The Origins of Asymmetric Propaganda in American Media

[TomCADem]

Very interesting academic paper on the asymmetric nature of American media with the mainstream and left at least making an attempt to abide by journalistic standards while the right wing media being wholly focused on promoting partisan propaganda that can be totally disconnected to fact whether it be promoting vaccine disinformation or conspiracy theories about election fraud.

Unfortunately, mainstream media itself has often ignored this asymmetric landscape, and often embraces a false equivalency between Republicans and Democrats, which only served to validate the most extreme voices on the right such that Ted Cruz, MTG and Matt Geatz, on the right, are seen as equivalent in credibility to AOC, Katie Porter and Elizebeth Warren on the left.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/disinformation-age/political-economy-of-the-origins-of-asymmetric-propaganda-in-american-media/10D034A14EA79BDEED26B75EC80B8625

Benkler describes the results of a large-scale study of the political media ecosystem duringthe 2016 US presidential campaign and the first year of the Trump presidency. The majorfinding is that the American political media ecosystem is asymmetrically polarized, with aninsular, well-defined right wing, and the rest of the media ecosystem, from the center-right to the far left,forming a single media ecosystem anchored by traditional media organizations like the NewYork Times or the Washington Post. The structure renders the American right moresusceptible to propaganda and disinformation than the left. The chapter then offers analysis of why political economy, rather than technology, was the source of thisasymmetry, outlining the interactions between political culture, law and regulation, andcommunications technology that have underwritten the emergence of the propaganda feedbackloop in the right wing of the American media ecosystem, and outlines the structural driversof the present epistemic crisis.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

1. "left at least making an attempt to abide by journalistic standards while the right wing media being

left at least making an attempt to abide by journalistic standards while the right wing media being wholly focused on promoting partisan propaganda

yes! MSNBC might lean very left but they don't make up stuff ... Rightwing media pulls stuff out of their asses... and once a fiction is created them ALL run with it. Example... Trumps lie that he won the election

[TomCADem]

2. CNN and MSNBC Both Suspend Reporters for Journalistic Failures

For example, MSNBC recently suspended a reporter for a retracted report on the attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband.

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/nbc-news-suspends-reporter-retracted-234620663.html?src=rss

Likewise, at CNN, even a well established personality like Fareed Zakaria was suspended for what appeared to be a plagiarized report.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2012/08/10/fareed-zakaria-suspended-from-time

In contrast, did anyone at Fox News, News Max, OANN or Infowars get suspended for either their reports of election fraud or spreading vaccine misinformation? To the contrary, even while they claim they are offering "fair and balanced" news, when defending defamation lawsuits, even Alex Jones has quietly argued that he is only offering opinions, rather than stating any facts:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/22/us/politics/alex-jones-free-speech.html

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

3. In contrast, did anyone at Fox News, News Max, OANN or Infowars get suspended for either their repo

In contrast, did anyone at Fox News, News Max, OANN or Infowars get suspended for either their reports of election fraud or spreading vaccine misinformation?

absolutely not.