Shrewd and cunning Bretton James, hearing of Winnie Gekko’s modest success in whetting attention and shaping opinion via her nondescript news blog company, instinctively proposed a substantial capital infusion for the latter’s affair. A keen and headstrong player in a securities and money market that drastically moves on the impulse of but a speculation, James was quick to foresee the benefit in acquiring an ostensibly reliable information channel through which he can float rumors and insider tips to suit his interests’ dictates.
But, Gekko politely retorted that it was precisely by reason of her business’ non-profit platform that breathed credibility into its reportage and drew the trust and confidence of its subscribers and patrons. Truly, positioning herself against profit insulated her from the necessary compromises, meanderings and considerations inescapably entwined with a corporatist profit-driven policy. After all, the truth as found in news used to be a public good.
On Gekko’s philosophy can be drawn the unpretentious power of small and simple in delivering the purest of services. Although the obvious inclination is to assume the reliability and credibility of the big media players’ reportage, since profits presumably obtain only so far as institutional reputation is impeccable, it is equally valid to advance that purveying news as accurate and bold as William Tell gets fudged the moment it is touched by the force and allure of profits. Then, free and straight reportage turns circumspect and if needs be, censored; and created and piecemeal facts pass as news on the whole. News is then delivered in shrouded angles and commentaries instead of unobstructed lines and narratives.
In these times, public and individual opinion alike hinge, no longer on one big reputed supplier of news, but on various small sources, informal or otherwise, blogs included. Now, the truth drawn from news depends not on what is heard from the big players, it’s what’s gathered from and compared among the small, scattered players.
Raul S. Grapilon
Entry No. 16
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