Obama: NY Times readers, Fox News viewers live in 'an entirely different reality'

[demmiblue]

Source: The Hill

Former President Obama said late Tuesday that the current media environment no longer allows Americans "to agree on a common set of facts," adding that Fox News viewers and New York Times readers live in "an entirely different reality" from each other.

"In 1981, your news cycle was still governed by the stories that were going to be filed by the AP, Washington Post, maybe New York Times, and the three broadcast stations,” Obama said at an event marking the 25th anniversary of Rice University’s Baker Institute in Houston. "Whether people got their news from Walter Cronkite or David Brinkley, they tended to agree on a common set of facts. That set a baseline around which both parties had to adapt and respond to."

“By the time I take office,” Obama continued, “what you increasingly have is a media environment in which, if you are a Fox News viewer, you have an entirely different reality than if you are a New York Times reader.”

The comments echo what Obama said at an event in at the City College in New York earlier this year.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/media/418610-obama-ny-times-readers-fox-news-viewers-live-in-an-entirely-different-reality

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[Guppy]

1. notice

reading vs. viewing.

[pangaia]

2. BUT, the 'other' reality, the right wing reality is not reality at all, Mr President.

It is all lies and fantasy.

[KPN]

9. BINGO. THat was exactly my thought upon reading this. By not pointing out that distinction,

his comment will be perceived as reinforcing the false equalization that right-wingers adhere to.

[pangaia]

21. I agree with you and LiberalLovinLug

I don't "love" or dislike Barack, or Hillary, or--or, n the blank with people on our side...

But in this case, and pretty much throughout his presidency I kept wishing he would have seen more the true disgusting character of the right wing, or, if he did see it, would have spoken and/or acted more firmly. On the other hand, I can certainly understand that maybe he could not for various reasons. What do I truly know? I certainly have no less respect for him doing as he did.... just a bygone wish...

I have felt this with many others as well..

The Finns fought the Russians tooth and nail, gave no quarter.. In the end, of course

[oldlibdem]

25. President Obama is a man of character....

He tried to lead in a a bipartisn fashion knowing full well a majority of Republicans would not give him a fair shake. Que, Cheetolini, who has all the charisma of a mafia capo and the only ones who like him are the deplorables. I didn't always agree with the way President Obama responded to Republican attacks, but I always admired him for his articulate and "take the high road" responses.

[pangaia]

29. I agree with you 100%..

The night he won in 2008 I happened to be quite in Austin and wandered, quite by chance, into the hotel where the Texas Democratic Committee and BO supporters were watching the returns, all 3000 or so of them !!
It was a night I will never forget -- total strangers, yelling, screaming, hugging, crying... out of sight..

[LiberalLovinLug]

17. And Obama still seems to live in his "no red states, no blue states" reality

Someone should tell him he's not the President, or even any kind of politician anymore. You don't have to appease the riff raff now.

You know the right is full of hubris, arrogance, a belief that they are always right, and do not fail to point that out whenever possible. Even when they are clearly wrong!

But there is a type of arrogance found in the Democratic side as well. That can be just as, if not more, debilitating. Its of a different sort. But it all starts with a presumption that the truth is so obvious, that everyone is as smart as they are, and empathetic as they are, and willing to play by the rules as they are. And if they aren't that they will be exposed for that and so they themselves will still come out on top.
Obama, gawd love him, but he is still so careful to parse his words, as to not offend anyone, that there is no room left for frankness.

[Squinch]

3. My only problem with this is that it equates the nyt and fox. We really need to not do that.

[marybourg]

4. I don't read it that way at all, maybe because I read

the NYT, and I know there is no equivalency with Faux news

[pnwmom]

11. I had the same impression. To someone who didn't know the NYT,

it seemed Obama was suggesting it was the left's version of FOX, which we know it isn't.

[marybourg]

22. Yeah, to me it's like he meant "from one extreme to the other".

[pnwmom]

10. Me, too. n/t

[BeyondGeography]

5. Weak, watered down paid-gig stuff

He knows what Fox is all about and has said so in the past.

[C_U_L8R]

6. The newsroom became a profit center

and that changed everything. In many ways, Journalism seems to have lost the battle for its own integrity.

[Power 2 the People]

7. Once upon a time we almost stood up to them

[link:https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/11/anita-dunn-fox-news-an-ou_n_316691.html|

[Beacool]

8. True....

And we all know who the lowbrow segment of our country listens to and watches.

[TeamPooka]

12. Fox News viewers live in a world of propaganda and delusion fueled by hate. NY Times readers

live in the real world.

[pnwmom]

13. Obama was wrong, I think, to suggest that the NYT and Fox

were at opposite ends of the spectrum of "reality." The NYTimes isn't a propaganda machine for a party, like Fox. It's just a traditional newspaper with traditional reporting.

[FakeNoose]

14. We have Ronald Reagan and the FCC to thank for this

Bring back the fairness doctrine - put Faux News out of business!

[IronLionZion]

15. RW hate radio is also a major player in this problem

and even those who read their news will get complete BS fake news clickbait shared through social media.

The conservative mind is very susceptible to anything that makes them feel afraid or angry and can lead them down the slippery slope to hatred. It's very easy for them to believe that foreign criminals are coming to rape their daughters and take tax-funded benefits instead of just normal people who want to live peacefully and work an honest job. They also ignore the rich white politicians who raped their classmates and bought tax credits and crony deals to get richer while reinforcing their sense of entitlement and impunity.

[Maxheader]

20. AM radio is a poor source of facts

[yardwork]

16. Yes, and it's the biggest existential threat to our democracy.

[ffr]

18. ...at their own peril.

They're rubes, easy marks.

[TNLib]

19. I always considered the NTY a very reputable news source

Is he suggesting it's the fox news equivalent? If so I disagree.

[Judi Lynn]

23. He was being as diplomatic as possible without describing Fox as propaganda, total distortion

concocted to mold perception to favor right-wing goals. It has always served the interests of the right-wing, from the first.

Right-wing interests do not serve the interests of anyone other than the one percent and their intentions to divide and alienate their hate-driven, fearful, uninformed, intellectually stunted, and self-interest-obsessed, slow witted racists in the population.

There are NO intelligent Trump supporters, only a few who are quicker than their peers, who imagine themselves geniuses.

[oldlibdem]

24. Fox "news" is not news, but entertainment.

They said so themselves!

[truthisfreedom]

26. Faux is fiction, and it's only come more fictional.

It’s nothing but trumpaganda.

[Demonaut]

27. IBTL

[Apollyonus]

28. Very True

Absolutely

Also,

NY Times readers are way more educated
NY Times readers are far more diverse
NY Times readers are not afraid of losing privilege to immigrants

and so on