How the media made this summer's political insanity inevitable

X-post from GD

http://mediamatters.org/columns/200908210024


How the media made this summer's political insanity inevitable
Jamison Foser


The most striking aspect of this summer's political insanity isn't the frothing at the mouth of a loud minority of Republicans that President Obama is a secret Kenyan bent on subjecting an unwitting American public to government death panels, or the mass confusion among the rest of the public about health care reform.

It's that any reporter who has been paying the slightest bit of attention is surprised by any of this. It is, after all, the inevitable result of the way the media do their jobs.

snip//

Just look at the way much of the media have reacted to the belated realization that the public is woefully misinformed: By speculating -- sorry, "analyzing" -- why this is the case, and guessing -- sorry, "analyzing" -- whether the White House can develop a "message" that "works." And what aren't they doing in reaction to this realization? Clearly and repeatedly explaining the facts. And they're surprised people don't know the truth. Unbelievable.

In fact, it is the media's behavior that has made this summer's madness inevitable. When they let the loudest yellers and most audacious liars drive the discourse, they guarantee that people who can't win on the merits will yell and lie. When they focus on politics rather than policy, they guarantee the public will remain in the dark about basic facts. When they repeat false claims, or treat them as he-said, she-said situations, they guarantee that those false claims will sway confused citizens. When they continue to give a platform to people who have a history of lying -- and assume those people are telling the truth this time -- they guarantee those people will continue to lie.

As long as the media approach their jobs this way, we're going to see the same thing play out over and over again. And each time, the media will be shocked -- shocked -- that some people lie, and other people believe lies.

Or they could do things differently: They could set aside the punditry and the "analysis" and the polls and the freak show and dedicate themselves to explaining the facts about health care. And explaining the facts means more than calling a lie a lie -- though that is hugely important. It also means proactively telling people how the health care system works, and what the proposed reforms are, how they would work, and what the likely effects would be.

If they won't do that, at least they could stop telling us how shocked they are at the inevitable results of their behavior. It's getting old.

...and yet you could have a million liberals on the streets screaming and yelling "stop the war" and the press 'might' report it for about 20 seconds...on a sunday evening.


It's no wonder only FoxNoise viewers are the only ones left watching that crap.

is getting press for protesting in Martha's Vineyard, when for years she yearned for it in Crawford.

screen!

The panel had absolutely NO balance.

Everyone sitting around the table blamed the president for not passing a bipartisan bill. Called him a failure. Doomed his presidency.

No one--not ONE panel member--suggested that the Republicans were deliberately being obstructionist. Not one of the discussants praised Obama and the Dems in the Senate for trying to create bipartisanship. Not one of the panelist blamed Republicans for anything; praised Nixon for working with Democrats! :puke::puke:

acting shocked when it happens because to do so would incriminate the corporate media's; negligent bordering on criminal role in this national betrayal.

The corporate media; don't represent the American People, they represent corporations and they have no interest in educating, enlightening or lifting the American People up to the truth, because it goes against their client's interests and the corporate media's interests.

Corporations are the corporate media's clients, the American People are only customers or consumers, as a result any time those interests collide, client interests will virtually always win out.

The two most effective ways for the corporate media to insure their clients interests are protected over those of the American People aka; customers and consumers is to either enable political "leaders;" supporting the concept of corporate supremacy to power regardless of governing qualifications and ability, and/or to demonize the American Peoples' representative government by promoting disinformation and propaganda as a means of neutralizing government's ability to protect the American People from being run over by the corporate media's corporate clients.

Thanks for the thread, babylonsister.

Boycotts aren't going to help either - they're well-paid for being fascist whores.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6352425&mesg_id=6352583

The talking heads politically masturbating on screen. Nobody else is paying any serious attention. What does "Big Brother" do when nobody cares what he says anymore?