Media Barons and the not so free press
An investigation can easily blow up in a reporter's face, with dire consequences. A case in point: A journalist working for the
Murdoch owned New York Post last year wrote a scathing article about copyright infringement by US giant Disney (in fact
they had stolen the expired rights to the character Winnie the Pooh, shredding materials with possible criminal
consequences) The hapless reporter was fired after Michael Eisner screamed, yelled , raved and ranted over the phone at
Rupert Murdoch -- but also --threatened to scuttle a mega deal between Disney and NewsIntl. Stories like this run in the
MILLIONS. So where's the free press? Nobody can afford anymore to pay journalists weeks and even months to
investigate a single story -- I guess dear old Dick Nixon must be spinning in his grave".
RH: Christopher overstates his case--the New York Times and some other papers still do a good job--but there is much truth
in what he says. The situation is worse in television, where news us simply a bait to get people to watch advertisements. What
is emerging are myriad online newsletters which may be uncensored or may simply promote one viewpoint. From this surfeit
of information it is difficult to sweep out the chaff, but one learns which sources to rake seriously, which to dismiss. As for
"the decay and putrefaction of western society", the sensational media are only one factor. Yesterday American TV featured
pictures of a hundred or so Londoners lying naked in the street, all bunched together. They hoped to be selected for some
show. My guess is that it was a stunt by the promoter of the show, and the TV happily went along. Is this the swinging
London about which we heard so much? Swinging like apes in the jungle?
Ronald Hilton - 4/30/03
Christopher Jones says: "Responsible for the decay and putrefaction of western society are the media empires. So-called
free press has ceased to be free a long, long time ago as budgets for investigative journalism began to evaporate, and
nothing replaced this critical branch of the profession. Sometimes I think the barons who run these empires are happier
knowing that nobody is digging out there. The consequence has been to stuff mastheads with idiots, manifestly unqualified
for the job. I myself have been confronted by an editor at a historic British quality paper who didn't even know who was
Federico García Lorca, when La Casa de Bernarda Alba was playing at a theatre down the street.
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