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Letter,

To the editor, tot.

_ There is no greater power et than
the mass media on earth today .
.t0 manipulate: the masses - for -

- good or ill,. profit,. prestige. or

power, ‘through - the selective
presentation or: non-presenta-

tion, of facts and. opinions.
The media can. be used: for

rumor and scandal-mongering.

_ or for.mind.control or to-indoc-

_trinate people into philosophies, .
an -. simply by dominating the-screen .

or air waves with unprincipled

- programming.

This power can be used to de-

stroy, or: deify individuals, '
Organizations, political parties,
companies, governments, coun-. .

tries and economies. |

It can turn. a -person: into a
_ hero or a.villain depending on
the journalist’s choice of word-
. ing and the. slant- of. his or her
reporting.

: Jt:-can. multiply. and thereby
. Clone good. ideas, bad ideas, lies,
truths or prejudices. It has the
- power to change and direct the
values and morals. of - its au-
dience,

It. has apparently become. a
‘para-judiciary, with the power
to make verdicts. and ‘sentence
‘people to public ruin with none
of the ethics and responsibilities
. of a true judiciary. -It bases its.

‘flamboyant, rather than the dry
factual. -
It can prejudice the jury, the

“viewing audience, by bad facts:
-Or-creative or slanted editing. .

It errs by omission in those

“fields whére'to state unpopular

truths might cause the Nielson

- rating to drop or where to print

controversial material might
cause loss of advertising or view-
- ing customers.

It appears that the truth as

. presented by the media has to be -

marketable to -be- acceptable, .

- It has this power, in my view,
dargely without wisdom to guide
it...

. Unreality becomies reality in
the minds of viewers, and-people
talk about programs as if they
were real, What are the global
~ ramifications of a culture with
this detachment from reality?
It's awesome to contemplate

- where it might lead. -

- It can spread happiness or de-

- pression at a whim, dumping the

woes of the world on the shoul-
ders of many who are ill-
- equipped to cope.

_ It robs people of their: con- .
___. Structive time and their lives and’
.. substitutes a false plastic reality.
“It. also reduces the ability of
_ viewers to interact with real peo-
. ple: since it is a preaching and -

“non-interactive machine that the
media parlays its messages with,

- Bandshell |

continued from page 6 .

was needed because money be-

ing raised through fund raising

is coming in too slowly to finish
the project this year.

“We've got the finances in
place right now to do the walls
and the electrical rough-in, but
if we leave it that way we're leav-
ing ourselves open to
vandalism,”’ he said.

“‘We won't be able to put the
lights in until we get the roof on
so it would be to everybody’s
benefit to get it finished before
the dirty weather hits,” Ryan
added.

He explained that if a lottery
grant for the project is approv-
ed, it will pay off the loan.

‘from the ridings, and. . t
then choosing a leader for their
_ party.

In this sense, it denys people.

- the-strokes they would get from-

_ teal relationships with real: peo-
ple and from. doing. constructive

things. with their time.

I. wonder. how .much the
economy is.influenced by net-
-work one-upmanship in present-
ing economic horror or success
stories? .Surely’ investor-. con-
fidence, a key factor. in the

economy, is influenced by media ;

hype. .
‘Perhaps the. media even
created the last recession.

. Media affects politics in even

more insidious ways. People are

elected on the basis of media im- -
“age, not because they have ans-:

wers to the problems of our time
or because they. have wisdom.

The. strength. of. democracy
was in the past a function of the
best representative being chosen
these

The media has

and ‘image of. the leader: deter-

mines whether the. party gets.
elected or not and subsequently -
_ dictates party policy, rather than

the leader deriving his. platform
from -listening- to. his «party

members. who were selected for
their. wisdom ‘and: practicality. '

and representativeness. ,
.It's entirely ‘probable that a

--political. party. is:selected today:
_ case on opinion, often of the~

because ‘of the set .of the jaw,
stréngth: of nose, and shininess
‘of teeth, similarity to JFK or.
worse, JR, of its leader!

Polls are not without impact. :
on. politics.. Surely when a ‘poll . ..
-predicts the outcome of. an elec-
‘tion prior to ballots being cast, .-

many will swing to the predicted
winning party to avoid wasting
votes on a loser...

This very effect, if real, would |
make null and .void the closed .
. system of.. ballots used in a -

democracy, and therefore would

destroy democracy by influenc- .
ing the outcome of an election.”

‘Religion -has changed also, .
through the. media. :‘The media
charisma of its leaders and the
money available to produce ex-
citing programs and to buy pro-
gram time determine who will
watch and how many souls will
be captured by one faith or
another. °

Money buys souls! Is this the

new reality: of religion with .

media? What kind of statement

is this about religion?
However, time spent in

religious involvement i is time out

from activism in bringing about.

needed physical change in the
real world and it is also time out
from ecology.

