Whoa! And I thought the other thread would open a can of worms! (By the way, when I first saw PC, I thought
"personal computer"!)

OK--I think Americans as a whole are fervent in believing in individuals' rights. This extends to freedom of the
press.

I have thought for years that the media have far too much influence. I am absolutely convinced that everything from widespread coverage of murders, to movies that portray murder as a natural response to an irritation, have played a
major role in why our society is so much more violent today than it was a couple of generations ago. (Of course, our
Right to Bear Arms makes catastrophic violence so much easier.)

As individuals, we all have the right to choose:
NOT to own a gun, or NOT to read certain newspapers, or NOT to go to or allow our children to watch violent movies.
Even if we do all of these things, we still can choose whether to let our behavior reflect them.

My concern is with the insidiousness of the media. Many people are in fact influenced by it without being aware that they are. AND--for all but a very small percentage of the things the media presents, there is no authority at all to say what they "ought" to do. A parental disciplinary role-player, in other words: someone saying, "Gee, let's think about the ramifications of this".

I suppose some editors try to act in good conscience, but if the bottom line is sell, sell, sell, why then they choose to go with what sells, never mind the ramifications.

And I can't really advocate putting a parental figure in charge--what if they allow something I don't approve of?
(In other words, there'd be no pleasing all of the people all of the time.) One person's quality news is another
person's trash.

I agree very strongly that the media constitute a kangaroo court. The real courts here do at least make an effort to have trials (at least major-impact trials) free of the influence of the media. Prospective jurors are asked to avow that they have not read/heard about the case, and
sometimes cases are moved away from the locale of the crime, due to news coverage.

So--MY bottom line is that each one of us ought to do the right thing in making our choices, BUT...I am not at all sure that enough of us are going to be able to overcome our
"go with the herd" inclination, to make a significant difference.