Remember all of those investigate journalist stories on how Orange County voted D in 2016?

[rufus dog]

For the first time since 1936, The OC actually went for the Democratic Presidential candidate in 2016. "Behind the Orange Curtain," "Where Republicans go to die." The friggen county went blue. FFS, that is like San Francisco going red! Surely you all saw the media focus on The OC!

You remember all of those stories right? CNN had a town hall with disaffected Republican voters. Hell, MSNBC practically camped out in Irvine. Reminded everyone how Clinton won the popular vote and how tRump MUST reach out to everyone, because there clearly wasn't a mandate.

Oh wait, that didn't happen, the camped out in West Virginia, Kentucky, and other red states and sold tRump. They found every anti-Clinton person and gave them air time.

So now we are have the potential of ALL of OC going blue in House districts. A clean damn sweep from 3/4 of the house seats being red, to ALL House seats being blue.

Two points:

1. The MSM doesn't report the news, they try to create a reality.

2. For those DU family members who claim the media is interested in a horse race, contests sell, etc. I offer you the latest example to refute the claim, The OC! If the media was focused on horse races/competitions, they would have driven less an hour down the road from the 2nd largest media market in the States and focused on what was happening in OC. There would have been Town Halls with OC Republicans who voted for Hillary and the constant point that tRump lost by over 3 million votes. Furthermore, the next month would include a saturation of media stories on what happened in the OC! tRump has lost The OC!

I doubt there will be more than passing comments on what happened behind the Orange Curtain. A County of over 3 million people flipped. Consider that the next time you see stories from states focusing on tRump supporters. States that are less than or basically equal to the size of The OC get the focus. Hell, I can't recall the last time I saw focus on what a New Yorker, Los Angeleno, Chicagoan was thinking.

The MSM is biased, and it has nothing to do with horse races/competitions.

[ALBliberal]

1. Excellent post.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

2. they imitate the Fox model for money

It's been a long time since news broadcasts were considered loss leaders -- immune to having to pay all their own way. The owners want a return on their money. Cronkite, Huntley, and Brinkley wouldn't have the resources and freedom to do real news today. They weren't breathless enough nor sensationalistic enough.

[watoos]

11. Nope Nope Nope

That they do this for money is a right wing narrative, it is secondary.

MSNBC is supposed to be the most liberal cable news network when in fact it too pushes the right wing narratives but merely puts a progressive slant to them.

Phil Donahue was popular, he was anti-Iraq war, he got canned and Tweety who was pro Iraq war stayed. Keith Olbermann was popular, Dylan Ratigan was popular, Martin Brashear was popular, Ed Schultz was popular, they all got canned from the supposed most liberal cable news network while their ratings were high. It is pretty obvious to me that money wasn't the object for those people being fired, they were making their owners money. Those people were fired because they strayed from the corporate narrative, strayed from right wing talking points.

I'm willing to be proven wrong Hermit, so why was Keith Olbermann fired? Why was Dylan Ratigan fired who was on an epic rant going across the country explaining the evils of crony capitalism? Why? I and millions more like me faithfully watched Keith and Dylan who were making money for their corporate owners. Why?

[Hermit-The-Prog]

14. money

They were preaching the wrong gospel. Owners do not want consumers thinking about voting to change tax laws and regulations that take away power -- influence and money. High ratings are not the only measure of the value of an asset. Those high ratings may also be a measure of the level of threat.

Owners do not want enlightened consumers. They want quantifiable, compliant, targeted consumers. You can see it in the way a tv series progresses. It may start out creative and innovative, but it will soon become just another cut-and-paste production designed to instill a need in the consumer to do something when the commercial break comes.

Income and growth are only part of the equation; you must protect what you've gained, and that includes the system which permits that income and growth. A threat to that system -- higher taxes for higher income or more regulations, for example -- becomes greater as ratings increase.

