Sowell: Media Fraud

http://www.capitalismmagazine.com/2001/december/ts_media_fraud.htm ^ | 12/19/01 | Thomas Sowell

[meyer]

Another good one by Sowell. He's a spark of honesty in an otherwise dark profession.

[Travis McGee]

bttt

[KC_for_Freedom]

But, in a country where the masses choose their leaders and influence policies, a fraudulent press can mislead the voters into national disaster.

But I thought it was their "right" to have free speech and tell us what ever they think will lead us to their solution: Socialism. Now if we protest they all are hurt and whiny.

[alloysteel]

Perhaps the most effectual tactic by the Bush Administration was to keep the perpetrators of such media fraud from having much access to the developing situations in the attacks on the Taliban and al-Qaeda. If they cannot get close enough to the action to be credible, they are left with second- and third-hand accounts, when factual information is already out there, and it is much more difficult to twist the meaning of what has happened.

Unlike Viet Nam, when the inevitable reverses that occur in war time were reported immediately, in your living room for the 6 PM news every day, advances or retreats are only made known when success was already assured, and the objectives secured. When this country acquires a politically reliable print and electronic reporting, with media members who know and understand the ethics of war, they may once again accompany our troops, being the witnesses to history as it unfolds. Until then, they are limited to being news-release readers.

[Jean S]

I think this answers your question:

By itself, there is nothing wrong with this. It becomes a problem when media bias becomes media fraud. Media bias in editorials and columns is one thing. Media fraud in reporting "facts" in news stories is something else.

Sowell admits his bias and he doesn't pretend to be a news reporter.

[Waco]

Evidence, (if any) indicates the church burnings were mostly by democrats. How? In many cases solved, it was done by one of the church persons. Blacks are said to be 90% demo supporters. Most cases were in the south. 70-80% demo here. (They like to claim). That makes demos the winners, I'd say, Gomer. Wouldn't want that noised around too much tho, would we?

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Is Sowell the media?

"The media" is a difficult thing to get your hands around. I like to define more specific terms:

-Journalism, which is the nonfiction entertainment format which relies on short deadlines (and thus of superficial writing) as a critical element of its ability to attract attention.

-Commentary, which is editorials and other admittedly opinion-based discussion

Commentary declares (or at least invites the reader to learn) its perspective. Journalism declares, falsely, that it has no perspective. The perspective of journalism is anticonservatism.

[savagesusie]

Sowell admits his bias and he doesn't pretend to be a news reporter

I have been a long time fan of this man! He says it like it is and he is extremely knowledgeable!

[Rudder]

Economics is a dark profession?

[meyer]

Economics is a dark profession?

Perhaps I should have worded it differently. I was speaking of the media in general when I spoke of the "dark profession", not economics. I realize that Sowell is an economics professor, but I didn't mean to imply anything about economics.

I read Sowell often. His column shows up here about once a week. While more than half the columnists are pretty far to the left, Sowell stays the course of common sense.

[Freedom'sWorthIt]

"a fraudulent press can mislead the voters into national disaster."

I would suggest not only "can" but "has" led America into national disaster in the case of the Clinton Crime Gang and its responsibility, culpability, for the Sept 11th attack on our nation and the deaths of thousands of innocent Americans. As horrible as that is, however, the holacaust of the abortion deaths of innocent babies - in the multiplied millions - the fraudulent press has its hands quite bloody in that disaster as well - refusing to print the truth about abortion and the risks to women in that "PROCEDURE" all the while purporting to be supporting of "women's rights" - but denying women the fundamental right to KNOW everything they risk and everything they will experience by undergoing that procedure and ending the life of their unborn child! Disaster is an understatement for what has occurred and what is going to occur due to the active determined fraud of those who operate the press. Why can they not be sued for fraud?????

[reloader]

Your source link is screwed up

[2-in-Texas]

I can't believe that Democrats make up anywhere near 70% of the South. Not according to recent demographics for sure, or at least what I've seen. Seems to me the Dems are now concentrated in the northeast and west coast, and the rest of the country is pretty well blended.

[copycat]

bttt

[Scarlet Pimpernel]

"Until then, they are limited to being news-release readers."
And we are left to learn what the government wants us to know, when they want us to know it.
I'm sorry, but I'd rather give the 90% of leftist journalists their way than prevent the 10% of the rest from reporting the truth. It is possible to sort the good from the bad (FR is proof of that), but only if there is some truth to be had.

[Scarlet Pimpernel]

It is easy to mislead people who have their eyes tighly closed.
The fact is that Americans did not WANT to see what was plainly there. They still don't.

[FreedomPoster]

Your rant seems to imply that too few are voting. I believe the opposite; too many, especially the totally unqualified, are voting, leading us to have too many politicians giving the masses bread and circuses - out of the pockets of the producer class. The politicians are also enriching themselves in the process.

Where it all ends is financial collapse and totalitarianism. It isn't pretty.