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And a political one
I can't remember where I first came across this; it's over a week old, which is ancient in blogtime; both ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
pnh and supergee have linked to it; and it's so important that I'm linking to it anyway.
by Jamison Foser
http://mediamatters.org/items/200605260016
It is not possible to have a meaningful discussion of how to improve the world in a media landscape in which all left-leaning leaders are consistently portrayed as cowardly, boring, sex-obsessed weaklings while right-wing thugs are praised for the determination and consistency with which they shred the social contract and line their pockets. And it's doubly impossible to understand what's going on while the news media pretend that they have no role in creating the false storylines through which most Americans perceive the world.
Go, read. There's not much information in it which won't be familiar to you if you've been following the news, but the arrangement puts a stark clarity on the disgusting dereliction of duty by the Fourth Estate over the last decade.
(The Foser article was written before this week's shameful series of articles by Associated Press writer John Solomon, which tried to present Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid [D-NV] as "corrupt" for legally accepting free passes to boxing matches from the Nevada boxing commission and then voting in favor of the legislation that the commission opposed. The articles were so mendacious that they would not have been out of place on Fox or Drudge. Foser discusses those in this followup article.)
pnh and supergee have linked to it; and it's so important that I'm linking to it anyway. Media Matters
by Jamison Foser
http://mediamatters.org/items/200605260016
The defining issue of our time is not the Iraq war. It is not the "global war on terror." It is not our inability (or unwillingness) to ensure that all Americans have access to affordable health care. Nor is it immigration, outsourcing, or growing income inequity. It is not education, it is not global warming, and it is not Social Security.
The defining issue of our time is the media.
The dominant political force of our time is not Karl Rove or the Christian Right or Bill Clinton. It is not the ruthlessness or the tactical and strategic superiority of the Republicans, and it is not your favorite theory about what is wrong with the Democrats.
The dominant political force of our time is the media.
It is not possible to have a meaningful discussion of how to improve the world in a media landscape in which all left-leaning leaders are consistently portrayed as cowardly, boring, sex-obsessed weaklings while right-wing thugs are praised for the determination and consistency with which they shred the social contract and line their pockets. And it's doubly impossible to understand what's going on while the news media pretend that they have no role in creating the false storylines through which most Americans perceive the world.
Go, read. There's not much information in it which won't be familiar to you if you've been following the news, but the arrangement puts a stark clarity on the disgusting dereliction of duty by the Fourth Estate over the last decade.
(The Foser article was written before this week's shameful series of articles by Associated Press writer John Solomon, which tried to present Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid [D-NV] as "corrupt" for legally accepting free passes to boxing matches from the Nevada boxing commission and then voting in favor of the legislation that the commission opposed. The articles were so mendacious that they would not have been out of place on Fox or Drudge. Foser discusses those in this followup article.)