Comments | thewayoftheid: "If you don't like what's being said, change the conversation."

thewayoftheid

"If you don't like what's being said, change the conversation."

Sep 11, 2009 02:39

Don Draper sounds so...republican.

History always repeats.

Whenever a black leader emerges--one who tilts a little too far to the left--the Red Scare Brigade™ comes a-knockin'. When Ida Wells-Barnett dared to fight the wholesale lynching of black men, her reputation was attacked not only by the mainstream press (Hi, NY Times!) but by her own ( Read more... )

Comments 5

argentla September 11 2009, 18:18:55 UTC

If you look at, say, Col. Robert McCormick's Chicago Tribune in the 30s and 40s, it's not a whole hell of a lot different than Fox News or Glenn Beck and his poisonous ilk. News as propaganda is not a modern invention.

thewayoftheid September 11 2009, 19:43:43 UTC

...or even the NY Times circa late 1800s. Again, I'm not attempting to confer nobility to the profession, but it just seemed they'd try harder to create the illusion of balance.

Kinda miss the Fairness Doctrine.

argentla September 11 2009, 20:16:50 UTC

I think it's symptomatic of corporate control of everything. In McCormick's day, he had great power and influence, but he also had a lot of enemies. If you were a reporter or editor who got canned for offending his prejudices, there were people who would hire you after that just because they hated McCormick's guts, or opposed everything he stood for. All of the major new outlets today are owned by conglomerates that, while separate, tend to have very similar corporate values. If you get fired by Fox News for saying the Earth goes around the sun, Disney/ABC or NBC-Universal is likely to be wary of you because you've proven you're not a loyal corporate employee, regardless of the actual issues. And, maybe more to the point, they all have their fingers in the same pies ( ... )

jjodelle September 13 2009, 06:15:12 UTC

Excellent points in this post. I recently read, "How to Watch TV News" by Postman and Powers. Really good book. Infotainment is a huge problem. How can we even debate with people who talk in solgans and sound bites? Also, false sense of balance is a huge problem... MSM is giving too much time to insane arguements and calling it balance. And now we're back to red-baiting?!? I'm looking into dual citizenship. I might move to Canada...I hear Vancouver is nice...

verbalessence September 12 2009, 00:30:01 UTC

Appreciate a lot of what you say here. The 24-hour news cycle, the scramble for ratings and a general indifference to what is true, is a big part of why the news media blows and why I've lost a lot of my faith in journalism. The blogosphere strikes a semblance of balance, but even it has its limits and sometimes contributes to the problem (e.g. Matt Drudge)

I had only heard of Van Jones, hadn't really looked into him, but once I did, I was truly impressed. He had a discussion on environmentalism and how we need to change the perception that it was something only those in the middle to upper classes can participate in. He was the first person that I felt was trying to apply these large philosophical and groundbreaking concepts about green-issues in real and tangible ways. It really is a shame he had to go - for speaking the truth I might add.