Media as a Mirror: Distorted or Clear?
The media is meant to share what the government is doing.
It’s not meant to spin it, analyze it, debate it, argue about it, or do anything with it other than reflect it—just like a mirror.
When you look in the mirror in the morning to get dressed, does your mirror comment on how you look? I hope not.
Would you want that?
Not likely.
So why do we want a media that comments on what it reflects?
What is the role of media—to tell you how to see something, or to simply share what they saw?
Does your mirror tell you how to see yourself, or do you make that choice?
Journalism—especially in the United States—has been taken over by corporate interests.
And to keep people’s attention, it’s has to put on a show.
The reflection the media is meant to offer becomes entertainment.
And the moment it becomes a performance, it stops being a reflection.
If your mirror tried to entertain you while you were getting dressed in the morning, you'd get annoyed. You’d probably get a new mirror.
But when it comes to journalism, we don’t get a new mirror—we defend the old one.
We keep propping it up, even though it’s long since stopped doing its job.
We hold onto this idea that the media holds the government accountable.
It’s a myth.
It’s not true.
The media isn’t preventing corruption. It isn’t creating accountability.
Why?
Partly because it can’t keep up with a 24-hour news cycle.
There’s no space for reflection when you’re trying to be first to break the news.
Partly because it’s owned by massive corporations—entities that have no interest in revealing the whole truth.
And partly because it’s performing. Because it has to.
If it doesn’t entertain you, you’ll look away.
And if you don’t watch, they don’t make money.
So instead of offering a clear reflection, the media becomes a circus funhouse mirror—stretching, shrinking, distorting—just to keep you watching.
In truth, the media never really prevented anything.
They may have called some politicians out, and if those politicians were scared enough of the backlash or worried about losing the next vote, they might have changed their policies temporarily.
But the truth of what they wanted was already out.
They planted the seeds, even if the policy was temporarily put aside.
The strategy for politicians is to pass bills in the middle of the night—exactly what the Republicans are doing right now.
Why do they do that?
Because by the time the major news outlets get around to covering it, there’s already something else to talk about.
The airtime will be minimal.
Time itself is used to distort the reflection in a 24-hour news cycle.
When there’s always something new, it becomes easy to pick the exact moment when something won’t be noticed.
Journalists—and the corporations they work for—decide what you hear about.
Not because they’re hiding everything, but because they can’t keep up.
The flow of information is too fast.
And if they tried to tell you everything that was happening, you’d be overwhelmed.
You’d turn it off.
And they’d lose money.
You’re probably already overwhelmed by the little bits of information you do get.
Imagine knowing everything that was happening.
So they don’t tell you everything.
They tell you what they think you’ll listen to.
What will keep you watching.
What will sell.
What will get clicked on.
Not necessarily what matters.
It’s a distorted reflection at best.
It doesn’t create accountability.
It doesn’t prevent anything—it just delays it.
It’s meant for show, not for truth.
The longer we keep defending it, the more broken our society and our government become.
Love to all.
Della