The Sydney Morning Herald, like Fox News approaches every story from the same three angles; fear, fear and more fear.

This is the front page for the Sydney Morning Herald website today;

Fear - Airport security a joke, you can be blown up by terrorists. We show you how to be safe.

Fear - Bird flu will kill you, we show you how to escape the killer epidemic.

Fear - Your child is in danger, we keep your children safe.

I have a low opinion of Fox News, not because of its statist cheer-leading, but because it uses fear constantly. The funniest one I saw was the "killer escalators". Apparently escalators maim three hundred or so people a year and "possibly kill more people" that we don't hear about because "they (not us)" hush it up. Thankfully Fox went out of their way to make me safe. Idiots. Their political discussions are couched in the same way, it is all fear, fear and more fear.

The Sydney Morning Herald is no different. Mass media is bankrupt. It does not do journalism, it does fear and titillation. It is not fit to report on news, world affairs or politics.

Part Two

I used to think it was to create a dependency, but now I just think tabloid salesmanship has hit all aspects of the media. I recall when September 11th occurred, one fo the anchors [the Canadian bloke who got cancer] was constantly asking the people he was interviewing whether everyone was panicing and screaming. He repeated the question several times with the same people, who kept replying, "No, everyone just walked out calmly".

It was like the media was trying to claim that human behaviour was not legitimized unless it was framed the way they wanted. The anchor seemed slightly ticked off that he didnt get his confession of complete panic and fear.

It is the same with the way government communicates with the people. It is an attempt to create a dependency through fear. Whether it be "keeping you safe" or interest rates. Without us, you will be screwed. We have seen a creep in the welfare too, it is now encompassing the middle classes, with benefits to buy houses, do childcare etc. The Howard tax regime, which is heavily weighted against low and middle income earners, is creating a new class of people dependent on government.

The answer of the fellow who was in the World Trade Centers on Sept 11th, and kept telling the anchor that people were handling it fine, shows the crowd wisdom. The power of the media and government is pyramidical, and highly concentrated. It is in their interests to keep the people in fear, as it creates a psychological dependency.

FUD. Fear, uncertainty and doubt.

Part Three

I am also reminded of the first time I saw Bowling for Columbine. I was dubious of it, but it was an excellent documentary. Each myth was successively busted. I am not sure why conservatives despise it so much, it comes out pro-gun. Moore discovers it is not gun ownership that is the issue, it is the media creating an environment of fear.

All their stories, headlines etc, are carefully created to gain a reaction from their audience, one that mixes apprehension and anxiety. It is how the media manipulates its audience into continuing to watch.

It works. I despise this method, but when I see it in the adverts for the News, it does grab at your anxieties. The mix of baritone voice, coupled with an anxious soundtrack and the judicous mix of words which don't tell the whole story, which is then finished with, "We show you how ..... to keep safe". Ah thank his noodly appendage, the TV will keep me safe.

My emotions are being manipulated.

It is fine to say avoid it, and I do to an extent, but the barrage is constant from all media outlets. Whether it is the titillation of Jen loves Brad loves Angela at the checkout line, or headlines proudly claiming that the Bird Flu will be an epidemic when it has only claimed two victims, or maybe even that Osama plans to kill me - whatever.

TV marketers have been trying to work out why young men in particular, aged 15-35 have been leaving the TV in droves. The internet and computer games are usually trotted out as the excuse. But it may just be, that this demographic doesn't like the media being pitched at them in this way.

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Mass media is limited in its ability to group-think and go against the popular impression or opinion of the time. If it does, it risks alienating its consumers in the mass market. I have argued this in the past for Bush . Howard is probably safe while his satisfaction ratings remain high .

I am reading, "Keeping The Bastards Honest. The Australian Democrats' First Twenty Years". An interesting quote when the book was looking at the Democrats performance in the Senate;

When the double-dissolution had been called [1987], opinion polls suggested that the [Australia] Card was supported by two-thirds of the population ( The Bulletin , 29 Sept 1987). The editorials in the print media, particularly 'quality' newspapers, supported the legislation. Public support for the Australia Card collapsed, however, from 69 per cent to 39 per cent between March and September ( The Bulletin 29 Sept 1987). Media editorialists changed their attitudes in accordance with the change in public opinion: by early September every 'quality' paper ber The Canberra Times urged the government to rethink on the Card.

And the media likes to think they are 'players' when in reality mass media is a reflective polling outfit and echo chamber in the same manner the politicians are.

We also see lists which have the one hundred most influential intellectuals, often dominated by media commentators and pundits, yet their influence is to follow polls and public opinion. Where is the intellectual courage? It is an ultra-rare entity in mass media, which must first, and foremost, reach the mass market.

Daily dead-tree print media is in decline .

From the article;

The numbers are in, and they're not good. Eighteen out of the top 20 papers reported weekday circulation losses in the most recent FAS-FAX report, including sharp drops at the San Francisco Chronicle (-16.58%) and the Boston Globe (-8.25%).

This is print media being out innovated by the rapidity, and fluidity of online media. Many aspects of the print media's authority under a scarcity based economy is being challenged - and losing - under the intense commodification of the abundance economy.

Opinion and punditry are just one area where mass-media is being challenged. We will most likely see the AP move to a Google Ad-sense like business model soon. As news itself moves to abundance, or long-tail forms of economic structure.

Another area where mass media, and consolidation are losing to the decentralised nature of the internet is in the world of online newspapers.

I used to like wandering through the links of the Australian newspapers. The newspaper websites used to be highly regional, and widely diverse in design. The designs were often horrors, but they were personalised, most likely of the person in the region office who knew the web "best". But this has gone, most now have been consolidated into the one online software system. For instance;

• Goulburn Post
• Bendigo Advertiser
• Midwest Times (Geraldton)

Boring. And then we have the Fairfax variants like the Illawarra Mercury. It is bad enough that News Ltd makes us view couriermail.news.com.au when there is absolutely no need to associate the Courier Mail with the news.com.au URL.

When you look at the blogs, and other online news and opinion aggregation websites outside of mass media, it is a colourful world of varied design, personalised and diversified. The consolidation of the Australian newspapers into software systems that display each in the same manner does not make economic or marketing sense.

Bring back the unique website designs for the provincial and regional newspapers that existed when it was a journalist, or a work-experience intern who knew a bit about the web designing and publishing the website. There are numerous opensource software suites to manage online content so there is no excuse on that front. I want the regional papers to be as diverse and colourful as the regions they report from.