Obescient news media

The American news media often fails, even in its self-appointed role as stenographer for powerful people. According to Glenn Greenwald, "many American media outlets, including the NYT, give veto power to the Obama campaign (and, less so, to the Romney campaign), as well as political offices generally, over the quotes of its officials that are allowed to be published. . . . I genuinely do not understand how any self-respecting journalist could even consider agreeing to this. But they do, so much so that it is now widespread custom. I don’t primarily blame the Obama campaign or other politicians for this: it’s natural that they would want to manipulate the American media as much as possible for their own interests and use every instrument, no matter how journalistically unethical, to achieve that. But its extreme use now is reflective of the general fixation which the Obama administration has on secrecy and controlling the flow of information . . ."

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Old-fashioned patriotism involves substantial government financial support for aggressive and even offensive journalism

Robert McChesney and John Nichols have written an excellent book advocating substantial public support (much more than the government currently gives) to support first-rate journalism. The book is titled The Death and Life of American Journalism: the Media Revolution That Will Begin the World Again (2010). This book begins with a diagnosis of modern journalism. One of the main problems is that modern journalists rely far too much on officials in power to set the news agenda. In fact, when politicians aren't arguing about an issue, it tends to go completely under the media radar. Another problem is that much of our news is regurgitated press release material issued by powerful government and business officials. "The dirty secret of journalism is that a significant percentage of our new stories, in the 40-50% range, even at the most prestigious newspapers in the glory days of the 1970s, were based on press releases." In the 1980s, the national workforce of PR specialists was about equivalent to the number of journalists in newspapers, radio and television. As of 2008, there were four times as many PR specialists as journalists. (Page 49). [More . . . ]

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There is no news in St. Louis

Newspapers are dying all over the United States. The headlines in today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch (the only surviving daily paper in St. Louis) make you wonder how this paper has lasted even this long. As I review these cheesy headlines, I keep wondering "But what is the news?" Here are the top ten headlines featured on today's Home Page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch website:

  • Streak of 100-degree weather in St. Louis area hits five days
  • Allen Craig, hitting machine [Craig is a St. Louis Cardinal baseball player]
  • Find your fun for the 4th
  • Dog Days Quiz I: TV Dogs
  • Andy Griffith, 'Sheriff Taylor,' dies at 86.
  • Man bitten by copperhead in southeast Missouri dies
  • Photo: Webster Groves residents eagerly await parade
  • Missouri to get $32 million in GlaxoSmithKline fraud case

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Demonstration that the mainstream media is terrible

At Common Dreams, Cenk Uygur explains how bad the mainstream media is using the example of the individual mandate:

The individual mandate in the health care law was originally proposed by the Heritage Foundation, the most conservative think tank in the country. It was supported by almost every Republican in the country, including the first President Bush, Mitt Romney and conservative stalwarts like Orrin Hatch. Simply put, it was a conservative idea. There is no question about that; it is a fact. Let me immediately digress to point out how terrible our media is since about 2% of the country knows that fact. If you asked the average American now, I'm sure they would say it was a liberal idea originally proposed by Barack Obama. Another fact -- Barack Obama was originally opposed to the mandate during his campaign for president.
Uygur also uses this example to illustrate that Obama's strategy of trying to work with the Republicans was wrongheaded.

Continue ReadingDemonstration that the mainstream media is terrible

Why is Jerry Sandusky News?

I was sitting in the barber chair this morning, where they had on some national news show that spent the entire time I was there discussing the ongoing trial of (alleged) pedophile Jerry Sandusky. I've been hearing about this on news stations for months. They are spending as long on the nightly news discussing this trial as they do on the collapse of the European economies or the coups in various major oil-producing nations. I am truly puzzled about the coverage. There are likely several pedophiles on trial any given day. Why are they not newsworthy? Is it because he is a coach? Many of them are. Was it because he was a winning coach? I just don't understand why this one (alleged) pedophile is as newsworthy as wars deposing dictators to replace them with democratically elected Islamist regimes. Are both events shaping the course of civilization?

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