I know the various political threads point out various aspects of media bias in one direction or another, but here's a thread where we can all bitch about garbage being shoved down our throats no matter which way it slants politically.
I don't trust any of the news media. They ALL have an agenda, Whether they slant it left or right doesn't matter. They are all trying to control what we think.
The problem is, if there is an "Honest and Objective" news organization, how would anyone know?
I hate Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, the NY Times (who also owns the Boston Globe) the most, since that's the News I'm most exposed to. And I also have no use for NPR, CBS, ABC or the Washington Post. I'm not exposed to them very much, so my disgust isn't quite so vehement .
I appreciate the links to press conferences that Jerry H. puts up so I can see what was actually said and form my own opinions.
The line, Control the information and you control the People is very prominent in my mind since the events of the past year. I really get annoyed when some jackass decides that he (or she - I don't want to be Politically incorrect) knows what and how I should be thinking.
I simply focus on broadcast video of actual events. Horses' mouth, so to speak. I'll watch what P45 actually says on video, before I'll pay any attention to what these asshats in the "news" say about what he supposedly said.
I watch Fox Business News a fair amount. They aren't without slant, but play many things far more straight than just about anything labeled "news". I've learned to ask myself "what's missing from this story" more and more. Often you can find the missing information if you dig some.
Sometimes I watch the news from other countries. Here one can see channels from Taiwan, BBC, Japan, Russia, Philippines, Germany, for example. I've seen many things shown that never appear on the big networks here. If they're reporting about America the source is speaking English anyway.
I appreciate the links to press conferences that Jerry H. puts up so I can see what was actually said and form my own opinions.
Thanks Crusty.
The problem is, if there is an "Honest and Objective" news organization, how would anyone know?
And there's the crux of the issue: Most people don't know they're being manipulated (although P45 is doing a good job of continuing to wake up the electorate in this regard).
I'm of the opinion that the best odds of discerning the truth from the constant barrage of lies, omission and obfuscation comes with being one's own news detective.
I'm also aware that most people don't have the time or inclination to source their news this way.
Which, then, gives the Mainly Swamp Media (and, more importantly, their Masters) a staggering amount of control over what is publicized as "the truth."
FWIW, our Founders also railed against the media back in their day, for all the same reasons; this isn't a new problem, although the scope has certainly changed.
I think "Rail" is the new buzzword regarding President Trump. I think the media caught on that folks were laughing at the excessive use of chaos to describe the new administration, so now, they're going to use Railing to describe any response to any issue the Pres. makes.
It really is sad how biased and inaccurate the news media has become. Americans deserve better.
I simply focus on broadcast video of actual events. Horses' mouth, so to speak. I'll watch what P45 actually says on video, before I'll pay any attention to what these asshats in the "news" say about what he supposedly said.
I concur with Ratbuell. I watch what is said by the president and then turn the spin doctors off after the speech. However, as with Barry, you need to watch what they actually do, which is more important than what they say. Barry was a perfect example of say one thing and do another. So far Trump is doing what he says he's going to do. Except for Obamacare. He seems to want to fix it now.
As much as I like to troubleshoot and fix things, when they said it couldn't be done, I've come to the conclusion, occasionally, that some things just need to be replaced!
Just so we are clear, the "trump hired hookers to urinate on the beds used by Obama in Russia" headline, which is still a big meme, was originally a semi-porn fanfic on 4chan. 4chan folk have been laughing about trolling the media for weeks now.
The Media denies this. Really? who guards the guardians?
Has Snopes reviewed this? Did they lie, again?
Time and time again in the last decades I've watched & read news reports on technical subjects I'm at least partly knowledgeable about, that were simply wrong. Misrepresentations on the history or power of, or effects of, all sorts of stuff. Guns, airplanes, crashes, etc.
I expect incompetence in technical & science stuff from Journalism graduates. The curriculum is narrow and politically biased in the extreme. There is no pre-med training to understand doctors, no pre-law training to understand lawyers, etc. etc.
And I always discount, or remember, the first report from any crash. Either the reporter is completely wrong, ( most often ) or the first guy on the scene ( 12000 yards from the crash ) gets it right and the next weeks are pure CYA coverup.
But that's not what's going on at CNN, MSNBC, etc. This isn't normal "those who can do....those who are clueless report".
This is deliberate, intentional, malicious, lies.
Dan Rather sticking to a fake memo, since the story he wanted to tell had a "higher truth", ( his hatred for Bush ) and objective reality doesn't support his beliefs, so screw reality.
It's a shame, in the biblical sense, that I can't dare believe the news. It's criminal, in the legal sense.
In the political sense it is simply a step on the path to murderous dictatorship.
It's so revolting that it borders on humor . . . it used to be that the "news" was . . well . . "NEWS".
