3K Poltava Str., ap.8
Bulgaria
There is a legitimate expectation in present-day liberal democracies that the global media should accurately reflect and positively assist the democratic political process. Unfortunately, the great crises that are shaking the world today show that thеre is no chance of this happening. The global media has been a major contributor to the West's inadequate response to the flows of forced migration from the wars in the Middle East and North Africa. In the period of the global pandemic, they spread ominous panic predictions and contributed in fact to justifying the curtailment of human rights. At present the energy and the environmental crises are deepening as a result of media propaganda and silencing of the critical voices.
It seems natural and justified to explain the disappearance of independent journalism and the tendency of the global media to offer false pictures of the world with the reflex to serve the ruling elites and with the financial and political dependencies of the owners.
However, there is one perspective to explain the manipulativeness of the media that is often missed. The journalists can isolate themselves from reality for epistemological reasons, misconceptions and prejudices, and be unable to understand and make sense of it. Failure to understand today's world can be a more serious source of delusions and fake news than financial and political addictions or political interests.
In the presented paper I will analyze some subjective obstacles through cognitive and creative thinking that have been analyzed by philosophers and social scientists and inevitably impact the depiction of the world in the media. They outline a rich tradition that raises serious doubts about the attainment of reliable knowledge and true media information.
Key words: global media, crisis society, subjective obstacles, truth
CV: Vihren Bouzov is a Professor of Philosophy of Law and Logic at St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria, born 1966. He has been 8 years Dean of its Faculty of Philosophy (2003-2011) and since 2018 is a Vice-Rector for Quality Assurance and Accreditation. He has been a coordinator of international and national scientific projects. Prof. Bouzov teaches courses of lectures on logic, culture of thinking and philosophy of law for philosophy and law-students and decision theory for security students. He has many publications in the fields of security studies, legal philosophy, political decision theory and logic in Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Italy and other countries (https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/B-6986-2016; https://www.uni-vt.bg/eng/staffinfo.aspx?u=51&zid=57&ppage=999).