One of the most disturbing pieces of news I’ve read in a long time came from a poll about trust in news organizations. As Andy Barr, of Politico, reported on January 27, Fox is now the most trusted TV news network in the nation. That’s right, in a nationwide survey of 1,151 registered voters conducted by Public Policy Polling, the home of Hannity and O’Reilly and Glenn Beck ranked HIGHEST in TRUST, at 49%, of any news network. It beat out CNN, trusted by only 39%, and the three “major” networks, ABC, NBC and CBS, none of whom even reached the high thirties (NBC led at 35%. Apparently, PBS wasn’t even included.)
For anyone who values accuracy, for anyone who values actual objective reporting rather than slash-and-burn “opinion” growled by conservative curs like the three mentioned above, the results of this poll are more than befuddling; they are alarming in the extreme. For what this confirms is what many of us have suspected for many years: Americans have now lost all connection with reality (the contempt of the Bush Administration for “reality-based” opinion seems prescient here), and prefer to be roused out of their shopping stupor by rabid demagogues. Americans do not have the patience to read; they do not want to be bothered with “facts.” They want someone to tell them what to think and how to think and to entertain them with simplistic savagery and rant that can penetrate their beaten-down skulls. They want quick solutions to complex problems that any four-year-old can understand. They want to know who the bad guys are and who the good guys are, and a program for rounding up and eliminating the bad—starting with the eggheads in government who make them feel stupid.
So here’s the situation. We now have many of the ingredients in place for an eruption of mob agitation and anger similar to the ones that erupted in Europe in the 1930s. We have an economic collapse. We have urban bankers receiving huge bailouts from a government that seems to be in their pockets, while average people get stuck with the bill—those who still have jobs and can pay the bill, that is. We have a nation reeling from the offshoring of the very economic engine—manufacturing—that brought it to the top of the global economy. We have corporations handed a Supreme Court decision that promises them even more power to buy politicians and collude in looting the national treasury than they already have. We have states going broke, major corporations going on the dole, the federal government going ever deeper into debt, and the stage set for a collapse of the dollar that could make savings and earnings worthless. And we have half the world pissed off at the USA for its years of high-handed domination of the global economy and the corresponding ruin and/or enslavement of countless local economies—not to mention its overwhelming military power and political meddling in nations all over the globe. And what Fox-devoted Americans want is a simple and easy solution to these problems, something that will restore quickly, easily, directly the “greatest nation ever” to its rightful place as NUMBER ONE.
In short, the ingredients of scalding discontent are in place (and more can be added at a moment’s notice via flood, storm, earthquake, or even a nice little military incident ginned up to get the blood boiling) and require only a little spark, a nice scapegoat towards which the good citizens of the nation can direct their wrath. These are the things that Fox does so well. Its pundits can rail about foreigners, immigrants, ragheads and assorted third-worlders without even a script. Its slanted news coverage can highlight the most wacky of paranoid fantasies—they’re arming, they’re developing nukes, they’re all on welfare, they’re sneaking onto our airplanes, into our subways, our ports, our ships, our nuclear plants—and make them reverberate throughout the land with the utter simple-mindedness and ferocity that its audience requires.
You get the picture.
Fortunately, we still lack the demagogue who can bring all this together. We still have a few reasonable voices counseling caution (and an unknown number who don’t watch networks at all). We still have no logical and helpless-enough target against which to direct the collective anger. But these things were lacking in Nazi Germany before 1930 as well. Then along came a house painter with a knack for boiling brain cells with his very voice. And the convulsion started.
Will it start here? Perhaps it already has. Just think of it: 49% of those polled said they actually trusted the Fox News Network. Fox more than any other. Fox über alles.
Can the bonfires be far behind?
Lawrence DiStasi
Showing posts with label media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label media. Show all posts
Monday, February 01, 2010
Sunday, January 27, 2008
935 Lies and Still Counting
Where was the outrage
For absorbing the lies
From the top of the page
On American lives
And where was the press
In this time of distress?
Nine-thirty five
Is more than just jive.
It is difficult to decide the greater crime between the 935 documented major lies of the Bush Administration and the absolute failure of the press to challenge or counter them with research and clear expression of outrage. Without defending the Bushies, did not every newspaper and every major media outlet have the opportunity and responsibility to speak out?
Recall that we are not merely discussing weak intelligence, but documented information that the administration had full knowledge of what was correct and deliberately chose to promulgate lies…and then repeat the lies. The recent study published by the Center for Public Integrity listed the contributions of major administration players and, not surprisingly, GW Bush was the Liar in Chief with 232 documented whoppers. “Documented” is an important distinction. For example, the false charge that the Iraqis had trucks designed and built for biological operations and proven to be false was used by the Bushies for a full six months after the truth was known. Thanks to Colin Powell and the AWOL press.
Perhaps there is a conflict of interest that we must finally recognize and deal with. A war may be far more interesting than peace. A war may sell more newspapers than peace. Newspapers and other media seemed to relish sending dramatic images across the globe. Some media such as FOX News chose to be cheerleaders for war and no major media representative energized examination of the facts or became spokesperson for caution or truth. Back on 28 September 1913, the New York Times reported on a speech “Art and Conscience in Newspaper Making” by Samuel Bowles of the Springfield Republican He spoke of the evil that would fall on society if the newspaper distorted or misrepresented the news. Unfortunately, even the formerly venerable NY Times was overcome by the clear conflict of interest. War sells papers. Papers sell advertising. Headlines and bylines provide great compensation for unscrupulous reporters or writers. Judith Miller of the NY Times actually went to jail after distributing false information and refusing to name her sources. This is just how misguided we have become, that the truth or falsity of a story has become less important than protection of a criminal source.
The scope of the lies and the huge apparatus used to maintain the mythology of supporting the troops while exploiting the hell out of them is mind numbing. Even if these reporters and media outlets wanted war for selfish interests, did they have no conscience to help our brave men and women sent to fight the war? Add to that the rewriting of history and we have not only lost our way and our collective conscience, but we are losing the ability to sort this out for our children and grandchildren. Incidentally, of all the Presidential candidates, including Democrats, only Ron Paul has had the courage to call the war a “horrible mistake.” Others have succumbed to the revision of history and “the best intelligence at the time.” Neither Ignorance nor Stupidity is absolution nor is blaming the Bushies. If the Bushies led the parade, then why did politicians and media march behind them? What did we do as individuals to point out the lies and join with our neighbors to challenge them and have a counter march?
I do not subscribe to the moral certainty that, for our omissions, we are all damned to hell and, more important; there is still work to be done. There is a real enemy, Osama bin Ladin, to bring to justice. There are lives to be saved. There is truth to be told. There is our progeny’s treasure to be protected. (We spend $720 million per day of their money for the war in Iraq.) There is a new generation to be led into honesty. And yes, there are impeachments to be held for future as well as current accountability. This may not be absolution, but it is recognition of the sins by politicians, our media and us. When we are done, there is a real history waiting to be written. Guilt is an ineffective motivator. Hope is a far better motivator. We need to change our future rather than our history.
Peace,
George Giacoppe
27 January 2008
For absorbing the lies
From the top of the page
On American lives
And where was the press
In this time of distress?
Nine-thirty five
Is more than just jive.
It is difficult to decide the greater crime between the 935 documented major lies of the Bush Administration and the absolute failure of the press to challenge or counter them with research and clear expression of outrage. Without defending the Bushies, did not every newspaper and every major media outlet have the opportunity and responsibility to speak out?
Recall that we are not merely discussing weak intelligence, but documented information that the administration had full knowledge of what was correct and deliberately chose to promulgate lies…and then repeat the lies. The recent study published by the Center for Public Integrity listed the contributions of major administration players and, not surprisingly, GW Bush was the Liar in Chief with 232 documented whoppers. “Documented” is an important distinction. For example, the false charge that the Iraqis had trucks designed and built for biological operations and proven to be false was used by the Bushies for a full six months after the truth was known. Thanks to Colin Powell and the AWOL press.
Perhaps there is a conflict of interest that we must finally recognize and deal with. A war may be far more interesting than peace. A war may sell more newspapers than peace. Newspapers and other media seemed to relish sending dramatic images across the globe. Some media such as FOX News chose to be cheerleaders for war and no major media representative energized examination of the facts or became spokesperson for caution or truth. Back on 28 September 1913, the New York Times reported on a speech “Art and Conscience in Newspaper Making” by Samuel Bowles of the Springfield Republican He spoke of the evil that would fall on society if the newspaper distorted or misrepresented the news. Unfortunately, even the formerly venerable NY Times was overcome by the clear conflict of interest. War sells papers. Papers sell advertising. Headlines and bylines provide great compensation for unscrupulous reporters or writers. Judith Miller of the NY Times actually went to jail after distributing false information and refusing to name her sources. This is just how misguided we have become, that the truth or falsity of a story has become less important than protection of a criminal source.
The scope of the lies and the huge apparatus used to maintain the mythology of supporting the troops while exploiting the hell out of them is mind numbing. Even if these reporters and media outlets wanted war for selfish interests, did they have no conscience to help our brave men and women sent to fight the war? Add to that the rewriting of history and we have not only lost our way and our collective conscience, but we are losing the ability to sort this out for our children and grandchildren. Incidentally, of all the Presidential candidates, including Democrats, only Ron Paul has had the courage to call the war a “horrible mistake.” Others have succumbed to the revision of history and “the best intelligence at the time.” Neither Ignorance nor Stupidity is absolution nor is blaming the Bushies. If the Bushies led the parade, then why did politicians and media march behind them? What did we do as individuals to point out the lies and join with our neighbors to challenge them and have a counter march?
I do not subscribe to the moral certainty that, for our omissions, we are all damned to hell and, more important; there is still work to be done. There is a real enemy, Osama bin Ladin, to bring to justice. There are lives to be saved. There is truth to be told. There is our progeny’s treasure to be protected. (We spend $720 million per day of their money for the war in Iraq.) There is a new generation to be led into honesty. And yes, there are impeachments to be held for future as well as current accountability. This may not be absolution, but it is recognition of the sins by politicians, our media and us. When we are done, there is a real history waiting to be written. Guilt is an ineffective motivator. Hope is a far better motivator. We need to change our future rather than our history.
Peace,
George Giacoppe
27 January 2008
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