292. The Press: Transforming Reality
Once upon a time
the newspaper was a faithful companion to most.
It was read at breakfast, on the train, in line, in bed- wherever. It enjoyed such popularity basically because
one could rely on it presenting facts as they occurred, pure and simple, but
above all- truly.
Since the advent
of instant electronic communications, and even television, but above all the
Internet where news is available on the spot 24 hours a day, the sovereignty of
the newspaper as the main source of news is no longer applicable. The outcome being a massive reduction in
sales.
The consequence
of such, forced papers to change their policy or rather, their reason for
being. Since news was readily available
elsewhere, they had to come up with something smarter than their electronic competitors-
they had to transform facts into items that would draw the crowds, in other
words, they had to become skilful in the art of transforming reality.
This particularity
stuck out to me like a sore thumb in their dealings with the Italian ex-
premier Silvio Berlusconi when his high society dinners at his Villa Arcore were
transformed by the press as brothels of
prostitutes- and it would not be difficult to find one or two of the guests
who would back up that “fact”- at a
price.
And even if it was
a re-union of prostitutes (go and tell that to the normal working girls that
were there, if you dare,) there was, is nothing illegal about it. So why the Magistrates insist on prosecuting
Berlusconi and his associates for these dinners is beyond me since prostitution,
supposing it was such, is quite
legal in Italy- provided it’s indoors!
But now that
Berlusconi is no longer the Prime Minister of Italy, he does not attract
the crowds as much and consequently articles on him are less frequent, and
those that are published, do not have the same impact as they used to.
I was rather amused
to see on U.S. and U.K. television a proliferation of
adverts for various newspapers- now that Berlusconi no longer sells their
papers for them, they have to pay dearly in order to advertise them so as to
prevent their extinction.
Oh dear! My heart
bleeds for them.
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