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The question is very relevant.
Bring Voltaire or John Lock back from the dead and they will write you an outstanding essay on the subject.
Which of these philosophers did not fight for independence and freedom?
Unfortunately, the media supposed to be the strength of democracy is sometimes trapped.
Where is the trap? The Power or illusion to control everything.
Actually, it is easy to understand. Let us check this argumentation: Media is communication. It is the lever of all action.
 To control the media is to control the mass.
To control the mass is to win the elections.
 To win elections is to have power.
To have the power is to need the media to stay there as long as possible.
In addition, the media sometimes or even often helps to hide the truth.
Can we trust the news? Can we trust the local media? Well!

No, we can`t. Media has been at the service of the governments for long now. Even "independent" newspapers trend to end at the at the same service when enough money is offered to them.
So, yeah, to find "the truth" (whatever "truth" means) is really difficult.
Do you remember "1984", by Orwell? How the "Ministry of Truth" used to change the news in order to legitimate the current government? Well, that is actually happening.

this, essentially.

Even the internet and decentralized points of "alternate news" are compromised (NSA/GCHQ etc create masses of disinformation). But decentralization and web 3.0/4.0 is still our best bet.

Best thing we can do is learn to turn our attention inwards, learn logical fallacies/critical thinking and remind ourselves not to trust everything we read or see.

Sometimes through fallacy, you can "guess" the truth, for it is in the subtext. The most one want `s to hide something, the more you can guess what`s behind.
But, yes, anything we read can be a lie or a partial vision of some truth, so to be careful and to develop a critical mindset is totally necessary in this crazy world!!

Media undeniably plays a vital role in the government as they are considered to be the "watch dogs" onto what the government is doing. The concern and interest of the people of a certain country for the common good must prevail in the principles of media and must be reflected upon their deeds. However, the 'control' over the media ruin it all. By that, it made me realize that in today's world and generation, no one is strongly in charge about the protection of our democracy and freedom but us, only we are capable of doing that willfully. Hence, we should learn what, how, when, why and where the information is going to be collected. We should learn how to be critical and keen observer.

You talk about the media like it is supposed to do something specific. Who decided what the media is suppose to do? It would be interesting to study the evolution of news reporting. There is no governing body over all media on the earth telling them what they should and shouldn't do. News outlets try to tell people what is new in their region and sometimes in the world. Since nobody can check the facts of every story they come across, they rely a lot of trust. Unfortunately, some people in high positions in government and business realize that they can use the media to shape public opinion. They don't even necessarily have to lie, they can just tell one side of a story. The media could technically help protect democracy and freedom, but it is certainly very tricky to figure out who to trust.

I think no because I think that democracy and freedom is a big thing and I think, the persons that can protect it is us also. The thing is media nowadays is now hiding some truths meaning they are already filtering information. That somehow breaks the freedom of everyone to know the truth. Media also cannot be taken always as a credible source to consider. Also, media indeed affects us but in the recent time we are right now, everyone gets critical and that's a good thing. The thing is media now becomes a flatform of misinformation making them not creiboe enough to affect something.

I do not trust the news. And among my acquaintances there is no person who would 100% believe the news. With the advent of social media, the situation has become even more difficult. On the one hand, you can learn and analyze all the positions and opinions. But there are too many information. And too many fakes. The only way out is to use your own head and common sense.

It makes you wonder really. When you turn on the news and all you see is negative things happening in the world, terrorism, murders, missing people, tragic accidents. Where is all the good stuff that happens day to day? Is it really because people are only interested in negative news or is it because to keep the populace wary and scared makes them easier to control?

Not all of medias can protect our democracy and freedom but democracy cannot protect all of medias. I think that in order for a media outlet or source to be a proven unbiased and truthful media is to see it's achievements and awards concerning the documentaries and other news spectacles that they made that serves for a award. We should check the media sources if they are reliable and truthful in their correspondence. In short, media can protect or not protect our democracy and freedom.

Nope. The media is here to serve the government, but to be able to do what they gotta do, they must maintain an image of a trusted source at all times: "independent press," "freedom of speech," "protecting democracy/freedom," etc. Thus, ever since we come into this world, we are taught to believe those slogans so we could trust the media by default. Considering all those half-truths and other stuff, I believe we can try to get some information from the media, but we must use critical thinking to process everything we hear or read in the media.

Well, when you think about it, they do protect democracy. The government is very happy with the way "democracy" currently works. It basically goes, "You vote for us, then we do whatever we want." People don't really have a say in what leaders actually do. This is media protecting "democracy" and it is exactly what the leaders want. I'm not even mentioning the fact that "elections" are typically a "choice" between two different puppets for the same big companies.

the media cant do anything,

the people are supposed to do that.

Sadly, but people like Spider Jerusalem is fairy tale stuff. Other than that, the more dire economical state of the country, the more bullsh*t they pour into ears through the media. So figure it out yourself, depending on where you live.

I remember a meme on Facebook, it's something like, if somebody tells you it's raining outside, you have to go out and see if it is really true.

