~~might be~~ is
this post was submitted on 02 Jan 2025
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politics
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Y'all should watch some Fox News. Really. Not just memes, quips and quick video grabs. It's hard to overstate what we're up against.
If you have some education in journalism and psychology, the propaganda isn't subtle at all. But how many people have taken classes like that?
If you think you're too smart to fall for Fox News, remember, lemmy is in no way a representative human cross section. If you're reading this you are far more likely to be educated, and far more likely to be above average IQ. Not trying to be snotty, but the uneducated and stupid usually don't find there way into spaces like this, or they don't stay.
Did you know that they rarely tell an outright lie? They'll let their guests do so, and leave it hanging unquestioned. But sometimes they do push back on bullshit! Just enough push back to lend an air of impartiality. One time at a round-table, one of the Fox guys YELLS out and slams the table, "Obama's a racist!" The other presenters looked at him like, "Uh, a bit much bro?" But no one said a word back at him.
Almost everything said is true. But it's painfully obvious how they inject bias. I was the high school paper co-editor, took a bit of journalism in college. It's really, really hard to write an article with zero bias. I'm trained to spot it. Give me 10-minutes of any given Fox news segment and I will shred it. How many people were trained like I was? Damned few, and that's how they get away with it, 1,000 tiny cuts that you won't even notice.
Google their presenters. Hot, young(ish) blondes and middle-aged white guys. The women are just old enough to not be taken for kids and the men are young enough to not look like geezers. A couple of token minorities sprinkled in to, again, appear impartial. Notice that the rare minority presenter get no real air time. It's obvious as hell once you see them all. Blondes and old guys.
They repeat what they want you to hear ad naseum. But sometimes it's reversed! During the Obama administration they said "Obama" so many times I wanted to fucking scream. They tossed a rare "President Obama", but it was otherwise, "Today Obama, Obama, OBAMA, Mr. Obama, OBAMOMAMMA, OBAMA..." After a week, I hated Obama.
Perhaps more telling is what they don't report. Guess where the news was non-existent to painfully thin on 01/06? Fox was in total damage control mode. Even Carlson was trying to call Trump to end it. Imagine the panic as thousands of right-wingers stormed the Capital of the United States of America. Imagine trying to spin that!
Remember the Snowden leaks and when we all found out the government was spying on us? This was headline news all over the planet. I was forced to watch Fox for a solid week. Not one single mention. Why not? Fuck I know, they could have pointed the finger directly at Obama. Anyone know?
There's plenty more, like the token Democrat who gets to speak, but doesn't get to the really hammer-down points vs. the better looking, better presenting Republican. It goes on and on, and it's worse than you think.
My most vivid memories of Fox News were when the GWB administration was trying to build a case against Iraq, especially following 9/11. When it reached its boiling point and GWB called a press conference, I knew he was declaring war. The rhetoric had done its job.
Fox News talking heads later confirmed that they were receiving talking points from the White House during that era. It hasn’t ended.
Almost everything said is true.
Gods this part is awful. It's the tan suit/coffee salute/mustard bullshit. Yes. Obama did wear a tan suit, saluted marines (I think getting in Marine One), and ordered Dijon mustard on a sandwich. All true. Yet that's where it stopped and the rest was just biased trash dragging him for all the usual suspects of right wing hysteria.
This is what drives some of the anti-vax idiots. They are spoon fed studies or data that is usually factual alongside commentary and analysis that at best is described as "uneducated". I know one such idiot that can't understand proportions or rates. He was fed a study by his handlers of choice that showed 70% of covid deaths at some hospital were among vaccinated people. He reasoned that he'd rather be on the 30% side of that equation. He didn't care that over 90% of the population at that time was vaccinated and those vaccinations targeted elderly and other risky groups more likely to die. He couldn't understand that having 90% of a population vaccinated would result in those covid deaths being 90% vaccinated if it was truly ineffectual. Bro just kept bro-ing out with the "you can't argue with the numbers!" spiel.
Had to stay at home with parents during COVID quarantine w/ Fox News on almost 24/7, you're absolutely right. Also the "token democrat" is so biased to agree with soft conservative points, it's frustrating how many people fall for that trick.
