Media Culpability

I run the risk of being labeled an ‘old curmudgeon’ or ‘fuddy-duddy’ when I proclaim that the media in general has been guilty of culpability in news reporting. I’m old enough to remember when Huntley and Brinkly were the anchors we trusted most and Walter Cronkite was the gold standard for national news reporting. My, how things have changed.

A friend of mine has it right when he commented that in so many cases: “The only two assets a news anchor needs today is a pretty face and the ability to read a teleprompter.” Unlike a cafeteria catholic, no self-analysis needed (or wanted.) Heaven forbid, you should think for yourself. I can’t count the number of times I’ve watched a news anchor read the news and ‘we’ both knew he/she had no idea what they were saying. Gobble, gobble, next paragraph, please.

It would seem that the over-the-airwaves national networks and cable channels sometimes act like New York Tabloids. Perhaps not as agrégés as the National Inquirer but certainly not with any more thought or reasoning than is needed just to get by. It’s as if simply reading press releases from the white house or either political party has eliminated the added stress of venting their validity or authenticity or honesty. It’s just easier that way.

Just as financial literary should be taught in schools, I think media literacy should also be part of the core curriculum in any educational institution. Some classes are already out there under the label: Critical Thinking: A must for anyone on the planet who can still think and reason.

Photo courtesy of Amy LaComb

Full disclosure: The following was lifted from Google:

The Center for Media Literacy (medialit.org) defines media literacy as a 21st-century educational framework designed to help individuals access, analyze, evaluate, and create media messages in various formats. This approach emphasizes essential critical thinking and communication skills for navigating a democratic society.[1]

Core Principles (CML):

• Constructed Nature: Messages are built using specific creative languages and rules.
• Interpretation and Influence: Different people interpret messages uniquely, and these messages often reflect specific values and power structures.
• Purpose: Media is often created for profit or influence. [1, 2]

Goal and Inquiry:
The goal is to foster critical, effective communicators rather than censoring content. Key questions for analysis include identifying the creator, recognizing techniques used, evaluating represented values, and understanding the purpose of the message.

The key here is critical thinking whether you’re still in middle school or have entered adulthood. If folks just took the time to listen and calmly evaluate the information thrown at them each day, they would have a much better grasp on what’s ‘really’ happening here and abroad.

Unfortunately, for some folks, it’s simply easier to let others do their thinking for them. Pontifications from social media, the tabloids, Tik Tock and other channels of dis-information allow these robots to let others rule their lives. For each of us, the responsibility to ‘get it right’  rests between our ears in the gray matter above. And while it can take some hard work, that a lot of folks can’t be bothered with, it’s worth the effort.

When I was a Younger Man

On the surface, it might seem conceited of me writing yet another article about myself. Perhaps it’ll be mistaken as some self-absorbed treatise on the wonderment of youth and the trials (slash) tribulations of growing up in the 50’s in the Midwest. Like some opening act or shadowy prelude to my oft-mentioned ‘Lost Years’ during the Sixties. In reality, it’s a sobering realization that the complexity of youth is often realigned as age and maturity gain some foothold on one’s memory.

My Mother appears in these two pictures; the first on her wedding day and the second with some skittish grade-schooler in her own backyard. Yet her presence can be felt in every picture…one vision then, another now.

I can’t say the pictures unleash a floodgate of fond memories drowning my consciousness with warmth. But nor do they harken back to a darker period in my life. Instead, the photos tell a simple story. It was what it was. That would be defined as growing up in a single parent household and raised by an emotionally-vacant woman who was just trying to survive under some very tough circumstances. And she did it with little to no support from other family members. Boyed by her Catholic faith and the resiliency of her rural upbringing this woman made the best of numerous life-changing events in her life.

My mother came from an agrarian culture, much like the woman I would eventually marry. Beneath that façade of modesty was one tough, hard-working and determined woman. With little more than her own mental smarts and street-learned determination my mother made her way through a hard-scrabble, ever-changing world…with two kids under tow and no husband at her side.

I look back at these pictures of myself now and see them quite differently than I have in the past.

I used to see a scared kid unsure of himself with no father or father figure to guide him along. Now, I see a kid heavily influenced by the work ethic and penny-wise attitudes of his mother. She started working at age five by cleaning out the chicken coop. I started working in seventh grade with my first paper route. We both always had/have side hustles going on.

I used to see a teenager desperate to find love and affection and someone to be close to. Now I see an ordinary kid just like every other kid I knew who was searching for love…only I didn’t know it at the time.

I used to see kid so proud of his ROTC training and the Lieutenants bars pinned on his shoulders even if it was only in high school. Now, I see a kid who got the message early on that education was everything and he was determined to pass that on to his own children and grandchildren.

I used to see a young man in his hippie beads trying to express himself with a mother who never quite understood why. Now, I see that same young man in his hippie beads and understand what she was smiling about.  I think I’d be smiling right there alongside her now.

Age and maturity have finally brought clarity to the reality of those pictures now. It’s too late to tell her now but if I could…..I’d tell my mother:

I’ve never said it before, Mom, but you did good. With very little help and lacking any formal education you managed to pull off what a lot of other married women and single mothers weren’t able to do.

You built your home with your own hands; making sure your kids got a good Catholic education. You even managed to finally find the joy of love later on in life. And near and dear to your heart, you were loved by your grandchildren who still treasure their memories of you long after you left for that Novena in the Sky.

I’m sorry I wasn’t able to see the whole picture when I was growing up there alongside you. It was cloudy and vapid back then…and it’s taken a long time for me to put that puzzle together. I should have told you how very proud I was to have you as my mother. I’ve never said that to you before.

But I’m saying it now.