Subscribe by RSSShould the media be able to ruin peoples lives?
I have been on the blunt end of the media a few times in the last few years, and have seen the damage they can do. I was just reading about Robert Murat who was accused of kidnapping Madeleine McCann. He had his life ruined by the media and they never had a shred of evidence to back anything up. They tore into this mans personal life and made him guilty till proven innocent.
Is this the day and age we live in now? A world run my the media? They have the power to turn anything into a witch hunt without anything to stop them. Do we all really believe in everything we are spoonfead these days? Is it true if we read it in the papers or see it on TV?
When I have dealt with the media in the past they always give me the line “We have a right to report the news” and “We are just doing our job”.
This is what Waffen-SS said when they murdered millions of Innocent people. I know they are not murdering people, but they do put peoples lives at risk with the words that they use. They have no laws and only care about the story and not what happens after.
Robert Murat life has been destroyed at the hands of just a few people… But millions of people read these stories and made this innocent man go into hiding. He has just won £600K from the newspapers which I hope can do some healing to his life. But will this money give him back the time he lost? Will it heal any emotional damage it has caused him and the people around him? No. We also need to think about how much they made from ruining this mans life, and how much have they made from all the other peoples lives they ruin everyday?
It makes me sick when I see these newspapers and magazines on the shelves which sole purpose is to make people feel bad. You just have to walk into a newspaper shop to see “Britney gets a big bum!” or “Winehouse punches a man in the face”!
These are the types of stories that hit the front page! We have our own men and women dying in unjust wars, people starving to death, and children being murdered on our own streets! BAre we are now conditioned to care more about someones sweat patches at the Oscars then anything that effects us in real life?
It really upsets me to see how much control the media have over us now. They distate what we think and what we know… We really are living in George Orwel’s vision of Big Brother now.
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Jul 19, 2008 - 12:07:50I don’t think it’s so much “Big Brother” as it is apathy. People are lazy and don’t care and can only care when the story is overly sensational. Of course, the media want the viewers/readers, so they’re going to do whatever it takes to get them. It’s 50/50 fault, I think.
Honestly, if people weren’t so ready to see bad things happen to people while at the same time too trusting of the greedy media types, this crap probably wouldn’t happen. Yellow journalism at it’s best.
I feel bad for the dude that had his life ruined. It would most definitely be nice if someone in the media were held accountable for those kinds of actions. First place to start with getting that ball rolling is to turn them off.
very true Jinx. I refuse to buy any papers anymore. It seems like they have have the right to do what they like these days and we all lap it up and ask for more.
They have the freedom of the press to do what they like… And when you prove them wrong they just shove you off with money… Someone should be held responsible for sure!
The sole purpose of the media is to sensationalize things. That’s why you see on TV the whole “What are you eating that could be killing you? Story at 8″ kind of tags in the middle of the day. That way, they know the person is going to make sure to tune in at 8 to hear the load of bull they are trying to sell you.
Of course, just as you stated, once they ruin lives and such, they don’t apologize, they just move onto the next victim.
It’s lazy, shallow media fluff that costs little effort in time, research, money and in the use of brain matter for those who read the crap.
They use front page headlines to sling mud and a tiny, almost hidden apology is tucked away on a left-hand page deep in the newspaper, usually surrounded by ads.