DU has made me see the light

[Jamaal510]

This isn't an attack on the site or anything. I just wanted to say that the longer I hang around here, the more I'm starting to lose trust in the 4th Estate. Before I started following politics a few years ago, I honestly thought that everything the media reports has every ounce of credibility and was factual. I was one of those folks who believed that America's media has no reason to lie or to create agendas. But as I read many of the threads and responses, I'm learning about how they love a good "horse race" in presidential elections (even when the GOP has a totally inept nominee). I'm learning about this subtle double-standard about the media letting Republicans off the hook for their gaffes, while making a bigger deal out of gaffes from Democrats. And there's also the way that they frame some of their stories, such as how they try to make it seem as if President Obama is losing huge support among minority voters and liberals. They want to do all of this to depress Democratic turnout and to dupe low-info voters into electing Republicans, thus keeping them rich.

[Arugula Latte]

1. Like everything else in this country, it's all about $$$.

The media is warped by it.

[Wounded Bear]

2. The really, really fun part....

is how RWers continually traxh the media as being "left wing" while we're standing around scratching our heads wondering how anybody who is paying attention could believe that.

Answer is simple. Most people are NOT paying attention.

Welcome to the monkey house. Like you said: very informative, and generally kind of fun.

[Uncle Joe]

3. A monopolistic conglomerate owned corporate media dependent on selling commercials

to major corporations is saturated with conflict of interest just by the nature of their business model.

Even if individual journalists or newscasters wanted to tell you the unvarnished truth, they would be greatly limited by their corporate owners and million dollar commercial buying clients.

The underlying message from the corporate media, no matter which "team" they're rooting for is that mega corporations and plutocrats should rule over the people as a natural state of being, it's just a matter of whether that media outlet presents this as a hard or soft sell.

Thanks for the thread, Jamaal.

[freshwest]

9. +1 to that. And thanks for being here too, Jamaal.

[hedgehog]

4. If DU had been around in 1988, Joe Biden would have been elected President -

in a landslide!

[EFerrari]

5. If you want to up your learning curve, watch "Orwell Rolls in his Grave"

which is a documentary about the media. It's a good film.

[freshwest]

10. And The Corporation, Manufacturing Consent, etc.

I just snagged Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room from an public domain archive yesterday.

It was one of the best examples of what corporate control of media and daily life is doing to disempower all Americans in the necessities of life.

[Jamaal510]

19. TY. I added it to my faves on YouTube.

[EFerrari]

24. My pleasure. n/t

[patrice]

6. They are part of those who make the biggest fucking deal out of various kinds of "values", family,

economic, religious, etc. etc. etc. etc. ad infinitum . . . but, in fact, they are THE most hollow of all of us.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

7. It's worthwhile to Google "Operation Mockingbird".

They say that it has been discontinued.

A number of the media elites (including publishers) have been financed with your tax dollars.

[Gregorian]

8. Congratulations. You're being to see the light.

It's really called being conscious of the truth. It's healthy.

[JoePhilly]

11. YUP ... the strategy has 2 key components ....

The basic idea goes like this ... you take any topic, and then create 2 totally opposite positions on it, one specifically designed to enrage the right wing, and one specifically designed to discourage the left wing.

For instance ... take the economy ... the two messages can be summarized like so.

(RW framing) The message that is pumped into the right wing media is that Obama is a socialist or a communist and that we wants to turn America into a nanny state. This framing is designed to enrage right wingers, and get them to vote against Obama.

(LW framing) The message that is pumped into the left wing media is that Obama is a corporatist does nt care about the poor, prefers the rich, and who has a secret plan to kill Social Security. This framing is designed to discourage left wingers, and get them to stay home and not vote at all.

Or take foreign policy ...

(RW framing) Obama is weak on national security, apologizes, appeases, and secretly hates America.

(LW framing) Obama is worse than Bush.

Again, one framing designed to increase right wing turn out, the other designed to discourage left wing turn out.

On some shows, you'll see the RW pundit use the right wing framing, and then, during the same segment, a supposed LW pundit will use the left wing framing.

Finally, the media knows that more than 1 billion dollars will be spent on this election, but only if the election stays close. And so they have a vested interested in doing everything they can to close the gap because they get PAID to show the ads, and to debate the topics.

