Mainstream media guilty of hiding truth from the public

In almost every single way the Trump administration has been pursuing a policy benefitting billionaires at the expense of the working class, the mainstream media has fallen short of fulfilling its responsibility to keep the people informed.

Its coverage of the war on Iran, for example, focuses on how bad Trump is pulling it off—as if there were better ways for the U.S. to be running a war it had no business starting in the first place. The extent to which the war lines the pockets of the armament makers with fat profits and, along with them, the pockets of the fossil fuel industry kingpins, is not mentioned much.

The enrichment of these people and the concentration of their power and wealth as a result of the war is not explained. Neither, of course, is the unjust killing and destruction in Iran emphasized. On the question of the war on Iran, the media fails in its duty to inform.

The media tells us that the war drags on because of Trump’s chaotic approach to everything. The truth is that his approach is intentional, not chaotic. The daily changes—peace talks one day, threats of bombing the next—help keep the conflict going, enriching and making more powerful people who benefit from the “chaos.”

The same is true when it comes to the entire military budget, too. In addition to making the rich richer, it makes the country weaker. We pay the bill with lack of service and infrastructure, improvements that we have a right to expect but are denied because the Pentagon is sucking up all the money.

The media often boils the talk about the military budget down to the Republicans wanting more than a trillion dollars and the Democrats wanting a bit less. They report to us how the lawmakers supporting the military budget say increases are needed because they will make us safe.

What they are not telling us is that the military budget puts us under threat. It increases the number of resentful countries around the world, and by draining resources needed at home, it makes life more dangerous here, too. The press is failing to inform about this, as well.

Trump said that the government should really not be bothered with Social Security, Medicare, healthcare, and everything else. “Leave that to the states,” he said. “The federal government should just be taking care of the military and keeping us safe.” Such statements by the president should be blasted all over the media.

Tariff manipulation is yet another area where the press falls short. Corporations are applying for refunds of the extra costs that they already passed on to consumers. This amounts to corporate stealing from the public, and the press should be saying that tariffs, too, have amounted to a scheme to increase corporate wealth at the expense of the working people.

Everyone is upset these summer days about breathing in wildfire smoke. Do we blame Canada because Canadian forests, like many of ours, are burning? Or do we blame climate change fueled by corporate profiteers who pull funding away from protection of the environment? If the reporters of the mainstream media were doing their full job, they would report on more than just the actual fires and connect them to making the rich richer and more powerful than they already are.

Then there is the issue of anti-communism and the attacks on progressives as “socialists.” The media correctly explains how such attacks are divisive and designed to shift support away from progressive candidates and to reactionary, conservative ones.

But the news stops there. There is no explaining how socialism means public ownership, power for workers to organize, a clean environment regulated by people elected by the public, and universal free healthcare for all. The media is complicit in cutting short the debate even before the public gets a chance to see what the reviled socialism and communism are all about.

Freedom of the press is enshrined in the Constitution because it is the way in which people exercise their right to be informed and participate. By all means, we must fight each and every attempt by the Trump administration to clamp down on and control the media, regardless of its flaws. We have the right to expect, however, that the media will do a better job of providing the public with the information it needs to know.

As with all op-eds published by People’s World, the views above are those of the author.

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