Dear Editor,

In the SN dated November 1, 2009 there is an article captioned `Media ownership and the ideology of a free press’. (Eds note: This was an excerpt of a presentation made by SN’s late Editor-in-Chief David de Caires at a Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago symposium on April 12, 1996).

Some time ago I wrote in a letter to the Editor of SN about the lack of knowledge on the part of journalists and even editors with regards the concept of ideology and also the lack of information and understanding of the tenets of various ideologies. I also spoke about those individuals who seem to feel that somehow they are free from ideologies having an open mind that precludes ideological biases.

This particular caption and piece seems to assume that the concept, Free Press, is an ideology in its own right. Is this view a correct classification of what an ideology is?

Do we consider at the same time that the Free Press represents and defend a particular ideology and what may that ideology be? Do we believe that the free press is free of ideology? While the BBC may be regarded as objective, does it reflect and represent an ideological interest in the final analysis.

After reading the article I went on line to see what I might read with regards to ideology and I am wondering if the editor of the letter column, after I criticized journalists and editors of having little knowledge of ideologies, utilized any of his/her time to seek some information or clarification of the issue.

Editors sometimes attach responses to letters and I am wondering whether the editor could have attached a response saying I was wrong, or a little right. Is the role of the free press also to educate, to advance the perspectives of readers, to open the mind of readers?

It’s interesting to note that in the US as elsewhere, a consequence of the cold war propaganda fed and nurtured by the so called “free press” owned and controlled by the capitalist class, people are warned away from ideology. Ideology is associated with the enemies, with the socialists and the communists. “We do not have ideology which is supposed to be mindless and soul-less; we are free thinkers”.

There is a view that in the US the people do have ideology. Here and everywhere also. The information I gleaned from the net seems to conclude that ideology is concerned with more fundamental things, and concludes that in the US there are ideologies “depending upon how the concept is defined” such as “socialists, fascists, libertarians, and communists”.

The net mentions a “‘World view’ and a call to action”. The questions are asked: “How do we see the world”?

How do we think it should be”? What is wrong with our world? And I add, “How did we get to this point of our history?” recognizing that in the methodology I have adopted, all phenomena are processes of coming into being, changing and transforming.

Is the level of poverty too high? Should we use our collective resources to fix it? Ideology in this sense is not just any set of views but deals with more fundamental issues.

Ideology is about a particular understanding of the world and this shapes our attitude to it. It’s about understanding the world and whether we should change it and how? It’s about interests and controls and forces of progress and retrogression; it’s about understanding how we view the world as opposed to other views of the said world; it’s about appreciating how we may have come about accepting and thinking within the particular ideology that we may have adopted; it’s about so many other questions.

Ideology is not unrelated to philosophy and has a connection to and is informed by one or the other. I remember this famous quote by one philosopher. I do not have it exactly, “Philosophers have interpreted the world, the problem however is to change it” and this is where ideology comes in. But lest we forget, particular ideologies teach us it cannot be changed or we should not attempt to change it.

So today the questions remain: “Is the free press free of ideological bias?”, “Are reporters and editors free of ideological bias?”, “Can state owned press have ideological biases that coincide with the free press?”, “Does ideology reflect class interests?”, “Do you belong to a particular class and what ideology may reflect your specific class interests?”, “Who will teach you this, the ‘free press’?”. “How many media houses are owned and controlled by workers?”

Finally if you recognize that you do have an ideology put your hands up and then tell us what it is.

Yours faithfully,
Rajendra Bisessar