Tulsi Gabbard rode that train all the way to the UN
I can’t watch it for the very reason you specify that the truth is distorted. The nuance and analysis are all one sided, deliberately omitting any depth or critical thought regarding the issues, and all designed to incite righteous anger. Yes, it’s the truth, but it’s not the whole truth, and sometimes it’s not even the objective truth.
Part of the problem is pay-gating fact based media, while right wing propaganda is wide open.
https://intpolicydigest.org/how-paywalls-are-making-us-dumber/
“The truth is paywalled, but the lies are free”
I've often wondered what can be done about this. It's accepted that good journalism is expensive- crews need to document, reporters need to travel, interview and investigate, writers have to write and editors need to edit. Nobody works this hard for free.
But now we're also collectively showing we don't want to pay for subscriptions, we don't want to see ads, and we definitely want the fourth column to remain independent from government funding. Effectively there are no revenue streams available that work for these organizations.
Meanwhile AI slop, propagandists and trolls are more than happy to keep publishing because they don't have the overhead of investment in truth. It seems like the ultimate lose situation and truthful, fact based reporting will eventually die completely.
we definitely want the fourth column to remain independent from government funding
“among rich countries, the United States is a biiiiiiiiig outlier [in per capita spending on public broadcasters]”
“Germany spends $142.42 per person on its public media. Norway spends $110.73, Finland $101.29, Denmark $93.16. Leave Scandinavia for Western Europe and you see the U.K. at $81.30, France at $75.89, and Spain at $58.25. Heading a bit east? The Czech Republic’s at $60.08, Estonia $55.70, and Lithuania $32.71.
Only trust the Anglosphere? Try Australia $35.78, New Zealand $26.86, or Canada $26.51. How about Asia? Japan spends $53.15, South Korea $14.93. Africa? Botswana’s at $18.38, Cabo Verde $15.22.
And then there’s the United States — which spends $3.16, per person, per year, on public broadcasting.”
Fund PBS and NPR.
Man, thanks for these numbers. It just confirms my stance that America is not a country. It's a for-profit company that hates its employees.
Canada could do better, and is tumbling down the right-wing shit hole as we speak.
Damn, I donate $5/m for PBS Passport but had no idea the US general funding was that relatively low. Appreciate the perspective.
I think public funding with independent editorial control is the way to go. It's not perfect by any means but it's the best we have.
Funding should be tied to ethical journalism practices. Editorial content clearly separated from news, sourced facts, clear conflict of interest statements, equal time for opposing views, and corrections should be prompt and obvious.
equal time for opposing views
Regarding this you have to be careful to avoid false balance. Someone posted this image recently:
https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/pictrs/image/4f42cdbc-ca5e-4327-9237-3d6278e43dc3.webp
Sometimes one side is not equal to another.
Yeah, it's not a clear cut policy. It could also force a news org to dig up a crazies that support racial segregation or ethnic cleansing. I would only expect "equal time" to apply to more op-ed type pieces, so someone like Tucker Carlson wouldn't get an entire hour to himself. Those programs could still exist just not as a community-funded venture.
I have no journalism background so I'm just spitballing.
I’ve wondered the same thing. I never minded ads on news articles as long as they were along the side and out of the way of what I was reading. After they started pushing the ads that spring up in the middle of the text I was reading and click-jacked a few times, I switched over to an ad blocker and never looked back. Good journalism needs to be monetized in some way, but I’m not adding another monthly subscription for a single news source and I’m not reading articles from a source that prioritizes the ads over their content the way they have been. I don’t know how we go back from here.
It’s accepted that good journalism is expensive
No. It isn't.
Even on The Left we are full of people who shit on news outlets endlessly and "help" by pulling stuff out of ad walls or to reproduce everywhere.
And the moment they see something they don't want to? Personal attacks, accusations that journalists are shills, etc. Let alone if a news outlet decides they don't want to risk persecution when they know nobody has their backs.
This battle is more or less lost. But the only hope is to push back against all the "all of this is just clickbait" stupidity and discourage people from pulling those articles out of the ad and pay walls.
Behind the Bastards does a great podcast about that. Called "How Conservatism Won".
It was an incredibly interesting piece about how Think Tanks are behind the shit show you see before us today. A literal playbook shadow written by a future supreme court justice nominated by Tricky Dick Nixon. It was well worth a listen much like most of BtB stuff is.
