America’s descent into mass delusion isn’t happenstance. The demise of courageous journalism isn’t a happy accident. Its replacement with engagement-chasing infotainment and propaganda isn’t an error. It’s a global assault on reason and informed consensus, and corporations and authoritarian bullies like Donald Trump are both architects and benefactors. For decades, academics warned anybody who’d listen
It’s full of good points, but I want to comment on one in particular which I think probably encapsulates the article’s premise:
As a result, corporatist media has lost the trust of the public thanks to feckless, ad-engagement-chasing “view from nowhere” journalism. This is journalism that prioritizes clicks, access, and the interests of the ownership class, while a right-wing disinformation machine, built over the last 45 years, convinces impressionable Americans to celebrate their self-immolation.
This is true. But it’s also too narrow a focus: re-building competent news would be a huge step forward, but only one; the real issue is a larger point which, again academics have been telling anyone who would listen; our understanding of the world via media is incredibly dangerous because it is tightly controlled.
It’s not the news per se that needs rebuilding, it’s the understanding of how media works that needs . . well, building. We need to recognize how a point of view is communicated in print, on video, over text, etc., and why it works that way. We need to understand why product placement is such an abomination, why authentic culture can’t truly be bought and why we live in a shit swamp of our own making.
Any step towards that goal requires media itself to report this information and that’s where it gets murdered every time. Advertising, corporate news, republiQans, and “the church” all will lose if it becomes known, so they all fight it every day in all the ways.
It’s full of good points, but I want to comment on one in particular which I think probably encapsulates the article’s premise:
This is true. But it’s also too narrow a focus: re-building competent news would be a huge step forward, but only one; the real issue is a larger point which, again academics have been telling anyone who would listen; our understanding of the world via media is incredibly dangerous because it is tightly controlled.
It’s not the news per se that needs rebuilding, it’s the understanding of how media works that needs . . well, building. We need to recognize how a point of view is communicated in print, on video, over text, etc., and why it works that way. We need to understand why product placement is such an abomination, why authentic culture can’t truly be bought and why we live in a shit swamp of our own making.
Any step towards that goal requires media itself to report this information and that’s where it gets murdered every time. Advertising, corporate news, republiQans, and “the church” all will lose if it becomes known, so they all fight it every day in all the ways.