Thinking like we do

Medialens, "correcting for the distorted view of the corporate media", is about to release its first book, Guardians of Power. Check out this exclusive interview with the authors:

"If you are to convince people in our society that they are free, you can't just censor everything as they did in the Soviet Union, because then everyone knows they're living in a kind of prison. In our society people are bombarded with business and political propaganda that shapes their assumptions about the world. But they also have access to some honest ideas in comparatively small circulation newspapers like the Guardian and the Independent, and primarily through one or two honest writers like John Pilger and Robert Fisk.

"This acts as a kind of vaccine - tiny doses of dissent that inoculate people against the idea that they are subject to thought control. But the reality is that this dissent is flooded and overwhelmed by propaganda that keeps us thinking the right way, keeps us passive and in line. By the way, we don't intend to suggest that this is the result of any kind of conspiracy. It happens as a kind of side-effect of the media's pursuit of maximised profits in a state-capitalist society."

Through its regular media alerts, Medialens has tackled the mainstream media's failure on issues such as Iraq, climate charge, Afghanistan and rampant imperialism. I've been reading for years and humble beginnings have turned into a moderately successful, pro-active media group. The BBC and Guardian used to ignore their questions and requests, and even this has changed. Citizen activism is having an effect and the mainstream media ignores it as their peril.