The media’s role is supposed to be that of a gatekeeper of information, a service to the people meant to equip them with knowledge. At least that’s what David Banner was told.
“Growing up, I always thought or I would always hear people say that the media is objective or that the media is for the people or the media is straight across,” he says during an episode of Myths Exposed. “It has no personality or nothing in mind. And growing up, I know now that that is a lie for sure.”
He says that he wanted to believe in the media, but after going to Ferguson, Missouri in the wake of the death of Michael Brown, he was convinced that it is nothing more than a hype machine. Banner explains that he would witness Bloods and Crips members unite against people trying to loot stores while the media portrayed the black people as “savage” “uneducated” and “the exact opposite” of what was really going on.
“It was so bad that now, I have no respect for CNN,” he says of the outlet. “I used to think that CNN was different than Fox News or MSNBC was different from CNN. It’s all part of a system that’s created to generate funds. It’s a business. I even have a very good friend that works for CNN that told me about four years ago, one of the heads literally walked in and said, ‘We no longer do news. We create drama for the most part.’ I’m paraphrasing it, but from that point, I figured out that news is no different than a blog site. It just looks better. It wears a suit.”
Banner says that the news feeds off stereotypes, drama and violence. He tells the story of when he did an event with inner city children and was trying to get news coverage, but was turned away. He claims he was told if he shot somebody, he was sure to get featured in the news.
“For the most part, media is set up to support white supremacy whether people will admit it or not and it is their job to perpetuate these lies,” he says. “So for me to think that they’re gonna cover me any different is a fault on my part. I believe that if we really want to change the way that we are being perceived as artists or as a hip-hop nation or culture, hip-hop has to stop following conventional media because now, hip-hop blogs and hip-hop media for the most part have become the tentacles for regular media. They just basically copy and paste.”
Citing wisdom from his friend, journalist Soren Baker, Banner says black people need to take initiative and take control of the image that is portrayed to the masses.
“Instead of us begging people to do right, we’re gonna have to create the sites,” he says. “We’re gonna have to write the books. Maybe that’s not our passion, but it is our duty if we really want to change the foundation which this culture has now been built upon.”
He urges black people to keep each other accountable. He asks for awareness as to who is really in control of the flow of money and information and use their power to their advantage.
“If a certain black person is part of a white media conglomerate and he’s speaking on behalf of black people and that’s not how black people feel, well he need to feel that heat when he walk through the airport,” Banner says. “I’m not telling people to be violent, but I’m saying we should make people feel uncomfortable for speaking on behalf of our people until we have our own.”