Spring forward.
To delete this message, click the X at top right.

The Media are the Goddam Problem

Post Reply
User avatar
p0rtia
Posts: 4916
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 9:55 am

The Media are the Goddam Problem

#1

Post by p0rtia »

Found the time today to check compare ratings for MSNBC, CNN, and Fox. Was happy to see Deadline Whitehouse, which is my only must-see TV, doing well and killing her spot.

The website I ended up on was really handy for anyone interested in rating of cable political shows:

https://ctv.kwayisi.org/networks/

I was fascinated by the comments section for each, particularly for the Fox shows, which have been trending downward recently (cf. Maddow winning not only her hour but the whole cable shebang). The general take from viewers was that Fox made a mistake letting Dobbs go, and in his absence, folks were considering ending their cable subscriptions. Then there was this gem:

"I seems FOX is in transition to be just like all the other propagandists. I suggest OAN."
User avatar
AndyinPA
Posts: 9853
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:42 am
Location: Pittsburgh
Verified:

Re: The Media are the Goddam Problem

#2

Post by AndyinPA »

:brickwallsmall:
"Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought. To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears… To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies." -Octavia E. Butler
User avatar
Volkonski
Posts: 11589
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:06 am
Location: Texoma and North Fork of Long Island
Occupation: Retired mechanical engineer
Verified:

Re: The Media are the Goddam Problem

#3

Post by Volkonski »



Aaron Rupar
@atrupar
·
4h
The border is getting wall-to-wall coverage on the Sunday news shows

ABC flew its entire roundtable to the US-Mexico border
“If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war.” ― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
User avatar
RVInit
Posts: 3830
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 8:48 am

Re: The Media are the Goddam Problem

#4

Post by RVInit »

It's infuriating to me that they are making a big deal of this and yet they NEVER mention that Michael Flynn's original indictment included conspiracy to kidnap Fethullah Gülen. That should be mentioned every single time Mike Flynn is mentioned by the press. Every. Single. Time. To remind everyone of some of the actual crimes the government had enough proof of to put into an indictment. It's one thing for a foreign country or foreign agents to attempt a kidnapping, but quite another for a former high ranking member of the military to do the same.

But yes, they should be making a big deal of this, too.

There's a lot of things that need to change. One specifically? Police brutality.
--Colin Kaepernick
User avatar
raison de arizona
Posts: 17654
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:21 am
Location: Nothing, Arizona
Occupation: bit twiddler
Verified: ✔️ he/him/his

Re: The Media are the Goddam Problem

#5

Post by raison de arizona »

Cuomo is becoming a bad word…

“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” —John Adams
User avatar
p0rtia
Posts: 4916
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 9:55 am

Re: The Media are the Goddam Problem

#6

Post by p0rtia »

NY Times Miami bureau does it again: More sucking up to DeSantis, this time normalizing that idea that ongoing (avoidable) deaths at a certain number might mke DeSantis a superstar and establish the model for the nation. It is vomit-worthy.

Replies agree:



And the rebuttal

User avatar
p0rtia
Posts: 4916
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 9:55 am

Re: The Media are the Goddam Problem

#7

Post by p0rtia »

If an oppressed woman or poor person or person of color leading an anguished life without real hope of escaping cruel governance is the measure of the success or failure of an American president, I've got news: There is an endless supply out there.

#mediacomplicit
User avatar
Suranis
Posts: 5830
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 5:25 pm

Re: The Media are the Goddam Problem

#8

Post by Suranis »

Nothing we haven't talked about before, but this is a media figure saying it.

https://threader.app/thread/1442587928174153728
Mark Jacob+ @MarkJacob16 Ex-editor at Chicago Tribune & Sun-Times, now allowed to have opinions. Co-author of 8 books on history & photography. Intolerant of racism & small-mindedness. Sep. 27, 2021 2 min read

I used to edit Page 1 stories for the Chicago Tribune, including many from Washington. In this thread, I explain why the media (including me) have been unintentionally complicit in the rise of fascism that threatens our democracy. 1/9

Mainstream media have long tried to treat Republicans and Democrats equally. Some, like me, thought that was the way to be fair. In fact, it was the way to be lazy and not have to sort out the facts. Just quote a Democrat and quote a Republican and you’re done. 2/9

When I edited political stories, I went so far as to count the quotes from Republicans and Democrats, thinking an equal number would make us fairer. I didn’t think I was helping either party. I thought I was helping the readers. I was wrong. 3/9

If you look back 3 or 4 decades, you see many corrupt pols in both parties. Scandals like Abscam and Keating 5 were mostly Democratic. But in recent decades it’s obvious the GOP is more unethical and anti-democratic. Which means treating the parties equally helps Republicans. 4/9

Hillary Clinton mishandled emails. George W. Bush lied to get us into a war. Both were bad. But one was way worse. The media’s self-assigned job to treat Republicans and Democrats equally has compelled them to pump up coverage of Democratic scandals. It’s fairness-signaling. 5/9

