Is telling the truth on the media's agenda? The Media does not want to communicate complexity - rather it is much easier to communicate assembled stories in the archetypical formats of good and bad. Unfortunately the complicated version of the story, in many cases, is the truth. The truth can be defined as conformity to fact or reality, which also means that the truth can be debatable; one man's terrorist could be another mans hero, and as such an undecided assessment of what exactly "the truth" is can degrade public appeal. In many cases the truth may also be plain and simple, but once again, just lack that public appeal. Telling the truth is not on the media's agenda. If so, then what is on the media's agenda? What could possibly hold higher priority for the media other than telling the public how it is? The answer is simple - the ever existent need for 'ratings' to nourish the media machine. Note that this is a persistent theme also found in the media send-up series "Frontline".
"When I talk, you shoot", Frontline reporter Mike Moore instructs to soldiers in an attempt to overdramatize a clearly controlled military situation at Bougainville. This episode of Frontline entitled "Playing the Ego Card" satirizes this attitude often adopted by the media and how this take on reporting the news is justified by those working on the 'inside'. During the episode the responder witnesses how Frontline's characters expose the media's inclination to more self-ambitious priorities - that is, with 'telling the truth' far from the top of the list. .
"A pub brawl in Manly is better than a masscre of millions if you've got pictures" (Brian, The producer in 'Frontline'). Here Frontline refers to the Media's need for supporting multimedia (particularly visual media for television), and as further demonstrated later in the episode, how the use of multimedia can twist the truth in favour of entertainment value.