Why Population Really Disappeared from the News and Became Politically Incorrect!
- Kathleene Parker
- September 22, 2020
- Forum Papers
- Forum Paper
- 5 Comments
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Why Population Really Disappeared from the News and Became Politically Incorrect!
An NPG Forum Paper
by Kathleene Parker
September 2020
In July, New York Times editor Bari Weiss published a scathing resignation letter to what she called a “once-great” newspaper, accusing the paper of choosing stories to “satisfy the narrowest of audiences, rather than to allow a curious public to read about the world and to DRAW THEIR OWN CONCLUSIONS.” (Emphasis mine.)
That she resigned in so public—and eloquent—a way is important, especially in the context of what is happening with media nationally and internationally, and that as a result, once-respected news sources are increasingly the target of public ire.
Media behavior in recent years has cost media—also known as the Fourth Estate—its most important asset: Public trust, that—as young journalists used to be taught—once lost, is rarely regained.
The media “problem” is very much the problem of those concerned about population and immigration as today’s media actively—and likely, not by accident— mislead and suppress full discussions of both topics, with media influence, I believe, instrumental in environmental groups today denying population’s dangers.
Thanks to deregulation, in ways that I’ll explain, we have become a nation that governs to that which media put forward and to the will of those who scream the loudest or posture most effectively for the T.V. cameras, rather than being a nation—the very premise upon which we were founded—of majority rule.
Media behavior, as I will explain, particularly their negative portrayals of those with concerns about immigration, is why immigration has been so emotionally charged since the 1990s that it has divided the nation at the deepest levels. This is in marked contrast to 100 years ago when the nation slashed immigration drastically (to levels we need to attain again) within the normal, calm processes of our democratic system.
Weiss’ blistering indictment of the New York Times and other media is important because until we somehow reform the Fourth Estate, population activists, immigrationreduction activists and those concerned about the environment at deep, causal levels are going to be denied our ability—our RIGHT in a democracy—to be heard and our message respected. The denial of that right— ironically and unacceptably—is driven by those whose duty, by all standards of journalism, should be to expedite and encourage the dissemination of ALL information, rather than what they are doing—in violation of all ethics of journalism—suppressing or distorting to their own ends… Continue reading the full Forum paper by clicking here.
Journalist Kathleene Parker grew up in Durango, Colorado, and is a native of the American Southwest, where her family has lived since 1862. She edited and wrote on energy and environmental topics for a Denver Public Library publication that was circulated to eight states, and more recently, covered Los Alamos National Laboratory and northern New Mexico environmental and timber issues for two major New Mexico dailies. She lives just outside Albuquerque and writes nationally on timber, wildfire, water and population issues, and is an outspoken activist for immigration reduction.
Kathleene Parker
To Dr. Miklashek, thank you for your insightful comments. I, like you, have long been fascinated by the transitions in society due to agriculture, but I agree about your comments on media ownership only to a limited extent. Before deregulation–and we can all grasp the irony that with REGULATION there was more competition–we had MANY OWNING U.S. media and, as a result, COMPETITION, as I am sure you will agree, the very CORE of capitalism. As I stated in my article, in that HIGHLY COMPETITIVE environment, if one news agency dropped the ball in getting information out, others would quickly step in. Today’s media, a de facto MONOPOLY–at least in function, in obvious suppression of entire topics and suspicious “cooperation”–in no way represents free and open capitalism, but instead something disturbingly similar to the old Soviet Union’s PRAVDA or to “news” reports in today’s North Korea, with it clear–at least by evidence that I, as a journalist, can see of the omission/suppression of entire, critical fields of information (population and a multitude of other topics) or the deliberate distortion of the rest. THIS COULD NOT HAPPEN IN A COMPETITIVE NEWS THEATER! As I stated, I see no more divisive nor dangerous influence to our nation’s future and such a media situation is unprecedented in our nation’s history and, in large measure, global history and I fail to see how it could happen at a more dangerous time environmentally or politically. I also find it frightening to live in a time–a variation of George Orwell’s 1984–when our youth are being “educated” to only a narrow “reality” by media, including to be, as Ms. Weiss stated, eager to defame those guilty of “Wrongthink.”
To Don Owers, that to which you allude is part of what has me SO worried. Murdoch’s enterprises–if you trace, is one of the Big 6–or part of the great media conglomerate of just 6 agencies, by all evidence, operating, substantively, as one (a de facto monopoly) THAT ARE U.S. and INTERNATIONAL MEDIA TODAY! Years ago, a journalist with whom I worked went to a Murdoch “how to” conference, and came back telling me, “According to Murdock’s model, all of journalism is to become that which we as journalists have been taught to never do if we value the truth!” And, that’s exactly what’s happened.
To Diane in Young, I long watched merely in bafflement and frustration at media behavior and the growing trend of environmentalists dismissing population because media were telling us it was no longer a problem or didn’t really matter, but then I read some articles on the demise of the Fairness Doctrine and began to realize something far more dangerous than just that which appeared on the surface, including the very real possibility that population, like many topics, wasn’t convenient to those who now own our information sources and find it in their own interests to have us view the world in only limited ways. But I’ve long believed if you tell just a few people or a few hundred people (letters to editors, Facebook posts, etc.) soon the cat will be out of the bag and, hopefully, reform or REREGULATION can happen. I was delighted, for example, when members of a local political party became aware of my NPG piece and circulated it to activists statewide!
Signed by the author, Kathleene Parker
Dr Barry Goldman
I have been pushing the overpopulation issue for over 50 years now.
I don’t have many friends!
Still i keep trying, and am now somewhat encouraged as the issue is at least being discussed a little.
don owers
In Australia the largest media organisation is Murdoch owned. Next in line is what used to be Fairfax but is now part owned by Domain a developer group.
Greeley Miklashek, MD
An erstwhile, if shallow, article on the active avoidance by corporate media of articles on human overpopulation, over-consumption, and the consequent environmental collapse that is well underway. The simple truth is this: corporations require ever greater numbers of consumers to buy their so often totally unnecessary products and ever greater numbers of competing workers to keep labor costs minimized. But, where does Capitalism come from? Human overpopulation? Yup! We are now 1,000-3,000 times more populous than were our Hunter-Gatherer ancestors prior to the agricultural revolution 6-10kya and our negative, overly unsustainable impact on the natural environment is the inevitable consequence. Read Schmandt-Besserat’s “Before Writing” for the archaeological evidence of the birth of Capitalism during the agricultural revolution and its creation of the first “surpluses”, which led to numbers and language and media. The corporate media will always be controlled by monied Capitalist interests and they will always support ever greater human populations, and the natural environment/other species be damned. Thanks for this new vehicle for reader feedback! Stress R Us
Diane in Young
For years I have felt hesitant to bring up the population issue with my progressive friends. Kathleene Parkers article has given me the courage to try to get through. The hour is late, probably too late, but I must try.