Misinformation Machine
The screen clicks on. Voices beam directly into your brain. Colors and lights flash across the screen accompanied by figures and headlines. You try to look away, but you’re drawn in, hooked. Information comes in at a rapid pace. The economy is breaking new records. 1,300 civilians in Gaza died today. A church burned down in Minneapolis over the weekend, a possible arson? A new law was passed in Wyoming. Lets look at the retail price hikes across the nation. And now, the weather…
The American Information Machine runs 24/7, without stopping to let the viewer catch their breath. It comes in so fast, you don’t even have time to think. Why is that? Who is demanding to know every occurrence across the globe as it happens? Why does the channel broadcast even when no meaningful news is coming in? Who’s watching? Who’s believing?
A certain demographic of people who make up a large majority of our society play a key part in ensuring that the stations keep airing. Your and everyone else’s elderly grandmother, currently sitting in a room decorated in doilies and Precious Moments figurines, who exclusively uses a land line and doesn’t know what a QR code is, is glued to the TV news. Partially because she has nothing better to do. Mostly because she can’t do anything else.
But she still votes. She votes for the smooth-talking politician who promised to keep the threat of “crime” out of her neighborhood, but is quietly foaming at the mouth to slash Medicare at first opportunity.
I don’t blame her. When she bought her first RCA set in 1962, Walter Cronkite was reporting unbiased facts from reliable sources. To her, the news retains the same kind of credibility it did before the Vietnam War.
So why doesn’t it retain the same credibility now? When did it change? Who sold out?
The truth is, the relationship between TV news agencies and audiences was toxic from the start. In the early age of television, advertisers sponsored a 15-minute news program that served little purpose beyond reading credible reports. In 1980, Ted Turner changed the world for the worse by launching the Cable News Network. Instead of fifteen or thirty minute news segments, advertisers were now funding twenty-four hours of television news. It is incredibly rare that any given day would contain enough news to make international headlines, so programs filled the time by speculating and sensationalizing.
A series of robberies in Bismarck is no longer a simple crime spree. It’s a crime wave. Minor stories that would barely make the local papers get blown out of proportion in order to fill time and keep viewers watching. The three-letter-acronyms that regulate what information we are given try desperately to distract our attention toward meaningless junk stories, and away from the more significant things happening in our world today. The pretty faces behind a desk in New York City may seem attractive and official, but they are nothing more than professional liars. Soothsayers. Classically trained in the art of making you feel safe and secure while the problems facing the nation creep out of the shadows. They’re no cause for concern, we’re doing great. But look over there! Protests in Paris, massacres in Gaza! Invasion in Ukraine, unrest in Somalia!
That’s not to say the struggles of those countries aren’t valid or real, but the fact is: those destinations are, of course, unless you live there, half the world away. But the words they use to tug on your heartstrings and manipulate your emotions are designed to keep you interested. To keep your eyes on the screen, to keep the TV on. But why? What kind of heinous force could compel a media element with a duty to bring the truth to every American household to instead twist it, or outright lie?
The almighty American Dollar.
The bottomline is that news sells. Companies pay advertisers top dollar to make sure the spot for their hip new whatever makes it in to that two minute break following a half-cocked report about something undeserving of national attention. Pay attention to the commercials next time, they're all targeted toward retirees with time to kill and money to exploit. After hearing the same snake oil commercial over and over again, one might be conditioned, hypnotized, to ask their doctor about _____.
The only way to break the spell is by flipping the channel, or better yet, turning the TV off. Engagement is necessary to the success of selling these products, and the best way to keep the viewer engaged is to keep them afraid. Is it any wonder that headlines have become much more grave in the modern era? It seems that each story is of apocalyptic gravity. Should the dems secure Minnesota, it will mean the end of America. Or if the republicans pass that new bill, freedom as we know it will disappear. If Starbucks fully unionizes, everyone will suddenly catch fire and the planet will explode. Only a fool could believe such claims at face value, but the expert spin doctors and pundits bend and twist stories until all of the pieces fit into place and the average news junkie swallows the information without second thought. These evil little seeds settle into the stomach of the junkie and the infection contained within festers, bubbling up at the dinner table or water cooler, spreading spores to its next victim, until ready to fully blossom at the polls, or in the streets. What effects has misinformation had on society as a whole? What damage can seemingly innocuous words do? Can news kill?
The words we say matter. Especially when broadcast to the homes of multiple millions. It is on the viewer to think critically about the information being imparted upon them, but those who say these things are ultimately responsible for what comes out of their mouths. These national figures have the power to use their words for peace, or for war. Why do they continue to do the latter?
If it were one person taking advantage of the public, it is deemed a personal failure. If an entire agency spreads lies and misinformation, it’s labeled corruption. If every news agency lies, then lies become the new truth. It’s a failure of the institution as a whole, but with no alternative, we have no choice but to trust the simulacra we see on screen. The images are carefully cultivated and artfully narrated to shape the public’s perception on any given story. News is filtered and treated until ready for consumption. The entities funding the Misinformation Machine will never show us what they don’t want us to see. The only way they can lead is when we follow. So, how do we fight corrupt stations? How do we stop the Machine? What is the answer to breaking free of the news?
It’s much simpler than you’d expect: turn the TV off. This doesn’t mean that you have to live in darkness, just be incredibly careful about who you trust and what you believe. Think critically, check facts, read beyond the headline. Never trust anyone who’s been bought. Because if you don’t, the Machine wins. I’d be happy to tell you what they're going to do to you, the people you love, and the country you live in, after a word from our sponsors.