The Ministry Of Propaganda [Journalists Are Not Your Friends]
Not so many generations ago, when journalism was a respectable profession, most mainstream reporters sought to factually narrate unfolding events. Times have changed, not least with respect to drugs.
It isn’t a case of a few bad apples, but rather, it’s an exemplar of a swirling cesspit of disreputable cowards with a handful of exceptions thrown into the mix. This is modern journalism, a job masquerading as a profession, and about as far removed from respectable as it’s possible to imagine.
He who pays the piper calls the tune, and for a pay-check this immoral and unethical rabble will censor by rote, penning whatever lies or misinformation is required, regardless of cost in terms of human misery or death.
No more is this self-evident than with respect to the war on drugs, a brutal onslaught waged against a community whose politically manufactured crime is to exercise an innate human right: self-ownership of body and mind. It is a classic picture of groupthink propagandists operating a vital cog in the machinery of oppression, with the inevitable consequence of unimaginable suffering.
However, it doesn’t have to be like this. Imagine, just for a moment, drug-related news being presented by an honest journalist, based upon fact and truth. Imagine probity and rectitude appearing on the scene of drug reporting.
When writing The Drug Users Bible I went a little further, and produced a prospective ‘Code of Ethics for Honest Drug Reporting’. I have extracted it and presented it below. As John Lennon would tell us, it isn’t hard to do…
A CODE OF ETHICS FOR HONEST DRUG REPORTING
1. The cause of tragedy and death is the erroneous use of drugs, not the drugs themselves. This usually stems from a lack of safety awareness and knowledge with respect to the specific drug or drugs in question. Reports should therefore be framed in this context.
2. Always include the intrinsic and central details in reports. For example, don’t routinely use the generic word drugs to cover substances which are absolutely diverse in nature, effect and potential harm. This wide scale practice is a de facto inhibitor of accuracy, education and understanding.
3. Cultural bias tends to suppress awareness of relative harms, which in Western society severely exacerbates alcohol related problems and misrepresents far more benign options. Effort should be made to reduce and eliminate this tendency.
Specifically, alcohol is a hard addictive drug and should be cited and reported as such when appropriate. Do not hesitate to cast this drug (alcohol) in the comparative context of other drugs when reporting on it, and vice versa.
Within this, review the use of stilted terminology. For instance, why do alcohol users drink their drug, whilst users of other drugs abuse theirs? Why do alcohol sources sell their product, whilst sources of other drugs push theirs?
4. In the context of drug use the mantra ‘Ignorance Kills, Education Saves Lives’ is a statement of fact. Journalists can help to educate by reporting harm reduction and safety information whenever an opportunity is presented.
Routinely quote harm reduction charities such as Release and DanceSafe, and directly recycle the personal safety data provided by sources such as TripSit and The Drug Users Bible.
5. The police frequently inflate the market value of their drug hauls for self interest, and defending solicitors will commonly consider it trite or provocative to challenge this in court. This misinformation perverts the course of justice and serves to re-enforce the destructive narrative of the war on drugs.
When reporting, qualify police claims or independently research the actual value.
6. Substances like datura and nutmeg are deliriants, and are dysphoric and highly toxic. Don’t use words like trip to describe their effects, and don’t refer to them as psychedelics. This is a good example of misleading terminology inciting potentially fatal consequences.
7. Report actual and factual impact data with respect to the war on drugs. For example, with 5% of the world’s population the United States now holds 25% of the world’s prison population, whilst the number of overdose deaths has soared.
At the very least don’t repeat the war on drugs precept as though it isn’t challenged.
Within this, don’t pursue a narrative which demonises drug users or drug sellers. Bear in mind that 250 million people use drugs, and most vendors are ordinary citizens who started buying drugs for friends as well as themselves.
Individually, to hold sovereign and exclusive ownership of one's own conscious mind, to explore freely and without boundary, is surely the most fundamental of human rights. Third party intrusion into this wholly personal territory is a grievous breach of this inalienable freedom.
It is entirely reasonable to reflect this perspective in reports, particularly with respect to psychedelics.
8. Don’t allow politicians or their servants (including the police) to set the agenda and define talking points, as again, they have a tendency to promote the war on drugs perspective for self interest.
Always be aware that the role of journalism is to report objectively, rather than disseminate propaganda.
As a (drug) consumer, should you have any contact with a mainstream journalist always remember that truth is the first casualty of war and that the war on drugs is no different. He or she will almost invariably represent the proprietor’s agenda and will usually have a pre-prepared narrative to follow. Never invest trust lightly.
Finally, if there are mainstream journalists reading this who find the content to be unpalatable, I challenge you to take a look at a random selection of mainstream drug reports. This applies to those you may have written yourself. How does your sample measure against the above?
The cold reality is that in the modern era the fourth estate effectively operates as a ministry of propaganda.
Mainstream media journalists are not your friends.
Footnote: You can download a complimentary copy of the PDF version of The Drug Users Bible from any of the cloud host links listed on the following page: https://www.drugusersbible.com/2018/01/pdf.html
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