Trusting the media to protect our freedoms is a trap. Why? The media is the one who pushed the word "democracy," which is NOT what freedom is all about. Look back at the writings of the founding fathers. The word "democracy" almost isn't used by them at all.

Democracy is majority rule. Majority rule makes slaves of the minority. We are supposed to be without slavery, right?

In a republic, democracy rule turns into almost complete slavery. How? In a republic, the core of government is operated by a few elected representatives. The representatives often disobey the requirements of the majority in such a way that both, minority and majority, become subject as slaves to the handful of representatives in government.

What does media hide by not talking about it very much? Private property rule, where everybody is king of his own castle (property) by private property rule. That is the way our government was set up. The democracy part is only how the so-called government works. And private property rule was set up to keep the hands of the government off our private property.

Government has intruded into out private property in many ways. A couple of them are being able to freely smoke pot on our own residence... and stealing our private property labor in IRS taxation.

Almost all of our private property rules have been hidden because the media doesn't talk about them, and because we don't get out there and realize how our government works at its core.

Article I, section 10, clause 1, protects our right to contract. If we have the right to contract in, we have the right to not contract in. We can get out of essentially all government laws by not contracting in to them. And if we want to do something outside of government, there are many legal writings and court cases that show that we have the right to form private associations that are not within most of the government laws that we think we are under.

Media doesn't show any of this, because the controllers of media are part of the group that wants to take away our private property from us, so that they can have it all.

8)

the original idea might have been along those lines indeed but as you also point out, the control over media nowadays - in most of the world, where there's one-a few companies controlling 90% of the media. it's a good illusion to make people think they can make a choice and thinking there's a difference between the news sources!

especially considering the general societal climate where nowadays it seems like it's much easier to cause a conflict of nothing (consider all the trends etc that comes from seemingly nowhere and becomes gigantic due to media), it's if anything a very easy way to cover up and completely control leaks, questionable government acts etc - keep the people's mind on something else while it passes with minimal coverage..

the media has definitely gotten too much power and influence over society!

We cannot trust the news or local media. The only thing we can trust is ourselves and our own observations using common sense.

When people in the public eye start trying to open our eyes to common sense and see the big picture, they get banned and vilified, which is exactly what happened to Alex Jones.

The media tries to control us by keeping us docile and scared.

I think most media should not be trusted. Because they serve the ruling elite. And so it will be in the future. I think, civil society should develop and encourage the emergence of new independent media.
I remember there was a series of "The Simpsons", where Lisa had her own independent newspaper, and Burns was trying to close her, because she said something he didn’t like. At the end of the series, everyone began to publish his own newspaper, like Lisa. Let it be a little ridiculous, but I think this is the right way. Need more independent thinking. :)

Nope. The Media is basically the dog of the politicians. Some may help the people reveal their doings, but that's just them literally risking their lives, endangering their families and loved ones. So some would just let themselves be controlled. In the end, they get paid for it so why not, right?

Democracy doesn't really exist. It's only food for the masses. It gives them hope and a sense of purpose. A belief that they can change anything if they want to, but as a matter of fact, it's out of their hands. In a fake democracy you're like that rat in a cage given 2 buttons for 2 types of food, and if you choose one a meat will come out, and if you choose the other one you'll get a vegetable. You don't know that both meals are put in the dispensers by someone more powerful, who runs the show.

Well, how the media is acting shows if you still have real freedom. If the media is afraid to speak up and just report good things and propaganda about the government, then you really do not have democracy and only have superficial freedom.

Media does the opposite, brainwash masses to make them choose the advertised politician.

Now they want to control "fake news" of real people who post on facebook, twitter, etc, etc, because they are competing with real news. They call them "fake", they blame on the russians, or chinese... the media wants the monopoly of information

We are the media. Quite literally. Not only in reality but as intended by the framers of The US Constitution. Anyone who is making a huge industry of media is selling you entertainment, not information. Our only hope is if we save ourselves.

If you do not cultivate your own mind, some one else will, and it will not be to your benefit.

You can not trust all the media. There are sources that are funded by the government, and they must be ignored.
I believe that there should be more independent sources. They should be supported by ordinary people.

No, the media cannot protect our freedom.
We forget that we should always think with our head and hope only for ourselves.
Free, independent media is good, but not always possible.
If people do not show their position, the authorities will do everything as convenient for them, including they will interfere with the activities of independent media and turn them into their servants.
Our freedom will be saved only by universal education, the ability to think independently and inner independence.

We can trust media at some point, but to believe on it it is much better to do research first to prove that it was true. Always remember not everything that was flashed in the media was not true, there are fake news that arises there also. Everyone has a freedom to post what we want there and we must need a deep understanding and think more before we believe on what has been posted by the media

Never ignore information. Even bullshit has value if you need to fertilize your field. There is no such thing as bad information, only useless interpretations of it.

Freedom of speech and freedom of information is very important in a democratic world, and media is the watchdog of our society so I believe it is part of our protection that democracy will still exist in one country, take this or control the media and it's the start of falling down of democracy.