1 of 4

Write now Article Tools

Page 3 of 4

There was little competitive differentiation because the product of fact-distribution was the same. These were the people who we could "trust" to tell us what was going on. But when facts began to fade into irrelevance, the dynamics of the business changed, and the doors opened for corporations to differentiate their news product in the same manner that they would any of their other products.

Enter Diversification. Like so many businesses, if there is an opportunity to diversify and create separate revenue streams based on personal preferences and demographics, then that business has a profit-driven obligation to do so in order to compete effectively and stay in business. From the days of Henry Ford's singularly black Model Ts, we now have the broadest myriad of choices configured to our tastes. There is regular, and then there is menthol. There is spearmint and peppermint flavored. There is two-door and four door; mild, medium and five alarm; classic and lemon scented, sugar-frosted and very berry, frappuccino and cappuccino, etc.

Businesses have long responded to their consumer markets by diversifying their products in a manner that will both generate new demand or meet existing demand. And because the market now demands certainty over truth, and constraints such as the Fairness Doctrine have been flushed down a memory hole, the media, like any business, has diversified their product line into multiple versions of the truth. Now we have the Fox truth, and the CNN truth, the New York Times truth and the Wall Street Journal truth, the Rush Limbaugh truth and the Air America truth. Yes, there is some overlap, but where exactly is it? Or more importantly, does it matter? Not if the product in demand is certainty rather than truth.

The end result is a purely profit driven market for "news" in which credibility and truth are no longer the core features of that product. Because the inflexible product of facts has been replaced by the highly flexible product of certainty, profitability has moved into the forefront as the conventional measure of success, and this success need only have a peripheral relationship with that very inconvenient concept we know of as the truth.

And that brings us finally to weakness.

Fear creates weakness, particularly in our ability to distinguish truth from fiction among the flood of information that bombards us. As the demand for truth continues to wither, and the demand for certainty increases, our needs are very efficiently catered to

• << previous page
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about The difference between government-controlled media and corporate-controlled media?
We want to hear your view. Write now!