Joel Silberman: Americans Misinformed, Media Creates Misinformation, No One Does Anything About It

Joel Silberman: You Know Why Americans Are Misinformed? The Media Creates Misinformation And No One Does Anything About It
By Nicole Belle Saturday Feb 27, 2010 8:00am

http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/joel-silberman-you-know-why-americans

Ever watch a news account and find yourself just nodding over and over in agreement? Here is Communications Consultant for the New Organizing Institute Joel Silberman on RT News saying what is NEVER said on American TV: the media doesn't want you informed.

By all reasonable measures, the stimulus that the Obama administration put together in the face of the economic meltdown engineered by the Bush administration and Republican policies worked. It did. Now, one can argue that it could have been more or pushed further progressive policies, as Krugman has. But as Jon Perr has written, it has been a success.

So where's the disconnect? As Joel says, it's the media. And as this truthout article from last year points out (h/t David A), it's done purposefully in the name of ratings:

To begin with, talk shows<..> are popular and powerful because they appeal to a segment of the population that feels disenfranchised and even victimized by the media. These people believe the media are predominantly staffed by and consistently reflect the views of social liberals. This view is by now so long-held and deep-rooted, it has evolved into part of virtually every conservative's DNA.

To succeed, a talk show host must perpetuate the notion that his or her listeners are victims, and the host is the vehicle by which they can become empowered. The host frames virtually every issue in us-versus-them terms. There has to be a bad guy against whom the host will emphatically defend those loyal listeners.

This enemy can be a politician - either a Democratic officeholder or, in rare cases where no Democrat is convenient to blame, it can be a "RINO" (a "Republican In Name Only," who is deemed not conservative enough). It can be the cold, cruel government bureaucracy. More often than not, however, the enemy is the "mainstream media" - local or national, print or broadcast.