How the US media marginalizes dissent

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.opednews.com/articles/How-the-US-media-marginali-by-Ted-Rall-110805-19.html



Over the past few weeks, Washington has seemed dysfunctional," conservative columnist David Brooks opined recently in The New York Times. "Public disgust has risen to epic levels. Yet through all this, serious people - Barack Obama, John Boehner, the members of the Gang of Six -- have soldiered on."

Here's some of what Peter Coy of Business Week magazine had to say about the same issue: "There is a comforting story about the debt ceiling that goes like this: Back in the 1990s, the US was shrinking its national debt at a rapid pace. Serious people actually worried about dislocations from having too little government debt..."

:snip:

The American media deploys a deep and varied arsenal of rhetorical devices in order to marginalize opinions, people and organizations as "outside the mainstream" and therefore not worth listening to. For the most part the people and groups being declaimed belong to the political Left. To take one example, the Green Party -- well-organized in all 50 states -- is never quoted in newspapers or invited to send a representative to television programs that purport to present "both sides" of a political issue. (In the United States, "both sides" means the back-and-forth between center-right Democrats and rightist Republicans)

Marginalization is the intentional decision to exclude a voice in order to prevent a "dangerous" opinion from gaining currency, to block a politician or movement from becoming more powerful, or both. In 2000, the media-backed consortium that sponsored the presidential debate between Vice President Al Gore and Texas Governor George W. Bush banned Green Party candidate Ralph Nader from participating. Security goons even threatened to arrest him when he showed up with a ticket and asked to be seated in the audience. Nader is a liberal consumer advocate who became famous in the US for stridently advocating for safety regulations, particularly on automobiles.

More at the link --

[ananda]

1. Thank you. It's my experience...

... that all we get in mainstream media are views from the right
and center-right, and of course the extremist fundies and tea party.

[nc4bo]

2. Truth. Thanks for posting this article! nt

[dameocrat67]

3. The only third parties that do get representation on TV are libertarians

like Ron Paul even though they are much lower percentage of the population than green leaners.

[nc4bo]

5. He basically tows the party's line except the occasional audit the Fed statements

that slip out. He's still close enough in ideology to GOP.

Edit cause ya can't tow water :rofl:

[dameocrat67]

6. It is toe the line!

I do rhyming errors as well.

[Jackpine Radical]

7. I've always been undecided about that. Here's why--

"Toe" the line has reference to foot racing, in which everyone is supposed to put their toe on the chalk line to ensure an even start, so toeing the line means being exactly where you should be.

On the other hand, "tow" the line has reference to the old system of pulling boats up a river by means of tow ropes towed by draft animals or men. "Towing" the line in this sense means pulling one's weight, not shirking, stay9ing on the job, literally not being a slacker (allowing slack in your towline).

I think "toe" is the more standard choice, but can make a case for "tow" as well.

[nc4bo]

9. LOL - Reason #5000 why I love DU.

My reason for using "tow" was he pulls the GOP's rhetoric like the tugboat pulling a ship analogy.

Either way it's put, he's pretty consistent about it.

[RKP5637]

4. We've become like the soviet union during the cold war, except many Americans

still think we have journalistic freedom, we do, but MSM filters and blocks differing views. We're under a journalistic siege, only center R and RW views get past the blocks. RT and AJZ, for example, have become the 21st century version of voice of America IMO.

We are soooo manipulated and propagandized, and the cable companies are complicit for the most part in keeping the media center R and RW. And AM radio is just a RW spew, now same on FM.

[Jackpine Radical]

8. I've often said that the main difference between the American press & Pravda

is that the readers of Pravda knew they were being lied to.

[RKP5637]

12. Sad, isn't it, Fox News is the gospel truth to many Americans. I hear it

quoted here like Fox News was a bolt of lighting from the sky overflowing with truth and
highest integrity.
:puke:

[Donnachaidh]

11. the only fix to that is to break up the big media monopolies

I'd LOVE to see a candidate that was willing to do that!

[CTyankee]

10. John Kerry was lecturing the Morning Joe crew yesterday on this.

He really tore into the media's attempt at "balance" as if the Tea Party was carrying on a reasonable debate. I was amazed that Joe and Mika and the rest of the panel just sat there and took it.

It makes me mourn once again that Kerry lost in 2004...

[11 Bravo]

13. True, unless one is a spittle-spewing teabagger, the MSM doesn't want to hear from you.