It’s easy to tell what’s wrong with the news. It doesn’t take a genius to flip through a few pages of a newspaper, or watch a few minutes of a TV debate, and come to a conclusion that the modern news industry does more harm than good. We are constantly reminded that we are a tragedy of a species, that we have no mercy, that we like to invade defenceless people, that a certain political ideology is evil and we are evil too if we don’t fight it, and that the prevailing anger and vengefulness will never end. And all this, somehow, gives our newshounds the right to preach moral sermons all day and night.
However, the point of this essay is something more fundamental. It’s not about criticising the bad apples in the industry, rather seeing the limitations of news media which will remain no matter how honest or hardworking the newshounds become. (They are pretty hardworking at the moment, to be honest.)
There’s a simple fact, that we, as consumers of news, keep forgetting. That the news don’t explain the reality, rather, it carefully selects a few events to paint a picture of the reality. The media decides — every day in its newsrooms — what apparently ‘happened’. And yet so much happens outside of what ‘happens.’
What’s wrong with the news is not that the journalists are deliberately telling lies — although sometimes that happens too — but (a) our inability to communicate a simple message to them that they concoct the reality, and (b) their inability to understand a simple fact that most of their audience completely rely on them to know everything about the world.
Let me illustrate this confusion with the help of an example. Once a politician complained that the journalists are only showing the problems in our society and not highlighting the remarkable progress that we are making. To this, a journalist was quick to respond, saying, that it is not their job to highlight good things.
That’s the confusion I am talking about here. In the above example, both individuals are right. If a journalist is going to report not just on how things went wrong but also how things went right, it is going to take infinite resources and time. But then, the alternative is not quite helpful either. For instance, a few days ago when people from different parts of the world saw Sri Lankans enjoying a cricket match, they were shocked. Their recent memory of Sri Lanka — based on their version of reality through news media — was that Sri Lankans were rioting on streets and there was nothing left to eat. “How can they behave like that, are they mad?” someone asked.
How can this confusion be cleared?
We need to talk. By we, I mean the creators and the consumers of news. As a consumer, I don’t expect a journalist to give me infinite details, but a little context (and less sensationalisation) might help. So, if a news story tells me that a certain politician is behaving like Hitler (which they frequently say these days), I need to know what this means in clear terms. Has there been a holocaust? Is there any evidence for that? They cannot and — should not — make any assumption that the reader would pick the nuances which aren’t being mentioned. Yet, this goes on and on and on.
A greater responsibility, however, lies with us, the consumers. News is about our well-being, isn’t it? It’s important to gain access to the information, but it’s more important to be able to put that information in the right context. Otherwise, it can be a disaster. Unfortunately, one cannot always rely on the news organisations, or trust them that they will do it sincerely.
How do we put things in the context, then?
It’s simple. We have to think about the ordinary, ‘boring’ streets that have never been in the news. If one of them makes it to the news, for some inappropriate it’s still one in a million. Life is not as miserable as it is shown on TV. A lot of people say sorry when they make a mistake and their apologies are accepted and things move on. Not everyone is filled with recrimination. Not everyone is an outright idiot who gets angry for no reason and says ugly things. A few who do this, will make it to the news.
Journalists constantly inform us that we have to stay informed, that we have to swallow all the information that they churn out, before it gets too late. However, as a sensible human being, one must recognise that all these messages are in the end advertising slogans for the news media rather than recommendations for our well-being. For the latter, we must take responsibility. There are headlines that never appear in the headlines but that we should write for ourselves: ones about simple acts of ordinary life that endlessly get repeated right in front of our eyes, but we choose not to obsess over them. Why shouldn’t we?
Reference books:
Kalampedia 