Media, news and truth.. The image is a means of creating reality and commodifying information

It is closed to the contemplator to understand what is happening today in the world of media in terms of rapid developments. Wherever a person turns his face, he finds broadcast images that tell him what happened in the recent or distant past, or what is happening directly in other places.

This invites us to think about the nature of the news itself, and how its concept has fluctuated with the development of technological media.

It is known that imaging technology and image transmission contributed to expanding the meaning of the news, so that it became the news of every tangible visual transmitted by the camera lenses to reach the human eye, just as this technology changed the meaning of the truth itself and the system of values ​​associated with it.

What Muslims saw in their holy city, "Mecca", was completely different from what non-Muslims saw as infiltrated travelers under Arab pseudonyms, for example.

The news differs, the descriptions differ, and the place is the same

The principle in the media - before its meanings expand - is that it conveys the news, and the principle in the news is that it is possible to be truthful and correct, just as it is possible to lie and be wrong.

And whenever the teacher sees the event - that is, he sees it with his own eyes - he is closer to informing him of its truth than others who did not witness it.

So coupling the veracity of the news with the sense of sight is something that natural intuition accepts.

However, witnessing the event and telling about it are two different things.

If the event is one, then the methods of informing about it differ according to the styles of the speakers, their methods of description and expression, and their own tendencies in representing things and their facts.

A person often transcends the limits of objective truth while describing what he sees, either out of excessive admiration or out of shock or the like.

Even reporting about some places is dominated by poetic descriptions more than any other language.

The news about Makkah Al-Mukarramah in the Islamic world - for example - was before the spread of imaging technology, reflecting the emotional states of the pilgrims and their standing in awe in front of the sacred history and their eagerness to jump on the visual reality in order to contemplate the space of the descent of revelation and the formation of the Islamic call and other spiritual meanings.

What the Muslims see in this holy city was completely different from what the non-Muslims see from the infiltrating travelers under Arab pseudonyms, for example.

The news differs, the descriptions differ, and the place is the same.

Photography and the break with the ancient world

The discovery of photography has had a major role in changing the human mind's relationship with news and truth.

After this mind used to turn the look at the transmitted news in search of defects or shortcomings related to the personality of its transmitter, it came to stand in front of what the photographic image carried of news, as if it penetrated to the truth of the transmitted reality without the mediation of the personality of the transmitting person.

This is because the photograph is associated with objectivity more than any other means of expression, as it does not go beyond revealing the cover of a visible and unquestionable reality.

It may be said that the art of photography is an art that narrows the field for the possibility of projecting subjects onto reality, and expands the field for revealing the truth, unlike other arts that expand the field in front of projecting oneself on the transmitted reality.

This is based on the fact that the image remains, in the end, just a frame, and every frame - as is well known - is a catch-all that collects things and prevents the entry of other things, like the limit in Aristotelian logic.

The image may be a reflection of the truth of the thing from one aspect, or from a point of view, and it may at the same time be a concealment of another fact that goes outside the frame, from another aspect, or from another point of view.

The image, in addition to being an art of revealing, is at the same time an art of reduction, trying to reduce the reality of the thing in the moment and place of its image.

The image is a weapon used to seize the identity of others and establish their qualities in the imagination of the onlookers. This is clearly evident in the collection of images promoted by European colonialism about the colonized peoples, in order to establish the characteristics of these peoples that justify their colonization.

With this consideration, it is correct to talk about the photographic machine as an extension of Aristotelian logic as a rational machine, as Aristotle himself calls it in his book “The Organon” or the science of machines.

Both instruments are used to reach the reality of something when it is stationary, not when it is moving.

The photographic image, such as the limit or the logical definition, is used to derive an abstract description of the thing described, with which it defines a definition that jumps on the reality of movement.

This is evident in the behavior of people in front of the camera.

It is customary for a person to adorn himself, wear the finest clothes, choose the best position, sitting or standing, and make sure that features of ease and simplicity appear on his face before a souvenir photo is taken of him.

