Financial turmoil evidence of flawed system

Today my class was graced with the presence of Amy Imse a veteran journalist formerly with the AP press. Imse spoke to our class about the Colorado Public News Station she has spear headed this year but that was not what I took from the experience.

I inferred two main ideas from her. One; that the media's revenue was in a complete overhaul because of the system of add based print is being undermined.

Two: Those traditional journalists are going to have to adapt to find opportunities.

In reference to the first matter she also revealed a conflicting position newspaper editors and media face in the U.S. The fact that due to the faltering revenue newspapers have less reporters at their disposal. Therefore only so many stories can be covered; creating a scale of relevance.

She gave an anecdotal example saying that an editor may have two stories and only one reporter. Then the editor must make a decision based one readers interest on which one to send his resources to.

Having been an editor for two publications I can see how this creates a conflict of interest and a dilemma. Let me explain.

In the mind of an editor there is always that underlying position of having to have enough money from ads to pay every operation and deciding what stories to run. This creates a problem.

Because publications are already losing money they covet the buyers of ads money even more.

Now add to that the fact that you want to cover a story that you want the public to be interested in. This leaves one with a question to ponder...

Is the public more interested in Lindsay Lohan going to jail or the international Copenhagen energy summit? The answer is easy.

She also eluded to the fact that financial contributor want to see a big reader/viewership. The more people you get to read your paper the more money you can get from ads essentially.

So editors are in the position of choosing frivolous stories of no informational value to keep there paper alive or cover a story of informational importance which could anger one of their big corporate supporters.

However is was JFK Jr. in his infamous address to the media April 27, 1961, that said newspapers should, "not to simply "give the public what it wants"--but to inform, to arouse, to reflect, to state our dangers and our opportunities, to indicate our crises and our choices, to lead, mold, educate and sometimes even anger public opinion." A job more and more newspapers and media outlets are failing to do.

Another problem with the American model of media is that the major corporations and most the most powerful people have become the foremost investors in the U.S. media world.

Bill Clinton’s signing of the Telecommunication Act of 1996 allowed for quicker consolidation of power by corporations instead of doing the opposite, as he boasted it would. Since 1983 the 50 companies own 95% of the U.S. Media compared to 6 companies by 2006.

So you have people like Rupert Murdoch owner of News Corporation who owns entities like Fox News, Myspace, The Wall Street Journal and many many more. And Ted Turner who owns CNN, TNT,TBS and thousands of other stations. These two guys have acted as bitter rivals like professional wrestling and American politics in true Hegelian dialectic fashion.

However: Both worked closely Rockefeller family which is working to create global governance. As Rockefeller has admitted in a speech to the Tri-Lateral Commission saying, ""...conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure...one world, if you will. If that's the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it."

So our informational source of news has been taken over by the people who wish to make profits and perpetuate consumption of products. Once again this reminds me of what great President said about the corporate powers... that "corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow...working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed." - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864 (letter to Col. William F. Elkins)

Editors in the U.S. Media are pawns in this corporate corruption like it or not. Because they must adhere to the "prejudices of the people," when selecting stories and with the pressure of their corporate funders to print what more people will read. Pepsi or coke... constantly blasted in our faces making both companies superiorly rich with more investment to make to our sources of information.

In regard to her second position I will elaborate tomorrow.