Some Speech is More Equal Than Others

If you’re reading this commentary in your favorite publication, consider yourself fortunate, because it means that the resident Opinion Editor is one of just a very few fair-minded individuals willing to let all opinions be heard, even the ones that might be critical of the industry that provides them with their creature comforts.

That’s because it reveals a dirty little secret you might not otherwise realize: most media outlets have an agenda. Naturally most will deny it, claiming they are always fair and accurate, but that is very seldom the case, and has been for quite some time.

Here’s one example of many. Most newspaper folks and historians know about Harrison Gray Otis, the publisher and editor of the LA Times at the beginning of the 20th century. He and his son-in-law successor Harry Chandler invented stories of a drought to scare the voters of Los Angeles into passing a bond fund to build an aqueduct from which they and many of their cohorts benefited financially. The power of the media in this case was unmistakable, prompting Lord Acton’s astute observation, "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely," to become part of the Western lexicon.

Since then, the media has learned even more about how to manipulate our interests and beliefs. With their constant polling, they can keep tabs on exactly what We the People are thinking, then cleverly present stories in such as way as to incrementally adjust that thinking until we finally come around to their point of view. Most of us are too busy to check numerous sources before we form an opinion about something, we just accept the first, or more accurately, most predominant thing that we see or hear.

That predominance is the key to another not-so-secret reality. Most media outlets, including broadcast, cable, radio, even internet, are owned by large conglomerates that have been gobbling up smaller independent outlets for the last few decades. That has resulted in a great deal of power and influence being in the hands of a very few. In addition, these media empires also own film studios, TV production companies and other fictionalizing media, allowing that agenda to infiltrate and influence us from every conceivable angle.

Clearly, just because our Constitution guarantees the freedom of speech to the people, and that same freedom to the press (and it’s conglomerates), it doesn’t guarantee that the people’s voice can be heard over the press’ voice. The best we people can hope for is to be a momentary blip on the radar that might generate some discussion among other people. Trying to engage in a direct dialogue with the press is almost impossible.

Even when we’re successful, it is well understood that the press will always, always, always get the last word. They merely have to stop printing your side of the story, and they’ve won. Which, again, is why you are so fortunate to be reading this article in the publication in your hands; because it means that THIS editor truly does believe in the freedom of speech for ALL the people.