Might?!
a hug majority of americans refuse to learn of how people like murdoch have been fucking over the anglosphere; so you have to be patient with people just now starting to question this decades long anticipated conclusion.
It predates Murdoch. Not to downplay him. There are plenty of valid criticism of Vladimir Lenin and acolytes, as well as their imperialistic annexation of much of eastern Europe. But the red scare was/is used to unjustly smear all the non Lenin aligned left. And set the groundwork for Murdoch. He'd be much lesser in its absence.
Feels like less people are questioning it, honestly. I’ve been politically observant for over 20 years now and this is as bad as I can remember.
As someone who's got a little more than a decade on you in this instance. In some ways it's worse. Some ways it's better. A lot of the ways where it seems worse is just so much of it is out in the open. It's not new. But people could ignore it.
It's like all the rubes that think that since we've suddenly started being aware of autism. That somehow autism rates have exploded in recent years and it must be some nefarious plot. Rather than we didn't have good definitions and diagnosis of it previously and a lot of it went undiagnosed.
All these fascists and Nazis didn't pop fully formed from nothing. They've ALWAYS been here.
And while the right wing consolidation of mass media is worse now than ever. The internet has also given leftist spaces more reach and accessibility. Which is good. Though not without problems of it's own. As many latch on to violent oppressive nominally left wing ideologies. Seeking simple solutions to complex problems.
It's easy to become overwhelmed, numb, and detached. Make no mistake, we've got years of what should have been an avoidable shit storm coming. But the thing to consider. Whether you're an easily manipulated, bigoted, or xenophobic right winger/conservative or a staunch lefty. We all agree that government isn't serving us. And more and more of these manipulated conservatives are starting to realize that these corporations etc are the enemy. It's why the recent assassination struck a chord. The more of them that break and wake up. The more we reach. The more perilous the wealthy's position gets. The more possible change becomes. There doesn't have to be violence. Unfortunately there will be violence. But once the wealthy think there is a real possibility. They could face repercussions. Change will happen.
agreed and it's probably why this sort of slop has extended beyond the anglosphere into the rest of the european cultures as evidenced by france & germany's lurch to the far right election victories.
Terminal means fatal, hopefully that's not a certainty yet.
I’m aware of what terminal means, we’ve been that since 2016
Do not despair. Nothing in politics is permanent. It may be difficult but we can solve this together. Be sure to read this article to the end where it has the calls to action. Those are all good ideas. In addition I want to mention:
One thing everyone should do is vote in every election, even local elections.
Also specifically for when it mentions public funding try calling your representative and asking for this. It does matter.
In addition also work to defund right wing propaganda by calling advertisers and urge them to stop advertising on Fox and other right wing stations. Also if you have a TV subscription make sure the package doesn't include Fox News. If it's impossible to remove Fox News call the company and ask for a no Fox option. If enough people call they may one day offer it. This step is important because Fox News gets most of its money from carriage fees.
In addition boycott Twitter/X and also Meta (Facebook/Instagram/Threads) and switch to Mastodon and Bluesky. Make sure your friends do the same.
Media literacy defeats propaganda, and that’s why we’ll always have to fight to get it, or even hear about it.
It's been a problem since Van Buren
Quality article. Worth the read
Honestly if you fall for right wing propaganda I consider you a lost cause as a human. It's really not hard to see through even as a child. If you don't have the cognitive reasoning to figure it out I don't trust your day to day decision making.
America's left wing propaganda is right wing propaganda and the greatest trick foisted on us since the 20s is thinking we're not.
Oh say can you see By the dawn's fading light
The remains of your land
And the cruise missiles fly Through the ---------- sky
You stood up to the commies While the rest of us died
Oh say can you see by the star spangled banner
This is not a test
Wake up America and Be a good American and Buy American Pledge your next car to be American
Oh what a bunch of shit Nazi propaganda Thanks to crap like that I've got a cruise missile in my backyard
Wake up America and Be a good American and Buy American Pledge your next car to be American
Oh what a bunch of shit Nazi propaganda Thanks to crap like that I've got a cruise missile in my backyard
And the land of the free And the home of the brave