Glad you're tackling this topic. Great analysis so far. I hope at some point you'll address the Jon Stewart/Daily Show phenomenon and its role. I participated in it for a time myself, but it definitely contributed to a sense of complacency among middle-of-the-road liberals who could just sit there and laugh at conservative stupidity. How common it was for peers to brag about how they got their news from the Daily Show is sickening--and all the while Stewart would claim he was just a comedy show host when criticism came his way. It completely undermined his attack on Crossfire. It contributed to the idea that you just laugh at other people's hypocrisies and feel superior to them rather than pursue justice. Near the end, when Stewart made jokes about how disappointing it was that he was leaving as Trump was starting up his campaign perfectly sums it up. Liberals had been trained to be complacent in the power of their mockery over championing candidates with substance.
As always, great work, Matt! I hope you include MSNBC's firing of Phil Donahue during the run up to the Iraq invasion (and Chris Matthews' reported role in it) as an example of networks and reporters staying within bounds in times of crisis. If memory serves, Donahue's show was the highest rated on the network the month they cancelled it and there was a memo saying they didn't want to be seen as "unpatriotic" for featuring an anti-war host. Sad act by the so-called "liberal" network. (Incidentally I first encountered Prof. Chomsky's views when he appeared on the "Pozner/Donahue show CNBC the early 90's.)
I am going to write about that. As it happens I had several long talks about this with Jesse Ventura, who also had a show canceled at that time for the same reasons. MSNBC fired him when they found out he was against the war. He collected the entire balance of his contract and built a mansion in Baja where he still lives today. He calls it "Casa MSNBC." I'm hoping to track down Donahue as well. That was sort of a watershed moment for the network. Thanks very much for the input, and please let me know if you have any other suggestions.
"Casa MSNBC" - Love it! Thanks for the prompt reply. It reminds how much I enjoyed, and really miss, True/Slant. You and a few others there were always generous with your replies to your readers. OT- My wife says to tell you that you have an open invitation for you and yours to join us at our home for dinner whenever you you're in or near southern NJ
Great piece. Hope you'll also discuss how the size and concentration of the mass media is even so beyond what Herman and Chomsky could have imagined. The fact that only four or five companies dominate the vast majority of media is frightening.
"Across the street, down the MSNBC alley, there’s an opposite story, and set of storefronts, built specifically for someone else to hear." -- you give very specific examples for how Fox inflames conservatives but then completely cop out on specific examples for the left/liberal side. I think it's more effective if you give equal examples for each to show how this is a universal dynamic. A big goal of this book should be to bust up partisan silos that the media builds up.
We seem trapped in a repetition compulsion of foolishly thinking that everything in life is an Either-or situation. One of the dumbest memes is "There are always two sides."
http://bit.ly/2yxk1IT June 21, 2018, CityWatch, The Dangers of Dichotomy: The Saved vs. The Damned
The proposition that American "mainstream" media at least in the 21st century has become or is too uncritical of US government policy pronouncements etc is, I think, eminently defensible, albeit arguable . Similarly US "new media" coverage of the 2016 election has been and will continued to be sorely criticized for many reasons. A number of noteworthy books have been published arguing "close Russian influences" were at play with the Trump campaign. Many pundits drew inferences of "actual ties" between Trump and Putin and other Russian oligarchs whose character and nature varied. This "story" has been in circulation now for nearly 3 years, and one would think sufficient time and added experience have accrued allowing the subject to "ripen", at least to the point that some sort of consensus might obtain. Then again, this topic might be of the nature that motivated Zhou Enlai to answer in the 1970s when asked what he thought might be the effects of the French Revolution, "Too early to say". In that spirit, I view the headline posted some months ago "It's official: Russiagate is this generation's WMD" with a healthy dose of skepticism. And why is that? Well, just like pronouncing the character's name "Scheherazade", it's hard to say.
Very helpful to me this outlining a cogent history of news reporting/presentation. I feel I have been in a cramped and suffocating box, trying to get a deep breath of reality for so long. Never finding anyone with whom to explore the issues and problems herein described with such care and precision.. No flexible overview that was satisfactory, where the the many disturbing pieces could connect. My father ,Bob Pauley ,was at one time President of ABC Radio Network and what you said about objectivity in the News in the 60's and other aspects feel so real to me. Your essay has illuminated and fleshed out more of what was happening and what has evolved... My first job was as an intern reporter trainee for an NBC affiliate T.V. station KSTP in St Paul. I was able to interview Seymour Hersh and some of the Chicago 8-( in between fluff stories of cats in trees and the new buffalo burger restaurant.) The tension I felt eventually erupted into a complete break with my then life. I have been through so many iterations trying to get something together as a framework. And finding some consistent and evolving confirmation. I am still working it all out. After reading your story here things fall into place more clearly. I now see that one can never escape the media influences but must find a community with which to confront the mess. Thanks for helping me heal and to connect more with others who have honed their minds and hearts and to try to reveal and unpack delusions to discover more of a true nature in our world. Thank you Matt and all related earnest folk. I plan to print out this essay and read it many times. Sincerely, Shen Pauley
Is there an audio version of this? I am trying to limit my time staring at a screen and if I listen while I work, I can pay for my subscription fee. I am posting this here because I see no other place to direct my technical suggestions. Also, I have a tip for a possible story.
