This Time I Will Do a Totally Different Topic!
Oh Wait. Maybe I Should Stick to the Usual Stuff.
As I was thinking I was reporting about the same topic over and over again, I felt like I had to write about something completely else this time. So I was scrolling through my facebook timeline trying to come up with a different idea. Something I thought about before struck me again: the coverage of Game of Thrones in British, American, and German newspapers. Not long ago I was already wondering why the heck there would be so many articles about a tv series in so many famous newspapers. Obviously because of the fame of said series and the interest of the readers. However, I have not been able to figure out how it could receive so much attention that you can find 12 articles about it in The Guardian, 10 in The New York Times, and 9 in Zeit Online just in May, and I am leaving out all of the other newspapers (I used the search function on their facebook pages to look for “game of thrones”; I just picked the newspapers which came to my mind first, so you might find even more — and also less — occasions in others).
But anyways, I have neither read one of the articles nor have I watched Game of Thrones yet, so who am I to judge this hype. Maybe my view would differ if I had watched it. Furthermore I continued my search for appealing articles and stumbled across this one in the Daily Mail which brought me back down to earth again. The headline says it all: “NATO show Putin who’s boss”. It makes me think about in what kind of times we are living (again?). Are “war game” manoeuvres like this really necessary? What impact will they have on the relations to Russia? Apart from that, what do newspapers like the Daily Mail intend by writing in such a lurid manner? How dare they say it is a response to Russian aggression, also mentioning the implementation of a U.S. missile shield in Poland and Romania, the expansion of the Polish army, and the agreement between NATO and Russia “not to install permanent bases in former Warsaw Pact states”? How ironic is it then to say NATO guarantees Moscow “ Cold War is history and we want it to stay that way”?
I do not want to focus on just that specific topic of NATO-Russian relations. I think there is much more behind it than I am able to understand. Moreover the controversy of whether appeasement or intervention is the right anwer to whatever situation is a huge topic for itself — of course I would prefer dialogue over aggression, but who knows how such a discussion may look like. Afterwards every involved party could blame the other not to be willing to compromise, seek a peaceful solution, whatever. What troubles me most (for now) is how much hatred is spread in social media at the moment. I am already terryfied of how popular non-commercial channels which promote resentments and animosity towards ethnicities, religions, politicians, the media, etc., became (I already mentioned the captured page of German Anonymous Kollektiv — which, by the way, has been taken down and was put up again in the meantime — in my first two entries, and now I found this one of a private person). However, I cannot understand why— more or less — professional newspapers like the Daily Mail join in to inflammatory, often speculative, reporting, hence increasing gaps between people as well as playing into the hands of those who spread the word of the liar press.
How could I possibly stick to Game of Thrones when it seemed so meaningless to me compared to a topic that has again to do with the credibility of media (on facebook)? So basically the conclusion is similar to the ones before: Do not trust every information, question every source, try to get a broader picture, and try not to fall for easy answers to complicated issues. And I have also a most likely unread advice for some parts of the press: For your credibility’s sake, please do not be so obviously biased. I know that you are reporting from a certain perspective, and it is your right to do so. Anyways, in a world claiming to have a free press it is your duty and in your own favor to be as objective as in your means possible and to prove your point with reasonable arguments, or else you could not only destroy your personal, but also the reputation of the entire mainstream media.
