OPINION

Ten years ago, when I began thinking through the concept of ideology and what we as a collective entity learn from this thing called the “media,” the object of analysis was a bit monolithic and it was fairly easy for me to tap into what people were watching, hearing, and reading. 

I was obsessed with the monster that was media consolidation, which resulted in the corporatist proliferation of capitalist dogma, patriarchy, and racist ideologies that justify many of the horrors that those on the Left fight against—neo-colonial wars, deepening structural inequality, ecological degradation, lack of access to health care, the recurrent crises of capitalist accumulation. The list can go on and on unfortunately. 

Despite little study of the relationship between mainstream media outlets and their current representation of these issues on my part, I can imagine that not much 

has changed in terms of systematic skewing in the direction of neoliberalism and fierce dedication to the capitalist status quo. The current economic meltdown has done little to help this situation. Mainstream journalist have been termed the gatekeepers of democracy. If you ask David Simon (or watch season 5 of The Wire) you will learn that newspapers are in a heap of trouble. The print media languish in the face of increasing newspaper consolidation and collapse. The result is fewer and fewer people looking over the politicians’ shoulders and a disturbing lack of resources or interest in muckraking. This shapes the general public’s access to a critical consciousness that is a profoundly necessary tool which lends to a politically engaged citizenry. 

That said, I largely avoid interacting with mainstream media in any real way. This is in large part because I am clued in. I now know about and have ready access to Democracy Now!, Common Dreams, Talking Points Memo, Alternet, Truth Dig, Al Jazeera English, and even The Daily Show and Matt Taibbi … you name it, I probably read it, watch it, or download the podcast and listen to it on the subway while shaking my head in disgust. What is striking to me is the extent to which I can choose to avoid the usual suspects. This doesn’t mean I am out of touch. Often, I choose to engage media which offers critical analyses of the aforementioned media beasts. 

While it is quite easy (and necessary) to put forth an analysis of what is wrong with the media, it is also important to commend those who continue to do the hard work of (for fear of sounding cliché) speaking truth to power. Readers should be outraged by what they see around them. However, they should also congratulate those who continue the tradition of Upton Sinclair, Rachel Carson, George Seldes, Helen Hunt Jackson, Studs Terkel, and I.F. Stone. Thank goodness for Amy Goodman, Jeremy Scahill, Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, and (dare I say it) Michael Moore. Thank goodness for Indymedia! The muckraking tradition does live on. 

While it is not evident in the New York Times, Washington Post, or Baltimore Sun (though the ground rent series was pretty great), investigative journalism is there for the taking. It’s just a matter of knowing where to look or the forums available for its creation.