Massing - Now They Tell Us

Now They Tell Us

My first impression of the book was that it covered a lot about the media’s failures in a short 100 page book.  It doesn’t drift into any unnecessary subtopics but stays strictly on evidences that support Massing’s thesis statements.  Massing’s book covers very well the sort of red tape that any serious news reporter got when attempting to cover the truth.    The control of media is definitely one of the Bush administration’s strong points.  I think this sort of behavior from large media corporations is something that can’t be avoided.  Reporters, like any other professional, have the expenses of living to pay.  It’s a logical choice to report what the government expects you to say rather than be blacklisted from your career.

I think that the truth will always be available to the people who want to seek it.  Those people don’t make up the majority of the American population.  BBC, Al Jazeera, Knight Ridder, etc have been reporting their points of views to those who seek alternative sources.  Massing considers it the responsibility of the media companies to be the watchdog of the government.  I agree with that however I also think that that specific responsibility is in a way impractical to be handled by large for-profit media companies.  As long as making money is a corporation’s objective, the government will always be able to control it in one way or another,  be it through the people or direct pressure.