Don't Give Up on the Media

[bonemachine]

Could you guys help me out. I too have felt the "bush is unbeatable" push coming out of the media, but I need specific examples to show to others who are questioning it's existence...

[KC21304]

1. Can't say I have experienced this " Bush is unbeatable" push.

I wouldn't believe it if I did see it.

[bonemachine]

2. I'm referring to this article

http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/04/01/07_media.html

By relentlessly proclaiming that Bush is unbeatable in the 2004 election, the media is attempting to foist a self-fulfilling prophecy upon the public. This must be forcefully resisted. Bush can, in fact, be beaten, and if such a belief and resolution is widely accepted, the overthrow of the House of Bush evolves from possibility, to probability, to near inevitability. In politics, perception is reality.

[KissMyAsscroft]

3. Watch CNN for five minutes..

nt.

[Zeke]

4. Yea, Verily...

KissMyAsscroft speaks wisdom.

And I remind: BUSH LOST IN 2000!!!!!

He was NEVER elected President; was appointed.

[bonemachine]

5. That was my reply as well

...but it doesn't really go over very well with people who disagree with me. I need specific examples of a pro-Bush bias...

[Zeke]

6. Are You New To the USA?

Try watching FAUX News for about one minute, and you'll catch on.

[necso]

7. Most of it is subtle.

Whenever the media trumpets things that look good for Bush (like poll results), puts a positive spin on things, repeats administration propaganda or covers up the negative they are implicitly saying: "Things are Good, Bush is Good, Reelect the Good."

Whenever the media hypes the terror they are implicitly saying "The times are dangerous, no sense taking any chances, reelect Bush."

And of course there are all those right wing shows, the dominance of administration hypsters on "neutral" talk shows and the undue respect paid by nearly all of the media to these transparent frauds and liars.

A good example is the economy. The "good" news is hyped day after day, hour after hour. The stock market is up, retail sales are up. But how about the other side of the coin. The government has pumped trillions of dollars (debt financed) into the economy and the results are tepid in terms of the well being of the average Joe. Interest rates are being held at artificial lows and the dollar is being devalued in a scary way (Check out stock market values in Euros.) Inflation (food, fuel, housing) is raging and the government refuses to acknowledge this, much less do anything about it. Jobs are not being created in large numbers and the long term costs of all this will be great.

Yet all we hear is "The stock market is doing great". So what, and how long will it last? And while everybody knows that the Fed will not raise interest rates this year (at least not much) because they are partisan hacks, what is the outlook when they do? What is the outlook when this government which has already used every means to get so little results, confronts the next inevitable crisis, one of their own making? What happens when all the bills come due, when the debt cannot be financed and when the world loses faith in American fiscal responsibility? What happens then?

I think it was Krugman who said something to the effect that: "If Bush said the world was flat, the media would say: 'Bush says the world is flat; Others disagree.'"

By not pointing out that the world is not flat, the media is giving credibility to the fraudulent.

How are the people to take this as anything other than support for the ongoing fraud.

Now combine the optimistic spin on the economy, the "improving conditions in Iraq" and how the "war" on terror has been confused with Iraq along with the repeated hammering of the message that the Democrats will only beat Bush based on bad things happening in Iraq, in the war on terror and in the economy and you have the message "Bush is Unbeatable". (Oops almost left this out.)

[Zeke]

8. How about this?

For eight years all we heard about was Clinton's penis, that he ran a murderous sydicate drug ring in Arkansas, that his wife was lesbian, that his daughter was a dog, that Clinton murdered Vince Foster, was impeached for adultery, and on and on...

Bush: draft dodger, alcohilc, drunk driver, failed every business he tried, and such stories ran only inthe Boston Globe, and ZERO OTHER NEWS MEDIA picked it up or mentioned it.

Watch any of "press conferences" and see how reportes ask him nothing---nothing!

[bonemachine]

11. Problem is

It's a lot harder to call peoples attention to a lack of something than it is if you can give them specific examples of something... Bias by omission is certainly real, but very hard to quantify...

[necso]

12. Subtle manipulations are what (first rate) marketing is all about.

What is going on is rather like using sex to sell cars (and everything else).

No car ad (or other ad that I have seen) states: "Hey use this product and you will get lots of sex." Yet this is often the message that advertisers seek to convey and it works.

Demand for most things is created. People have no innate desire for SUV's, tummy-kathumpers, or tons of other junk, rather they are made to want it. (Of course people have huge drives for self gratification, sex, etc and this is channeled by marketeers.)

Likewise people are subtly being made to want and expect a Bush victory. Although practically ubiquitous, this campaign is subtle and hard to see. For while the people running this country do not understand economics, science, military strategy, history, foreign relations, etc, etc, they sure understand marketing. It (and huge financing by extremists, greedbags and pseudo-religious money-changers) is how they got where they are.

Keep in mind that many of the players are not acting consciously. The bushies have hammered media entites that do not play along and rewarded those that do. "Anchors" and "reporters" smile and put out whatever tripe they are handed. "Talking empty heads" spew the same garbage as their peers. "Conventional wisdom" is just another name for ignorance and lack of vision. Everybody says and does what everybody else is doing. But make no mistake, at the top(s) there are very real and very active manipulators, both in government and in major media.

[bonemachine]

13. Without concrete examples

those who disagree with us can simply accuse us of pattern finding. We need to be able to demonstrate this better. Does anyone have a link to that Brookings Institute study from right after the 2000 election on media bias Bush vs Gore?

[necso]

14. Are you sure it is Brookings?

I seem to find references for both the Project for Excellence in Journalism and the Center for Public Affairs but no Brookings when I search for these studies.

Don't expect to convince many people with facts though. I used to be a repug and it is rule number one to hold to the party line in the face of any and all facts.

Best.

[bonemachine]

15. Not really sure

Mark Crispin Miller references it here

[necso]

16. I can' t really find anything at brookings except.

http://www.brookings.edu/gs/research/projects/hessreport/transcripts_week4.htm

Frankly their website is pretty sucky and it is slow. I looked around and searched and could find nothing better. Nor have web searches helped.

This reference ain't much. However the other two reports I mentioned are hated by the repugs, so are probably pretty good.

See if you can email Miller or Brookings and get the reference. Maybe he made a mistake.

You are right in that any actual study showing media bias is important and we should all be on the same page about it.

Best.

[bonemachine]

20. Yeah

I suppose I should do that. I'm just fucking sick today, and feeling kinda lazy

[DarkSim]

18. wow. What a statement

I'm not sure it went quite like that but ill agree anyways.

[Eric J in MN]

9. Trent Lott was the great success. Liberals took something he said

Trent Lott was the great success. Liberals took something he said on C-Span which implied he condoned segregation, posted it on blogs and wrote letters-to-the-editor about it until Lott resigned from the position of Senate Majority Leader.

We have to be on the lookout for something despicable Bush says, and then similarly publicize it through blogs and letters-to-the-editor.

Even poliitical shows with a rightwing bias are looking for something to fill time with.

[necso]

10. Except

The Bushies were happy to get Lott out, so as to put someone more radical in his place.

If Bush's many outrageous actions aren't enough to bring him down, then what chance is there that a few words will.

Of course, we can hope.

[DarkSim]

17. BBC

As a cure i suggest you watch every "hard talk" you can on BBC.


Try going to http://www.bbcworld.co.uk

That should get rid of you're "Bush is unbeatable" thing.

[bonemachine]

19. I know how to surf for news

...what I'm trying to find is some specific examples of a pro-Bush bias that I can use to convince moderates.