Posted on 11/22/2016 12:39:51 AM PST by Gargantua
For the first few decades of my life, almost all of the news received by the American public came either from newspapers, the radio, or from one of 2-or-3 major Network television news stations. Nobody questioned the news back then, and the media was a reliably faithful watchdog on our Halls of Power and the pols who roamed them within the Beltway.
This 2016 election cycle, all that changed in significant ways. One major party candidate for president decided to circumvent the historical avenues of public address, going around, over and under the usual news organs to speak directly to the American People using rallies, Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, etc. Suddenly The Press had no control over the conversation. Of considerably more concern, our Fourth Estate, the vaunted and once-honorable “Press” became our “Fifth Column,” an element of subversion, throwing journalistic ethics and centuries of accepted norms of reportage out the window in favor of openly advocating for one candidate over the other.
For icing on this nasty cake, a hue and cry now rises from The Media for new measures to ensure that “fake news reports” cease to plague our social media platforms.
Right. Our clever and well-intended leaders have decided that people posting “fake news” on social media is a threat to our Republic. Meanwhile, we ignore the fact that nearly all our lapdog news organs spent the past year aggressively sowing so many false narratives that it was hard to keep up with them all; “Trump is way behind Clinton…” “Trump is a joke” “Trump is a racist-fascist-xenophobe-predator” “Trump hates women” “Trump just cannot win…” “Trump hates Mexicans-Muslims-Asians-Blacks” “Trump has no path to 270…” etc., etc, etc. Pretty discouraging for Team Trump, huh? Suffice to say there is some seriously rich irony in these folks worrying that false news might have swayed this election
All the major outlets are practically delirious to tell you how many hours of “free press” they gave Trump. They forget to mention that well over 90% of that “news” was negative and decidedly left-leaning. The Clinton Cabal, including the Media talking heads and Hillary surrogates, did such a good job of convincing the public that Trump is a perverted monster who eats babies, we now have a swath of the population who live in fear of his victory. And not because of anything that Trump did. The Media and the Clinton Cabal fabricated this monster, albeit unsuccessfully, and they now want to remove our ability to speak truth to their deceitful power.
We’re supposed to get all puckered-up over ordinary people tweeting and posting things that may be false, but the Major News outlets whom we trust for accurate and fairly reported information are allowed to spin, advocate and directly lie to America, yet not a single word is mentioned about the dire need to rein-in this run-amok bastard of blatant hypocrisy. This type of misbehavior by the complicit media during a presidential election is high treason against America. It is this treachery that must be stopped, not the free exchange of ideas between people on the internet.
How about not hectoring Joe Blow about his Facebook opinions, and instead making certain that the professional, paid reporters stop screwing over conservative America with their RICO-conspired DNC-lie-slanted Pravda-esqe propagandizing?
Our coastal cognoscenti and Hollyweird gitterati, the D.C. denizens and Big Apple Media mavens would do well to learn something from all of this. We, the people are no longer your puppets to jerk around, nor will we ever be again. We are on to you. You do not fool us. You no longer control us. You would do well to fear us, for without us, you cease to exist.
The Media would do well to constrain your worst selves in order that you continue to be allowed your special press privileges and protections. These will henceforth be offered to only those News outlets which will openly acknowledge, recognize, and honor all that this sacred public contract implies. The world is changing rapidly. Many will get left behind. Your fate is in your wretched hands. What is not yours to control any more is our Voice.
We’ll decide if and when and how to use that. You might have noticed that this was already the case… if you had simply bothered to look
. Don’t waste your time and ours fretting that some individuals may post inaccurate facts or unpleasant opinions on social media. That’s Free Speech, and you better pray we keep it. For once it is gone, so are all of you.
Can you hear me now?
When the Democrats get control of Congress again (I hope that’s a long time from now, but history says otherwise) they will come after the internet with everything they’ve got.
Let’s make sure that that’s a long time coming...
Bookmarking
In the ‘30’s we had “The War of the Worlds”.
200 years prior to that it was “A Modest Proposal”.
I’m surprised they are just getting around to this now. Of course, the internet also brings out the truth with just a little bit of leg work.
The other day there was an image at a gas station saying “Anti-Trump protesters burn homeless vet”. It was at a gas station, no protest, seemed a bit odd. Two minutes later I found out it was from a couple of years ago.
My kid just told me “Mexico built a wall across the border with Guatamala.” Hmm - that sounds like a large project for a piss-poor country. Turns out it is false. HOWEVER, it also came up on the web that a major Mexican newspaper IS saying that a wall should be built!
By that time, it will be too late or what is now the party will be hanging n a wall like a safari trophy for all to remember.
I dunno. Can we? Maybe you should count cadence for us, so we’ll know when to breathe.
Bestees! Thx for being there....
In my lifetime the major media has never been a reliable or faithful watchdog.
Well, the media can’t be trusted so what difference does it make?
Good, except that the author characterizes the media as having been a faithful watchdog until this election. They haven’t been a faithful watchdog in decades.
I remember when we first moved to Maryland in 1984, I was shocked that the Baltimore Sun endorsed candidates. It did not matter to me that I mostly supported those candidates; the fact that a news organization that was only supposed to report was attempting to influence the election. It was then that I truly became aware of the bias in the media.
It is long past time for the media to get its comeuppance. It has been fun to watch.
Hypocrisy defined.
No, it didn't.
Everything the news was doing this election they have been doing since the 1930's. And an argument can be made that they were doing it long before then.
What happened is that we finally got someone else who was good at going around the media to address the nation directly.
I recall the pre election KellyAnne Conway interview on CNN by Jake Tapper. He treated her rudely in a manner he never would have treated a Hillary advocate. CNN was very slimy, and I would never trust them.
Sadly, I don't see the mainstream media changing.
CNN should lose all of its government “contracts” - State Department subsidies to a media outlet, really?
Nobody questioned the news back then, and the media was a reliably faithful watchdog
This is blatantly false. My parents and millions of others would point out the bias and false premise and lies of Edward R Murrow and his era. Likewise the era of Walter Cronkite was filled with bias, false premise and lies.
The most common bias of the media is the 50s was that the government MUST solve all problems. The lack-of-bias was whether the Eastern Republican solution or the Democrat solution was best.
We don’t need “professional paid reporters”.
We can bypass them completely.
Not needed.
Citizen journalists are doing the job that needs to be done and we need more citizen journalists.
It is true that Cronkite, et al, were probably just as biased back then, It's just that, back then, people had no alternative. We do now.
The internet is truly the Great Equalizer.
FReep ON!!!!!!
I don't doubt that the battle will be engaged, but it will be brief, and we already know who wins. IMHO.
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