Recently the BBC has featured rather a lot of stuff about journalism and journalists... under attack in various places. An underlying theme is that Donald Trump, leader of the Free World, is also responsible for twisting the political climate regarding journalists, by labelling them the enemy, which allows others to do the same thing by pointing to the US.
The journalists at the BBC/Guardian, really don't like Trump at all. It's open and obvious. They have close to contempt for him and his views.
But, what's striking is, that despite the stories about journalists and their increasing problems related to 'just doing their jobs' they choose not to mention Julian Assange, surely the most famous and central figure in modern western journalism? Where he's concerned they put their telescope up to their blind eye.
The point is, I believe, that this attitude, encapsulates Chomsky and Herman's theory about the role of jounrnalism as propaganda and what centres of power determine what is seen as legitimate news and who frames the narrative about good and bad journalism.
The state declares that Assange is an 'adversary' and 'enemy' not one of us and linked to foreign intelligence agencies, disloyal to the West and definitely not a journalist and publisher.
The rest of the 'real' journalists, across the political spectrum within the narrow confines of the mainstream/corporate media, follow this lead and the framing process, absolutely and without question. Think how many thousands of journalists there are and how few have questioned this state sponsored narrative about Assange not being a journalist. I think it would be difficult to find anyone within the mainstream whose repeadtedly and in public, on air, argued that Assange is a real journalist, who was just doing his job too.
I think this episode, that isn't exactly, unimportant or without principle, shows the power of the state to define the narrative and the way the journalists fall meekly into line, like they all do in wartime. The structure of modern journalism, which is the propaganda wing of the corporate state, manufactures it's own acquiesence and consent, but it's never examined or even mentioned.