A teaser on the front page of today’s WaPo says:
“Outlook
“Feeding a Gloomy Monster
“Research shows that media news reports can affect consumer confidence. So how much of the current recession is the media’s fault?”
The answer is simple:
MainStream Media is largely responsible for the current economic crisis.
But not for the reasons that Eric Weiner explores in his story “The Year of Living Gloomily: The recession is bad enough. A relentless news cycle is making it worse.”
Most of what Weiner is true, or mostly true, and is well worth reading. But Weiner’s ‘reasons’ only spotlight the pitfalls of creating a Regional, nation-state or Global economies that are driven primarily by consumer consumption – when the consumers are uninformed about the cumulative consequences of their actions.
The truth is citizens do not pay all that much attention to “the news.” That has been documented by a much larger body of research than the one Weiner cites. MainStream Media likes to pretend that citizens pay close attention to their content and thus their advertising. That is the only way they can sell advertising. That is also why they run stories like Weiner’s rather than drilling down to the real causes of civilizations dysfunctions and it discontents.
Sure, bad “news” feeds on itself and saturation coverage leverages bad decisions for the reasons that Weiner outlines. However, what is REALLY driving down the consumption-dependent economy is what is happening in:
The Household – “We owe more on the mortgage than the house is worth.” “Our monthly out-go exceeds our in-come.” “Our credit interest card rate just went up again.” “We cannot refinance again to get cash to pay the doctor bills, buy a new car or make a weekly trip to Charlestown Races and Slots.
The Dooryard – “Joe and Martha have filled for bankruptcy.” “The people across the street cannot afford to get their roof fixed.”
The Cluster – “Did you see what that house on the next street is listed for?”
The Neighborhood – “Two more stores closed at the Neighborhood Center.” “Wal*Mart has that for a dollar less.” See “THE PROBLEM WITH CARS – Learning from Big Boxes.”
The job – “There is talk of more layoffs at the office.”
The family – “Our daughter who went off to with her new college degree to Atlanta and then started a business with her partner said at Christmas dinner that she may have to move back …” “Great Grandad did not put a college fund check in each great grandchild’s holiday card because his retirement account is frozen by the bank…”
And in the Village, the Community and the Region.
In other words what is driving down the economy is…
The unsustainable consumer driven economy.
So why is MainStream Media to blame?
As noted above, citizens and their Organizations (aka, consumers) are uninformed about the cumulative consequences of their actions – the cumulative impact with the most widespread and unsustainable impact is dysfunctional human settlement patterns.
Telling citizens the truth about Mass OverConsumption kills MainStream Media ad revenue.
As noted in GENERATIONAL GENERALIZATION:
The emerging reality is Collapse of the Mass OverConsumption ‘civilization.’ It is on the brink of Collapse because those at the top of the Ziggurat have been wasting Natural Capital to:
• Pay the total cost of a ‘driven-to-frenzy-by-technology’ society, much of which has been written off as ‘externalities,’ and
• Subsidize the full cost of dysfunctional settlement patterns.
The role of MainStream Media is complex. One view is spelled out in THE ESTATES MATRIX. Since 1973 MainStream Media has abandoned the Fourth Estate become a Second Estate Enterprise. Since MainStream Media must live off of advertising, truth about the impact of Mass OverConsumption is toxic. Every MainStream Media employee knows that illuminating reality is cutting their own throat.
MainStream Media driving consumption drives profits and profits buy the publishers / owners of Media Enterprises trout fishing retreats in Montana and the fox hunting estates in the Piedmont.
That is not “bad” if citizens had the information they need to make intelligent decisions in the voting booth and in the marketplace.
Citizens do not have that information.
Those who like to think it is their duty to inform ‘the public’ are out of a job and / or will lose their job if they challenge the Myths that “growth and consumption raises all boats” and that “competition without an informed market fairly – or sustainablely – allocates resources.”
EMR