If Sean Hannity started talking about the righteousness of a progressive income tax without an arbitrary upper limit and his ratings shot up because of it, I'm pretty certain Murdoch would kick him out the door in a hurry. From the point of view of the boards of directors and background billionaires, it's great to get high ratings so long as you don't kill the goose that lays the golden eggs -- them and the system in which they thrive.

There was a political cartoon posted on DU not long ago that depicted the difference between "left" and "right". It had a line of people marching on the right, each carrying a sign saying, "Me!" The line on the left carried signs saying, "We!" That struggle between "me" and "we" goes on at all income levels, both public and private. Sometimes "me" wins a battle, sometimes "we" win.

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it."

-- Upton Sinclair

[Cha]

3. "The MSM doesn't report the news, they try to create a reality."

I know! The M$$$$$Media Manipulate and Manufacture the "news" to suit their tax cuts. Like they did in 2015/2016 to help the Russians and their enablers get trump rigged in.

And, trump turned on them 'cause they wouldn't buy into his Fake "news".

During the bush error the m$$m banged the drum for WAR on Iraq.. Doncha know.. that means more $$$$$ for them.

I saw this leading up to Nov 2002.. when I cancelled all cable and m$m.. and Never looked back

[Achilleaze]

7. Cut the cable

Starve the corporate media beast, Inc. (R)

Cable TV is, like, so last millennium.

[Cha]

8. Yes.. Cut It!

[watoos]

13. I agree with your post, but...

I contend that making money is obviously a priority or they wouldn't be in business. The cable news networks we have now are no where near progressive/liberal. The cable news networks we have now as I stated in my previous post, have fired news anchors who were their most popular money makers. They fired them because they strayed from the corporate right wing narratives.

Today there is an audience for a real cable news network that is progressive. Tom Steyer should spend his money creating a real progressive network whose priority is not putting a liberal slant on everything but in truth telling. Phil Donahue, Keith Olbermann and Dylan Ratigan were fired by msnbc because they told the truth, not because they were liberal or because they weren't making msnbc money.

I'm not just picking on msnbc. The NY Times and Wa.Post went way overboard in covering the caravan nonsense, their coverage has dropped since the election but they are still covering it. When will they call the caravan out for what it was/is, a political stunt meant to fire up the right wing base. 220 million dollars wasted sending our military to the border should be the narrative.

C'mon Tom Steyer start up a real liberal cable news network with real truth telling anchors like Charlie Pierce, Stephanie Miller, Bill Press, and yes even Thom Hartmann. There is an audience for truth tellers.

Remember Helen Thomas? Who was a vanguard for women journalists, who was feared by Democratic and Republican presidents alike. Remember Helen who asked W. why did you really go into Iraq, was it for oil or for Israel? JFK said about Helen, "she would be a nice girl if she'd ever get rid of that pad and pencil."

[onecaliberal]

4. K&R

[volstork]

5. The MSM doesn't report the news, they try to create a reality.

THIS. It’s no accident that “Network” has been turned into a play on Broadway. The media has been moving in this direction for at least 50 years, so the freak show we have now should be no surprise.

[Achilleaze]

6. Well thought out, well said.

Thank you Rufus

[Lucky Luciano]

9. How much us really thugs flipping to democrats though?

I think it is more of a demographic shift in OC.

[rufus dog]

15. There is a demographic switch for sure

Populations is becoming more Asian, also more college educated compared to rest of the Country.

Why aren't we seeing coverage on the Asian rejection of Republican values?

[Takket]

10. Here is a quote from early 2018

Rethug OC operative gloating about Dems having no chance. Wonder what this piece of filth has to say now LOL

Link to tweet

?s=21

[rufus dog]

16. Lol

Ya think he is having a bad week?

[Sherman A1]

12. The media is interested in

What fills airtime between ads for drugs we never knew we needed. Occasionally they brush up against journalism, but it’s mostly Breathless 24/7 Breaking News Infotainment.