Them Media

As many of you know, I am studying media.  I am studying media because I decided quite some time ago that I didn’t particularly like it.  I’m inclined to get angry at things I don’t like, and one of the ways to dissipate that anger is put the object of my ire at an anthropological or sociological remove and examine it, to figure out how and why it makes me (and others) angry.

One of the things I’ve learned about media can be expressed by a slight alteration of Pogo (who altered it from Commodore Perry):  We have met the media, and they are us.

This means that all of us are ultimately responsible for the media that we get.

This week Syracuse University is remembering the twentieth anniversary of the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 and the thirty five students it lost that day.  Today I attended a panel discussion at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs on accountability, prevention of future terrorist attacks and the media’s role.  The talk inevitably came to a criticism of the media.  A retired chaplain who presided over services at Hendricks Chapel the night of the tragedy complained of the circus created by reporters and photographers, who moved their equipment into the chapel “as if they owned the event.”  A story was told of a mother who, after falling to her knees at Kennedy Airport upon hearing of the loss of her son, was instantly surrounded by video cameras and photographers who recorded her grief but were seemingly insensitive to her pain.

But panelist Robert Monetti, father of Pan Am 103 victim Richard Monetti, pointed out that the media could also be a strong ally and even an advocate for the families of victims, who faced further hardships in dealing with Pan Am and the United States government long after the bombing.  Mr. Monetti’s advice:  choose wisely who you speak to in the media.  Take the time to develop relationships with those in the media you trust, and trust only them with your story.

This is everyone’s responsibility, whether we choose to accept it or not.  The media as we know it in today’s society have a great deal of power, and they have their share of incompetent practitioners and bad actors who will abuse that power.  Just like any other profession.  (“I’ve met some lawyers whom I was just as upset with,” Mr. Monetti joked.)

The power of the media, however, rests in their understanding that we will do what they tell us to do.

Will the media tell our stories?  Yes.  In today’s society this is how we communicate – on the television, in the newspapers, on the Internet.  We no longer tell our stories of tragedy and joy around the campfire.  They are communicated, for better or worse, mostly electronically, through the global village.  The power of the media comes from their understanding that they are telling our stories the way they think we want them told.  But if they understand that we want our stories told our way, then we will no longer serve the media; the media will serve us.