And also, you LOATHE doing something, you ARE LOATH to do something.

I’d sue.

Love,

Hanna

As for changing the consumers, in which incarnation?

It worked. It’s Newman’s Organic Fair Trade French Roast, incidentally.

The post I lost was an attempt to acknowledge Emmarie’s point, which is well taken, but Bill Moyers did give one hell of a speech in Anheuser-Buschville this past weekend.

It is a Cheneying conspiracy involving very, very large amounts of money by people who know how to exploit the weaknesses inherent in the commercial nature of the media and our society.

So back to Emmarie’s point - gotta change the consumers. Hooo-aaahhh (or however it’s spelled).

PIVDL,
I do enjoy providing the set-up sometimes, especially if the follow-up comes from the bottom of the other side of the planet. I’m old enough that this is all still a bit amazing.

My post went Lobster-knows-where and an FBI warning style message came up that I wasn’t Java scripted or something. Java is coffee, and I have coffee.

This is a test just to see what the hell happens, since I’ve been posting away without having a clue what all the stuff about Java script, etc., means.

So here’s what I say. Acknowledge that while the media are generally trying to report truth, t they are also trying to make money. So often we (and I’m not sure exactly who I mean here) talk about this as if it’s a bad thing. Maybe it’s not. Maybe it’s just a thing. And maybe if we stop attributing problems in reporting to that thing, we can do something more constructive. Like blaming the consumers instead. Yeah, that’s constructive…

Anyway, my point is that we (again, the vast “we” of the world) blame something that’s not going to change and maybe isn’t all that bad. After all, how many stations do you want to have to support yourself?

Sorry, I channeled Scotty for a minute there. I miss his insightful comments.

On a less hilarious note… Isn’t it funny (funny peculiar, not funny Felber) that once again we try honestly to figure out what’s not right about this whole issue, and lying cold and slimy at the bottom of the barrel is…. bu$ine$$. (Thanks, Steve!)

I don’t have any problems with earning a buck, but I prefer to a) do it honestly, 2) do it in a way that is at least minimally sustainable (for me and my customers), and iii) not aimed at making me rich at the expense of The Great Unwashed. To deny someone medical assistance (directly or indirectly) on the basis of what profit figures are desired seems to me almost as bad as presenting “news” based on what will sell to the greatest market share.

But then again, maybe that’s just my felonious past…

I’m about halfway through the book and though I cannot wholeheartedly agree with some of the conclusions he makes in the foreign policy domain, which seem to have a whiff of xenophobia about them, and his apparent adulation of Ronald Reagan, who he claims “won” the cold war, makes my toes itch, he certainly knows his business as a working reporter.

The problem is not so much that the newspapers and networks are full of lies but that they’re full of crap. “News You Can Use“, the latest diet fad, and, of course, the celebrity trial du jour have replaced any reportage of substance.

All of this nonsense, of course, is framed by a slavish devotion not to public service but to the bottom line. I don’t think there’s any “vast left|right wing conspiracy”. There’s a vast conspiracy led by the MBAs and accountants in the executive suites of the networks who only know how to read a profit and loss statement that have replaced people who knew how to read world events.

It’s sad and I’m not particularly sanguine about the future for our nation and the world in general because of this.

By the way, I love the new live preview feature. Way cool. I’ll trot over to the other thread now and laud my fullsome praise on the web/blogmeister.

Seriously, it is a problem when the MSM becomes the story and not the facts or lack of them. This whole Newsweek fiasco is a case in point. Was Newsweek wrong? Yes. Does that mean Newsweek is always wrong? No. Reporters do the best (hopefully) they can and admit when they make mistakes- unlike the administration. But the unwashed masses don’t see the difference and, due to all the diatribes, thinks the MSM is always wrong.

The loyal opposition needs to oppose the message, not the messenger.