SOUNDING OFF:

I am writing in response to August Lightfoot’s commentary in the Daily Pilot (“Media spin candidates as they choose,” Dec. 2). He claims that the media are deliberately not telling the truth in order to further their objective of fixing elections. Because I’ve heard this conspiracy claim often enough by him and others, I think we should examine it to see if it’s true.

First, let’s define some terms. The mainstream media (MSM) should be seen as the printed publications such as this one and its parent, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register, Wall Street Journal, etc. The mainstream media also include TV news outlets such as ABC News, FOX News, MSNBC, etc. as well as their websites. The non-mainstream media would include all blogs and news websites, counter-culture printed weeklies, and any sort of newsletter independently published.

The reason I want to note the range is that for a conspiracy of the media to exist, it must inherently include every one of these outlets.

Not only that, but it must also include other investigative bodies such as our government, universities and foreign press that would want to discredit the country.

For a media conspiracy to exist, it would have to be in total control of the news and retain total control under complete secrecy with no internal dissent.

This also means commentator-entertainers like Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Jon Stewart and Keith Olbermann would have to be in on it. Not only that, but their corporations would have to be in on it. Otherwise, by their nature, any journalist or organization seeking the truth or to cast doubt on the U.S. position in the world, whether in The Weekly Standard or a cub investigative journalist in Venezuela, would do everything in their power to expose the conspiracy.

Here is the truth: U.S. news organizations even more so than other industries must operate in a free market, for two very important reasons. The first is that the barrier for news consumers to change their news source is so low as to be non-existent. The second is that the barrier to entry for new competing news organizations is just access to the Internet. That’s all.

Does this mean all the media tell the same factual story? No. Like most businesses, media organizations have identified a sub-group in their market and they tailor their product to them in hopes that they keep buying it. The media is in business to make money, not turn elections.

Thus, the marketplace decides what news organizations exist, much like in our elections. So Lightfoot, if your ideas about how the world works don’t square with what you see in the news, I’d suggest you re-examine your views, not the news. Or start a blog and see how many people come there for your truth.

CHRIS KERINS lives in Costa Mesa.