"Iron Core" Alex S. Jones' Argument

Alex S. Jones in the "Iron Core" promotes citizens to question what the trend of shrinking audiences (thus shrinking profits) is doing to the media and its role in democracy. The ultimate question is what is being cut with the profits exponentially shrinking in the media. Jones argues it is social responsibility. The traditional media in Jones' view is the 'iron core of information' which leads to verification of facts; he believes this promotes a healthy democracy. Alex S. Jones' fear is that without this 'iron core' the citizenry will not be informed properly in what the government, corporation and politicians are actually doing. His argument does include the possibility that new forms of media could hold intact the 'iron core'. Although, the question is yet to see whether or not citizenry journalism will hold up to the standards and ethics of so called professional journalism. Jones places the focus on all the great stories the 'iron core' has provided with Watergate, etc... An argument can be made that the connection to how this "feeds" democracy is not as clear. The common consensus is to make citizens informed enough to make intelligent political decision in participation of democracy, such as voting. Personally I believe that in a participatory democracy the best way to foster democracy as a whole is direct participation rather than the focus on journalism. The media is supposed to provide us with this 'iron core' but the media also has slanted what this 'iron core' should consist. Overall Alex S. Jones promotes an important question of how the media should present news. I cannot agree with his theory of 'iron core'-the media makes for better informed citizens.