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Journalism and the battle for cultural hegemony

Journalism has remained reduced to a trench of influences and interests very far from uncovering the truth. In reality, the objectives of journalism are to manipulate, lie, distort, persecute and generate business  for those who are able to pay for their services. But theoretically, modern journalism has five objectives: informing, interpreting, entertaining, educating and giving opinions.

 

Patricio Mery Bell*

 

Journalism generates feelings far removed from reality, for example, in a country like Chile, one murder or rape statistically represents 3% of the crime rate but the media makes it seem as though it were a daily and common occurrence, generating a collective paranoia of insecurity.

Although the capital of Chile is one of the safest places in South America it is, at the same time, where people have the greatest feeling of fear about being a victim of crime. In this case, the goal of modern journalism is criminalisation to keep a state of repression as validated by the people. Who demand to live in peace in the face of this feeling of high crime. Fear as a mechanism of social control. Policing and punishment in its purest form.

The complexity of the social sciences, permanently questioning scientific methods to gain an approach to reality, add up to the most perverse acts developed by social psychology, manipulation. This is linked to the logical need to generate income and profits through the information industry. Journalism is a corrupt business because it needs corruption to exist.

Big information corporations are linked to public governments or deep governments, “deep state”, political and financial interest controls what is shown on the radio, television, written media and even social networks.

A deep revolution that questions this social construct instilled by the financial superstructure has never been attempted.

At most, in some countries an oligarchic journalism has been exchanged for state socialist journalism but the problem of a lack of independence continues and reduces everything to a trench war where, as in every war, the winner is the one with the most troops, tanks, planes and boats. Guess who, in 90% of cases, wins every battle? Right-wing oligarchic journalism has been an accomplice and creator of massacres and crimes against humanity; Pinochet’s dictatorship and his crimes were articulated through the media, such as El Mercurio of the Edwards family, the Iraq war was backed up by lies from CNN, Lenin Moreno’s corruption is protected and covered up by Teleamazonas and El Comercio.

The surrender of Julian Assange had the support of the press, financed by the intelligence agencies, to distort the messenger and glorify the executioner. How many victims have been taken by right-wing journalism? At some point, will they be charged over these crimes?

Journalism is controlled by evil forces that seek to direct all areas of life.

They tell us what to think, what to eat, what to buy and who to hate. Even though there is resistance, part of the battle for dominant cultural hegemony, they have more media, money and experience. They are masters of evil and in this we will never beat them, as a general rule, left-wing soldiers and sympathisers are weak at heart. There is a naivety on the left, that continues trusting in the right-wing state and Due Process, and above all, in the bourgeoisie institutionality like a truth almost uncovered. But this, without an alternative, condemns us to always be sacrificial lambs condemned to the slaughter.

How many self-sustainable, private forms of mass media created or supported left-wing governments in Latin America? They believed that the State could counterbalance the right’s media power. The problem was the return of right-wing governments, with these mixed or state media falling under their control. We built the tanks for the enemy.

The right accuses the left of fighting against freedom of expression. To counter this lie, I will provide an example: in less than two months Lenin Moreno, President of Ecuador, closed 3 media publications and the free and democratic press remained silent.

Public spirit, the misnamed public opinion, is a reflective act from a gigantic array of influences controlled by financial corporations over those who are not really bothered about obtaining or arriving at the truth.

From this perspective it is time to think of a way to defend ourselves from the influence of the mass media and their networks of power.

As independent journalists, and above all as citizens, we should question official information and its objective of social control.

The battle for cultural hegemony is the mother of all conflicts in the constant dispute for power, between privileged oppressors and the miserable oppressed. While seeming like journalism, for now, it has remained reduced to a trench of influences and interests very far from uncovering the truth.

*Patricio Mery Bell: Journalist, co-director of “The quantum betrayal”. @journalistRebe3

 

(Translated by Donna Davison – Email: donna_davison@hotmail.com– Photos: Pixabay

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