The corporate press’s role in society is to manufacture consent. Despite all the talk the journalist class spay about informing the public, it’s a mere facade for a project of generating mass conformity.
The ruling class knows that a docile population is much easier to control. People who don’t question regime-accepted narratives are ideal subjects for the elites to exploit. Asking too many questions is considered unruly and disruptive.
Once a media message is propagated across a society, groupthink begins to set it in. Ever wonder why people tend to have uniform takes on all the pressing political issues? You guessed it. It’s because of the media and allied institutions like academia that make sure to shape people’s outlooks on economics and politics.
However, things aren’t so set in stone. Thanks to the emergence of alternative media, people now have access to fresh perspectives on politic perspectives that were inaccessible in previous decades. Alternative media outlets give voices to the unheard and allows for gadflies to thrive.
Hence, the powers that be’s constant threats to censor, deplatform, and cancel alternative media sites and personalities. They know if alternative media grows, regime media will go out of business and massive political change will take place.
All it takes is one free thinker to identify other independent-minded individuals, who later build institutions to challenge the regime. When people think outside the box and take calculated risks, great things happen.