- 29 Apr 2017 13:54
#14801130
The Australian mainstream media generally reports on matters of terrorism that directly impacts Australia as a country and Australians as a people or more generally terrorist acts and threats of terrorism that impacts the West and Westerners. A good example of this is the lack of coverage of terrorism that impacts non-Westerners very little but impacts other peoples as in the case of Boko Haram which is the world; deadliest terror group operating on the African continent. At face value it may appear that the mainstream Australian media or Western media may value the life of Australians or Westerners more than the lives of people living in Africa however on a closer analysis it may be seen that the media in a capitalist world tailors their reporting to cater for domestic consumption which will bring in more revenue and profits. The nature of corporations is to seek profit and expand business operations which could only be pursued by satisfying the demand of the market in terms of selling the goods or services to the masses. In short without consistent accumulation of profit any type of business will not survive and will go bankrupt. It is in this sense the corporate media reflects the biases and vested interests of the corporate world and is an extension of the established economic order. This is the economic analysis.
The political analysis is that in the case of the lack of coverage of the world most murderous terror organisation which is Boko Haram the mainstream media’s reporting on terrorism operates as a tool of promoting the self-interest realist policies of the state and hence the media focuses on terror groups that directly impacts Western governments. No doubt the media reporting in Nigeria would be much more focused on the atrocities and activities of Boko Haram than the murders of Westerners by ISIS or Al Qaeda. However my critique of the mainstream media in the West is that given the fact that freedom of speech and freedom of the press are the bedrock of the political system of Western democracies the mainstream media should not simply pass down elastic abstract concepts such as “the national interest’ and “national security” as defined by the political elite unchallenged. Since it is the political elite that formulates what the national interest is and instils in the minds of the public what is being done in the name of the people according to the national interests it is the responsibility of a free press to help the public to participate in the negotiations and discussions of what the national interest should be rather than simply pass down ready-made expedient definitions of what constitutes the national interests. If the mainstream media gives enough focus to the atrocities of Boko Haram then the public would be aware that most victims of modern global terrorist groups are non-white and non-Westerners. This would help correct the wrong perception in the minds of the masses in the West that terrorists are only out of get Westerners. Given the fact that 21st century terror groups are mainly non-white and non-Western paying enough attention to the victims of terror in non-Western countries which the most preponderance of terror atrocities are committed will help bridge the us vs them mentality that is currently being exploited by populist demagogues in many Western countries.
The political analysis is that in the case of the lack of coverage of the world most murderous terror organisation which is Boko Haram the mainstream media’s reporting on terrorism operates as a tool of promoting the self-interest realist policies of the state and hence the media focuses on terror groups that directly impacts Western governments. No doubt the media reporting in Nigeria would be much more focused on the atrocities and activities of Boko Haram than the murders of Westerners by ISIS or Al Qaeda. However my critique of the mainstream media in the West is that given the fact that freedom of speech and freedom of the press are the bedrock of the political system of Western democracies the mainstream media should not simply pass down elastic abstract concepts such as “the national interest’ and “national security” as defined by the political elite unchallenged. Since it is the political elite that formulates what the national interest is and instils in the minds of the public what is being done in the name of the people according to the national interests it is the responsibility of a free press to help the public to participate in the negotiations and discussions of what the national interest should be rather than simply pass down ready-made expedient definitions of what constitutes the national interests. If the mainstream media gives enough focus to the atrocities of Boko Haram then the public would be aware that most victims of modern global terrorist groups are non-white and non-Westerners. This would help correct the wrong perception in the minds of the masses in the West that terrorists are only out of get Westerners. Given the fact that 21st century terror groups are mainly non-white and non-Western paying enough attention to the victims of terror in non-Western countries which the most preponderance of terror atrocities are committed will help bridge the us vs them mentality that is currently being exploited by populist demagogues in many Western countries.