The concept of the media will change now. A prediction which in and of itself is rather superfluous as the media has proved itself to be an ever-evolving and constantly changing entity. Something has happened in the last two weeks however which has brought the seemingly unstoppable forward motion of the new media to a grinding halt and could bring about the first serious step towards regulating an industry which was, and possibly still is, spiraling out of control.
The modern media consumer is, generally speaking, fairly savvy about what information they are being fed- or rather, what information they are choosing to be fed. Most media consumers choose to read or watch the news from the sources they know and to a lesser extent trust; because really and truly, do any modern media consumers wholeheartedly trust their media sources? People are likely to consume media from sources which are consistent with their attitudes and beliefs and so it is difficult to pick holes in the media you consume every day. But after years of scandals within the media being exposed and the actions of the media being scrutinised by competitors and watchdogs, the modern consumer usually has at least some awareness of where their news is coming from and the agenda behind the source. This has lead to a degradation of the notion of the journalist though. The journalist is now no longer a truth-seeker, the journalist is just another employee of a company who is getting paid to write a certain way and certain things. But perhaps the News of the World scandal is just big enough and just awful enough to be the giant wake-up call the media needs.
No journalist should need to lie to get a story, no journalist should need to steal information or documents to get a story and no journalist should ever deliberately break the law for a story. I am not so naive as to believe that these practises do not occur but that does not make them acceptable and it certainly does not set the right example for those wishing to mend the cracks in the trust that media consumers have with the media and with journalists.
I am very young and exceptionally humble in my hopes and expectations of my career in the media, but I thought I would be graduating into the ‘real world’ at a time when the Murdoch empire showed no signs of slowing and looked to be pushing the consumption of media to its ugliest form. I feared for my ideals of integrity as so often I am often met with "I hate journalists" when divulging my plans for the future and feared that one day the seemingly cut-throat nature of journalism would get the better of me. I worried because I had hoped that no matter the money, no matter the prestige and no matter the easy-way-out, I would never work for a person like Rupert Murdoch or in an environment where true journalism is not encouraged. Tonight though, I watched that tyrant look like nothing more than a confused old man. What worried me was the sympathy I felt for him. Sympathy that quickly melted after careful consideration of the very real and very dangerous situation his company and its subsidiaries has afforded itself. Yes Murdoch, today is your humblest day. But what does this mean for the media and the steps that now need to be taken towards regulation and accountability for the actions of those who have disgraced themselves? I simply don’t know. But what I do know is people are angry now. Angrier than they’ve ever been that this situation has been allowed to mutate and become so ingrained that people have stopped asking questions because they feel there is nothing they can do to change it.
The “chicken and the egg” question for media students is “does the media reflect the community” or “does the media shape the community”. Ultimately it comes down to each media outlet and their audience. No media source can please everyone and you would be a fool to expect to do so. But not pleasing everyone should never come at a cost to integrity. News Corp’s integrity has been shattered and the irony of the timing is almost too sweet. Murdoch’s grasp on the control of the British media was tantalisingly close and yet now here we are, a mere few days later and what seemed so daunting and ominous now seems feeble and obsolete. Murdoch did not want to please everyone, but I cannot accept that someone so out of touch with his media outlets, someone who only called an editor of a newspaper he owned once a month, could genuinely be encouraging of reflection. Murdoch is a shaper, not a reflector. I do not know what will happen to the media now this has unfolded and continues to unfold. I can only hope for the best and strive to join a media where integrity is at the forefront of each journalist, editor, owner and reader’s mind.
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