When the media defines something, you have to question: Is it

Tim Reid, with the wisdom of one who has seen how stories shape the soul of nations, declared: “When the media defines something, you have to question: Is it the definition that you want applied to your culture? I’m trying to determine who’s leaving the legacy, and if the legacy that is being left is a positive one.” In these words burns both caution and resolve. He speaks of the power of media, which does not merely report, but often frames reality, planting ideas into the soil of the people’s mind until they become the very trees of culture.

The heart of his teaching is vigilance. To let others define your culture without question is to surrender the pen that writes your history. For what is culture but the collective story a people tell themselves? If the media shapes it with shallow images or falsehoods, then the legacy passed to future generations is one of distortion, not truth. Reid’s words summon us to examine carefully: who is crafting the narrative, and to what end?

History bears witness to the danger of neglecting this duty. In the years before and during the Second World War, the propaganda machine of Nazi Germany defined entire groups of people as subhuman, unworthy of dignity or life. This definition, repeated endlessly in posters, films, and radio, poisoned a nation’s culture and justified horrors beyond measure. It was a legacy steeped in blood, showing how powerful and dangerous the voice of media can be when unchallenged.

Yet Reid’s words are not only warning—they are a call to hope. For if media can destroy, it can also build. Consider the Civil Rights Movement, when images of peaceful marchers facing brutality awakened the conscience of a nation. These broadcasts helped redefine a culture, leaving behind a legacy of courage and progress. Thus the same tool that can enslave minds can also set them free, depending on the vision and the honesty of those who wield it.

So let this wisdom endure: question always the voices that claim to define you. Ask, “Is this the story we wish to hand to our children? Is this the legacy we desire?” For culture is not stone, fixed and unchanging—it is clay in the hands of those who shape it. As Tim Reid reminds us, the duty of every generation is to guard that shaping, to ensure that the story left behind is not one of ruin, but one of positive light, strength, and truth.