Marginalized voices, media representation, and social justice in contemporary society

Media

Injustice and the Media

There was a point in the not-too-distant past when it was reasonable to perceive the media as a force collectively aimed at informing the public, exposing corruption, surfacing scandal and general performing the responsibility of protecting the people's right to know. However, several forces have permeated the so-called 'fourth estate,' diluting the media's acceptance of this responsibility. At one end of the spectrum, the growth in value of cable news such as CNN or MSNBC has created a highly monetized and commercially-motivated form of news. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the increasing visibility of social media such as Facebook and Twitter in spreading news stories has removed much of the accountability or professionalism from our media outlets.

The result is that our media outlets rarely have the motivation to ensure that a well-informed public is made aware of injustice in all its forms. According to the Daily Graphic (2009), "As the fourth estate of the realm, the media is expected by the public to play their watchdog role well and they should do this with a high sense of responsibility without infringing on the rights of individuals and society."

Unfortunately, a consideration of major media outlets today demonstrates that distinctive biases play a major role in what is reported and how it is presented. For instance, the most prominent cable news networks are collectively the outlet from which most Americans draw their information on current events. However, these are almost explicitly partisan in nature, with Fox News unabashedly endorsing a conservative agenda with little to no interest in disseminating the 'truth.' By contrast, MSNBC's liberal leaning causes it to report with certain exclusions as a way of strengthening the position of its political allies. Unfortunately, this is an almost inescapable reality in today's mutually monetized media and political realms. According to Chiyamwaka (2008), "all governments since independence, corporate organisations, influential and powerful politicians and individuals have sought ways and means to control and regulate the media not only by wanting to limit its legitimate right to write, broadcast and publish freely but also to posses it, manipulate it, subject it to mere puppets that can be pulled by the string and as we observe today to reduce the media to tools of third grade propaganda." (Chiyamwaka, p. 1) Economic interests play a big part in the allegiance of these and all media outlets.

These economic interests also play into a sort of sensationalism that glorifies violence and atrocity. For instance, the media's proclivity in the event of tragedies such as the Boston Marathon bombing has been to extend the fame and visibility of the perpetrator while paying precious little attention to the victim's story. According to Glazer (2013), "it is the media's responsibility to report on stories in a manner that reminds us that the victim really matters, and the accused should be forgotten." (Glazer, p. 1)

As a counterpoint, there are grass-roots efforts at bringing media into a more democratic space through the use of independent social media. As to its benefits in protecting the public from injustice, "platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, et al. could easily integrate systems like these to spread public service messages. These social platforms could become the next milk cartons or digital billboards." (Boettger, p. 1)