All those journalists who set themselves up as bearers of the universal conscience, all those presenters who set themselves up as strategists, all the while overwhelming us with a flood of useless images. Emotional blackmail by massacre, fraud’ – we would do well ‘to discuss the threshold of mental tolerance for information.’ (76)
Journalists are supposed to show the public the truth. They are supposed to expose the public to things that they might not know or are not able to learn about on their own. Journalists are responsible for what they tell the audience. The phrase “bearers of the universal conscience” strikes me. It seems Baudrillard is saying that the media takes it upon itself to make the public to feel a certain way by the way that they present material. They want everyone to feel the same way about things, like the Gulf War. By calling journalists “strategists”, Baudrillard implies that they are purposefully selecting what they want and don’t want to tell us. I think this point is relevant today. Look at different news outlets. A very obvious one is Fox News. They clearly have a conservative point of view that they are trying to get across. They have very definitive opinions of which they try to convince the viewer. Other news outlets, even reputable ones like CNN, pick and choose what stories they report. Is the media responsible for informing the public of ALL news? Or is it about getting ratings?
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You're certainly right about the networks, Chris, particularly Fox News -- but, for one thing, Fox does not make a secret of its affinities. It does call itself 'fair and balanced', which can be said to mislead, but otherwise is quite open about its political slant. Second, if it *is* about ratings -- and it's hard to dispute this, since these are capitalistic enterprises we're talking about -- aren't we, once again, responsible for the way we 'vote' with our viewing? That is to say, would Fox News exist if it didn't have an eager audience for what it is selling?
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