Enoch, so interesting as I was just thinking about the role of Jon Stewart and his capture on so many progressive minds. I too watched and enjoyed him at the time, but upon reflection realize he absolutely was part of the divide and was brilliant at it.
Matt, your piece is so substantive, smart and well thought out. It gives me hope to see a journalist like you rise in popularity. I think you are part of the hope and the new energy coming onto this planet. Thank you so much for all your hard work and dedication to truth, critical thinking and true analysis even when it shakes or surprises your assumptions and pre-conceived notions. I learn so much from your work.
Thanks for your help in saving our Republic NOW. !! It's a horror me and for many Americans to witness what is happening today. I pray your input helps open the eyes of the ZZZZZZ or half asleep citizens ....so that they will join other patriots in the MARCH to regain the freedoms many citizens have given up without a fight!!!! Thank you for all you do to help us SAVE OUR REPUBLIC for now and forevermore!
Matt, I wonder if you have a thought about why journalists have fallen into the habit of describing every questionable military decision in terms of the sitting president. Of course he's "commander in chief," but he relies on the military and intelligence services for accurate information. Those over-optimistic generals always seem to get off without a mention of their bad advice, e.g. that the Afghan army could hold things together for months, if not years. Is this uber-personalization of the news part of the cultivation of hatefulness you describe?
Matt, I have always been ashamed of our history. I have always known we are guilty of terrible things. I am not proud to be an American. The best thing about this country is that I can say what an awful job we have done and not be jailed for it.(yet) Any advice on how to cope?
Well.....gee.....Go read the history of other countries and see how you feel!....America is the greatest country in the world....by far. Of course we have things we are not proud of....but...we have worked to overcome those inequities. "Always ashamed of our history" ??
OK...go live in any other country in the world and study their HISTORY !!
I have been ashamed of our history for as far back as I can remember. I have no idea how I can help make it better. It is so depressing. Thank you for facing facts that most of us shy away from.
Glad you're tackling this topic. Great analysis so far. I hope at some point you'll address the Jon Stewart/Daily Show phenomenon and its role. I participated in it for a time myself, but it definitely contributed to a sense of complacency among middle-of-the-road liberals who could just sit there and laugh at conservative stupidity. How common it was for peers to brag about how they got their news from the Daily Show is sickening--and all the while Stewart would claim he was just a comedy show host when criticism came his way. It completely undermined his attack on Crossfire. It contributed to the idea that you just laugh at other people's hypocrisies and feel superior to them rather than pursue justice. Near the end, when Stewart made jokes about how disappointing it was that he was leaving as Trump was starting up his campaign perfectly sums it up. Liberals had been trained to be complacent in the power of their mockery over championing candidates with substance.
Yeah - this is a side to the news media that it would be great to see Matt tackle.
As always, great work, Matt! I hope you include MSNBC's firing of Phil Donahue during the run up to the Iraq invasion (and Chris Matthews' reported role in it) as an example of networks and reporters staying within bounds in times of crisis. If memory serves, Donahue's show was the highest rated on the network the month they cancelled it and there was a memo saying they didn't want to be seen as "unpatriotic" for featuring an anti-war host. Sad act by the so-called "liberal" network. (Incidentally I first encountered Prof. Chomsky's views when he appeared on the "Pozner/Donahue show CNBC the early 90's.)
Mark,
I am going to write about that. As it happens I had several long talks about this with Jesse Ventura, who also had a show canceled at that time for the same reasons. MSNBC fired him when they found out he was against the war. He collected the entire balance of his contract and built a mansion in Baja where he still lives today. He calls it "Casa MSNBC." I'm hoping to track down Donahue as well. That was sort of a watershed moment for the network. Thanks very much for the input, and please let me know if you have any other suggestions.
Matt
"Casa MSNBC" - Love it! Thanks for the prompt reply. It reminds how much I enjoyed, and really miss, True/Slant. You and a few others there were always generous with your replies to your readers. OT- My wife says to tell you that you have an open invitation for you and yours to join us at our home for dinner whenever you you're in or near southern NJ
Great piece. Hope you'll also discuss how the size and concentration of the mass media is even so beyond what Herman and Chomsky could have imagined. The fact that only four or five companies dominate the vast majority of media is frightening.
Wow wasn't expecting that! Great work! Great job explain how they built this foundation of control. Powerful writing.
"Across the street, down the MSNBC alley, there’s an opposite story, and set of storefronts, built specifically for someone else to hear." -- you give very specific examples for how Fox inflames conservatives but then completely cop out on specific examples for the left/liberal side. I think it's more effective if you give equal examples for each to show how this is a universal dynamic. A big goal of this book should be to bust up partisan silos that the media builds up.
