A few thoughts on the (broken, shallow, “both sides,” false equivalence, sensationalistic, constantly using right-wing framing) media this morning, courtesy of David Rothkopf, Simon Rosenberg, Oliver Willis and Dean Baker.
“Some mornings, I just can’t. I don’t have the patience to read the ‘news.’ Today, my special problem are stories that are written as though they are about someone or something but are actually about the media, the reporters writing them.
Examples include an NYT story today saying that @VP is ‘struggling’ to define herself–when what she is struggling against is unfair coverage and false narratives about her that are perpetuated by the media itself.
We also have a WaPo story saying Americans don’t believe Biden has gotten much done during his first 2 years in office. Since it’s a provable fact he has gotten a historic amount done, this is actually a story about media failure written as though its about a Biden failure.
We also have multiple stories about the China balloon story impacts the president and/or US policy when a huge percentage of that story is media hype of an otherwise not terribly significant event. The formula is the same in each case.
The media creates a false or deceptive narrative then writes a story about the consequences of the narrative as though it played no part in creating the circumstances about which it was reporting. I have to believe we can do better.”
“Inflation! Recession! Balloon! Fentanyl! The Border! Hunter’s laptop! China! CRT! Antifa! Debt! Our national discourse has become a never ending stream of red wavy right wing bullshit. Media has to get better at not taking the bait, recognizing the bad faith behind it all.
Here’s a short take on why all of us on the center-left need to become information warriors. Together, we have to get louder. We cannot let the right dominate our discourse every day. Do watch, join us in being an info warrior for our democracy!”
its not all their fault but sorry, a media infrastructure that spends more time on amplifying bluster about a balloon than a massive construction law that is remaking transportation in every state in the country (among other things) is a part of why this is like this https://t.co/SyZc4rZbry
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) February 6, 2023
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