The media also perpetuates
the Hollywood dream, that all

Can be rich and famous, if they
lead. scummy lives filled with.

greed ‘and sneaky sex and stab

their contemporaries in the back

to climb the corporate ladder.
This isn’t surprising because

the owners of the networks are

probably just portraying their

- view of what lifestyles are slick
. and contemporary.

All of his adds up to a lot of
power to give organizations that
don’t care about much except
money and a Nielson rating.

While there is this seamy side
to the media, there is great
potential for good as well, and
in balance, there exist journalists
who use it in this capacity,
though they are in my view too
few.

Science and arts and humani-
tarian issues from ‘around the
world are shared around the
world, at least in those countries

. changed:
democracy so that the charisma:
‘ment,
regimes and human rights viola-.
‘tions,. racism, and- others, and. .

we can tse it-in this: manner if:
“the programming will but com-

_ Media power: use and. abuse

where censorship ‘isn’t severe. In

this sense, great potential exists

for. spreading understanding and -
compassion and quality - enjoy-"

ment for all people. -

Adventures like the Soviet and
' American space programs can
be shared, as.can other great

discoveries.

The. media can be used to a
educate, not only to propogai- .
dize. By bringing - ‘educational -

programming to the homes of all
with .a set,.. natural. human
curiosity can be satisfied .as

never before; though again not —

in a hands-on sense.

concerned, a sense - that our

global dominance ‘has ‘made

more,crucial in our time.
It has this positive power and

potential to help solve difficult
global issues like the causes and

prevention’ of war, disarma: —
‘apartheid, oppressive «

ply.” a
If networks. will not comply t to

wise programming, there is one
-option that the viewer.or listener -

has available, the channel selec-. :

tor and the on-off switch; and

there is no one.there to say. that .
this: power: ‘cannot be: used wise-

ly.
Terrace, ‘B. Cc.

a Oa

‘Time to.
straig hten
things. out

Letter_

. Environmental ‘issues. can be -
aired globally-and:the costs and .
“heeds ‘for keeping the planet
. habitable can: be considered and:
‘discussed in a: more realistic, .
holistic-ecosystem sense by all -

Nationally renowned children's entertainer Ken Whiteley will be in Terrace —- .
fora single performance Sept. 26 in the R.E.M. Lee Theatre at 2 p.m. The
concert is jointly sponsored by the Terrace French Pre-School and Cana- a
dian Airlines: International. Tickets are available’ at ‘Terrace Sight and”

Sound in the Skeena Mall.

_Religion in schools _

- Jorma: Jyrkkanen, a

To the editor,
Never in my 42 years have I

ever seen such a disaster in the |

construction, maintenance and
repair of roads as Terrace.
Visitors often ask,
the earthquake strike?’’,
‘‘whose. _pockets are being
lined”’, and the most common is

“‘any- one who works at the city.

hall-must have friends in auto

repair or parts’’. When I moved .
‘here a little over three years ago

I had visions of giving my

neighbors a lift by trying to talk
‘city hall into doing something
about’: paving the 4700 block. —

Davis. I tried, but the harder I

_tried the more complex and ex-

pensive it would get. ‘‘I made.
jokes to them about this large
dog on our street that gives the
smaller dogs lessons on swim-
ming because the pot holes are

so. deep it created two swimming

holes.’’ They seem to blame
most of the problem on people
who designed the streets in the
past, on people who built the
roads a few years back, etc.
I'm not willing to accept that
kind of excuse by any one of the
people who are in there now.
They have been there for going
on three years, and I see little
done to give me any satisfaction
that they plan on it either, —
The amount of money they
spent on the hillside at tle arena,
the foolishness of the cement
pillar in the library park would
be nice in the future, but people
have to get into town and to the
stores. The parks are nice, but,

_you spend more-on repairs to

coniinued on page 23

‘‘when. did |

_Letter_

To the editor,

Do you think the government -
.of India would-take the teaching
of Hinduism out of its schools,
just because some western Chris-
tians happened to immigrate to
their country and settle there?
Of course not. py

‘The governments of Canada
and the United States ‘are more i
and more taking Christianity out -
“of. public life, the schools. and
- the media, just because some im: '
migrants ‘of different religions

“are settling i in the West; ee
- We do welcome people from, : 40

other races and religions: very.” .
much in Canada and the States,
- but. the idea to do away with: -

Christianity might create an at- ~
titude of racism among hominal:..
Christians:. Anything that can
help to destabilize. the West is .
welcome to the Soviets: .

. 1 do not approve of the system oa
of the Middle Ages, that Bishops -

Tule the country, but it seems to
i be not a bad idea after all, notic:
‘ing the elimination of Christiani- :
_ty from our society,
Bill Homburg
Terrace

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