Media

So lately, people seem to be going on and on about the unreliability in mainstream media and voicing their concerns and distrust, right? If you haven’t heard anything about it, good for you - or probably not, because it probably means you get all your news from the “mainstream media” and mainstream media alone; which by the way, is not possible given the current state of the world. So who are you and what are you doing?

Anyway, getting back to the point, this deep distrust seems to be getting deeper each day, with more and more people getting on board with citizen journalism. To quote Lex Fridman, “Citizen journalism is the future. Mainstream media is losing power. More voices. More variety of independent perspectives. It’s great to see.”

Musk believes this is change that he’s heading with Twitter as well.

Pure as their motives are, and while trying not to sound like a stick in the mud, I do have some thoughts on this: We know today as we sit scrolling through social media or watching television or listening to the radio that there is no lack of clickbait - in fact, growth in social media and a migration of more and more people toward these platforms as creators, including the main stream media has led to a major fight for the average person’s attention which only seems to be growing shorter and worse with each passing moment.

It is not uncommon to see a number of clickbait headlines having no real worth floating through our screens every time we open them. There are of courses individuals or organizations or institutions that do try to hold themselves to a higher standard, but as we’ve learned and as the growing distrust in mainstream media is proof, there is no proper discerner of the truth.

I remember years ago, I wanted to be a journalist as I was under the illusion that that’s the path through which I could get closest to the truth. It’s a good thing I didn’t pursue that path, for sure. But the question still remains, how then do we get a better understanding of reality?

Because, with the growth of media, may it be social or mainstream - what we have been witnessing already for the past few decades - is a overly stimulating minefield of information. Yes, citizen journalism does pose as a better alternative when the objective is the best chance at the whole, actual truth, but what about the problems it poses? With the increased chance at the truth, also comes the increased chance at false news. More and more people, anybody for that matter, trying to confuse the shit out of you.

Mainly, how would we discern something to be more truthful than another. And say, we do, how would we maintain that equal ground where all these people are to be listened to with a similar level of belief? It is natural for us to trust someone more than another, especially in the event that they have proven themselves.

Of course, my research on this topic is absolutely zero. But these are the questions I do have. So, let’s see where all this leads us then, yeah?

Maybe all this is for naught as we inadvertently end up choosing sides, as is the nature of basic human behaviour.