Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Clark Kent's Media Influence


After yesterday's post about Bruce Wayne and the paparazzi, it occurred to me that Clark Kent could be the one to turn the tide for all the super heroes, enabling more privacy then previously thought possible. Then I have to consider this: how much influence can one man have?


Would Bruce Wayne buy up all the major publishers to have control? Would he bring in Clark and Lois to keep an eye on things? Would he be able to put keywords in the Krays or in the JLA super computers that would help negate some of this? Would Oracle be able to work her magic as well?


Just how influential could Clark Kent be when he isn't busy being Superman?


I think that Clark could have some effect on the media he is involved with, but I think it would be quite difficult to keep the paparazzi at bay. I would imagine Clark would have to use his super powers to interfere with the electronics in the cameras that the paparazzi uses nowadays. It would seem to me that Bruce Wayne could have a wider sphere of influence if he had WayneCorp produce a line of cameras that he could sneak a chip into.


I guess it boils down to this: I think Clark could have a limited influence, but I still think Bruce could do more. Because of his money, he would afford some privacy. The problem is that if a paparazzi lensman or a reporter devoted themselves full time to getting a scoop, it would be extremely problematic.

What do you think Clark Kent's influence would be?

1 comment:

Carl said...

Welp, you have to remember the change in mass media in the last 20 years. The 'old dinosaur media' got complacente in their grip upon the news and suddenly found themselves playing catch up to cable and talk radio. The day of the big city newspaper is over. There used to be cities that were so big they had 17 major ones, now, only maybe LA and NY have 3. And they all rely on the AP, Rueters and all pretty much say the same thing. Who breaks the big news today? Cable news and your local TV stations, newspapers report on what *happened* yesterday now. So, my POV is that Clark Kent with his fellow superhero JLA support could probably easily quash a lot of news or things they wouldn't want out. Outside of Woodward and Bernstein, can anyone even name famous reporters today? Maybe some anchor folks on TV, but, nope, outside of column or opinion pieces, the day of the Carl Kolchak/Clark Kent/Lois Lane/Walter Winchell hardboiled reporter is long gone. Again, it would be the paparazzi that would be the trouble and I can't see the DCU superheroes being chased by them much. Bruce Wayne, yeah, but how do you stick to Wally West if he doesn't want you to? Or Aquaman? I would love to see someone trying to sneak pictures of Deathstroke The Terminator with his current love interest, that would be a great story...