In the United States, in contrast to Germany, it is common practice for newspapers to support one or another candidate in the presidential election. But in this year’s presidential election, they… Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times announced that she would not campaign for Kamala Harris or Donald Trump. The decision came as a surprise. In advance it was assumed that both newspapers would Kamala Harris favor.
At second glance, however, this is no longer so surprising: the two owners of Washington Post and L. A. Times are Jeff Bezos and Patrick Soon-Shiong – two billionaires. On the same day of the announcement that he would not make a recommendation, a meeting took place between Donald Trump and executives from Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin instead of.
Even if Kamala Harris does no less politics for the capital side than Donald Trump and we can expect her to do just as little for our class, it shows what power companies have when they own newspapers.
Surprise: German billionaires richer than previously known!
Newspapers in the hands of the rich
Using the example of Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times you can see how capitalists exert influence through newspapers that they own – of course the owners use them as a mouthpiece for their own interests and goals. Especially at respected newspapers like the Washington Post The population can be influenced by determining the content and direction in the interests of the donors.
Ideological influence is a powerful means of advancing political viewpoints and convincing a broad audience of them. Newspapers, social media and television channels are influential channels here. That’s why owning these communication channels is very attractive for large entrepreneurs.
In 2022, for example, Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, bought the news portal Twitter for $44 billion. But that’s it not the only billionaire: The second richest person and Amazon boss Jeff Bezos acquired it in 2013 Washington Post for $250 million. After that appeared regularly Opinion articles like: “Think carefully before changing tax laws to place a greater burden on billionaires” or: “The billionaire space race benefits us all. Really.”. Countless others Media companies Also include billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg, Rupert Murdoch and Patrick Drahi.
In Germany, too, newspapers are used to promote targeted agendas. For example, he has Springer Verlag set a policy for the newspapers it owns that they may only report pro-Israel – and, if necessary, Palestinian casualty figures downplay should. This regularly led to manipulative and all too often racist reporting. At the same time earned the Springer Verlag through its own real estate portal in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The power and influence that comes about through these ownership relationships and the associated decision-making power can also be seen on social platforms such as Instagram or Facebook observe the as Meta the entrepreneur and billionaire Marc Zuckerberg is the main shareholder, or even with X (formerly Twitter) by Tesla boss Elon Musk – but also in German newspapers like Welt and BILDfrom the multi-billion dollar company Axel Springer SE are financed: Facts are omitted here, censorship is carried out – at least in the mind – by only reporting what suits the political interests of the management.
Government funding changes nothing
As an alternative to privately owned media, calls are often made for the expansion of state-funded channels. The public media in the Federal Republic of Germany (ÖRR) are considered the best solution here – at least in social democratic circles. But even this form of organization only seems at first glance to be a guarantee of journalistic independence.
The assumption that the state has an interest in objective news and independence is a false one: the state also attaches conditions to its funding of press organs and media, for example through participation in structural decisions. The committees of public television and the associated radio stations and social media are mostly made up of party members. Editorial offices and management positions are only given to loyal journalists.
The example of the genocide in Palestine also shows that on public television there is a one-sided influence on the population: when it comes to news about Israel/Palestine, for example, reports from the Israeli occupying army are usually taken over without question, and terms such as “genocide” or “occupation” appear either not at all or very sparsely.
Reporting on Gaza: The German media is losing its last credibility
We need our own press
To combat this battle of opinions from above, the workers and all the oppressed in the Federal Republic of Germany need their own press that reports from the point of view of the weaker and weakest and classifies events and developments. Because the media in the hands of the capitalists will never report in our interests.
Strikes for better working conditions and protests against rearmament, social cuts or fascists either find little mention in the capitalist-bourgeois press or are portrayed in a false light. Because they would show that there is definitely clear resistance to the prevailing conditions.
In an interview for the first print edition of perspective Why we need our own newspapers was well summarized:
“The well-known newspapers of BILD above Focus up to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung belong to large media companies. It is clear that the major newsrooms will never write in a truly transparent and critical manner about who has power in this country. Because then they would have to write against their own employers, among other things. We cannot rely on the state media either, as they are controlled by the parties that have led us to this desolate situation in the last few decades. We cannot expect a truly “free” press from the established media. The only possible conclusion: we must create our own press.”
“We have to create our own press”
