal hysteria in Germany in the wake of the massive influx of refugees. One of the first victims of this development has been the media’s credibility. Restoring public trust will require considerable effort by journalists — but also on the part of their readers.
When they p*ss on your shoes and tell you it’s rain, whose responsibility is it to change the perception? In the meantime, it might be best to no longer associate yourself with the one doing the p*ss*ng.
Apparently it is only the uninformed who are causing the problem:
First, many, many people inform themselves thoroughly about the complicated world in which we live. These people tend not to be very outraged, which is also why their voices often go unheard amid the cacophony.
Understand: if you accept what you are told, you will not be outraged. This is a truism. Question what you are told and spend three minutes (or less) investigating the story and you will become curious. Spend an hour or two looking further into it and only then will you become outraged.
Spiegel goes on to note a few examples of outrage. In the grand scheme of things, relatively meaningless media transgressions – nothing questioning the major issues and events of the day. In any case, some self-help is offered by the author.
But, what is it you – the reader – must do? For one, accept that the mainstream dialogue is not mainstream – that it is, in fact, robust and all-encompassing:
The oft-disparaged “mainstream media” do not exist. The conservativeFrankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and right-leaning Die Welt have adopted different editorial lines from those of the left-leaning Die Zeit or Süddeutsche Zeitung. There are some media whose perceptions of reality border on fantasy.
In other words, accept the false left-right narrative and accept the allowable limits of conversation and you will never again label such outlets as “mainstream.”
The internet has fundamentally changed the conversation for many. The narrative is not so easily controlled. Certainly not every alternative narrative is accurate; however, many alternative narratives throw a few more bits of doubt in the minds of readers.
Conclusion
I guess we should ignore a leading German journalist who says he was bribed by the CIA; Operation Mockingbird, which never happened and even if it did no one would do such a thing today; pro-war media pundits who are on the payroll of defense contractors and others who benefit from international conflict; the official 911 investigation team was fed lies.
Reprinted with permission from Bionic Mosquito.
