“Whoever controls the media, controls the mind” Is a quote from singer and songwriter Jim Morrison. There is a lot of truth in this quote and after studying politics for almost 4 years now I see how vital the media is to the people and the government. Last semester, I did research on trust in the media in France. Through this research, I found out that there is a growing distrust in the media in France and the United States is facing similar trends. Not having trust in the media is a huge problem for society and the government. If the people do not have trust in the media, then the people most likely do not have trust in the government. In France, there is a wave of populism going through the country that is affecting both sides, the left, and the right. Populism simply put is that the elites are bad and the people are good. Populism also is very anti-establishment since they believe the elites or government officials are bad. However, populism is not necessarily “bad” or something to fear. Populism is sometimes argued that it is the product of democracy because it is the people coming together and questioning the government. However, recently, these populist leaders are running on the platform that the media is unfair and lying to the people. In France and the United States, the media has become extremely consumer-based, dividing the media. In the United States, we have far-right-wing media like Fox News and far-left being CNN. This divide does cause problems with the people because the media is only showing half the truth and just what their consumers want to see. But what populist leaders fail to see is that they are the government and the media is the people. Fox News may put Bernie in a bad light, but that is the people’s views and opinions and it is hypocritical that the populist leader would not be in support of that. Now, why am I taking this class as a political science and international relations major with a French minor? Honestly, I am taking it because I am 2 credits short and I did not want to take another 4 credit class. But, also after my research, I realized a little too late that I may have gone down the wrong route. I think journalism and the media are so interesting and probably the most interesting and newest part of politics. So in my last semester and after my research, I decided I wanted to take a journalism class and this one really stuck out. It seemed political and it seemed very up my ally. So here I am in a journalism class as a senior as a political science and international relations major.
