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Part I-The Ebb and Flow of The Government-Media Power Play
by Joseph Earnest January 20, 2012
Newscast Media HOUSTON, Texas — There has always been and will continue to be a love-hate relationship between the media and political entities. Media houses have an incredible influence in shaping perceptions of society or their target audiences. Yet government always plays its unseen hand in an attempt to regulate the flow of information or impede the spreading of information, whether it is through print, the electronic media or the spoken word.
In this article, I will attempt to elucidate my ideas and observations in pertinence to the government-media power play.
Even before media houses were at loggerheads with each other in regard to usage of copyrighted material on platforms like YouTube, Facebook and other social networks, government has always wanted to exercise a certain level of control over information. It all boils down to trust, and both the media and government, do not seem to trust each other's intentions. During the Bush administration, there was an uproar about the Fairness Doctrine, that radio stations feared would limit the amount of content to be included in their programming. Today the big fuss is about Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) that almost anyone who surfs the Internet is aware of.
During the classical era, Socrates was charged by a jury with corrupting the minds of the youth, since at the time, philosophers were virtually the media practitioners. Cicero's political speeches caused him to be at odds with Marc Antony whose loyalists eventually executed Cicero. During the Renaissance, Savanarola, a Dominican Friar and political scholar was charged with heresy, uttering false prophecies and teaching a faulty doctrine. The Borgia pope, Alexander VI, excommunicated Savanarola, then ordered his arrest and execution. He was burnt alive on May 23, 1498, and declared a heretic.
All the conflict at the time, arose due to words that were either spoken or written. The great Latin poet by the name of Horace, captured the power of words when he wrote: "Words are more permanent than bronze."
At the GOP debate on January 19, 2012, we heard and saw an infuriated Newt Gingrich chastise the media for what he believed was an unfair attack on his character--yet Gingrich will use the same media he abhors to communicate his message to voters in an attempt to gain their votes — hence the love-hate relationship between political entities and the media will continue.
The war dance that the media often finds itself entangled in with powerful entities, is like Father Time. Time has two aspects to it — the creative nature, meaning it takes a certain timespan to bring something new into being, and also the destructive nature, since as time goes by everything it creates is destroyed by old age. The media has the same characteristic, in that, it has the ability to define the narrative of another entity with time.
The BBC just published an article in which it reports that the broadcasting license for Iran's Press TV has been revoked by media regulator Ofcom, and the station can no longer broadcast in the UK. Press TV channel launched in 2007 to break what Iran's state broadcaster called a Western "stranglehold" over the world's media. The Iranians are surprised that no other media entity is speaking up for them as they battle the British government for their broadcast license. They also claim that Ofcom is the media arm of the British Royal family. (pop-up)
In the US, foreign channels have had their share of hurdles in dealing with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) which regulates interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable in America. This is partly because of the suspicions that arise from the government-media power play, and the American media being able to once again define its foreign competitors as having an anti-American bias. The pertinent question one should ask is whether or not loyalty exists within the media. Find out in Part II>>
Related article: Part II - The Government-Media Powerplay
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