The media is largely complicit in the degradation of our democracy.

[triron]

Link to tweet

[lapucelle]

1. The press and pundits missed the biggest story in a generation in 2016:

interference in our presidential election by a hostile foreign power.

They need to take responsibility, apologize, and demonstrate renewed commitment to a role and responsibiity so critical to a functioning democracy that its protection is enshrined in the first amendment.

[ananda]

35. They didn't miss it.

The msm is compromised by corporate power and money.

[alwaysinasnit]

2. K&R Thanks for posting.

[LakeArenal]

3. Do agree with this completely.

[UniteFightBack]

4. America is too busy looking at their phones to care much. Put some blame where it belongs. nt

[mountain grammy]

27. I think it began long before cell phones.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

5. this needs more specificity: TV media is complicit

We have excellent journalists who have been reporting, in depth, about the many scandals of Trump and GOP all along. We also have the major tv outlets treating trumpism as a means of garnering more viewers and money. Good reporting on tv is more notable by its exception rather than as the rule.

[BigMin28]

6. Yes!

Great comment.

[jayschool2013]

9. +1 NT

[uponit7771]

15. If one counts state run FAUX News as media then its accurate. The non state run media should disavow

... FAUX News to the 9th degree.

[KPN]

18. +1

[triron]

23. Yes you are correct. That's why I said 'largely'.

[hunter]

56. I don't watch any television news or opinion.

The television in our house plays DVDs and Netflix. That's all it does. My wife and I disconnected from cable and broadcast television more than a decade ago.

I subscribe to a couple of magazines and newspapers, paper and electronic, and I also read a few international news sites. I'm not uninformed.

Maybe I'm too isolated because I don't know any of the television news celebrities people post about here.

I wouldn't recognize "Rachel" in a police lineup. (I do recognize Colbert because my kids used to watch the Colbert Report.)

It's possible I'm simply too impatient to sit through anything but entertaining movies and television series. I have zero tolerance for television commercials.

[Botany]

7. Every time they say how Trump was elected they are lying

They know it was dirty but they keep selling the lie
about how Trump won the election.

[uponit7771]

16. +1, and legitimizing him by analyzing his stolen election outside of Russia helping him

[KPN]

21. Exactly. They are accomplices to this illegitimate

presidency for having failed to make that clear and consistently. Instead, they’ve created a false legitimacy and condoned by way of silence about criminal corruption in elections and governing.

[yaesu]

8. there is no real media in this country, at least when it comes to cable or the networks. nt

[dlk]

10. The media's bogus bothsiderism has cost our democracy dearly

And continues to do so.

[Harker]

19. And this without the "fairness" doctrine

in place.

[dlk]

22. Yes, thank you Ronald Reagan

[Harker]

26. The systematic 'progression' from so-called

"amiable dunce" jelly bean eater through simpleton W to the absurdly ignorant, vile fiend by whom we're presently horrified seems to be a complete circuit.

I hope.

[dlk]

30. It would be difficult to find someone worse than Trump

However, every day is a new beginning for the GOP.

[Harker]

33. I'd like to be optimistic...

but now I know better.

[Harker]

34. After a bit more thought...

Yes, it would be difficult to top Trumpsky for sheer loathsomeness, but the next marionette will, by default, appear more reasonable. So goes the stretching of the envelope.

[dlk]

39. Yes, Trump is the GOP and the GOP is Trump

There never seems to be a shortage of truly awful candidates in the GOP.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

59. The only kind of person worse than Trump

would be somebody equally malevolent- but also smarter and with a better grasp on how to manipulate government towards their ends.

[Pacifist Patriot]

46. We need to see more of what Rep Jim Himes did to Chuck Todd yesterday.

But more to the point. The Chuck Todds need to get their shit together so the Jim Himes of the world don't have to hand their asses to them on a plate.

[kentuck]

11. Right now all their money is being made off news of Trump vs Democrats...

But seldom do you see the three Republicans that are running against him. Why do they do that?

[Prof.Higgins]

12. Excellent posting, brilliant Dem rebuttal, and pathetic Todd job (as usual). nt

[zentrum]

13. Absolutely.

[pwb]

14. Broadcast news is still o k. Cable news has ruined things, with opinion disguised as news.

.

[appalachiablue]

17. Broadcast media is severly deficient in the US. It's almost all

RW propaganda & so is plenty of the print news. If a billionaire wants to help, start an honest new news network accessible in all formats.

[Nitram]

20. I disagree. The media is reflecting society at large. Some segments are defending our

democratic institutions and others are attacking them. It's complicated.

[progressoid]

45. No. The media was skewed in the 2016 election.

Donald Trump succeeded in shaping the election agenda. Coverage of Trump overwhelmingly outperformed coverage of Clinton. Clinton’s coverage was focused on scandals, while Trump’s coverage focused on his core issues.



Attempts by the Clinton campaign to define her campaign on competence, experience, and policy positions were drowned out by coverage of alleged improprieties associated with the Clinton Foundation and emails. Coverage of Trump associated with immigration, jobs, and trade was greater than that on his personal scandals.



