There's a post going around about "Fake News" and "Alt-Media" https://steemit.com/fakenews/@jamesc/fake-news-alt-media-is-working explaining that the news media is scripted, and therefore completely bogus. (To be clear, the post is actually not addressing the "fake media" that has been circulated by Melissa Zimdars. A separate but related issue.) 

So anyway they show this talking heads video of dozens upon dozens of news networks quoting VERBATIM headlines that could not possibly be a coincidence. And at first, I totally bought it. I mean, what other explanation is there? We're all just puppets in this crazy show written and directed by some nebulous entity in charge of the media, right? 

https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2015/11/02/21/31/primate-1019101_960_720.jpg
(pixabay)

Well....there’s this thing called the Associated Press. It’s basically a giant vendor of news stories. 

To put it in their own words, “The AP is one of the largest and most trusted sources of independent newsgathering, supplying a steady stream of news to its members, international subscribers and commercial customers. AP is neither privately owned nor government-funded. It is a not-for-profit news cooperative.” 

Essentially, it’s just a bunch of journalists and freelance writers, like YOU and ME, who independently write stories and put them in a pool of other stories up for grabs by the highest bidder. 

It’s like Shutterstock or Pixabay for photos--someone takes a photo, puts it in the inventory of photos, and gets paid a certain amount when someone decides to use or purchase the photo. And if it’s a great photo, then lots of people will use it. And it will get circulated and earn royalty off its circulation. But the photo itself was taken by one person with a camera, in the middle of the rolling hills of Austria, who just thought it a pretty sight. And now it’s everywhere. 

https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/1*BUfU2KIPV18n82p4tb61sg.jpeg
(pixabay)

Same thing with news. Someone writes a story, puts it in the inventory, and now it’s up for grabs. The most common bidder will be the networks--you know, NBC, ABC, FOX. They pay the big bucks to get fresh stories that will sell. Sometimes, when the moon is just right, contending networks will inadvertently buy the SAME story---GASP! 

HERE’S HOW SYNDICATED NEWS WORKS
Each “mother” network has hundreds or maybe thousands of subsidiary networks all over the country: from New York to L.A. All of these networks are owned and run by their mothership. Like a franchise. And each of them has a specific set of parameters of operation, helping their network fall in step with its mothership. Like a franchise. 

They have a basic agenda for the day the network requires of them, and then a little wiggle room to do forays into local stuff or dabble in whatever keeps it fresh and unique for the area. 

Think McDonald’s. 

http://www.allcateringmenuprices.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/mcdonalds-catering-menu-prices1-e1417251240254.png
(allcateringmenuprices.com)

You’ve got your basic menu each day (fries, burgers, chicken nuggets, etc.), and then you’ve got things particular to your area (Maybe New York will have buffalo chicken wings on the menu, Texas will have meximelts, and Alaska will have whale blubber smoothies. Who knows?). 

With news, you’ve got the basic menu for the day that everyone has to put out, in a particular order and style, and within a specific time frame. Every time. Formulaic. With rare exception. 

Then you've got your local news and whatever else each network decides is worth spewing that evening. The “extra” stuff may come from local news reporters, from network employed or contracted journalists, or from other sources like the AP. But there will always be the basic menu for the day. 

This is by design. It is not a brainwashing tactic or conspiratorial plan to take over the world. It is simply a matter of economics. Why buy 5,000 stories from the AP and from freelance reporters when you can just buy one and broadcast it in Alabama and in New Jersey at the same time? 

Why hire the staff to manage the content of 5,000 different stories each day, when you can hire ONE editor to manage ONE story? If you want to call it censorship, be my guest. But it’s really just a matter of dollars and cents. 

And when you’re a fortune 500 company, I’m sorry, but you’ve got to have a predictable bottom line for your investors. And a predictable bottom line means a predictable story spewing formula with censorship-like story management. No rogue stuff. Networks are in the business of selling stories that make money, first and foremost. They pedal to the masses. Because it makes money. 

http://cdn.foliomag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/7th-Contest-Newsstand-salesman-People-Winner-1600x1200-1.jpg
(foliomag.com)

So yes, someone IS in charge of the content of the media. It’s the network owners. Are they going to censor what comes out of their network? Why, yes. Yes they are. Because it is THEIR network. They bought it. It’s theirs. They get to pick whatever stories they want to put out. 

When you get your own network, you can do the same thing.