David vs Goliath: Independent media needs your help

News has always has been a profit based business. Historically, this is because only those with wealth had the capital to fund and disseminate print news. However, this age old monopoly has met its unexpected match in digital, online, socialised media. In other words, we now have the ability to circumvent this archaic monopoly. Even those with the most humble of backgrounds can tell their interpretation of events, and if readers agree with the message, they have the opportunity to promote the piece by sharing/tweeting the article - in a sense, socialising news by introducing it to a free-market-like arena. This allows the people to take control of the news from the infamous media barons that have for too long dictated the narratives of nations.

It is undeniable that print news is a declining industry, but the papers continue to influence the daily news cycle today. For example, Sky News, sets up the narrative in open discussions of the morning papers. However, is it rational to allow publications like Rupert Murdoch’s, The Sun, to have a voice at the national level when considering its history of scandalous reporting?

Papers like this rely on advertisers, with News as a secondary, almost negligible priority. This business model is based solely upon selling as many papers as possible to get the highest ROI (return on investment) for advertisers.

These papers do not have any intention of accurately informing their readership, but rather they exploit public insecurities by printing profitable, hyperbolic lies.

Notice the quote on the front page above: ‘Labour leader was at rally with Islamic hate mob… make sure you vote Tories tomorrow’. As with the majority of far right papers of its kind, they bark orders instead of delivering on their responsibility of informing readers.

All papers lean a particular direction, but to cut deals based on private discussions, such as when Rupert Murdoch and Theresa May met before the snap election, is abhorrent to democracy. Little is known of what was discussed, but one can safely assume Britain’s EU departure and 21st Century Fox’s (Murdoch’s US-based propaganda arm) bid to monopolise Sky were key.

This isn’t the first time Murdoch has cozied up with politicians for his own self-interest. For example, in 1981, May’s meeting with Murdoch was eerily foreshadowed by her predecessor – Margret Thatcher. The meeting was speculated to have concerned Murdoch’s bid to buy The Times, and Thatcher not referring the takeover to the Monopolies and Mergers commission, which would have likely blocked the bid from materialising.

The motives of these foreign corporate elites are often blatant and unabashedly based on manipulating ‘the many’; it is our choice whether we allow ourselves to be exploited by ‘the few’.

I encourage everyone to subscribe to and support independent media. This is not a veiled ‘leftist’ ploy, but rather a plea to readers of all political ideologies to responsibly source their news, and always be vigilant of those wishing to abuse the trust of their readership.

#Journalism