Over time, many have lost faith in news media. We now take whatever we hear on the news with a pinch of salt. Could it be true? Could the media have been paid to spread propaganda? Are there omissions and half-truths in the story? A lot of what we’re beginning to see now as a generation with abundant information is that the government no matter what country, isn’t very credible.
Up until five years ago, Nelson Mandela who we count as a world hero was on the U. S terror watchlist. A man that as far as we know never harmed anyone. His crime? He fought for the freedom of his country. The problem though is a lot of media outlets are controlled by the government. This probably accounts for one major reason we’re continually losing faith in the media. Let’s look at some reasons why the media has lost its credibility:
Media Ownership
The media is often owned by politicians and powerful people who are either in government or have political party affiliations. And as is often said, he who pays the piper dictates the tune. A government-owned media outfit will not air anything negative about the government. Likewise, news media will not report anything that stains the image of its owner. Also, you have media moguls, a small but very powerful number of corporations who own primary media outlets. Those outlets exert a strong influence on which stories get covered, how they are covered, and how prominently they are covered. Because most corporations are designed for profit, decisions made by media outlets can be motivated by economic interests. Stories that may hamper the profits of the owners of a news organization may go unreported.
Governments
Much of what we learn in the media has to do with the people and the affairs of the government. Governments want to convince the public to support their policies and their officials. And because the media draw on content from the government, journalists and government sources at times cooperate with one another.
Advertising
In most lands, media outlets must make money in order to stay in business, and most of it comes from advertising. Understandably, advertisers do not want to sponsor programs that cast an unfavourable light on their products or style of management. If they do not like what a news outlet is producing, they can advertise elsewhere. Knowing this, editors may suppress news stories that cast a negative light on sponsors.
Spin and Omission
Media have the ability to spin stories in ways that can give a different meaning. No matter how solid the facts are, how they are presented depends on the judgment of the journalist. For instance, a journalist could decide to say ‘There was a low turnout in the 2023 elections, we wonder why that happened‘, instead of saying ‘Voter suppression, violence and results manipulation caused a low turnout in the elections.
In arranging facts to create a compelling story, journalists often exclude details that would introduce complications or unresolved issues. This causes some facts to be exaggerated and others to be diminished. Because television anchors and reporters may sometimes need to tell a complex story in a minute or so, important details can be skipped.
Competition
In recent decades, as the number of television stations multiplied, the amount of time viewers spent watching just one station fell drastically. To keep viewers interested, news stations were compelled to offer something unique or entertaining.
Mistakes
Because they are human, journalists make honest mistakes. A misspelt word, a misplaced comma, or an error in grammar—these can all distort the meaning of a sentence. Facts may not be carefully checked. For example, Arise TV aired a report claiming Bola Tinubu in the United States. But Inec denied it, describing a document in circulation which had the commission’s letterhead with alleged information on the purported investigation as “fake”.
False Assumptions
Accurate reporting is not as easy as some might think. What seems to be a fact today may be proved wrong tomorrow. The Earth, for example, was once believed to be the centre of our solar system. However, we now know that the Earth circles the sun.
Bottom Line
it is wise not to believe everything we read in the news, but that does not mean that we cannot get reliable information from the news media. Read the article, How can you spot fake news? It will help you in assessing a news story to see if it’s credible or not. Also, you should know what channels are compromised or not. There are some channels that you shouldn’t listen to if you need a fair assessment of the government. Furthermore, comparing and contrasting news reports will help you get a bigger picture of happenings and get the true story.
