The Issue Behind TikTok

It’s Time to Bring Media Policy into the Conversation

By Jaci Clement

Let’s talk politics.

Actually, not politics in terms of candidates and platforms — that stuff is for you to argue about at family gatherings and in Facebook postings. What we bring to the table is not judgment over who you vote for and whatever party you belong to (or switch to or drop out of). But rather, our wish for you is to cast a vote after being educated on the issues.

And that’s where news comes in. But not always.

Because in today’s media landscape whatever credible reporting is being done is vastly outnumbered by what we don’t consider to be news at all, yet it wears a news label.

What comprises the not-news-but-called-news category includes, but is not limited to, the agenda-driven, the pay-for-play, the sponsored content, the advertorial, the fake news sites and misinformation websites which are making their spring debut in a bid to ramp up political interference, the infomercial featuring someone behind a desk pretending to be a news anchor, the comedian seated behind a desk openly pretending to be a news anchor, and anyone who labels themselves as a news personality, presenter, actor, talk show host and/or influencer. These labels don’t equate to “journalist.” In fact, such labels enable the circumvention of the rules and ethics of journalism.

For all those who wonder what happened to the news as a trusted place to turn for facts and knowledge, this is what happened. Along the way, the rules and regulations that comprised media policy in this country fell by the wayside, and those changes were largely ignored by the news media in its coverage. As those changes happened, technology advanced and introduced new forms of media for which there is no meaningful regulation. As these changes took form, news media ignored the topic of how accountability would factor into the evolving landscape.

So here we are, having arrived at a time where we can say that, instead of rules and regulations, we’ve given it a go, focusing on good intentions and common sense. How’s that been working for you?

And that’s probably the most interesting thing happening in news right now: For how much airtime and column inches are being devoted to political reporting by the credible and, well, all the others, there’s no questioning of the candidates on their views of media policy. Yes, we have TikTok in the news as elected officials struggle with the fate of the social media platform, but the coverage is limited to the concept of national security. There’s so much more to it than that, ranging from privacy to mental health issues.

The thing is, other platforms are already introducing the same elements that make TikTok interesting for users. If TikTok is banned, we’re still left with serious issues that need to be addressed. Can we at least make media policy part of the public conversation, for the sake of the American people?

Source: Fair Media Council