On The Media
From ink-stained wretches to eye candy and not much else. From Mr. Dooley’s, “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable” to tell them what they want to hear as long as it doesn’t afflict the comfortable. Was it the camera?
Hey, media, threatening to annex Greenland isn’t a negotiating tactic; it is straight out of the 19th century. You know, the one that saw the end of monarchies and colonialism; that WWI was fought to preserve. The one this idiot wants to take us back to. In Comparison, Reagan, with his regression to the 1950’s was a mere piker. The 12-year-old boy trying to gain attention was the story, not the acquisition of Greenland.
Why? In part because Jimmy Carter dying was about sucking up too much media attention. How dare he? How dare the media turn away from me? Don’t they know, it is all about me? After time and time, again, you guys got punked.
Other than his autocratic aspirations, he neither knows, nor cares, that monarchies, colonialism, and imperialism are of the past. Neither knows nor cares that humans are facing their greatest existential crisis. Calls Climate Change a hoax. It’s all about him; about being on the front page, on every TV Screen.
We need you guys to step up your journalism game. Remember journalism? Turn down the TV performer.
Made up for TV is now made up for politics, for the Oval Office. Don’t be his front-man. Show him from the sides and the back. Don’t let him or any other politician use you, the media. Don’t be any politician’s, any public figure’s, batman. Don’t let yourselves get punked. When you pander to them you let yourselves and the rest of us down.
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And, please don’t read us polls that tell us what we think. It’s much a part of what is making us all dizzy – a cluster-dizz (is now). Back to the basics, please. Back to, informing. Inform us so that we know enough to think. How can we think with ‘what we think’? Deliver us from the pollarization (is now).
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We need you to Inform us. That means you need to know enough about a subject to ask the right questions. Not the ones on the prompter, your notes; the ones that follow what was just said. Keep the slithy sloths on topic; elicit answers, not tropes.
It isn’t about migration. It’s about a global crisis caused by Climate Change. And, oh, by the way, Democracy trumps the price of eggs. If you must talk about the price of eggs you must tell us the why (remember the w’s!). The informing thing, again.
It should be the law that if you talk about inflation you need to know or want to find out: what’s causing the inflation at hand; about the possible causes for inflation (no bromides, please). Enlighten us.
If a politician gives you interviews because they are comfortable doing so, you are not doing your job.
All that stuff about the price of eggs reminds me it is time to take my cholesterol medication. OK, just joking. I don’t actually take cholesterol medication, but then I don’t actually eat eggs either.
The stupidity started setting in a long time ago, but it has worsened now much like climate change to a horrific problem that seems both unavoidable and existential. Collective action in the age of insular self-interest is a steep climb.
“Collective action in the age of insular self-interest is a steep climb.”
D’accord.
I don’t actually eat eggs either ~ computer programs don’t eat anything
Cassandra;
Welcome to Angry Bear.
Any questions, ask Joel or myself (when I get my computer back rather than this IPad [which I am ready to throw against the wall]).
Latest Forbes article (29th) says a long haul problem. Not enough of the abused chicken a-laying to keep up with demand. The idea of increasing prices will lower demand is not going to stymie demand or slow it.
It may cause some to quit buying (more than likely those in the lower income brackets). Demand will still remain and stabilize at a higher plateau for a long time to come. “Greed” on the part of the industrial famers will insure such practice.
I wonder if they are smart enough to act in concert?
Very little of this lines up with current media reality, unless you severely limit the sources you want to consider. It is easy to find media coverage on every point raised here that aligns with Ken’s views. Greenland, climate change, price of eggs….all of these have media coverage close to what I infer Ken thinks is best. May I be bold here and suggest a more plausible complaint than the media? A whole lot of people just don’t consume the media Ken might prefer them to.
Eric says, “A whole lot of people just don’t consume the media Ken might prefer them to.” Now we need a definition of “media.” Seems Ken is talking about, or expressing a wish for, informing, well-researched, fact-based, investigated, main-stream written and visual media. Eric’s right, very few people consume that kind of media. The reason, as Ken indicates, there is not much of that kind of media out there; and the reason for that is, there’s only a small section of the population (media market) that has the time to consume it; therefore it’s hard to make a buck with “good” media.
There is a market for lazy, quick, sound-bite media and algorithm-driven media that feeds you exactly what you want to hear or see — like a restaurant that only serves your favorite food. There’s also a market for what I would call “sneaky media.” Sinclair Broadcasting has really developed this type of media to its fullest potential. Sinclair brings conservative fabricated messaging right into your home through your local news station affiliate (NBC, ABC, CBS), and uses your local, down-home, trusted newscasters to be the setup, introduction mouthpiece. Sinclair deals with 294 stations in 89 markets and reaches 70% of the U.S. population. You don’t even have to watch Fox News, you get it through sneaky media. tinyurl.com/24dus56r. tinyurl.com/43axktck.
There’s a real challenge and business opportunity out there for some enterprising entrepreneur to develop a media forum and format with a credible, trusted source that provides fast-paced, fact-based news and information to a large portion of the U.S. population.
Until we get that new alternative, if you want to make the news and get the public’s attention, you have to figure out how to deal with the media market we have. Donald Trump knows how to get media attention and dominate the news market. Democrats have a hard time, and too often get all bogged down with facts, morality, competing views, and nuisance. It’s high time that Democrats take an introspective, deep dive into their messaging and communication techniques and begin to counter the aggressive assault on American democracy within the bounds of our existing media avenues and market. We don’t have time to wait for alternatives.
Well said. Thanks, J. P.