Have Western Mainstream Media Broken Ranks with Their Governments?

Many are surprised: how come BBC and CNN do not reflect the will of their respective governments? How come BBC and CNN often seem very critical of Israel while their governments are very supportive of Israeli policies? Have BBC and CNN become at odds with their governments?

Noam Chomsky states that US media try to cover a wide range of perspectives. According to Chomsky, the governing class wants people to think that there is no “extreme” beyond the extremes covered by internal media. The extreme left, MSNBC, and the extreme right, Fox News, are presented as so extreme that one cannot go beyond them. While this does not hold true anymore as many people don’t trust mainstream media, it can yet remail the objective of the ruling class. But what about BBC and CNN, which are supposed to represent the center? How come they now seem in favor of policies that appear at odds with their respective governments or ruling class?

Building on Chomsky, this is how I would phrase it: it is better to feed people information that you don’t like than to let them get that information from other sources.

The analogy is this: you have a kid who is interested in activities that you find dangerous. Examples can be promiscuity at too early an age, drug use, or even extreme religious or political views. If you show yourself completely at odds with what your kid wants, the kid will become alienated from you. He or she will stop talking to you and will likely continue those activities without your knowledge — probably more and more over time. But if you show some level of understanding, you have a way to channel the kid’s behavior into a safer form of expression. Once you maintain a friendly relationship with your kid, you may gradually influence his or her views over time.

This is the case with media. Western media should cover the great majority of viewpoints in society. A very small minority on the fringes can be tolerated for the sake of controlling the broader population more effectively or saving resources. But the more people you can influence, the better.

I see media as two types. Some media simply create aggravation and sensation among people who have already chosen their side. For example, Fox News has onboarded people with more extreme views. It feeds their anger and reinforces their worldview. They are satisfied hearing what they already believe. MSNBC does the same for the other side. Media does not need to appear impartial to these audience; it only needs to appear aligned with them, while subtly influencing them toward its desired objectives.

The other type are media outlets such as BBC, aimed at people who, while they may already have opinions, still have a level of impartiality. These media outlets must present themselves as unbiased. People do not watch BBC simply to feel validated by hearing what they already believe. They are still, to some extent, seeking. Since their audience is less ideologically fixed, the media must portray itself as neutral. BBC and CNN should appeal to the center of society, so they shift as society shifts.

However, they still have an agenda in mind. They want to pull people in a desired direction. Like a rope connected to a heavy load, they pull gradually. Not too hard, because the rope may tear and people may switch to non-state-controlled media. But with just enough pressure to maintain their grip, they pull constantly.

Let’s look at an example when state media does not align with the view of its people.

Iranian state media reflect the core views of the government: the supremacy of Iran’s leader, the core foreign policy of the state, and the ideological values of the Islamic Republic. People who disagree with these views look for alternative sources. This vacuum has been filled by foreign channels such as BBC Persian, Manoto, and Iran International. Many Iranians rarely check state media at all. They rely heavily on foreign media instead. This creates a major vulnerability for Iran’s regime, because the mindset of the population becomes shaped by actors the regime sees as hostile.

So how do media pull people toward certain views while still appearing aligned with public opinion? There are many techniques. I will not go into them here, since that is not the subject of this article. In general, much could be done with subtle messages.

In my next article, I will explain why the media of a country like Iran does not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of majority while in the US, the govenment strives to bring the majority onboard.

In this article, I explain that, in special cases, centrist media might portray themselves as biased against their actual cause.