The Media are the Goddam Problem
Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2023 9:34 am
Like so many seniors, The Gray Old Lady has been watching too much Fox News.
Falsehoods Unchallenged Only Fester and Grow
http://www.thefogbow.com/forum/
I didn't even read the article. I did go into the comments, most of which are disgusted with The Washington Post.Double blow of inquiry and son’s indictment create tough stretch for Biden
Lot's more; all high content. Nice to read an article that doesn't tail off over the last third.We Have Two Medias in This Country, and They’re Going to Elect Donald Trump
If the press doesn’t get involved in the civic health of the nation, there may not be a nation in which a free press might reside.
It’s often asked in my circles: Why isn’t Joe Biden getting more credit for his accomplishments? As with anything, there’s no single reason. Inflation is a factor. His age is as well. Ditto the fact that people aren’t quite yet seeing the infrastructure improvements or the lower prescription drug costs.
There is no one reason. But there is one overwhelming factor in play: the media. Or rather, the two medias. It’s very important that people understand this: We reside in a media environment that promotes—whether it intends to or not—right-wing authoritarian spectacle. At the same time, as a culture, it’s consistently obsessed with who “won the day,” while placing far less value on the fact that the civic and democratic health of the country is nurtured through practices such as deliberation, compromise, and sober governance. The result is bad for Joe Biden. But it’s potentially tragic for democracy.
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The success of the right-wing media is by and large due to the way they speak in lockstep, with one voice, and the way they push one very partisan agenda. They promote Republicans and conservatives, and they say nothing good ever about Democrats or liberals (exception: people who go off the reservation and willingly foul the Democratic-liberal nest, like Joe Manchin or some liberal academic or talking head who turns right, like Glenn Greenwald). Their guiding ethos is not journalistic but political: to advance one party and creed and work their readers and viewers into a constant state of agitation about the other party and creed. And in a time when the Republican Party project has little to do with policy and everything to do with fomenting culture war, no matter how trivial, the right-wing Wurlitzer is adept at ginning up a good two-minute hate against something that got tweeted or what Mr. Potato Head is wearing that week—and here, the mainstream media, chasing engagement like a child fields for candy, follows the right down into these rabbit holes.
The mainstream media, in contrast, do not speak with one very partisan voice; they speak in many voices—critically, including many non-polemical ones. Their guiding ethos is not political but journalistic. Sure, they’re “liberal,” in two senses. First, their editorial pages typically endorse Democrats. And second, they are culturally liberal, because they are mostly based in big cities and their staffs include lots of LGBTQ people, for example, and precious few evangelical Christians.
But even with all that, the mainstream media do not serve a transparent political agenda in the way the right-media do. When The New York Times or CNN or MSNBC gets a scoop about serious corruption in the Biden administration, they pursue the lead and, if verified, report it. If Fox got such a scoop about Donald Trump … well, it’s conceivable that there’s someone left there who wants to do real journalism and who might pursue it. I wish that person luck, though, in getting it on the air. And even if Fox were forced to report it, they’d quickly find ways to rebut it.
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There are times when it’s impossible, from a journalistic perspective, to treat both sides as equals. And the press has to get a lot better at recognizing when those moments arise.
https://x.com/greta/status/1732744288054755641?s=20Greta Van Susteren @greta wrote: DO NOT COME TO WASHINGTON DC until @MayorBowser calls out the National Guard. It is dangerous!!! Read my last two tweets. Carjackings are skyrocketing (even an FBI agent in broad daylight ), murders skyrocketing….it is dangerous here! Congress has security..so does Pres and Mayor..but the rest of us???
You'd think a [expletive deleted] reporter would know that the Mayor of DC can't order the Nat Guard to do anything...raison de arizona wrote: ↑Thu Dec 07, 2023 2:45 pmhttps://x.com/greta/status/1732744288054755641?s=20Greta Van Susteren @greta wrote: DO NOT COME TO WASHINGTON DC until @MayorBowser calls out the National Guard. It is dangerous!!! Read my last two tweets. Carjackings are skyrocketing (even an FBI agent in broad daylight ), murders skyrocketing….it is dangerous here! Congress has security..so does Pres and Mayor..but the rest of us???
Worse than that, she's a lawyer.Frater I*I wrote: ↑Thu Dec 07, 2023 5:34 pmYou'd think a [expletive deleted] reporter would know that the Mayor of DC can't order the Nat Guard to do anything...raison de arizona wrote: ↑Thu Dec 07, 2023 2:45 pmhttps://x.com/greta/status/1732744288054755641?s=20Greta Van Susteren @greta wrote: DO NOT COME TO WASHINGTON DC until @MayorBowser calls out the National Guard. It is dangerous!!! Read my last two tweets. Carjackings are skyrocketing (even an FBI agent in broad daylight ), murders skyrocketing….it is dangerous here! Congress has security..so does Pres and Mayor..but the rest of us???
Stuart Stevens @stuartpstevens wrote: Next by @AP :
“Julia Child and Jeffrey Dahmer are two famous cooks with different approaches to ingredients.”The Associated Press @AP wrote: One attack, two interpretations: Biden and Trump both make the Jan. 6 riot a political rallying cry https://apnews.com/article/biden-trump- ... 0d0d854043
AP wrote:Trump has still built a commanding lead in the Republican primary, and his rivals largely refrain from criticizing him about Jan. 6. He has called it “a beautiful day” and described those imprisoned for the insurrection as “great, great patriots” and “hostages.” At some campaign rallies, he has played a recording of “The Star-Spangled Banner” sung by jailed rioters — the anthem interspersed with his recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.
Aaron Rupar @atrupar wrote: CNN contributor criticizes Biden for not curing cancer
Melanie D'Arrigo @DarrigoMelanie wrote: Meet the Sinclair Broadcast Group.
These right-wing billionaires buy up mainstream media outlets to push their conservative propaganda.
This time it’s the Baltimore Sun. https://popular.info/p/right-wing-media ... -baltimore
Rachel Bitecofer 📈🇺🇲🇺🇦🇮🇱 @RachelBitecofer wrote: Do journalism like this
Mike Sington @MikeSington wrote: Megyn Kelly blasts Rachel Maddow for her salary: “This woman Rachel Maddow is getting paid $30 million a year for one show a week! And this is the kind of journalism we get.”
I’d like to remind this woman Megyn Kelly she was paid $69 million to host two shows on NBC, both of which bombed, and then she was fired from the network.
Matthew Gertz @MattGertz wrote: Paul Krugman tells @GregTSargent that he gets "a little bit questioned" by Times editors when he writes that the Biden economy is doing well; they want him to give more credence to arguments that it isn't. At a little after the 11-minute mark here: