Bernie Sanders Had to Overcome Media Consensus Around Hillary Clinton

[UglyGreed]

Who is and isn’t a “serious” candidate in our modern public relations-driven democracy is largely tautological. Whoever the news media say is important early on typically becomes the most important. This leads to a feedback loop that anoints the “frontrunner” in the “invisible primary,” where success is measured by name recognition, money raised, party insider support and a host of “serious” accomplishments, all before the most essential of feedback has been provided: actual voting.

This dynamic helped create the artificial consensus around Hillary Clinton early on. According to one tally of nightly broadcast network news during the 2015 primary season, Sanders received a total of 20 minutes of coverage, compared to Clinton’s 121 minutes and Trump’s 327. This gap would narrow once Sanders began to gain parity in early primary states, a feat Sanders achieved not because of media coverage but despite it.

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2016/03/14/has-bernie-sanders-been-underestimated/bernie-sanders-had-to-overcome-media-consensus-around-hillary-clinton

[jillan]

1. And it's still going on. The Today Show this morning

Was talking about the protests at the Trump rallies. Then they played Hillary's response to it. It's hilarious since it was the Bernie supporters that went there to tell him that his hatred is not welcome in their city. Yet they made it all about Hillary. They didn't even mention Bernie's name let alone his response.

[Triana]

3. Same on NPR - played Hillary's response to it but NOT Bernie's

Over and over they played this segment - it was as if Bernie Sanders just didn't exist or had nothing to say re: Trump's successful incitements to violence. Even though it was HIS supporters that went to fight against hatred and violence. They did later play a segment where Bernie called Trump a liar and where he said the did not ask his supporters to go to Trump rallies. But that's the only comments from Bernie on the issue that they played.

TOTALLY biased, shit propaganda.

[jillan]

4. Yep. Bernie's supporters do the work

Hillary gets a free ride.

[dchill]

2. I see the "feedback loop" as....

The media, regarding the viewers as uninformed, informs us as to the relative "seriousness" of the candidates. Well, if we're uninformed, then they've already failed to to their jobs. So what do they do? Promote false memes, ignore serious candidates, give way too much free airtime to slavering boobs, and generally misinforming their viewers.

Loop back to first paragraph.