According to a recent survey, the majority of people in Germany view the news media as simply a pillar of the government and the powerfully elite. Only one third of the respondents think that the German news media is truly independent, while the majority view the government and parties as having control over particular policies, and the lobbyists and advertisers having control over the economic news.

More than half of the respondents viewed the news media as controlled by the "powerful" in the country, a view which manifested in recent years in the wake of going through crisis after crisis as the media began to be viewed simply as part of the system, or, the Fourth Estate.

Another major issue brought forth by the respondents is that the media reports only the problems, never presents any solutions, and when it came to consequences of political decisions very little reporting was done on the impacts those decisions had on the people.

It's apparent that the German people know their history (e.g. Joseph Goebbels), and have a healthy skepticism for the media. It would behoove everyone to have a bit (a lot) of skepticism about what the media tells them each day, as there are undoubtedly agendas that don't include simply reporting the truth.

Of course, when even the president of the European Union admits to lying, what hope is there for ever discovering the facts?



Of course, telling the truth in a world hell-bent on papering over issues and serving as many agendas as possible is a very difficult and unpopular thing to do. Sadly, there are even media outlets out there who try to take out any of their competition trying to do so.