The Republicans have overwhelmed the media with corruption. They’ve created scandal fatigue, prompting journalists to do something I call ethics norming. That’s when something that would have been a huge scandal in the recent past is considered normal now. 6/9

The Republicans have pulled off quite a trick. If news is defined as something unusual happening, GOP corruption is not news because the party is so widely corrupt. Some media have turned off their outrage impulse and decided that corruption is normal. 7/9

What’s needed is new framing. Not party-oriented but democracy-oriented. Truth-oriented. The media shouldn't elevate liars in the interest of “fairness.” Yes, media should be fair – to the readers, to the facts. But not to the 2-party system. To our democracy. 8/9

We are now in the midst of an assault on democracy unlike any our country has ever seen. Any journalist who doesn’t frame their reports in that context is doing a grievous disservice to our country. 9/9
You can follow @MarkJacob16. (Source: https://threader.app/thread/1442587928174153728)
Hic sunt dracones
User avatar
Volkonski
Posts: 11589
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:06 am
Location: Texoma and North Fork of Long Island
Occupation: Retired mechanical engineer
Verified:

Re: The Media are the Goddam Problem

#9

Post by Volkonski »

Yep.
“If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war.” ― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
User avatar
John Thomas8
Posts: 5103
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 7:42 pm
Location: Central NC
Occupation: Tech Support

Re: The Media are the Goddam Problem

#10

Post by John Thomas8 »

TV "news" is no longer a valid source of accurate information.

It's all click-bait happy crap.

No, your or my favourite infotainment personality isn't good for truth, they're just our favourite because they say things we agree with daily.

Facts, that's what I want from my TV news. I want "the facts aren't in on situation X, we're looking further to find out what really happened" rather than hitting Twitter for the instant feedback shitshow repackaged as a news story.
User avatar
Foggy
Dick Tater
Posts: 9554
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 8:45 am
Location: Fogbow HQ
Occupation: Dick Tater/Space Cadet
Verified: as seen on qvc zombie apocalypse

Re: The Media are the Goddam Problem

#11

Post by Foggy »

Yeah, I often think of Walter Cronkite and when news was more accurate. But then, Walter never talked about gay marriage, or cops killing black people, or a hundred other things we learned after Walter left the scene. Jeez, imagine if we had known back then what we know now about what was really happening back then. :shock:

I don't endorse the choices made by the media companies, but I do believe it's a better world now that everybody on the planet is walking around with a video camera in their pocket. It's a better world with instant global communication. For all the things they do wrong, there's a reason for the success of companies like Twitter, Google, Amazon, etc. (I include Amazon because it owns the Washington Post).

Tee Vee is always going to show that building on fire; they have to, that's what gets the eyeballs. But sometimes now, more and more often, the MSM (even Fox and its elk) are forced to cover a story simply because some total amateur happened to be in the right place at the right time with a cell phone. Walter Cronkite didn't have a lot of serious competition.



We have so much news. It moves so fast. Sometimes that's a blessing. Sometimes it's a nightmare. On the whole, the 21st century is way better than the last one. IMHO.
Out from under. :thumbsup:
User avatar
p0rtia
Posts: 4916
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 9:55 am

Re: The Media are the Goddam Problem

#12

Post by p0rtia »

User avatar
p0rtia
Posts: 4916
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 9:55 am

Re: The Media are the Goddam Problem

#13

Post by p0rtia »

User avatar
p0rtia
Posts: 4916
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 9:55 am

Re: The Media are the Goddam Problem

#14

Post by p0rtia »

This pretty much sums up my position. Only way better.

User avatar
AndyinPA
Posts: 9853
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:42 am
Location: Pittsburgh
Verified:

Re: The Media are the Goddam Problem

#15

Post by AndyinPA »

:clap: :clap: :clap:
"Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought. To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears… To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies." -Octavia E. Butler
User avatar
John Thomas8
Posts: 5103
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 7:42 pm
Location: Central NC
Occupation: Tech Support

Re: The Media are the Goddam Problem

#16

Post by John Thomas8 »

User avatar
RVInit
Posts: 3830
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 8:48 am

Re: The Media are the Goddam Problem

#17

Post by RVInit »

I have to disagree. First of all you can't say you know what happened by what you see on Fox. Fox will show you close up footage of well dressed people of color standing in line at a Beyonce concert at the same time the "anchor" is ranting about people who are scamming the the welfare and food stamp system even though they don't need "handouts". And their viewers never know the footage they are being shown in the background has nothing to do with the story the person who has been made up to appear like a news anchor is telling them. They have no idea they are being bamboozled by an entertainment network masquerading as news, and they aren't saying "shut up, I know what I saw. I don't need you to tell me what I saw". They believe they saw what the fucker on Fox told them they just saw because they've been buying into Fox racist dog whistles for 30 years and even though the rest of us know that Fox uses video footage to tell lies, Fox viewers aren't savvy to the game. They believe exactly what they are being told by Fox, OAN, and Newsmax. With the possible exception that if they happen to watch Fox during the one hour of day that Fox actually has news, they scream and shout at the tv that Fox is lying to them pretty much only if what the news anchor is saying is actually true.

