“The Media is Corrupt.” “The Media is Rigged.”
How dangerous of a statement is this? It's all just words right? No harm done. I mean most liberals have been saying Fox"News" is slanted for years. It's been the topic of many Saturday Night Live skits for years, but now the shoe may be on the other foot and people are getting up in arms about it.
[Monday] night Donald Trump whipped his crowd into an anti-media frenzy in Tampa, Florida. Spewing angry rhetoric, he instructed the crowd to turn to the media, who were gathered in a press pen in the back of the crowd … – dailykos.com
Granted, that excerpt did sound a little slanted itself in a way against Trump.
There are more clips over at dailykos.com if you would like to check them out. Two may be enough to try and grasp.
Is this media corruption blame true? Is there merit? Is it dangerous? I think we all know where to get our news from and which friends to talk to about what subjects, not religion with him, not taxes with dad, and never your weekend with that girl at work.
One of our Instinct friends, Tommy DiDario, married to ABC reporter Gio Benitez, recently posted this response to his Facebook account in regard to media corruption.
“The Media is Corrupt.” “The Media is Rigged.”
These careless phrases repeatedly being thrown around lately sadden me. They are creating anger in the American people by perpetuating a generalization of how all people in the media operate. But here's the problem: generalizations are dangerous.
My husband works in the media. Many of my closest friends work in the media. They work their asses off, and more often than not, put themselves in danger’s way to keep America informed and safe.
They sacrifice so much of their time to tell the stories that need to be told, and in some cases, they put their lives at risk. If a person doesn't like what someone in the media is saying or the way they are telling a story, they have the option of finding someone they do like to get information from. I promise you, there's someone out there for everyone. But don’t diminish the work these reporters, producers, and crews do 365 days a year by making generalizations. While my husband is in the path of a category 5 hurricane, or at the center of multiple manhunts with deadly killers on the loose, please tell me how bad the media is while so many watch safely from home, sitting next to the family they love.
Generalizations are dangerous. They lead to stereotypes, judgments and hostility. As a society, I hope we can do our part to minimize this. The divisiveness it creates is something our country doesn't need to be clouded with. We are a team, and regardless of the outcome of this election, I'm hopeful that one day we can get back to being one nation.
Thanks Tommy for sharing that with us. Have we seen any news individuals talk about the corruption claims? I don't think we have. Will we once this election is done or will they just let the accusations pass?
This is my understanding of the nightly broadcast. Producers set up the shock and awe stories at the beginning, the killings, the wars, the natural disasters, the politics. Next, they'll put some fillers in the middle of the broadcast, like the economy, a story about things happening overseas to ease you down from the opening stories and the barrage of emotions that came with them. What do they leave you with at the closing of the broadcast? They leave you with the cutest story you've heard all day, the kid that made $1300.00 at a lemonade stand, the dog that walked 2,400 miles to reunite with its owner, or the town with a population of 41 that is too adorable and we all want to move there. News is news. News is not black and white facts on paper for all to decipher on their own. It is a presentation of the facts and how they do it is how they decide to do it. If you don't like it, change the channel and find another source. I'm an NBC fan myself as well as PBS. Is the news I watch different than the information that is piped into your television? It's all in the presentation. What does NEWS stand for? I've heard it stands for North East West and South. If you don't like what direction the news is going in, then change the channel.
As Tommy said, "Generalizations are dangerous. They lead to stereotypes, judgments and hostility." If we all generalized about corruption, we would have taken our idea of FOX "News" and applied it to every news channel out there.
Recently, Out Magazine's coverage about Milo Yiannopolous got them in hot water. Looking at the LGBT 80 / 20 split of Clinton / Trump supporters, I thought, hmmm, they ran a story that 20% of the people might enjoy reading. I think sometimes even the gay media is a little biased and does not allow all LGBT opinions to be shared. That's why I don't mind sharing my personal blog entries on here. I don't do it to see people disagree or stir the pot, but instead I do it because I feel I am in the minority on several gay topics. And I may be in that minority, but I am most likely not alone. And then there is the 3.8%. That's the supposed statistic of the LGBT population of the United States. But if we are the under 4% category, why the hell are we in the news so much? Some stories are silenced and others are lifted up to prominence. It cuts both ways (Mommie Queerest).
Back to Tommy's post. I think often we do forget that there are real people on the other side of the camera. While watching the videos of how the Trump supporters were treating the reporters in Tampa, I was fearing for their safety. There's no news story worth being attacked by an angry mob. I've received some threats just writing for Instinct. Some of the messages are so hateful, it's unreal. One individual became so stalker-like, he would comment on every entry I posted with a disgusting sarcastic dig. People can get hateful. Instead of spreading hate, just change the channel, or if you see my name at the top of a story and you hate how I write or what I choose to cover, don't read it. When I see Andrea Mitchell come on to NBC news, I actually change the channel. Do I think she is corrupt or rigged? No, I just don't like how she presents the news. I don't wish her physical harm, I just don't care to listen to her.
What do you think Instincters?
If all the news was the same, wouldn't we have just one news channel?
Is the media corrupt? Is the media rigged?
If it is true, has the LGBT community news benefited or been hurt because of news corruption / rigging?
Has the media become too one sided in this presidential campaign?
Does the media need to restructure itself and become more black and white and less worried about ratings, being shocking to get numbers, and being pro this and anti that in its broadcasts?
What about our foreign readers? Is your media corrupt? Is it controlled by a few, maybe even the government?
I'll just leave you with this.
h/t: dailykos.com