If these stories didn’t sell, the media wouldn’t run them. Yes, they should be objective and stop being culpable in this ongoing assault on American democracy… but they’re serving a market.
They’re not serving a market … they’re serving a master.
The general media is not an independent entity that does things to make a bit of money … they are a tool that is used by corporations and the wealthy elite to corral people into a certain mindset and beliefs … that eventually lead everyone into electing only those people that are marketed to them.
“It’s never gonna get any better. Don’t look for it. Be happy with what you got. Because the owners of this country don’t want that. I’m talking about the real owners now, the real owners, the big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions. Forget the politicians. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don’t. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They’ve long since bought and paid for the senate, the congress, the state houses, the city halls, they got the judges in their back pockets and they own all the big media companies so they control just about all of the news and information you get to hear. They got you by the balls.” - George Carlin
People wanting to read crazy, unhinged, insane, chaotic garbage about how the world is falling apart doesn’t mean that they want it to keep happening or that they approve or that they think these are the right people to have in charge.
Their motives don’t matter because the result is the same.
Edit: The algorithm is driven by engagement. One’s particular reason for engaging with media content is wholly irrelevant- to the algorithm, watching Alex Jones because he’s a flaming racist homophobic paranoid schizophrenic and watching Alex Jones because one is a flaming racist homophobic paranoid schizophrenic are equivalent. The algorithm doesn’t care why the content was engaged with, only that it was.
And the algorithm serves the capital. Who needs truth and accountability when there’s PROFIT!
I think the whole “let people decide what they want to see” line of argument is bogus, just like the lie about the relation ship between supply and demand. There’s a big difference between “Hey I will tell you the truth for a penny”, and “Hey I will tell you whatever you want to hear for a penny”.
Motive always matters.
