In this age of journalistic spin-doctors with fancy name-cards

The medium is the message, Canadian Marshal McLuhan wrote in 1964. That was when the medium was not as complicated. You had print, radio and TV. That was about it. 

Almost six decades later, the five words are more apt to describe the world we live in. Every waking second, we are bombarded with some kind of new morsel of information of every hue and shade. The truth, a type of truth, a part of a truth, misinformation, disinformation and fakes.  Sometimes some of us, keep getting this when we sleep (anyone wearing a smart watch connected to a phone!). 

The truth is so much more complex nowadays. The business of telling the truth, in turn, is also not so sacrosanct. At least that is how some of us feel. 
Just last week I read with bemusement a comment by a media expert describing how there was no ethical, professional or other paradoxes involved in moving between being journalists and professional spin-doctors. 
If anything, for all those who are part of the newshound pack, there is a  better business option, if you know how to spin it. 

"In Myanmar for 72 days, the junta restricted fixed line and fibre internet every day for eight hours. Mobile internet, where most of citizens in Myanmar log into the net has been cut for 51 days now. Social media and messaging apps have been blocked since a few days after the February 1 coup"

Back to the medium is the message. It most certainly is. 
When COVID-19 infections rose dangerously in India, Facebook suddenly informed members that #resignmodi was a violating its community standards. As such it was being kept out. For seven hours, it was. Seven hours is a long time in Facebook in India where over 400 million are members. 
The Indian government had also instructed other social media platforms to censure posts critical of the government. 

In Myanmar for 72 days, the junta restricted fixed line and fibre internet every day for eight hours. Mobile internet, where most of citizens in Myanmar log into the net has been cut for 51 days now. Social media and messaging apps have been blocked since a few days after the February 1 coup. 

Even when connectivity is available, the speeds are so slow that colleagues say it takes them more than over 10 minutes just to log in. Just by the flick of a button Myanmar has been moved to the days of dial-up internet and precariously close to a total blackout. 
In Sri Lanka Minister Namal Rajapaksa has suggested that the option of using Facebook live in parliament should be curtailed. This was after members used the facility to live stream interactions between members outside the Well. 

"When COVID-19 infections rose dangerously in India, Facebook suddenly informed members that #resignmodi was a violating its community standards. As such it was being kept out. For seven hours, it was. Seven hours is a long time in Facebook in India where over 400 million are members"

Whatever the logic of the suggestion, what such a move would do is censor yet another option the country has to witness how those elected carry out their duties. That option should not be banned because MP’s behave badly. 
Facebook and social media platforms have performed a dynamic role in these complex times we live in. At times they have undermined democracy and rule of law, but on other occasions they have been the only option  between a dictator-like monopoly on information and at least a partial free-flow of divergent news and opinions.
Control the medium, you control the message. The best spin doctors know this. Such contemporary truism that some of us now can and do safely and conveniently interchange truth-telling with modulating the medium. 
Democracy is chaotic, freedom of speech is chaotic, social media at its freest is chaotic. That is the nature of this digital gift. 

Truth-tellers and not the spin-doctors or a bad combination of both, now grapple with how to stand out and stand firm from the marauding charlatans.  Their success or failure could mean life and death. 
The information that a journalist puts out could mean the difference between taking a vaccine, or wearing the facemask and taking a sip of a concoction or the touch of a hot iron of a witch doctor. 
Truth-telling will survive, and no, not by assuming that false persona of the professional spin-doctor. It will survive as truth-telling. 
In what medium,  we still don’t know. 

The writer is a journalism researcher and writer. He can be contacted on [email protected]