Is mainstream media “the enemy of the people”?

[VBM]

Yes, and the sooner that Boomers and Gen X ditch CNN/MSNBC/Fox, the sooner our nation can start healing. These news corporations thrive on creating drama and dividing Americans

[Mr. Smith]

Yes.

Even the Late-Night Talk shows like Daily Show or Samantha Bee or Colbert are looking like to be this way.

[Calthrina950]

Yes.

Even the Late-Night Talk shows like Daily Show or Samantha Bee or Colbert are looking like to be this way.

I've noticed the late night comedians have a very strong bias to the left, with Colbert and Kimmel in particular making their disdain for Republicans and for Trump very plain. Colbert, in fact, was a guest at Obama's birthday party last weekend. They've certainly come a long way from the days of Johnny Carson.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Thanks to the OP for starting this thread. I've been thinking about this, and the similar "fake news" line Donnie Dumb**** loves to use (and that his treasonous personality cult loves to repeat) as
 criticism of the "mainstream media" has ramped up in places due to their... overall less than objective coverage of America's exit from Afghanistan.

The "mainstream media" are not doing their job well. They're not effectively discharging their responsibility as the Fourth Estate. Late stage capitalism plus the internet has done immense damage to the ability of "the press" to inform the public or help create a shared worldview grounded in reality.

I don't consider "MSM = or =/= enemy of the people" to be a particularly useful frame. It's just... not even wrong. Donnie Dumb****'s criticisms of the media were (like most things that come out of his mouth), utterly meaningless garbage. He didn't have a point, or any basis for criticism, he just didn't like what they said about him. But saying that would have made him look even more like a whiny septuagenarian brat than he already did, so he tried to find some way of making it look like he was taking some more principled stand (even though he wasn't). Thus the "enemy of the people" and "fake news" rhetoric, which are, were and will remain rhetorical hazardous waste.

They are not "the enemy of the people". They are a vital part of our country, one that has, like so much else, withered and sickened under the many pressures of our modern world.

[TML]

The way Trump frames this argument is that he thinks MSM is not sycophantic enough toward him.

My criticism of MSM is that they are so steeped in corporate/special interest control that they don't challenge those in power adequately enough.

[dead0man]

no

but they clearly ain't our friends either.  They push what gets the most eyes and because we're humans, we want our news dark and serious.  The darker and seriouser it is, the more we watch.  We can hate the media if we want, but it's the media consumer (or human nature) who is really at fault.  We've defeated other negative aspects of human nature (or least keep them well buried), we can defeat this one too.  The first step, as always, is acknowledging we have a problem and we're at that step.  Of course we've been at that step for 2000 years, so maybe I shouldn't be hopeful.

[CEO Mindset]

yes. the msm needs to be imprisoned.

weve got lots of nice desert in arizona or tundra in alaska to build internment camps to hold journalists

[S019]

Sigh, it's time for this again, anyways no, regardless of how "biased" the media is or whatever, words like this play into the hands of authoritarian strongmen like Trump. The media is an important part of a functioning democracy.

[CEO Mindset]

"democracy" and "functioning" are incompatible

just ask a resident of venezuela or zimbabwe or an elderly german jew who remembers 1933-45 how well democracy works

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

It's funny to see Biden Democrats suddenly whining about the media after it finally goes after him.

[OSR stands with Israel]

"democracy" and "functioning" are incompatible

just ask a resident of venezuela or zimbabwe or an elderly german jew who remembers 1933-45 how well democracy works

none of those examples you gave were Democracies

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

Is cable news really what we consider the end-all-be-all of mainstream media? Ugh.

[CEO Mindset]

all three were examples of democracy... excluding perfectly valid examples of democracy because they make it look bad is pretty dishonest imo

you don't need to be a 120 year old wwi veteran of the austrian army who remembers the hapsburgs to associate "democracy" with economic chaos, genocide, mass murder, bureaucratic sclerosis, stifling censorship and massive wars... all you need is an understanding of 20th century history

[Bootes Void]

I think the issue is that they all suffer from groupthink as if they all secretly meet up on how they can discuss certain issues with much independent thought

[VBM]

It's funny to see Biden Democrats suddenly whining about the media after it finally goes after him.

I’m not a “Biden Democrat” though

[Former President tack50]

Considering the alternatives to mainstream media (literal fake news and 0 reputation sites on Facebook and the internet) no, the mainstream media are the unsung heroes of the story, not the villains

[dead0man]

Considering the alternatives to mainstream media (literal fake news and 0 reputation sites on Facebook and the internet) no, the mainstream media are the unsung heroes of the story, not the villains

There are quality media between the two extremes.  Vice and Reason for two.

