Media

Funnily, intervention by the media swings between two extremes. At one end, the media projects itself seriously as The Fourth Estate, a cornerstone of democracy. That, however, is as believable as having free and fair elections in Congo. On the other end, a carpet is rolled out for manufacturing consent. There at least has to be a pretence about the fact that it can, after all, have an independent conscience. Alive front pages and stray reports bursting forth through shrinking spaces within news organisations are but tireless reminders of what should have been. Public scepticism to some extent will save the media from itself.