Slaves of the media?

By El-Sayed Eleiwa

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When you look at the complexity of our modern life, you'll see that the media is our lifeline. Without information, ample and accurate, we wouldn't know what to think or do. Modern media is more than a vehicle of information. It is a major player in every aspect of our lives. Globalisation has changed the role of the media. Films, plane tickets, sports, shopping, and many other aspects of our life have gone digital on us. On the downside, the avalanche of advertising coming our way every day is conditioning our behaviour. We are what we hear. We are what we see. And we have to be careful what to believe.

The television has been around for 50 years or so. It offers the public a mixed bag of propaganda, art and education. Politicians use television to influence us, and so do businessmen. This makes television a marketplace of sorts. But how wisely are we shopping in this marketplace? How wisely are we sifting through the flood of news, shows, and fun that we find on the small screen? Some say that consumers are entitled to protection from false advertising. But who is to protect us from pressures that reshape their sense of self and identity?

The world is becoming a small place, with satellite broadcast channels that reach into every home across the four corners of the earth. Satellite media is permeating our world. This worries tyrannical regimes a bit, for they no longer have monopoly over truth. But it's time people have access to information from across borders and the political spectrum. It is time we listen and learn. But are we good listeners?

This week's Soapbox speaker is a professor of political science at Helwan University.