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Identifying The Problems
The shrill one correctly identifies part of the problem:
We’re doomed.The news media seem determined to destroy the republic:
In all, 63% of the campaign stories focused on political and tactical aspects of the campaign. That is nearly four times the number of stories about the personal backgrounds of the candidates (17%) or the candidates’ ideas and policy proposals (15%). And just 1% of stories examined the candidates’ records or past public performance, the study found.And:
The press’ focus on fundraising, tactics and polling is even more evident if one looks at how stories were framed rather than the topic of the story. Just 12% of stories examined were presented in a way that explained how citizens might be affected by the election, while nearly nine-out-of-ten stories (86%) focused on matters that largely impacted only the parties and the candidates.
Krugman leaves out the most annoying of all bull**** media coverage, so called character issues.
You know what they used to call character issues? Gossip. Some enterprising piece of crap huckster producer decided that the oh-so-serious news fluffers couldn't be seen passing out gossip, so they renamed it character issues. And it's not just gossip cum character issues. values voters became the neat new label for the American Taliban rightwing lunatic fringe seeking to highjack the Consitution by abusing religion and the tenets of Christianity.
This is the technique employed by the right to give the most scurrilous accusations a patina of petty legitimacy. The braindead media aids and abets this disgusting and deceptive process by adopting the language, the frame and the narratives put forth, thereby completely legitimizing them, instead of questioning the veracity of what the frames imply.
Worse yet, they make the irrelevant, relevant, and the real information people need to make an informed decision as a voter, is completely lost and/or overlooked.
The news media: Dangerous to the Republic--now more than ever.
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Yep.
Sarkozy knew what t do
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/10/29/sarkozy-walks-out-of-60-m_n_70240.html
Good for him!!
mkh
Sarko is himself the beneficiary of American-style political campaigning.
I'm pretty sure he got a lot of help from the Republican Party.
What Casey said:
The news media: Dangerous to the Republic--now more than ever.
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Absolutely spot on!
Dwelling on stupid, gossipy non-issues for all these years has kept attention completely away from real issues such as the illegalities of Georgie's and Dickie's war in Iraq, war crimes, torture at Gitmo and elsewhere (more war crimes), and impeachment that could stop all of that if Lamestream Media - backed up by the general population, not "just" bloggers and political junkies. All the money spent on those things diverts resources away from health care, infrastructure, etc. For the cost of Georgie's war, we could have some form of sensible socialized medicine in this country that would be able to take care of everyone, kids and adults alike, with money to spare for education and infrastructure... everyone except the off-shore bank accounts of medical and pharmaceutical corporations and the executives who make millions in bonuses on top of their millionaire executive salaries, of course.
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I was thinking Sarkozy was another Georgie poodle, like Blair. The fact that Sarkozy walked out on the Stahl interview just made me slightly respect him. He has his priorities prioritized. Priceless! :-)
Oops! I needed to finish my thought: Dwelling on stupid, gossipy non-issues for all these years has kept attention completely away from real issues such as the illegalities of Georgie's and Dickie's war in Iraq, war crimes, torture at Gitmo and elsewhere (more war crimes), and impeachment that could stop all of that if Lamestream Media - backed up by the general population, not "just" bloggers and political junkies - if Lamestream Media would actually report on genuine issues, not gossip/infotainment. If Lamestream Media would "just" do their jobs and do straight reporting on issues, perhaps we'd have more knowledgeable voters going to the polls.... As is, we don't have anything to work with but "gossip issues." That's hardly being well-informed, unless one is a political junkie and searches for info on the internet.
Forget about the primaries and counting the votes and the debates and the issues:
THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA HAS DECIDED ON THE TWO PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEES:
HILLARY AND RUDY..... ( this according to Time Magazine and the Iowa Futures Traders Association which has a "good" track record of picking the winners)
Here is one of the most popular questions at 10 Questions site: