The problem with the modern media is they do not have a sense of social justice.Do you agree?

Before taking my stand, I would define the meaning of the key terms in the question. What is modern media? How is it distinguished from media in the past? And what exactly is social justice? In the past, communications were carefully and clearly crafted and sent via pipelines to be received by the public. In other words, it was a one way route in which the information was distributed. The feedback and participation of the audience was not given much importance. However, the advancement in technology has given rise to modern media. Modern media does not refer mainly to traditional forms of mediums like newspapers, television or web sites. Instead, it stretches well beyond the World Wide Web and out into the "real world" whereby the public is not just passive receiver of information but also actively engaging in discussion over issues. Such forms of modern media are blogs, forum, pod casting and tagging which involves the active participation of the audiences themselves. Whereby, social justice as defined by Wikipedia, refers to conceptions of a just society, where "justice" refers to more than just the administration of laws. It is based on the idea of a society which gives individuals and groups fair treatment and a just share of the benefits of society.

Hence,is it true to say that modern media do not have a sense of social justice? Or is this just another sweeping statement? As for me, I believe that the modern media lacks social justice but would not say that it completely does not have it.Below, I will support my resons with reference to three articles.

"The Gulf War, was made popular by an immense propaganda barrage unleashed by the Pentagon, the media, and government, creating an ideological milieu in which 45 percent of the population said it would be prepared to use nuclear weapons against Iraq. Military actions were, transformed into a grotesque national spectacle, a great celebration of war-making." This quote by Carl Boggs distinctly shows the problem with modern media- Lack of social justice. True, modern media promotes the freedom of expression but many a times, it has been exploited to suit the needs of various individuals or corporations-both private and government. Thus, depriving certain groups of freedom in certain areas. The article “Moyers hammers the media for 'Buying the War' in Iraq” helps to prove this point .This article, examines the media's shortcomings in "Buying the War," a 90-minute Bill Moyers Journal special. Many journalists have been demonized and vilified by the president's party and cheerleaders for being aggressive in their interrogation of public officials. Most media outlets owned by corporations "with vested interests in Washington policy, not only make it hard on journalists to publish their views on certain issues but are also skeptical about publishing such information because the journalists’ writings were at odds with what most of the Washington press corps was reporting. This clearly shows the social injustice of modern media. as they are deprived of freedom of expression to prevent the dissemination of information regarding government affairs.

The second article “Speaking for ourselves” speaks about civil right activists in Jackson, Mississippi who took the Federal Communications Commission to the court because it failed to take action on local stations which failed to serve their African-American audiences though they made up 45% of their audiences. The fact that the concerns of a certain group of audiences where completely ignored to suit its own need further reiterates the fact that modern media lack a sense of social justice.

Finally, the third article entitled “Media injustice to Sacred Heart Hospital” is about how the wrong dissemination of information to the public regarding the illness of Mr. Arroyo, the President’s husband resulted in lowering the reputation of the hospital. The hospital which is known for its good services and timely treatment diagnosed him as having acute gastritis. However, when Mr. Arroyo was flown to St. Luke’s, he was operated on for an aortic aneurysm as well as given heart bypass surgery. This resulted in media reporting which blew up the wrong diagnosis made by the hospital with no explanation of why acute gastritis was not what ailed him after all. This caused the public to assume that The Sacred Heart hospital had committed a blooper in diagnosis, thus putting it in bad light. This is clearly social injustice in the part of media as it took no efforts to correct its error in reporting though the hospital has proved to provide accurate diagnosis on various other occasions.

Though, I still stand firmly by my stand, I cannot agree that modern media completely does not have any social justice. As providing a platform whereby people are given a freedom to express their thoughts and opinions is social justice itself.

Links:
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2007/apr/27/yehey/opinion/20070427opi5.html
http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2007-04-22-bill-moyers_N.htm
http://www.thenation.com/docprem.mhtml?i=20031117&s=thembanixon