You don't need dozens of 24/7 pundits on 8 channels if the election is a blow out. And those are the only jobs the media cares about.

[SalviaBlue]

18. Very well put. Thanks for the clarity.

[Jamaal510]

20. Dang...I didn't know about the LW framing.

[rurallib]

12. The media has a patina of truth which it doesn't deserve

What you said is what I have heard over the years in many different ways.
Mostly it comes down to "They couldn't put it on the air if it wasn't true."
- many believe that the government actually somehow monitors 'news' for truth.

And let me add that even the vaunted NPR also has much trouble with bias. Ever since the Republicans have put the squeeze on them, their news has become much more muted. They are also much more prone to not airing some stories and also to using republican buzz words.

[NRaleighLiberal]

13. Well stated. And don't forget the stellar false equivalence technique -

that for every problem caused by the right, there just must be an equally dreadful one caused by the left. There is no truth to the media - just money - and doing their corporate owners' biddings.

I've not really believed/trusted anything that they've said for many years now. Call me a cynic.....go ahead, do it!

[amerciti001]

14. Come on people...

The 4th Estates are of the Elites, by the Elites and for the Elites. Learn to read between the lines and for added info read other news papers that are not of this country's doing. Read The Guardian for good American Political Editorials or Der Spiegel. In fact here's a good article to read from Der Spiegel that you'll never read in the mainstream Media of this country.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/the-republicans-farcical-candidates-a-club-of-liars-demagogues-and-ignoramuses-a-800850.html

After reading this, just think, which mainstream news outlet or newspaper will run such a story, definitely not Fox News.

[On the Road]

15. For Anyone Who Still Thinks the Press is Even-Handed,

The daily Howler is a great resource, and it provides examples and detailed research that you and I don't have time to do:

http://dailyhowler.blogspot.com/

The links during the campaign in 2000 were particularly good. Bob Somerby took apart dozens of campaign articles showing how the mainstream press created the entire issue of Gore as a serial exaggerator, including the infamous "I invented the internet." He is even putting it in book form (see link).

Even news photography is not objective, as BagNewsNotes has tirelessly pointed out for years. I learned a a lot from this guy:

http://www.facebook.com/BagNews?ref=ts

[Uncle Joe]

17. That's cool, I didn't know Bob was coming out with a book.

[lunatica]

16. Yup. I learn stuff here all the time

And I'm pretty confident I've enlightened a few along my way.

[ThomThom]

21. I feel the same way

this place is amazing

[Tarheel_Dem]

22. Welcome to the light. And they get plenty of help from some unlikely sources.

[pacalo]

23. I learned about media conglomeration on DU, too.

After George W. Moron turned this country upside down & the media was acting as his cheerleader, I knew something was amiss.

Many people, including me, began unsubscribing to their newspapers because of it & turning to the internet for independent progressive blogs & international news, such as Great Britain's, The Guardian. Look at what shape the newspaper industry is in today. My hometown newspaper, the Times-Picayune, has recently switched ownership & will be publishing only 3 days per week.

If you're interested in reading why media conglomeration has created such a dismal state for American media, here's a helpful site (link at the bottom of the excerpt):

These gigantic media corporations do not exist to objectively tell the truth to the American people. Rather, the primary purpose of their existence is to make money.

These gigantic media corporations are not going to do anything to threaten their relationships with their biggest advertisers (such as the largest pharmaceutical companies that literally spend billions on advertising), and one way or another these gigantic media corporations are always going to express the ideological viewpoints of their owners.

(...)

That is one reason why we have seen the alternative media experience such rapid growth over the past few years. The mainstream media has been losing credibility at a staggering rate, and Americans are starting to look elsewhere for the truth about what is really going on.

Do you think that anyone in the mainstream news would actually tell you that the Federal Reserve is bad for America or that we are facing a horrific derivatives bubble that could destroy the entire world financial system? Do you think that anyone in the mainstream media would actually tell you the truth about the deindustrialization of America or the truth about the voracious greed of Goldman Sachs?

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/who-owns-the-media-the-6-monolithic-corporations-that-control-almost-everything-we-watch-hear-and-read

[3waygeek]

25. Fourth estate = Fifth Column n/t