This is because the image in this regard is an attempt to establish an essence that transcends reality, and to perpetuate the best attribute that we are pleased with ourselves, as if our tongue says: “This is me according to the eternal reality, and all other attributes are symptoms that are not related to who I am.”

On the other hand, the image is also used to extract the inherent qualities of others and determine their eternal and essential truth.

Instead of allowing time for the subject of his image to beautify and adorn himself so that he appears in his best form, the photographer takes pictures of him by surprise, in poses that he denies and does not approve of for himself.

In this way, the image becomes a weapon used to capture the essence of others and establish their qualities in the imagination of the onlookers.

This is clearly evident in the collection of images promoted by European colonialism about the colonized peoples, in order to establish the characteristics of these peoples that justify their colonization.

The image was adopted as a tool to cover the reality of others, a cover that leads to underestimating their identities and exposing their backwardness.

If the photograph - as an extension of Aristotelian mental logic - freezes the visible thing in order to establish its essence and thus control it, then the creation of the moving image machine indicates another turning point in the history of the struggle over the truth.

After obtaining the essence of the photographed object thanks to the photograph, it became possible with moving images to establish a narrative that a person accepts for himself, just as it became possible to acquire the narratives of others.

A clear example of this type of acquisition is what was done by the American journalist Lowell Thomas in the framework of a geostrategic plan aimed at involving America in the First World War.

Thanks to his portrayal of Lawrence of Arabia with the Arab revolutionaries in the Arabian Peninsula, he was able to present to American public opinion a narrative that strengthened the position calling for America to enter the war on the side of the allies, in defense of the oppressed yearning for freedom and emancipation from tyranny.

However, this narrative quickly disappeared after the First World War, to be replaced by another narrative that proves to Arab Muslims the characteristics of barbarism, terrorism, and backwardness.

The great technological companies, as they work to dismantle the institutions of truth that were owned by states and the major media companies, preach a world in which there is no truth except the individual truth, this truth that is conveyed by the new media through images that address the emotion and memory of the individual.

The image and the truth in the time of technological development and artificial intelligence

After the dismantling of the structure of the Aristotelian classical mind, which was frozen for the essences, in the postmodern era, the struggle over the truth took another turn.

Today, we are in the process of moving from the stage of researching the relationship between reality and news, and between news and truth, to a new stage, which

Smartphones have enabled a person - regardless of his cultural level and experience in the media or any other field - to take pictures of reality as he sees it, and then broadcast these pictures in front of the eyes of the worlds.

This led to the fragmentation of the concept of reality.

Reality images have multiplied with the multiplicity of individuals who own smart imaging and broadcasting tools.

This has resulted in a decline in the role of traditional media institutions that used to specify the entrances to read reality and determine its truth.

When we think at length about what is happening today in the world of media, it appears to us that major technology companies are no longer competing in order to establish a picture of reality, but their concern has become spent on managing the relationship between the information that the individual broadcasts on social media channels and the content he produces that reveals his emotional characteristics and his memory. individual, and how much information is transmitted in the digital world.

The importance of information - in the age of algorithms and artificial intelligence - no longer lies in the fact that it refers to a fact, but rather its importance lies in its marketing value.

It has turned into a commodity that is produced, sold and bought.

And after the recipient was just a consumer of information, he turned into a producer and a consumer at the same time in digital time.

It is as if we are in major technology companies dealing with the individual, asking him to disclose any information indicating his intellectual, artistic, sexual or mathematical inclinations, then guiding him and specifying ways to enter the world he is looking for, or the reality he sees as real.

In this regard, we conclude by saying - very briefly - that the great technological companies, as they work to dismantle the institutions of truth that were owned by states and major media companies, herald a world in which there is no truth except the individual truth, this truth that is transmitted by the new media through images that address the emotion the individual and his memory.

Technology has been able to "personalize" the media, commodify information and images, and dilute the truth, until the recipient becomes suspicious of truth as falsehood.