When are liberals finally going to boycott mainstream media?

[pecosbob]

It's a simple question, really. Putting aside foreign interference in the elections for a moment, the media is primarily responsible for encouraging Republican insanity and decades of false equivalence. Gump should have been toast after the Access Hollywood tape without the media's active assistance. But this problem isn't just a recent development. They have dictated the topics of discussion and the goalposts set on all public conversations for decades to the detriment of our country. Your thoughts?

[TimeSnowDemos]

1. More complex than that, sadly.

How do you fight fake news if you won't engage with the media? How do you promote your candidates and platform if you won't engage with the media?

All you'd accomplish is creating two more Fox Newses...

I agree the media is responsible for a lot and US media in particular is often unserious and lousy, but... It's also still the main platform Americans use for news.

Boycott it personally, fine, but no one trying to influence America can afford to do that.

[manor321]

2. I watch very little TV news

I watch Rachel and Lawrence a few times a week, on big news days. Maybe a little Ari and Chris. Nothing else.

Sites like DU and DailyKos and people I trust on Twitter are sources of news. Of course, most news links are to mainstream news outlets. What other choice do I have?

[Tommy_Carcetti]

3. Why?

Yes, "mainstream media" has its very noticeable ills.

But boycotting it (other than glaringly right wing outlets like Fox) really wouldn't be accomplishing anything.

What's the alternative? Shady fly by night outlets fueled by providing "information" which is designed to be what you want to hear?

Because that's really what got us into this mess.

[JCanete]

14. those aren't solely what got us into this mess, and I'd argue that the mainstream media holds a

far greater responsibility for our current state. Yes, once upon a time, the media, still fairly conservative with a very narrow perspective, used to help to form a common reality of voters of every stripe that was at least rooted in fact. And yes, our ability to stick our heads into whatever bubble echoes back to us our own beliefs is a troubling development that has enormous potential to destroy our democracy.

But the sunsetting of the fairness doctrine allowed news outlets to turn news into a game of profit, and worse, news outlets are owned by mega-corporations with their own bigger agendas, involving far more money than news itself can even generate, which indirectly(though sometimes directly) influences coverage, and certainly influences the make-up of a news team.

I grant that somewhere in there, those that still survive on credibility tend not to cross the line into making shit up and that their worse crimes then are crimes of omission and of focus, and of laziness, but had they done their job with Trump from day one, I doubt he would have percolated to the top of the Republican ticket. And if you've ever watched republican debates, holy crap what a hilarious abdication of responsibility from these news organizations.

[lark]

4. I never watch CBS,ABC,NBC or Faux Snooze - don't trust them at all.

Do you consider MSNBC msm? I watch Rachel at least 2-3x per week, sometimes Nicole, Joy on the weekends, and 1-2x per week Lawrence or Chris.

[Skidmore]

5. Abandoning media to the right wing

instead of fighting to reclaim ground or replace it makes as little sense as refusing to recognize common causes so alliances can bd made to overcome these great injustices.

[shraby]

6. I start watching MSNBC during the day when Melber comes on

and watch until after the 11th hour. Always top notch programs. Tweety is a little off the wall cause he likes to talk a lot but the rest are great. They hammer the trumpster incessantly.

[pecosbob]

7. Thank you for your responses

I realize the impracticality of my suggestion but for the life of me do not see a path forward when all the topics of discussion are set by demagogues and their enablers.

[YessirAtsaFact]

8. It would make more sense to sabotage AM radio stations

Or run ads on them explaining their lies

Or both

[bdamomma]

10. and Fox news too,

but establishments allow their patronage to watch that filthy station no wonder people are so uninformed and deluded.

[elleng]

9. Been 'bad news' since Fairness Doctrine 'disappeared.

The fairness doctrine of the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), introduced in 1949, was a policy that required the holders of broadcast licenses both to present controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a manner that was—in the FCC's view—honest, equitable, and balanced. The FCC eliminated the policy in 1987 and removed the rule that implemented the policy from the Federal Register in August 2011.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FCC_fairness_doctrine

Part of the screwing 'they've' worked on for a long time.

[Trust Buster]

11. The media does a good job. Enough with the dramatics.

[sinkingfeeling]

12. Haven't watched a single news show since Nov. 2016. Including local news.

[pecosbob]

13. I stopped subscribing to cable altogether a couple of years ago

This was pretty hard for me, as Dick van Dyke and Ed Sullivan were still on the air when I first got started. I pretty much get all my news from a half-dozen sites such as this and I'm a proud supporter of Democracy Now since Pacifica first launched their station in Houston in 1970...it was fire-bombed twice.