...https://cyber.harvard.edu/publications/2017/08/mediacloud

[Nitram]

47. As always, it depends on where you get your news. The Post and NPR had a great deal more negative

coverage of Trump then of Clinton. The problem is that Trump's supporters didn't care if Trump grabbed pussies, called Mexicans rapists, or shot somebody in the middle of Fifth Ave. There was also the "small" matter of Russian interference. Even so Clinton won the popular vote by a significant margin in spite of the Green Party siphoning of votes that should have gone to Clinton. Stop blaming "The Media" for everything. No, they don't always get it right, and they do make mistakes. But without the media how would we even know how bad Trump was and is?

[progressoid]

48. Too few people read the Post or watch/listen to NPR.

While they are the better informed, they represent the smallest portion of the electorate.

Most people get their news from Fox. They top the ratings game. Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are the number one and two radio shows.

[triron]

50. True but even CNN and MSNBC were to blame.

How many discussions were about Hillary's emails? How many about the Russians and Trump?

[Nitram]

58. That's true, but it isn't "the media's" fault. Don't blame the media, blame Fox and other right wing

sources of disinformation, misinformation, and fake news.

[Puppyjive]

24. Drug Dealers with opinions

Big media are nothing more that overpaid drug dealers with opinions. I have never heard them address the link between prescription drug commercials and America's increasing dependence on prescription drugs. They can't rock the boat, their million dollar salaries will go away. I don't think they report the news like it needs to be reported. They might hurt some feelings and lose advertising. If they truly were looking out for each and every one of us, they would not deliver the news in it's current state. They continue to string us along on the impeachment crap, and we are all tired be of it. Report something that is legit. Public television looks better every day. Report the facts, not the opinions.

[Doc_Technical]

25. This message needs repeating

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10026948602

[Wolf Frankula]

28. The Media Fawned over tRump for decades.

When he was going bankrupt four times, they screamed, "Oh Donald, You're Such a Genius@"

Wolf

[MarianJack]

29. The media, in 2016, ceaselessly fawned over Dolt45.

They consistently treated the worst rumors about Hillary Clinton as hard breaking news while they completely ignored the worst facts about Donald Trump. I have no doubt that they have every intention of doing so again next year.

RESIST!

[triron]

43. I feel ill at ease about that as well.

[MarianJack]

44. IMHO,...

... they're already showing signs of starting. BARF.

RESIST!

[triron]

49. 2nd that.

[Moostache]

52. How many of us are willing to be confrontational? radical? activist? uncomfortable?

How many meekly accept "what-about-isms" and "both-side-isms"?
How many Fox viewers do YOU confront with facts and truth to counter lies and spin?
How many products have you bought from corporations that STILL poison the future?
How many times a day do we allow circumstances to dictate response?

We are collective cowards, afraid to confront, afraid to sacrifice even a tiny amount of convenience.

The media is just a mirror of us. 2016 rubbernecking the coverage was WHY the press covered the Yam.
If you watched ANY of it and did not boycott the channel responsible until the management was removed, OWN IT...WE ARE ALL part of the problem and the media merely reflects that ugliness back at us. EVERY. SINGLE. HOUR.

[agincourt]

31. We agreed on this point during the W years

The fact that the media will in the end, cover as much for Trump as for GWB, shows just how much the 1% fix is in.

[extvbroadcaster]

32. They can't handle Trump

The media suffers from a profit driven business model, and that requires ratings which require endless "bothsiderism" and conflict. That being said, the GOP and the media don't know how to handle Trump. I doubt anybody in politics or out has had to deal with somebody so mentally damaged as Trump. He lies like he breathes, and had no empathy or desire to be President other than to enrich himself and his family. He's a straight up criminal, and the media and the GOP have never come to terms with the fact that our political system produced a President like Trump.

[BuffaloJackalope]

36. Blame Roone Arledge.

Made prime-time network news a primarily revenue-generating entity rather than a public service.

[llmart]

37. I absolutely, 1000% agree with you.

Just the other day I was thinking "how would Walter Cronkite report on the criminal behavior of Trump?" I then envisioned his voice and demeanor in my head (I grew up with Cronkite) and was even more disturbed at what our major TV news outlets have turned into. Then I turned on Good Morning America this morning and right off the bat they were talking about how the Democratic nominees are going to be hurt by the impeachment process as they try to talk about their platforms. WTF? They then went on to show clips of TV reporters asking them questions about the impeachment instead of about what they've just put forth in a stop on the campaign trail. I yelled at the TV, "No you dimwits. You're the ones who keep asking them about how the impeachment might affect their chances instead of asking about their proposals." It's infuriating to me.

[tikka]

38. Dimitri Simes was or still is an adviser to Rand Paul

Paul's trip to Russia to see Putin last year, his hiring Simes, and his defense of Traitor45 against impeachment are really disturbing. It seems more like the work of a Russian asset than a US senator. I hope the IC are keeping a close eye on his activities.

[Garrett78]

40. As I've been saying for a while now, "extortion" and "a threat to national security" should be...

...repeated over and over and over again by every Democrat who appears on TV and by every journalist who's worth a damn.

