News needs context. You can provide facts, but if they have no context, they are easily manipulated. Also, let’s consider whether the news is being presented from the perspective of corporations and the rich or those who are trying to make ends meet and build a better future.
But the overwhelmingly corrosive influence of RWing media trumps (no pun intended) the pro-corporate nature of NYT, WaPo, CNN--and the rest of the MSM.
Roughly half of Americans now get all or most of their news from FOX News and its lesser imitators. Which spew out an unending torrent of highly partisan "Alternative Facts" that are primarily designed to help Republicans and hurt Dems.
The Ipsos poll last month found that the vast majority of RW media consumers believe that crime & unemployment are at all-time highs, and that we're already in a recession. They believe Dems abort babies *after* birth, that we pressure primary schoolchildren to transition...
Until or unless FOX News and the rest of RW media can be made to adopt actual journalistic practices--instead of just making stuff up--our democracy is doomed.
"But when the world is so polarized that the truth appears partisan to some, avoiding the appearance of partisanship means avoiding the truth. That ought to be a non-starter."
The lie that major media is biased on the "leftist" side is a disinformation ploy the right-wing has been spouting for decades. If one seeks a government that lifts up the poor population, favors voting rights, keeps out of a women's right to choose our own healthcare, and wants to see children safe from gun violence, then one is a progressive. "Leftist" is used by Republicans to denote some kind of autocratic communist view. Republicans prefer right-wing autocratic views. They want ALL media to be like faux "news". This is a fact, and our major media is going along with this push. Welcome to the United States of Autucrats. Funded by billionaires for billionaires.
The last election was the first in which it was obvious how much money was being spent in pursuit of increasing the wealthy of the wealthiest at the expense of the rest of us. This has been going on since Reagan was handed the script for "trickle down economics," which was a lie from the beginning. In the ensuing years, small pieces of that strategy have been glimpsed, e.g., changing the tax code so estate taxes can be avoided by bequeathing an asset rather than cash to your heirs. Similiarly, defunding the IRS so they don't have the resources to examine the very complex tax returns of the wealthy. In the last Trump administration, there was almost no attempt to hide what was going on with the corporate tax reduction, and Trump has been upfront about his intentions for the incoming regime. It's only sensible for the oligarchs to pay homage to the new king because they will have very rich returns on their minimal investments!
Create an untrustworthy news network and then complain about the lack of trust. Its the republican playbook applied to journalism.
News needs context. You can provide facts, but if they have no context, they are easily manipulated. Also, let’s consider whether the news is being presented from the perspective of corporations and the rich or those who are trying to make ends meet and build a better future.
This. All of this.
But the overwhelmingly corrosive influence of RWing media trumps (no pun intended) the pro-corporate nature of NYT, WaPo, CNN--and the rest of the MSM.
Roughly half of Americans now get all or most of their news from FOX News and its lesser imitators. Which spew out an unending torrent of highly partisan "Alternative Facts" that are primarily designed to help Republicans and hurt Dems.
The Ipsos poll last month found that the vast majority of RW media consumers believe that crime & unemployment are at all-time highs, and that we're already in a recession. They believe Dems abort babies *after* birth, that we pressure primary schoolchildren to transition...
Until or unless FOX News and the rest of RW media can be made to adopt actual journalistic practices--instead of just making stuff up--our democracy is doomed.
"But when the world is so polarized that the truth appears partisan to some, avoiding the appearance of partisanship means avoiding the truth. That ought to be a non-starter."
Excellent.
A long-overdue argument. Thanks for making it and doing so definitively!
The lie that major media is biased on the "leftist" side is a disinformation ploy the right-wing has been spouting for decades. If one seeks a government that lifts up the poor population, favors voting rights, keeps out of a women's right to choose our own healthcare, and wants to see children safe from gun violence, then one is a progressive. "Leftist" is used by Republicans to denote some kind of autocratic communist view. Republicans prefer right-wing autocratic views. They want ALL media to be like faux "news". This is a fact, and our major media is going along with this push. Welcome to the United States of Autucrats. Funded by billionaires for billionaires.
thanks, Dan
The last election was the first in which it was obvious how much money was being spent in pursuit of increasing the wealthy of the wealthiest at the expense of the rest of us. This has been going on since Reagan was handed the script for "trickle down economics," which was a lie from the beginning. In the ensuing years, small pieces of that strategy have been glimpsed, e.g., changing the tax code so estate taxes can be avoided by bequeathing an asset rather than cash to your heirs. Similiarly, defunding the IRS so they don't have the resources to examine the very complex tax returns of the wealthy. In the last Trump administration, there was almost no attempt to hide what was going on with the corporate tax reduction, and Trump has been upfront about his intentions for the incoming regime. It's only sensible for the oligarchs to pay homage to the new king because they will have very rich returns on their minimal investments!
The degree of trust is topic-specific. I do not trust the reporting on Trump and #COPRESIDENTMUSK because the word "lie" is rarely used.