[Former President tack50]

Considering the alternatives to mainstream media (literal fake news and 0 reputation sites on Facebook and the internet) no, the mainstream media are the unsung heroes of the story, not the villains

There are quality media between the two extremes.  Vice and Reason for two.

Fair enough but the lows of the mainstream media are much higher and much less dangerous than those of non mainstream media.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

It's funny to see Biden Democrats suddenly whining about the media after it finally goes after him.

"Suddenly"? I've been criticizing the media for shallow and unhelpful reporting for years.

This seems pretty obvious to me.

The single biggest contributor to President Fox News winning elections was the stubborn insistence of the media (both left and right) on treating him like a serious candidate, when the truth was (and still is) that the reality TV star is actually in the same class of candidate as Vermin Supreme.

Their "problem" is that if they were to cover the election objectively accurately, instead of catering to a false balance, they would have no story to drive ratings. How much whoever the Democratic nominee will win by, and how big the third party turnouts will be aren't going to push ratings nearly so much as pretending that the demented idiot is a valid choice for President.

[beaver2.0]

I don't consider "MSM = or =/= enemy of the people" to be a particularly useful frame. It's just... not even wrong. Donnie Dumb****'s criticisms of the media were (like most things that come out of his mouth), utterly meaningless garbage. He didn't have a point, or any basis for criticism, he just didn't like what they said about him. But saying that would have made him look even more like a whiny septuagenarian brat than he already did, so he tried to find some way of making it look like he was taking some more principled stand (even though he wasn't). Thus the "enemy of the people" and "fake news" rhetoric, which are, were and will remain rhetorical hazardous waste.

They are not "the enemy of the people". They are a vital part of our country, one that has, like so much else, withered and sickened under the many pressures of our modern world.

This is my position.  A media is necessary and I am not naive enough to believe that it will ever be fully neutral but you are correct that as it is now, the media is somewhere between malicious and uncaring about the chaos it is creating.  While it is not out enemy, many of its actions are harmful to us.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

https://twitter.com/NoahCRothman/status/1428079176498745350

Yes.

[PSOL]

Considering the alternatives to mainstream media (literal fake news and 0 reputation sites on Facebook and the internet) no, the mainstream media are the unsung heroes of the story, not the villains

There are quality media between the two extremes.  Vice and Reason for two.

Fair enough but the lows of the mainstream media are much higher and much less dangerous than those of non mainstream media.

Well, for a somewhat leftwing investigative journalism outlet, there’s always ProPublica.

Smaller and more ideological outlets on the left are fine as long as they have journalistic integrity in place and you can fact check it through links and other publications. For background, I notice that there isn’t a lot of differentiation between filtering out fake news between more establishment or heterodox media outlets. Given most stories in mainstream media outlets get their news increasingly from social media now, along with financial incentives to focus on garbage and, more concerning, self-censor there are good reasons why many are turning to smaller and more ideological outlets to fill in their niche.

Smaller outlets furthermore I notice report on pressing “niche” news first before larger outlets. Smaller outlets are at least more honest about their ideological slants and are not the opinionated soapbox that many people smear them as. I get much better localized news from these sources, especially on strikes and local initiatives.

Saying this, while all “mainstream” media acceptable under a given society are compromised, it is necessary to differentiate where and what the compromises are. Most stories are not “fake” and capitalist realism casts a pretty big distorted screen on reality. Furthermore there’s a lot of infotainment junk to distract the populace. However, even if it is junk, following it is necessary for most news sources as it is “verified” and has further reach into reporting more widely in higher places.

[Del Tachi]

Is cable news really what we consider the end-all-be-all of mainstream media? Ugh.

Are the likes of the Times or The Atlantic really any more responsible these days?  Smh

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

Is cable news really what we consider the end-all-be-all of mainstream media? Ugh.

Are the likes of the Times or The Atlantic really any more responsible these days?  Smh

Depends on if you make the mistake of flipping to "Opinions" or not.

[RINO Tom]

Yes, but what is replacing it - likely what the OP consumes for his or her “news” - is even worse.  People think that we’re all becoming more politically knowledgeable, but the opposite is happening.  A guy in the 1980s who doesn’t know a ton about politics but regularly hears elevator pitches of both sides of an issue is more informed than someone who lives and breathes biased social media takes.  Not even close, either.