Sadly, most of what the media reports these days is
propaganda.
That’s news with a specific agenda: to persuade, not inform. To foster that agenda the media is willing to
ignore what’s really happened in favor of reporting what they want you to
believe.
That’s the media’s right.
They have the microphone. And we have laws to protect freedom of the
press and free speech. The media are perfectly within their rights to report
whatever and however they wish. The only limit on the media’s freedom is they
aren’t allowed to publish something they know to be false and with malice
aforethought – both of which are hard to prove.
The media know that. They
also know there’s almost no chance they’ll ever be held accountable for
intentionally spreading false information or publishing something intended to
harm another. It’s practically impossible to prove someone’s “intent”; they can
always claim they were working with the info they had and just reported what
they were told.
Also – since 1964 and the Times v. Sullivan case – it’s
virtually impossible in the US to sue anyone in the media successfully for defamation
or libel if the victim is a “public figure.” So politicians, celebrities,
performers and others are all fair game.
None of that makes what our media are doing every day right. Much less ethical.
The purpose of protecting a free press in America was to
insure the media always had the power to expose government corruption, malfeasance
by politicians, and bad acts by rapacious corporations without fear of legal or
financial retribution.
In short, it was to protect us from the powerful by holding
them accountable – bringing misdeeds and dirty dealing from the shadows into
the light for all to see.
All fine and good.
But what happens when the media abuse their power? What happens when the vast majority of the
media feel accountable only to themselves? What happens when they decide to
wield their power unevenly and choose sides? What happens when they use their
power to protect themselves and their like-minded friends at our expense?
In the sage words of the long-dead Lord Acton: “Power tends
to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Now, some will claim the media don’t have absolute power;
there are other information sources such as Fox, conservative talk radio and
the WSJ to offer alternative interpretations of the news. Yet in reality those are outliers dwarfed by
a more homogenous and pervasive media that dominate what most people hear and
see.
The overwhelming majority of our “mainstream” media –
excluding the outliers like Fox and WSJ, of course – have a single point of view and
approach; the American public is carpet-bombed with that point of view. Whether
it’s newspapers, most cable news, online extensions of ABC, CBS, MSNBC, and CNN
– what’s reported (and not reported) is eerily similar. Sometimes downright identical. The net effect
is that this wall of information from multiple sources makes it appear that it
must be true. Everybody is saying the same thing, after all.
That’s intentional.
That’s what the media want the public to believe. By closing ranks and insuring that the
majority of Americans only hear one side of a story, they control
perception. That’s how propaganda works;
the theory is that if you tell a story – even a false one – long enough and
consistently enough it becomes “true” in the minds of most people.
Only a handful of alternative media outlets present a
different view. It’s easy for the unified
media to use their superior numbers and reach to dismiss those as irrelevant radical
nutjobs. If they all stick together,
which they usually do, who are you going to believe? The majority of nearly identical
reports you see from a variety of sources, or a couple of reports that are
different?
Some media apologists claim there’s absolutely no bias among
the biggest media players. Nor any coordination. And if there is it’s unintentional. That’s simply bullshit.
Of course there’s bias.
There’s always bias in how news is reported. That’s unavoidable as long as humans are
involved. Any first-year J-school student knows some bias
is inevitable; still, news professionals are expected to minimize bias whenever
possible.
What’s different now is that bias in a certain direction is
not just tolerated but encouraged and applauded. And anyone who doesn’t support that bias is vilified.
And in terms of coordination, if more than 90% of the bigger
media outlets report the exact same story the exact same way, often using the
exact same words, there’s obvious coordination.
It’s not a coincidence, especially when the narrative is almost word for
word from the talking points of left-leaning Democrats, public-service and
teacher union officials, the ACLU and the SPLC.
That’s a dangerous trend. That’s not objective reporting;
that’s propaganda.
The mainstream media are still upset that despite their best
efforts to prop up Hillary – and dismiss Trump as a ridiculous buffoon – Trump was
still elected President. That result challenged their belief they could control
what ordinary Americans believe.
They are determined not to let that happen again. While they continue to pummel Trump at every
opportunity, they have their sights set on 2020 and the candidate they want
this time.
Watch carefully and see what they are doing. They are destroying
every candidate, by innuendo and slanted reporting, who might compete with
their chosen victor.
Bernie Sanders – old news.
Elizabeth Warren – seriously? Howard Schultz – a billionaire capitalist,
not “woke” enough. Amy Klobuchar – too moderate;
too establishment. Mike Bloomberg – rich
guy, also too moderate. Joe Biden – too old. Hillary – not again, and too old.
And it's just starting.
They’ll keep savaging all the contenders until only one is
left standing – the one they want.
Kamala Harris. She’s their
dream candidate. The Trump slayer.
They are all gushy over her. You won’t see them dredge up
the dirt on her, and there’s plenty of it, the way they will on everybody else
who might challenge her. Anyone who questions her will be a racist, sexist, anti-woman, and worse. That's the playbook. Count on it.
They’ll sweep her dirt under the rug. Because she’s who they
want.
Just watch. See how they'll manipulate the facts. You'll see.
And remember, it’s not news; it’s just more propaganda. And it will be wall to wall.
They've had a lot of experience at this.
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