We'll tell you what the news is. The news is what we say it is.
International media have condemned comments made by President Rodrigo Duterte claiming he said the killing of corrupt journalists is justified. The United Nations Human Rights system condemned President Duterte as well when President Duterte vented his anger in response to a question about foreign media groups that were critical of him. President Duterte gave the response that the United Nations cannot even solve the Middle East’s problems and cannot even lift a finger in Africa, adding, “Shut up all of you.” President Duterte is correct in his assessment that the United Nations is one of the most corrupt organizations and does not have any right to criticize anyone. Also, I am sick and tired of those bureaucrats living in their luxury offices either in New York City or in a European capital trying to run the world. In reality, the United Nations is ineffective and useless; it is a bottomless pit that consumes the wealth of nations and provides very little but corrupt and lazy bureaucrats, driving big nice cars around disaster areas. The United Nations is powerless to prevent global aggression, and in particular the aggressions of powerful states against weak states. For example, when Russian President Putin invaded Ukraine, the United Nations did not say anything but rather partnered with Russia bringing more disorder and chaos in Syria.
The Untied Nations is a hotbed for corruption and abuse. From failing to prevent genocide in Rwanda in1993, to wholesale corruption of the Oil for Food Relief Program in Iraq, to the disappearance of UN funds earmarked for tsunami relief in Indonesia, to a transnational network of pedophiliac rape by UN peacekeepers in Africa, to UN officers in the police unit in Haiti extorting money from daily paid workers, to local staff at the UN mission in Kosovo being forced to pay bribes, and now to the refuge crisis in Europe and wars in the Middle East and Syria—the UN has proven inapt.. Therefore, the UN has no legitimate say in anything and should be closed down.
There is generally no such thing as balance, fairness, accuracy, or independence of the media. With ratings driving the profits of media, journalists and political commentators are motivated to stir up controversy at any cost. Corruption within the media is likewise cancerous, and there seems to be no medicine to cure it. That is what President Duterte was trying to explain when he said that there are some journalists justified to be killed who have cancer and that there is no medicine to cure them but death if media is not being checked, Journalists should take steps to address this problem of corrupt journalists. If not, then journalists will lose their credibility.
It is true that we need the media because it strengthens democracy, not because the media strengthens the government. We need a media that becomes the voice for the voiceless; we need a media that enriches public discourse, not one that enriches corporations. We all know the media is very powerful and can make right seem wrong and wrong seem right. We know that media shapes public opinion. It is wrong for international journalists and the media community to criticize President Dueterte for arguing that corruption of the media is not a new phenomenon.
Media is meant to give people a true sense of their world, so they can participate and have a voice in how the world works. Relentless nonsense reporting about meaningless polls, prioritizing the value of balance over that of giving the truth, and narrowly focusing only on what is not working does not give the public a real sense of what is going on.
Rather, open and balanced media is an essential core of democracy. The role of the media is critical in promoting good governance, controlling corruption, promoting public welfare, disseminating information to the listeners, guarding democracy, and guaranteeing its promise of equality and justice. It is for exposing the bad guys in order to stop them. We need government that we can trust, and we need good media to make that happen. So many journalists are working for foreign intelligence agencies and are paid to promote certain interests. One journalist confessed that Gaddafi was trying to build a secret center for the production of lethal gasses, but said he did not know anything about what they told him to write! Thus, the most powerful media usually will tell the audience what the news is. The news is what they say it is.
Dr. Aland Mizell is President of the MCI and a regular contributor to Mindanao Times. You may email the author at:aland_mizell2@hotmail.com
