Fake news calls for fresh look at objectivity of media
WE NEED TO BE CRITICAL OF NEWS WE CONSUME
IS THERE such a thing as independent media? Or to put it differently, is there such a thing as objective and neutral reporting?
This question is made all the more relevant by the phenomenon of fake news that has been the subject of discussion since Donald Trump won the US election in November last year.
The freshest scandal to hit the ANC is linked to this new trend, which also involves the use of paid Twitter as well as other conventional means of marketing, such as posters, to spread untruths about others.
In this case, the ANC is alleged to have run a covert campaign to discredit the opposition by spreading false messages and producing posters that showed the opposition in a negative light during the 2016 local government election campaign season.
Since the uncovering of this deliberate and conspicuous underhanded act of spreading lies and half-truths, the mainstream media have been brooding over this attack on truth.
Much has been said about how fake news is undermining the important role of ‘independent’ media, with journalists and editors themselves quick to highlight and defend their craft and trade.
But the phenomenon of fake news, rather than making society run to the defence of mainstream media, should cause us to critically reflect on the nature and state of media in the world.
We may now be decrying the post-truth politics that characterise our time – which is just a fancy way of saying we don’t care about facts. However, there are many practices in and by the media that have now become almost undetectable owing to the subtlety they are performed with.
Millions, therefore, just consume news and other programming unquestioningly. These practices include framing, sensationalising and even propagandising.
They may not lead to the reporting of outright lies, as is the case with fake news, but they do have an impact on the effect of the truth or how facts are and will be interpreted.
The notion of objectivity comes from the natural sciences where scientific objectivity refers to the assertion that the claims, methods and results of science should be value-free, untainted by bias of one’s background and identity and not influenced by any perspectives or preconceived ideas.
This ideal has filtered into other areas of social existence, including the media, where objectivity and neutrality are the standards to be reached. It is this claim to objectivity that has allowed mainstream media (in particular) to style itself as depoliticised, with its reporting characterised by the unbridled pursuit of truth and fact.
And so many people all over the world have been inducted into the culture of believing anything that is written in the newspaper and have been socialised to trust the press. But this myth perpetuated by and through the media denies
“We may now be decrying the post-truth politics of our time.
the truth and fact that we live in a world of “concentrated wealth and conflicts of class interests”, as Herman and Chomsky put it.
In the case where the state has a monopoly over broadcasting and news production through stateowned media, it is easy to figure out that the media serves the interests of the political elite.
However, as Herman and Chomsky continue to observe: “It is much more difficult to see a propaganda system at work where the media are private and formal censorship is absent. This is especially true where the media actively compete, periodically attack and expose corporate and governmental malfeasance, and aggressively portray themselves as spokesmen for free speech and the general community interest.
“What is not evident (and remains undiscussed in the media) is the limited nature of such critiques, as well as the huge inequality in command of resources, and its effect both on access to a private media system and on its behaviour and performance.”
Just like all other areas of social life, the media is shaped by the inequality in wealth and power in society, which informs not only the reporting of news but the selection of what to report and how to report it. Not only do reporters and journalists bring their own biases and particular perspectives to the stories that they select and cover. Above that, the media are also subject to pressures imposed by advertisers and the owners of media houses.
This is not to say that the media do not play an important role as a conduit of the freedom of speech and provision of information.
But society needs to be alive to the reality that the media are also political animals, and are many a times serving and defending the interests of the economically and politically privileged classes.
The problem is not the widespread proliferation of this propaganda, and of fake news. The real problem is the uncritical consumption of news from any source.
“Media shaped by the inequality in wealth and power