Now it's little more than the whining and personal opinion of a collective group, largely out of touch with America. as they piss and moan about getting their asses kicked.
Most of their work product is the stuff I used to ground my kids for . . . lying, misbehavior and not coming clean with all the facts.
I think they have been trying too hard to establish their piece of the pie. The world order of news has quadrupled in size especially with social media added to radio/tv/cable. It seems like the can't get their grip back... they've possibly lost the reins??
I had a good day with long overdue house cleaning with old Jurassic park movies playing ... "no news on the tv" = productive household and peaceful mind, (to a certain extent) Of course music would have been better.
"Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day." — Thomas Jefferson
I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend. - Thomas Jefferson
I consider that quote to be very important. Over the past year, I’ve lost a couple of friends because of our differences in political opinions and my life has been diminished because of it.
It seems that America has become very polarized over the past few years and people are less tolerant of opinions that vary from their own. I imagine that it’s similar to the sentiments of people at the time of the Civil War, though hopefully not as intense.
The other day, I sent out a quote by Thomas Jefferson that said, Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day.
Then I received the following quote in reply, The people are the only censors of their governors: and even their errors will tend to keep these to the true principles of their institution. To punish these errors too severely would be to suppress the only safeguard of the public liberty. The way to prevent these irregular interpositions of the people is to give them full information of their affairs thro’ the channel of the public papers, & to contrive that those papers should penetrate the whole mass of the people. The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers & be capable of reading them.
Since I hate to send out misinformation or outright fabrication, I figured I’d better do a little investigating.
The link to the second quote was in the e-mail that I received about Jefferson’s preference to newspapers without Government. Here it is:
I found the full letter to be interesting, as it elaborates a bit on the small segment in the quote I had sent out.
One other thing I noticed is that the quote about Newspapers without government was written in 1787. It’s my opinion that after 20 years of experiencing news reporting and politics, his opinion changed.
I know that my political opinions have changed markedly over the past 20 years. While I was generally Liberal in my political leanings in my younger days, I’ve become increasingly more Conservative as time has gone by. However, I’m not two dimensional. I lean towards the Right, but on some issues, I’m very much Liberal.
Anyway, the marked differences between the two quotes disturbed me, and I felt that I had to investigate deeper. It turns out that both quotes are true.
My guess is the earlier quote was flavored by the strong "no government / anti-royal" sentiment of revolution. The later quote was flavored by more of what we are seeing today - newspapers (or, media today) who aren't reporting objective fact, rather they are slanting presentations in order to influence public opinion.
Regardless of your thoughts about the press at large, the FACT of the matter is, they are supposed to report FACTS. Nothing else. They present the facts as standalone items and allow the people/consumer to decide what those standalone items mean.
Aside - Today is on, GW Bush is on with Lauer. "Well, he's only been in a month and...we just need to take him at his word that he wants to unify the country". And "it's hard, when the press is so divisive right now".
Sad thing is, you can't / shouldn't put those dogs on a leash. Make fun of them for straying from truth sure.
Free speech and press thereof is pretty much the cornerstone of our society. We can't just have the government crush them while at the same time we have to find some way of fact-checking those swine. HUGE percentage of our citizens don't even lift a finger to ask further questions and don't doubt anything that is told to them via TV.
If truth sold advertisement revenue, the media would be competing over that!
Sad thing is, you can't / shouldn't put those dogs on a leash. Make fun of them for straying from truth sure.
+1 on that. I cringe when Trump speaks of the media saying "They shouldn't be allowed to...". I hate how they treat Trump, and conservatives in general. I sure wouldn't want to have government regulating what they say though.
I remember when the MSM was respected and the National Enquirer was a joke. Now, I see them much closer to the same level. The National Enquirer actually scooped the NYT on the John Edwards infidelity scandal when he was running for President. Only because the NYT chose to protect Edwards though. Certainly you can't report everything every day, but that was a huge story about a Presidential candidate that they chose to be complicit in covering up. Fake News!
Shamed into doing their jobs correctly? Ab-so-
I think "the people" will eventually figure out what's going on. Once P45 keeps pointing it out in his conferences. Once the MSM keeps referring to it in their stories.
Most importantly...once P45 starts turning shit around for this country by doing exactly what he said he'd do, during his campaign.
"wait...the press said hell would freeze over...but....that's not happening? I don't understand?!?"
As Black Amnesia Month comes to an end it's time to reflect on the accomplishments of the Klan Party.
Should be famous opposition to equal rights and making lynching a federal crime are worth remembering.
But far more relevant to the kids of today are the multi century effort to deny black people the right to defend themselves with Negro control laws...... I mean gun rights violations.
And never forget the firm insistence the Democrats have that the coloreds are incompetent to obtain photo ID, are too stupid to have the same academic standards as the Master Race, and are a shocking surprise when they are clean and articulate.