The song's criticism on mass media is mainly related to sensationalism.

"Good" things are usually not sensational. They do not demand attention, hence why the code of known/unknown based on selectors for attention filters it out.

Reference Hans-Georg Moeller's explanations of Luhmann's mass media theory based on functionally differentiated systems theory.

Can also compare to Simone Weil's thoughts on collectives and opinion; organizations (thus most part of mass media) should not be allowed to form opinions as this is an act of the intellect, only residing in the individual. Opinion of any form meant to spread lies or parts of the truth rather than the whole truth should be disallowed according to her because truth is a foundational, even the most sacred, need for the soul.

People must be protected against misinformation.

A critique on the Mass Media... The problem is that they want the Mass Media system to operate on the code of "True/False" rather than "Known/Unknown"... But if it were to be so, it would not be Mass Media anymore, but rather the Science System.

For Mass Media to be Mass Media it needs to be concerned with selection and filtering, to condense and make known, not to present "all the facts". Sure, they need to be concerned with truth to a certain degree, but it's not the primary priority.

This is a reflection based on my knowledge of Luhmann's theory of society as functionally differentiated systems; as explained by Hans-Georg Moeller (Carefree Wandering) on YouTube.

Thrasher, S. W. (n.d.). There Is Nothing Normal about One Million People Dead from COVID. Scientific American. Retrieved March 7, 2022, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/there-is-nothing-normal-about-one-million-people-dead-from-covid1/

How online misinformation spreads. (n.d.). Retrieved October 19, 2021, from https://knowablemagazine.org/article/society/2021/how-online-misinformation-spreads

Lazić, A., & Zezelj, I. (2021). Negativity In Online News Coverage Of Vaccination Rates In Serbia: A Content Analysis. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/nqjb9

Cantwell, O., & Kushlev, K. (2020, October 31). Anxiety Talking: Does Anxiety Predict Sharing Information about COVID-19?. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/ah528

One of the issues we're seeing is that mass media still exists within platforms like Facebook and Google, the problem is that the "gatekeepers" now have vastly different structure and motivation. The ostensible gatekeeper now is an algorithm that puts all it' emphasis on velocity, stickiness, shareability, and the power of anger (which pushes clicks, likes, and shares). Thus the edge content is distributed far and wide rather than the "richest" and most valuable content that a democracy relies on for survival. Mass media is still with us, we've just lost the value of the helmsperson controlling the direction of the rudder.

Nan, Xiaoli, Yuan Wang, and Kathryn Thier. ‘Health Misinformation’. Preprint. PsyArXiv, 4 August 2020. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/6mrgv.

Altay, S., de Araujo, E., & Mercier, H. (2020, June 4). “If this account is true, it is most enormously wonderful”: Interestingness-if-true and the sharing of true and false news.

I chose this article, because it is timely, relevant, easy-to-follow (because it is intuitive), and innovative (using data sources, Twitter, and an innovative method, textual analysis). I hope you enjoy the reading. Please follow my annotations (comments + questions) and respond to the questions I pose. Try to answer them in your own words.

When I ask students to post on Youth Voices, I'm asking them to participate in mass media. It's a big jump for some who do very little by friend-to-friend communication.