(#4802) The media is having a hard time understanding the necessity of democracy

      The media exists because democracy exists. Otherwise it would be known as propaganda, not the media. So why is it so hard for the media to defend the very platform that allows it to exist? I don't have the answer except to point out that with autocracies as the ruling form of government the media will have no will to use its own mind. So maybe being a servant is more attractive to too many than the idea of having free will to report reality. So is it that the media now is just lazy and wants to just be paid for work instead of help decide the fate of billions of people? Is that what the vaunted fourth estate has become?
     Our democracy here in the United States of America guarantees protection of speech when it is not being used to directly inflict grave harm like yelling fire in a crowded theater. Yet there are some gray areas yet to be defined as television entertainment channel "fox news" continues to give disinformation about the pandemic and reality in general. So many of us see the problem and can envision a solution but as long as the wealthy disinformation junkies continue to have protection from the republican party the fact that positive change to strengthen our rules for truthful information spread is doubtful as we are stuck in the mud as it were, going nowhere with media that has lost it's purpose.
     Power and money are a byproduct of capitalism when that capitalism is not checked. We have too much unchecked capitalism in our society and we cannot seem to shake from our government the protectors who are also protected republicans. The media helped shape this current dynamic and our citizenry is still too gullible to recognize it. So will democracy survive with what is left of honest media? I don't know but I don't think we can keep fighting uphill to save it without some kind of paradigm that awakens the understanding within the media and by extension the citizens of the US.