Saturday, April 24, 2010

Loos - State of Play


The presence of a "free press" has a great deal of power in a democratic government because the people will elect politicians based on what they read about them in the media. This point emerges when Collins tells Cal that he will be remembered for his sex scandal, not his political accomplishments. Based on which stories the media cling to, a politician's reputation is made or broken. One must ask themselves what the media's objectives are in their coverage of politics.

I think State of Play brings to question whether we actually have a FREE press in America. Most major media outlets are owned by large corporations with their own political agenda, which is inserted into their media. In addition to this, the corporations are more interested in selling papers then maintaining journalistic integrity. This point is especially evident in the scene in which Cameron yells at Cal for not printing the gossip-y story about the waitress. Clearly, the corporate owners of the paper are pressuring her to sell papers regardless of the validity of the stories.

State of Play points out the numerous issues with the ostensibly free press and a democratic government. The media's hidden agenda has more effect on the public's perception of our democratically-elected politicians.

1 comment:

  1. Very nice blog. Corporations do have a lot of control over every aspect of American media.

    ReplyDelete