Overall, the media in the US is just awful. The false equivalencies, the fluff, treating a lie like it's a valid opinion, and so on. With a responsible media, Trump never becomes president.

[VOX]

41. Over-saturated with media: cable, broadcast, internet, radio, social, newspaper, print...

And all (well, most) of these information sources do not want to alienate large swaths of current and potential viewers/listeners/readers, other than those dedicated to specific demographics, like Fox, Breitbart, etc.

That’s the reality of the entire mess. And the media’s love of a neck-and-neck “horse race.” Shares, ratings, points, subscribers = MONEY, which is all that management genuinely cares about.

[live love laugh]

42. The REPUBLICAN-OWNED media

isn’t going to explain the things that benefit them.

To expect them to is ludicrous. Call them what they are—Republican owned as often as possible until people understand what the broadcast media is.

[Moostache]

51. NOPE...the "media" is a mirror...the rot has come from within...

The Redwood does not fall from external gales or storms, it first rots from the inside out and then can be felled with ease.

The "united" States have been nothing of the sort since the Clinton Impeachment and the subsequent theft of the POTUS in 2000 through Iraq, Swift-boating, stonewalling, racist 'birthers', the theft of the SCOTUS in 2016 and the coup de gras was the Trump fiasco with Russian aid and everything since January 2017.

The tree has been hollowed out and the fall will be swift but excruciatingly painful.

[triron]

53. The media helps distort public perception. It's a 2-way street.

[Kid Berwyn]

54. Since November 22, 1963

Mort Sahl interview on MaeBrussell.com...

Originally published March 18, 1968:

ARGO: Why is the truth behind the assassination of President Kennedy the last chance of America for its survival?

SAHL: Because the evidence developed by District Attorney Garrison indicates that certain people had to take President Kennedy's life in order to control ours. In other words, as Richard Starnes of the New York World-Telegram said, the shots in Dallas were the opening shots of World War III. There's been a great change in this country since Kennedy. I'm afraid a great deal of our hope was interred with his remains.

CONTINUED...

http://www.maebrussell.com/Mort%20Sahl/Mort%20Sahl%20-%20Argo.html

I know this is true, as I can remember that awful day.

[NCLefty]

55. Scandal sells. Trump, doubly so.

[Garrett78]

57. As I wrote in the Chuck Todd thread:

Chuck Todd is emblematic of how awful the US media is, for the most part.

Perhaps because the "liberal media" drum got beat for decades with insufficient pushback or perhaps because of media consolidation in the hands of just a few giant corporations, or perhaps because of a combination of both, far too many mainstream media personalities (I hesitate to use the word 'journalists') are utterly irresponsible. And this poses a massive hurdle for truth and justice. Many factors contributed to Trump becoming president, and the media is one of them. Clinton's email "scandal" was somehow worthy of about the same amount of attention as Trump's openly colluding with a foreign adversary, racism, openly bragging about sexual assault, Trump University scam, mocking a person with a disability, and so on. Meanwhile, we hear very little about how various Trumps have used private email for government business, or about how Trump has given his personal cell phone number to foreign leaders (including, one presumes, Vladimir Putin).

Media personalities, when not devoting time to fluff pieces, have a tendency to foster false equivalencies and seem to think giving equal time to lies and obfuscation somehow constitutes fair reporting. It's as if all statements made on the air are equally valid opinions. It's as if media personalities are scared to demonstrate a bias toward fact-based reality. I was heartened to listen to Jim Himes take Todd to task for going along with Rand Paul's false equivalency, though Himes was far too gentle.

We need a lot more of this. Republicans, for decades, used the media to criticize the media. And it proved highly effective. Every Democrat making a public appearance should take any opportunity to change the narrative about the media itself, and not just the narrative about the issue of the day.

And we need to make media/propaganda literacy (verifying sources, identifying tactics such as the Gish gallop, etc.) mandatory curriculum in every school.

[coti]

60. I have to, for the most part, disagree with this.

Yes, there are the Chuck Todd's and Andrea Mitchell's out there who offer nothing but false balance and give credibility to liars. But I actually think, when this resolves, it's going to be our media that, as they are stepping up, are going to allow our democracy to survive Trump.

While Trump has actually been quite successful in tearing down governmental barriers to autocratic rule- and I have to say that our Democratic leadership, including Pelosi, have done a very poor job of protecting our government's gears from him- Trump has not been able to prevent the truth of his behavior from being reported and disseminated amongst the people. The Washington Post, NY Times, Rachel Maddow, and many more, have tried very hard to keep the truth from being buried by these criminals, and- despite our infotainment culture allowing falsehoods to be much stronger than they should be- the truth is winning this fight.

Imagine where we would be if these things we know about Trump- that the majority of the country still understands about Trump- weren't being reported. If they just weren't available as information. If the Times or the Post or whoever hadn't dug the facts up. If journalists had totally cowed to Trump's not-even-veiled threats against them.

We'd be in a helluva lot more trouble than we are now.

This democracy is going to survive because the truth is going to survive. I think that's something to be thankful for in this day and age.