The Right to Tell

I was rummaging through the Internet earlier today and I ran across this book called "The Right To Tell." The book had some fascinating points on media and the power that it holds. It explores "the role of the media as a watchdog of government and the corporate sector, and the policies that prevent the media from exercising that role. The Right to Tell assesses the media's function as transmitters of new ideas and information. This book also evaluates the damaging effects that an unethical or irresponsible press can cause to a society." Every single day we look at the news for our information, we plan our days around it, it affects how we act, respond, what we think about and what we worry about. I remember being in the wood shop the night the election results were going to be announced, a couple of my friends were working with me and every 10 minutes they were running to the computer to try and catch an Internet connection to go onto some site and find out if Obama had won or lost, and I remember stepping outside and seeing all the people running and screaming down 5th Ave, and Taxi cab drivers riding by with their windows down, fist out the window honking their horn. Everyone was happy that night, they were happy because they received their information fast enough, they were able to find out quickly who had won the election, be it by Internet, radio, television or even text messages from other friends who had found out. Information spread out quickly and efficiently and people reacted to that in an amazing evocative way. Within the next week many friends of mine were going through their days happier then they had been all year. The fact that Obama had won had made their week so much better. I was outside of the parsons building sitting on the window ledge and a woman came up to me and asked if she could interview me. She asked me what my hopes and expectations were for Generation O. Generation O being generation Obama. The fact that this was historic and world changing. Just the simple fact that there were people going around interviewing people in response to the election, of our hopes and expectations shows how much of an effect mass communication has on us, it shows how it can affect our daily lives and influence our thoughts and actions. but my thoughts go out to other places in the world, "The Right To Tell" also describes "the role of the media and the challenges they face in specific countries including Bangladesh, Egypt, the former Soviet Union, Thailand, and Zimbabwe. These fascinating case studies highlight the media's ability to act as a catalyst for change and growth." The fact that unlike in the US where information is available at the speed of light, the election results being an example, in many places in the world information is censored and blocked and the effect that it has on people is very different. In those places the people have no power and live almost in denial not having a true idea of the actual going ons in the world. "And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives." Knowledge is power and access to knowledge is crucial in giving people the basic human rights that they deserve. Many people in the world can't imagine a better life for themselves because they don't know what a better life means. They do not have Internet nor newspapers and cannot access information that we in the developed world can. There is a dream that "Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice." This dream is sometimes even far from reality in the developed world because it is sometimes hard to speak freely without interference from public authority, and even when public authority doesn't interfere, money does, the fear of losing a status, of losing money, of losing a scholarship, of disappointing people will all hinder our free speech. We are subjects of the media, of the law and of daily fears. We have been shown the life that we should be living, we know the American dream, that information isn't hidden and we sacrifice our own rights in order to protect that belief, in order to achieve that image. And very often the Media will hide things in order to make us believe.

      One of the other chapters in the book was written by one of my favorite Novelists, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. He talks about journalism of the past and journalism in the present and talks about the education system that creates the journalists in the world today. He talks about his disappointment in journalism today, how in his opinion Journalism used to be the greatest profession in the world but now it seems that it has come a long ways from where it was. He talks about how "newsrooms have become aseptic laboratories where people toil in isolation, places where it seems easier to communicate via cyberspace than by touching the hearts of readers." he fears that "Dehumanization is spreading at an alarming rate." and one of the things that he blames for this is technology, technology has developed so rapidly that many newsrooms spend all their time and energy in trying to get the most advanced tools to work with but forget that ultimately news is written by humans. He thinks that the fact that the interview has been exalted to the highest form of journalism is a mistake, the tape recorder is not the most important tool for the journalist, he says that previously journalists had 3 tools, a notebook, their ethics, and their ears. And he feels that in modern journalism all three of those have been lost. The tape recorder hears but it doesn't listen. It speaks but doesn't interpret and often when a reporter is using the tape recorder he doesn't even listen to what is being said but instead thinking about the next question that is being asked. And perhaps journalists need to return to the notebook and pay attention to things that they are hearing and interpret them based on their own model of ethics. In its true form "reporting is, in reality, a meticulous and accurate reconstruction of facts. In other words, it is the news in its entirety, as events actually occurred, presented in a way to make the reader feel as though he actually witnessed them." And this is something he feels that we no longer have. To many modern journalists "the notion that the best news is not always the news that is obtained first, but very often is the news that is best presented, means nothing to them. And part of this problem Marquez feels is education. He feels that many schools "persist in the perverted practice of providing information rather then training." This idea in my opinion stems out from just journalism but extends to many forms of education, such as illustration, communication design, fashion and other forms of art and design. There seems to be a stronger emphasis on learning information but not being taught how to use it. This is something that we need to consider in our daily lives, information is only information, it can empower but it is ultimately how we use it that signifies its importance. We need to take in as much information as possible, news, events and ideas and mold them for our use. Unlike many places in the world where information and media isn't accessible we in a sense are blessed to have access to this and need to start to learn how to best use this tool that is given to us. To any one who is interested in the book, the full online version is available for free, all you have to do is go to books.google.com and search for "The Right To Tell."