There is a fundamental law in particle physics that a system can't be observed without being altered. That is, the act of observing something changes it. It's a simple but incredibly important notion. For us to see something happening, light has to hit it and reflect back. Our eyes pick up the light and our brains sort it out and tell us we've seen it. That's fine with a galaxy, or a pendulum, or a pint of beer, or most of the things we look at in the name of science. However, when the things we are looking at get very small, it becomes a problem.

If something is smaller than an atom, like an electron, or a host of other nerdy sounding particles, the little particle of light, called a photon, that bounces off our electron is around the same size. So it becomes like two billiard balls hitting each other, and the electron will fly off at an angle after the light hits it. So an electron going in one direction will land in different places depending on if we have looked at it or not.

Yeah, righto nerd boy, so what the hell does this have to do with the media?

Well, I think a similar thing is going on in the halls of disturbingly ubiquitous power in the world of mass media. Now, the media is not infallible. Articles will always carry the personal bias, political taint or just plain poor attention to detail of those who pen them. And you know what? That's just fine. You see, that's what is so engaging about media and current affairs. It's not supposed to be the final word on any subject. It tells us something has happened. It gives us a few facts, it gives us a bit of spin and lets us go. Debate, argue, research, contend, hell, just froth at the mouth and get pissed about it. That's what it's there for. Or it should be.

A while ago though, a few blokes figured out that between them, they could own most of the media. What's the harm? We're just selling papers. People are intelligent, they don't believe everything they hear, right? We'll bollocks, I say. Most people actually do believe everything they hear. Vast hordes of the country get their news and current affairs carte blanche from nothing more sophisticated than Today Tonight and A Current Affair, thus blindly acquiescing to Messrs Packer and Murdoch's version of the world as it is and should be. Any remotely intelligent person knows this warrants a stern and slightly condescending shake of the head. But, we live in a democracy don't we. We'll always be at the mercy of the great unwashed. So while being annoying, this isn't going to change the country all that dramatically is it?

No, the real issue with mass media ownership, in my humble opinion, harks back to the kind of sub-atomic particle physics I mentioned in opening. With so little chance of being held to account by alternative media, these fuckers are becoming increasingly free to make the news. Not just report it, make it. The international system is no longer subject to being reported on as a series of historical events. The media are now more than willing to craft the events that unfold on the international stage to suit at best, their desire for ratings and circulation, or at worst (and I'm looking at you Rupert, you little fucker), the whims of their business and political cronies. I first started noticing this in the ever so self important, yet relatively inconsequential media circus that has developed to follow the A.F.L. The seriousness with which the Wilsons, Walls' and Quatermains of the world take their given topic I always found quaintly amusing. However, a few years ago, slow footy news weeks would be met with idle speculation about which coach was about to be sacked. Fast forward to this day and the merest speculation generally winds up with some poor sod looking for a job within a fortnight. The media wolves create the scandal, build it up and execute with brutal efficiency.

Things take a much more sinister turn when outlets like Fox in the U.S. are able to call an election result in Florida off their own bat, and subject the world to eight years of inept, bumbling war mongering. How many times have we heard the words "bowed to mounting media speculation" and thought about what that means. They were removed from their ordinary course of action and forced to do something else based on the hype created artificially by the media. It seems there is no crisis, issue or devastation that can't be made ten times worse by media looking to create, not report, the news. We now seem to live in a world where any event is the result of media-spun observation. The original trajectory of any news item is no longer known to us. We can but sit back and ponder how things might have worked out if we'd had the luxury of sitting back and waiting for events to unfold. Kind of makes you feel sorry for that poor little electron, hey? If only the observers had the patience to wait and see what happened, they just might have found out.

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