We seem trapped in a repetition compulsion of foolishly thinking that everything in life is an Either-or situation. One of the dumbest memes is "There are always two sides."
http://bit.ly/2yxk1IT June 21, 2018, CityWatch, The Dangers of Dichotomy: The Saved vs. The Damned
The proposition that American "mainstream" media at least in the 21st century has become or is too uncritical of US government policy pronouncements etc is, I think, eminently defensible, albeit arguable . Similarly US "new media" coverage of the 2016 election has been and will continued to be sorely criticized for many reasons. A number of noteworthy books have been published arguing "close Russian influences" were at play with the Trump campaign. Many pundits drew inferences of "actual ties" between Trump and Putin and other Russian oligarchs whose character and nature varied. This "story" has been in circulation now for nearly 3 years, and one would think sufficient time and added experience have accrued allowing the subject to "ripen", at least to the point that some sort of consensus might obtain. Then again, this topic might be of the nature that motivated Zhou Enlai to answer in the 1970s when asked what he thought might be the effects of the French Revolution, "Too early to say". In that spirit, I view the headline posted some months ago "It's official: Russiagate is this generation's WMD" with a healthy dose of skepticism. And why is that? Well, just like pronouncing the character's name "Scheherazade", it's hard to say.
Very helpful to me this outlining a cogent history of news reporting/presentation. I feel I have been in a cramped and suffocating box, trying to get a deep breath of reality for so long. Never finding anyone with whom to explore the issues and problems herein described with such care and precision.. No flexible overview that was satisfactory, where the the many disturbing pieces could connect. My father ,Bob Pauley ,was at one time President of ABC Radio Network and what you said about objectivity in the News in the 60's and other aspects feel so real to me. Your essay has illuminated and fleshed out more of what was happening and what has evolved... My first job was as an intern reporter trainee for an NBC affiliate T.V. station KSTP in St Paul. I was able to interview Seymour Hersh and some of the Chicago 8-( in between fluff stories of cats in trees and the new buffalo burger restaurant.) The tension I felt eventually erupted into a complete break with my then life. I have been through so many iterations trying to get something together as a framework. And finding some consistent and evolving confirmation. I am still working it all out. After reading your story here things fall into place more clearly. I now see that one can never escape the media influences but must find a community with which to confront the mess. Thanks for helping me heal and to connect more with others who have honed their minds and hearts and to try to reveal and unpack delusions to discover more of a true nature in our world. Thank you Matt and all related earnest folk. I plan to print out this essay and read it many times. Sincerely, Shen Pauley
Is there an audio version of this? I am trying to limit my time staring at a screen and if I listen while I work, I can pay for my subscription fee. I am posting this here because I see no other place to direct my technical suggestions. Also, I have a tip for a possible story.
Enoch, so interesting as I was just thinking about the role of Jon Stewart and his capture on so many progressive minds. I too watched and enjoyed him at the time, but upon reflection realize he absolutely was part of the divide and was brilliant at it.
Matt, your piece is so substantive, smart and well thought out. It gives me hope to see a journalist like you rise in popularity. I think you are part of the hope and the new energy coming onto this planet. Thank you so much for all your hard work and dedication to truth, critical thinking and true analysis even when it shakes or surprises your assumptions and pre-conceived notions. I learn so much from your work.
Thanks for your help in saving our Republic NOW. !! It's a horror me and for many Americans to witness what is happening today. I pray your input helps open the eyes of the ZZZZZZ or half asleep citizens ....so that they will join other patriots in the MARCH to regain the freedoms many citizens have given up without a fight!!!! Thank you for all you do to help us SAVE OUR REPUBLIC for now and forevermore!
Matt, I wonder if you have a thought about why journalists have fallen into the habit of describing every questionable military decision in terms of the sitting president. Of course he's "commander in chief," but he relies on the military and intelligence services for accurate information. Those over-optimistic generals always seem to get off without a mention of their bad advice, e.g. that the Afghan army could hold things together for months, if not years. Is this uber-personalization of the news part of the cultivation of hatefulness you describe?
A great book, read it two weeks ago. Thank you for your excellent work, and good luck to us all. :)
Matt, I have always been ashamed of our history. I have always known we are guilty of terrible things. I am not proud to be an American. The best thing about this country is that I can say what an awful job we have done and not be jailed for it.(yet) Any advice on how to cope?
Well.....gee.....Go read the history of other countries and see how you feel!....America is the greatest country in the world....by far. Of course we have things we are not proud of....but...we have worked to overcome those inequities. "Always ashamed of our history" ??
OK...go live in any other country in the world and study their HISTORY !!
You have NO IDEA what you are talking about!!
I have been ashamed of our history for as far back as I can remember. I have no idea how I can help make it better. It is so depressing. Thank you for facing facts that most of us shy away from.
Read the history of other countries before you get too ashamed of ours!!
Freedom rings from shore to shore in America! Are you free to live as you want,
to do whatever you need to do? OK.....Try that in other countries ....especially the ones who don't have the freedoms we have in America!
God Bless America!! Land that I love!!
I was wondering: did you have a discussion with your father about Manufacturing Consent?