I do agree that CNN misses the boat on some of their reporting and that it drives me nuts, but it is in no way, shape, or form equivalent to what Fox does. Not even close.
There's a lot of things that need to change. One specifically? Police brutality.
--Colin Kaepernick
User avatar
Slim Cognito
Posts: 6555
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 9:15 am
Location: Too close to trump
Occupation: Hats. I do hats.
Verified:

Re: The Media are the Goddam Problem

#18

Post by Slim Cognito »

I watch CNN because I feel I need the oppo research. Yes, it pisses me off a lot of the time, but it's better on my psyche than watching Fox, or worse.

If anyone is interested, I got an offer from the WSJ today, $4 a month for a year. Then it goes back to $39 a month. I'm thinking about it. I don't miss it until they post an article I want to read and can't get past the paywall. It used to be you could copy all before the block came up but they've fixed that.

https://store.wsj.com/v2/US/US/11308000 ... 1=APCc9OU1
Pup Dennis in training to be a guide dog & given to a deserving vet. Thx! ImageImageImage x4
User avatar
Phoenix520
Posts: 4149
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 1:20 pm
Verified:

Re: The Media are the Goddam Problem

#19

Post by Phoenix520 »

I still google search the opening sentence. Usually someone else has reprinted it and I can get to it.
User avatar
MN-Skeptic
Posts: 2999
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 1:03 pm
Location: Twin Cities

Re: The Media are the Goddam Problem

#20

Post by MN-Skeptic »

Slim Cognito wrote: Tue Nov 02, 2021 12:49 pm If anyone is interested, I got an offer from the WSJ today, $4 a month for a year. Then it goes back to $39 a month. I'm thinking about it. I don't miss it until they post an article I want to read and can't get past the paywall. It used to be you could copy all before the block came up but they've fixed that.
I refuse to give a nickel to the WSJ.

My library used to have current copies online. They still carry it, but you have to wait something like three months before an issue is available. By then I've forgotten what I was interested in.
User avatar
John Thomas8
Posts: 5103
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 7:42 pm
Location: Central NC
Occupation: Tech Support

Re: The Media are the Goddam Problem

#21

Post by John Thomas8 »

WSJ is owned by Rupert "fucknut" Murdock. That moron will get no $ from me.

There's a problem with news reporting: money.

Selling ad revenue is the lifeblood of current "news" channels. It didn't use to be that way, ABC/CBS/NBC used to have a news division, kinda funded by the commercials sold during their half hour of air time, but mostly from dollars raised by general ad revenue of the network. That is no longer the case.

Then cable came along. And brought up the 24 hour new cycle. Much filler was needed. Useless, mindless filler. Babbling talking heads drawing 6-figure salaries to say stupidly outrageous things. Click bait "headlines" to draw eyeballs and clicks. No "news" channel/website is immune from it.

Personally, I just missed the Edward R. Murrow era, but grew up with Walter and his contemporaries and didn't have to worry too much about their integrity. I didn't like a lot of what they said, but it was the truth. Reporters like Dan Rather reporting from Viet Nam while my brother was over there always felt honest, unlike the ones "reporting" now. Too much opinion, too little fact.

Now? Not so much. Fact checking is a secondary objective, relegated to a distant second to getting the click-bait headline on the website.

I wish I had a fix that I had an opportunity to implement. Something to do with detaching ad revenue from accurate reporting would be involved I think. I would also put in some sort of penalty system for what is actually lying when reporting misinformation. Being first to get a link up shouldn't matter, clicks shouldn't matter, the primary function should be the factual accuracy.

User avatar
John Thomas8
Posts: 5103
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 7:42 pm
Location: Central NC
Occupation: Tech Support

Re: The Media are the Goddam Problem

#22

Post by John Thomas8 »

User avatar
raison de arizona
Posts: 17654
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:21 am
Location: Nothing, Arizona
Occupation: bit twiddler
Verified: ✔️ he/him/his

Re: The Media are the Goddam Problem

#23

Post by raison de arizona »

Well, it IS Jenna Ellis, but...

Unless she faked it.
“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” —John Adams
User avatar
p0rtia
Posts: 4916
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 9:55 am

Re: The Media are the Goddam Problem

#24

Post by p0rtia »

raison de arizona wrote: Thu Nov 11, 2021 3:19 pm Well, it IS Jenna Ellis, but...

Unless she faked it.
Looks like she deleted the tweet, after it was pointed out that the quote comes from a three year old op-ed in response to TFG's attacks on the press and is unrelated to Veterans Day.
User avatar
raison de arizona
Posts: 17654
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:21 am
Location: Nothing, Arizona
Occupation: bit twiddler
Verified: ✔️ he/him/his

Re: The Media are the Goddam Problem

#25

Post by raison de arizona »

Color me astonished! Jenna Ellis lied! I should have screen captured it. I'm actually surprised she deleted it though.
“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” —John Adams
Post Reply

Return to “U.S. Culture and Media”