I wrote this the last time @OwenJones84 was denounced for stating some incontrovertible facts about the UK media. Since I wrote it the Labour leadership have made a set of proposals to #changethemedia
thereturnofthepublic.wordpress.com/2018/04/21/owe…
Many senior journalists are much more comfortable explaining why they deserve every single bit of their wealth and prestige in the current order than engaging with the substance of these proposals. This is understandable, but it is also fascinating in its way.
The ability to distinguish between the facts of biography and the broader 'structural' context within which we all make our lives, and to bring them into meaningful connection, is close to the heart of any properly human science.
C. Wright Mills called this 'the sociological imagination'. He thought we would develop it for the sheer delight of knowing how we fit into our times. It's clear now that we must actively create conditions in which career success does not depend on a kind of energetic idiocy.
Yes, I know that many journalists understand perfectly well that they live in a society and can distinguish between the drama of their own lives and the economics, architecture and embedded traditions of the theatre in which they play their parts.
If you want nuance, read my books.
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