As a naieve undergraduate student in the early 2000s, I dreamed of ‘changing the world’ through a creative career informed by global explorations. Journalism lecturers often reiterated that media is the fourth estate of democracy; tasked with informing the public and keeping power in check.
In the ensuing two decades, the media landscape has been radically transformed by technology. Today, anyone with a smartphone and an internet connection can create and share content worldwide. Anyone can call themselves a ‘journalist’ or profess to be a ‘truth teller’.
However, the predominant experience of media consumption today is one of overload, confusion, and a tragic focus on the trivial at the expense of what counts: Justice. Truth. Wisdom. (The School of Life, 2015). In the ‘attention economy’ of our time, the pursuit of high-quality information is increasingly elusive (Hills, 2020).
The School of Life (2015)
Theodor Adorno of the Frankfurt School warned that mass media, which he termed the ‘culture industry,’ manufactures consent by promoting a homogenized culture to serve capitalist interests (Adorno & Horkneimer, 1993). Such standardization produces a passive and apathetic society, disconnected from the natural world, impairing critical thinking and increasing vulnerability to manipulation.
Their fears are acutely pertinent when examining today’s media coverage of global conflicts. In the context of the Gaza crisis, for instance, media outlets often fall short in accurately reporting human rights and environmental violations, influenced by political, economic, and strategic biases.
‘Western media’ has been criticized for its coverage, accused of dehumanizing language about Palestinians and using the passive voice to minimize Israeli accountability for alleged war crimes (Gathara, 2024). This is not just a Gaza issue, it’s systemic; ‘the news’ is a complex product shaped by various factors, including the personal beliefs and ambitions of media professionals and the financial and social pressures they face (Gathara, 2024).
Media conglomerates' control and Western perspectives significantly impact homogenized reporting. This concentration of ownership favors profit over truth, allowing narratives to be steered in a way that preserves existing power structures. Consequently, public trust in traditional and digital media is erroding (Elliot, 2019).
Amidst the recent global pandemic, social media platforms like Instagram became hotbeds for misinformation, with algorithms promoting fake news content (Instagram Misinformation by Content 2020, 2021).
So, what can be done to counteract today’s failing media landscape? Tyson Yunkaporta, in Right Story, Wrong Story (2023), offers a solution rooted in indigenous systems thinking: the practice of ‘yarning,’ a communal storytelling that fosters critical thinking and sifts through bias while remaining connected to the land.
Adopting solutions such as this indigenous approach could improve the way we consume media, prompting us to actively seek alternative news sources and support independent journalism, whilst encouraging community engagement to distill ‘Right stories’ - information that withstands the test of time, enriched through diverse perspectives.
For our own survival, we must become adept at discerning different types of content, recognizing bias, and understanding the underlying political, economic and invidiual motivations that influence the media we consume. With all technological upgrades, we need social upgrades, and as Yunkaporta argues, social revolution begins with our relationships to each other and the land.
References
Adorno, T., & Horkneimer, M. (1993). Dialectic of Enlightenment.
Elliot, D. (2019, June 25). Australians trust the media less: Ipsos “Trust in the Media” study | Ipsos. https://www.ipsos.com/en-au/australians-trust-media-less-ipsos-trust-media-study
Gathara, P. (2024, February 12). The New Humanitarian | Biased Gaza coverage is the tip of a much larger media iceberg. https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/column/2024/02/12/decolonise-how-biased-gaza-coverage-tip-of-media-iceberg
Hills, F. M., Thomas. (2020, December 1). Information Overload Helps Fake News Spread, and Social Media Knows It. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/information-overload-helps-fake-news-spread-and-social-media-knows-it/
Instagram misinformation by content 2020. (2021). Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1293258/instagram-recommended-misinformation-by-content/
The School of Life (Director). (2015, March 16). POP CULTURE: What’s wrong with the media. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwPdAZPnk7k
Yunkaporta, T. (2023). Right Story, Wrong Story: Adventures in Indigenous Thinking. Text Publishing.