Truth Not Media

The media has finally met its match. We, the general public, have spoken. It is we who hold the camera, make the comments as to like or not, and we who watch or listen or turn off. Finally, the people count. Or do we? We use little devices that appear to dangerously but fervently, apply our influence often on major world events. Some even create events. "We the people", count. Even the Trump factor depends upon texting as support,  as seen in their banners at conventions. We all quite accurately, realize that while little thumbs up and down don't mean a thing, some, it seems, make it count. They add up their likes and consider them to be actual "likes". Not so. Much of the time, its a finger jerk reaction meaning, I saw it. Nothing more. Media was once able to colour events by reporting certain aspects that appealed. World disasters were filmed using one or two locations only. Words falling from the mouths of politicians were selected and others discarded. That no longer applies. Amateurs who are "the general public" now are The Media and the actual media folk purchase from them. Best survival tactics for media hype, have to be polls of one kind or another, and these days of our popularist overstepping, the boundaries  of taste, as it once was, are blurred. Taste is not now dictated by professional media rules, usually toward commercial ends, but also that come under laws made to protect the public. This era is new. It cannot be called "fresh" because sometimes it stinks. It stinks of  the truth and often it is not pretty or palatable. And certainly there should be moral and criminal controls in place to avoid bad public showings. But on the plus side, the influences, be they political or commercial, no longer hold centre stage. The average witness to a scenario can display "what really happened". The dangers of the latter is that cyber media can be manipulated and is thus not wholly to be trusted. Nevertheless, the products, while often done for the selling, can be investigated by experts as to their authenticity before airing. While they are "invented" visual news pictures by the average man-on-the-street, instantly, they reveal truths that hoards of van media roaring to a scene, can miss. The cell phone camera is on the scene twenty-four seven. Big Brother is watching constantly and from anywhere including flying high drones. Privacy is over and The Media is, indeed, the message. Congratulations Marshall McCluhan. A cell phone picture published as easily as it happens, has few controls such as broadcast delay modes. It's instant and remains completely up to the good or bad taste of its creator. There are people who spend most of their screen day cruising  sites where they may indulge whatever or wherever their fancy takes them. Most of it is bad, some horrific, and others, ridiculous. It is all a really a waste of time, but somehow stays as appealing as the old peeking under the circus tent or peering through a hole in the street construction fence. Truth? Is it truth? Even that isn't too reliable when much of what you see can be manipulated quite easily. It's all up to the viewer and that index finger.