What George Carlin Taught Us About Media Propaganda by Omission: On Bernie Sanders, Medicare for All

[Uncle Joe]

and the Green New Deal

In the old George Carlin joke, the TV sportscaster announces: “Here’s a partial score from the West Coast – Los Angeles 6.”

For a brilliant comedian like Carlin—who skewered corporate power, class structure and political/media propaganda—that’s one of his more innocuous jokes. But it’s sharply relevant today as corporate TV news outlets serve up a series of partial scores. Call it “propaganda by omission.”

Take the coverage that followed Thursday’s Democratic debate. Bernie Sanders didn’t object in the debate when Joe Biden hung a price tag on Sanders’ “Medicare for All” plan of $30 trillion (over 10 years). Sanders responded by offering the other score: “That's right, Joe. Status quo over 10 years will be $50 trillion. Every study done shows that Medicare for All is the most cost-effective approach to providing health care to every man, woman, and child in this country.”

The $50 trillion figure for continuing the status quo (actually $47 trillion) comes from the “National Health Expenditure Fact Sheet” of the federal government’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

(snip)


https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/09/16/what-george-carlin-taught-us-about-media-propaganda-omission-bernie-sanders