Mass Media Bias

By Richard Hazzlewood

How much trust should we place in mass media? That is the key question of this work. The author explores both the media proper and the entertainment industries, with examples ranging from the Financial Times to the latest Netflix offerings. The overall thesis is that we should approach mass media with caution and perhaps create a 'metaspace' for ourselves where we gauge the media object critically, and do not allow ourselves to be drawn into a constructed bias naively. Contains lively examples and an appeal to the broad range of higher quality culture available in society, as well as using multiple and varied news sources. Includes an appendix on art as an alternative to mass media.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Richard Hazzlewood
• Release date: Feb 17, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463016602

Richard Hazzlewood

Quiet academic type from North West England. BA English, MA Renaissance Literature.I studied in exile by the rivers of Babylon for 3 years, aka Cambridge. And I descended into Egypt, aka PricewaterhouseCoopers. Now I live in a spiritual hermitage where I study literature, philosophy and religion.I am a Roman Catholic convert, and particularly find spiritual fulfilment in the Divine Mercy Chaplet and the Liturgy of the Hours.Beer, wine, and spirits are my three branches of government. I am currently especially interested in French and Italian red.Philosophy is really the driving force of my life, and I always seek to question and open up new vistas on being. From Classical ethics to Medieval metaphysics to existentialism, I like to run the gamut of philosophical thought.Poetry is an abiding passion of mine.Finally, a list of books I hold very close to my heart: Augustine, 'Confessions'; Bonaventure, 'Journey of the Mind to God'; Dante, 'The Divine Comedy'; Plato, 'Phaedrus'; Cervantes, 'Don Quixote'; 'The Bhagavad Gita', & of course, 'The Bible'.

Book preview

Mass Media Bias

Richard Hazzlewood

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Copyright 2019 Richard Hazzlewood

‘Hence these will be sayings of discretion for the wayfarer, of light for the way, and of love in the wayfaring.’ - St John of the Cross

Preface

There exists a systematic bias in the mass media and entertainment industries. It has been stated that a small number of corporations control the bulk of the mass media, and that each has a commercial prerogative. Beyond this, each attempts to impose its own world view, in accord with elite interests. We will begin to examine this use of propaganda in what follows.

The entertainment industries are especially insidious as it is perhaps an unexpected source of control and directioning. Yet I have been appalled at what I have encountered in the programming of behemoths such as Netflix. The new programmes being commissioned are immediately distasteful and soul-destroying to a well-informed mind. One is far better retreating to the safety of the works of Raphael, the music of Josquin Despres, and the literature of Dante and Shakespeare. Perhaps early cinema is fairly innocent compared with the contemporary fare: hence I will watch Buster Keaton for example. Some works like Pasolini’s ‘Gospel According to Matthew’ are clearly quite