The US Media is TMZ and we're stuck in a really bad reality show

[tenderfoot]

The Press Has Adopted Trump’s Reality-Show Standards

The reaction to the special counsel’s testimony shows how deeply the president has conditioned the media to treat political events like reality television.



On Wednesday, Robert Mueller testified to the House Judiciary Committee that the president of the United States sought and benefited from Russian interference during the 2016 campaign, and that he attempted to deflect culpability from Russia while lying to the public about his hidden attempts to secure a construction project in Moscow. After winning the election, Mueller testified, the president lied to the special prosecutor, directed subordinates to falsify records, and attempted to exert “undue influence” on law enforcement in order to protect himself and his allies.

In any other administration, in any other time, a special prosecutor, former FBI director, and decorated Marine testifying that the president of the United States was an unprosecuted felon who encouraged and then benefited from an attack on American democracy in pursuit of personal and political gain would bring the country to a grinding halt. But the American political press found Mueller insufficiently dazzling.

The New York Times declared, in language Trump could have written himself, “Mueller’s Performance Was a Departure From His Much-Fabled Stamina.” The Washington Post announced, “On Mueller’s Final Day on the National Stage, a Halting, Faltering Performance,” and, in a separate piece, dubbed Mueller a “weary old man.” Conservative outlets, fond of reciting the president’s grandiose self-assessments of his health and intelligence, openly speculated that Mueller was unwell.

Although other pieces from the same outlets covered the substance of Mueller’s testimony, the conclusion that he had failed to excite his audience framed the totality of coverage. NBC News’s Chuck Todd spoke for much of the political press when he declared, “On substance, Democrats got what they wanted: that Mueller didn’t charge Pres. Trump because of the OLC guidance, that he could be indicted after he leaves office, among other things. But on optics, this was a disaster.” Mueller testified that the president was likely guilty of federal crimes, and the most important American media outlets reviewed his performance like a disappointing late-series episode of Game of Thrones. Mueller did not deliver The Payoff That Was Promised.



more: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/press-tires-russiagate/594874

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Chuck Todd was the worst, but Brian Williams was almost as bad.

They're like fish who don't recognize water because they're in it all the time. They live in an atmosphere of hype and sound bites and don't know how to react when something important happens without fireworks and theme music. All they could talk about was how Mueller's "performance" wasn't very good because he didn't pound on the table or orate in the stentorian voice of James Earl Fucking Jones. It's a good thing Stephen Hawking wasn't involved in political matters because nobody would have taken him seriously, and thank God or whoever is in charge that at least the scientists have enough brains to tell the difference between substance and performance.

[RANDYWILDMAN]

2. Todd had a WTF moment during his show

but it only lasted a moment. Then he went right back to optics for Democrats.

The media companies only care about the money. If the American public found out the truth of the last election, they might riot and shut down the very media companies that allowed it to happen maybe not though...

it is very simple

Trump cheated with Russian/Manfort/REPUBS help
They attacked all 50 states but NO VOTES WERE CHANGED(wink wink)
Trump has been covering it up ever since...
Now, what is the issue, why can't the TRUTH,seem to penetrate the 50 Million people who support this Loser

[onecaliberal]

3. I'm never home to wat h upchuck toad. But I refuse to watch Brian williams.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. He usually doesn't bother me much, and I'll give him credit

for always being polite to his guests, but he was sure on a tear Wednesday night about how weak and frail Mueller seemed, and he would not drop it.

[onecaliberal]

8. I did not think mueller was weak at all. He was definitely reluctant. After the morning session

he was more willing to go into detail. He is a very understated individual. Those who know him said he did exactly what they expected.

[Blue_Tires]

4. Been tellin' y'all..

[captain queeg]

5. Dammit, I think you are right

I saw a quote awhile back, I think by a female comedian, blaming the current state politics/media in this country on the Kardashians. I don’t watch “reality” TV. It seems to me that sort of TV sorta got started with “Survivor”. That would have been at the end of the 20th century.

[hunter]

7. Television died in our house a little over ten years ago.

I know the date because that's when we last recorded Chuck.

Since then it's been DVDs, and later Netflix.

The last time we moved our television I didn't bother to plug in the antenna I'd built. This antenna could suck off more than twenty channels, all the major networks and most of the minor networks, but we did not care to watch any of them.