Comments on: A Vast Media Conspiracy

By: DLS

DLS — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 23:38:31 +0000

“I think the media are biased,; they are biased in favor of their own profit margin.”

They have their notorious liberal bias (from so many writers and editors being liberal; that includes so many of the “moderates” who are like liberal “moderates” here on this site), but the finance is an issue with those running things. An Pew report some time ago discussed this and there's a new report out that also discusses it.

http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?Re...

By: domajot

domajot — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 23:17:10 +0000

Paul,

You are right about self-education, of course.
The job is made much harder in an atmosphere when what looks like a reliable source may well turn out to be a source that simply tells it the way one likes to hear it.

By: PaulSilver

PaulSilver — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 22:38:08 +0000

Education is an interactive sport. We have to sort through the din to harvest enough information to make useful choices.

By: GeorgeSorwell

GeorgeSorwell — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 21:16:22 +0000

I agree with both Paul and Domajot about the media.

You can look at the current news coverage. General Petraeus himself conceded the failure of political reconciliation in Iraq. And it did get reported, which is how I know about. But it's not the big story. The Fed's bailout of Bear Sterns is being reported, but it's not the big story.

The big story is about black racism against white people. And it's being used against a particular politician who does give any evidence of being a racist.

Whose interests are being served?

By: domajot

domajot — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:56:43 +0000

I think the media are biased,; they are biased in favor of their own profit margin.
Aside from scandals, especially if those involve sex or drugs they are very mindful of who or what is popular. The Iraq war was initialy very popular, so there was nearly zero coverage of background information. The more in-depth articles began to appear only when the public was begnning to have doubts about the war.
The Democrals since they are known for representing the underdog more than businesses. were openly derided during the years of Republican ascendancy until it became apparent that they were capable of seizing power. Then, somehow, coverage shifted in both tone and content.
Whatever sells rules the day, with little regard for disseminating important information, as opposed to crowd pleasng coverage..

It's a self perpetuating, circular system The media ,failing to disseminate honest, dispassionate information, pass to an intellectually uninquisitive public and back again.

Blogs, for the most part, follow suit. I think they are often driven by whatever elicits the most hits and thus controversy and an attack-dog style are the norm. Readers of blogs flock to those that echo their own opinions, and the self-peprtuating cycle lives on in the blogosphere. The consumers drive content and the content drives consumers.

What that says about the future does not sound promissing to me.

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