Can the media ever be relied upon to convey the truth?

Based on the article " Great Lies of the American Free Press", it is said that the media focuses on popularity, prejudice and profits instead of people and public interests to determine the news that they report. Hence, to a large extent, the media cannot be relied to convey the truth.

The first word "popularity" suggests that the media selected their reports so that they will not lose their readers, viewers or even advertising dollars. As such, they need to report issues that draws public attention and in turn, generate profits to the corporation. As cited from the article, the Iraqi War is one that was "fueled by corporates-controlled media's lust to boost profits". The more Iraqi War was promoted, the more will the media have viewers and readers who want to know more about the updates of the war. Hence, the media can never be relied upon to convey the truth as many times, the media's reports was determined by the profits they would earn from a news.

Besides popularity, the media also practice prejudice when they select their news. As mentioned in the article, the author of the article once wrote to his local newspaper regarding 'bad faith' standard in America which was censored. This was so as the local newspaper was afraid to offend the local police department. As a result, awareness of the arrant nature of 'bad faith' standard was not put across to the public. Most importantly, what seems to be a good chance to amend the 'bad faith' standard was thrown away as the article was banned. The act of censorship to prevent themselves from being involved in problems greatly reduced the media's credibility in their ability to convey the truth to the public.

The last point, profits, is another factor that controls the news that was reported. Individuals could have been bribed by the government to say in favour of the government policies. One such example found in the article is that pseudo-journalist, Maggie Gallagher was paid $21,500 by the federal government of Health and Human services to encourage marriages. Besides individuals bribery, another way of profiting is through acquiring a bigger share of the marketplace. Thus, media spoke in favour of the government under Bush dictatorship. In such a case, it is highly doubtful that the media can be relied upon to convey the truth.

However, it is necessary to note that media does not stand on the three points mention above all the time. There are times where media's reports were due to other factors like public interest. Taking the media in Singapore as an example, factual reports were made and the public was constantly updated on the situation of SARS in Singapore. Even after the declaration of Singapore being SARS- free officially on 5 June, the media did not cover up another new case of SARS when a 27-year-old researcher, who contracted SARS in September, was infected in the Environmental Health Institute Laboratory where he worked. The public was notified about another SARS patient and thus they were alerted about taking measure to prevent catching SARS virus. Hence, the media can be reliable in conveying the truth to the public.