Some years ago, in the pre-Internet days, I attended a conference on news and media. The speech by one speaker stays in my mind till today.
He opened with: What do you know about Iraq, Iran, Israel, about China, Tibet, Kashmir, or indeed, what do you know about the world, especially parts of the world you have never been.
I believe what we know is what we get from the news.
Yes, we live under the shadow of the news providers. They set the agenda; control the type of information, and the quantity of the information and the quality of information given us.
He, who controls the flow of information, controls our minds, shapes our worldview and ultimately influences our actions or in-actions.
Even our future generations are not spared from this fate.For what is news today will be history tomorrow. They too, will perceive the world filtered by this media curtain.
Now over twenty years on his words still ring true. Our consciousness of events very much depends on whether or not the events are carried (or still carried) in the news media. Take for instance the major news for over a month that of the MH370 disappearance.
Now it is nearly two months old. The search and recovery teams are still hard at work, scouring the bottom of the ocean; the families of the passengers are still grieving with no closure in sight but the general public is fast forgetting the incident because it is no longer worthy of front-page headline.
Similarly, the recently case of the kidnapping of two women off Sabah by the Abu Sayyaf bandits is all but forgotten because it no longer news worthy. Of course, newspaper is guided by the principle of regency. As it is often said, yesterdays news in no news. So really out of sight, out of mind.
The influence of the media is more profound than that. Many people succumb to the belief that an event is true only if it is being carried in the newspaper or television.
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Prometheus unbound