E.J. Dionne: Distorting the Voice of the People

[marmar]

from Truthdig:



Distorting the Voice of the People

Posted on Sep 3, 2009
By E.J. Dionne


Health care reform is said to be in trouble partly because of those raucous August town hall meetings in which Democratic members of Congress were besieged by shouters opposed to change.

But what if our media-created impression of the meetings is wrong? What if the highly publicized screamers represented only a fraction of public opinion? What if most of the town halls were populated by citizens who respectfully but firmly expressed a mixture of support, concern and doubt?

There is an overwhelming case that the electronic media went out of their way to cover the noise and ignored the calmer (and from television’s point of view “boring”) encounters between elected representatives and their constituents.

It’s also clear that the anger that got so much attention largely reflects a fringe right-wing view opposed to all sorts of government programs most Americans support. Much as the far left of the anti-war movement commanded wide coverage during the Vietnam years, so now are extremists on the right hogging the media stage—with the media’s complicity.

Over the last week, I’ve spoken with Democratic House members, many from highly contested districts, about what happened in their town halls. None would deny polls showing that the health reform cause lost ground last month, but little of the probing civility that characterized so many of their forums was ever seen on television. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090902_distorting_the_voice_of_the_people/

[justgamma]

1. If their argument against the reform,

is based on lies and misinformation, then their opinions should be discounted. The dicisions on health reform should be based in reality.

[66 dmhlt]

3. If Faux has taught us nothing else, it's taught that the media

... thinks Noise equates to News.

[Triana]

2. The "news" media reports as accurately about the health care debate as it does anything or anyone

else - they report it in a way that gets THEM the most profit via viewers, magazine sales, newspaper sales, radio show listeners, and website clicks - ie: PROFIT.

They don't give a damn who or what they destroy in that process - whether it's a chance for REAL health care reform in this country or "Michael Jackson" or who/whatever. If it SELLS - they're gonna say it - whether it's true, or accurate, or not. THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT US. They are NOT a public service. The media is a SELF-SERVICE entity.

ONE THING you can count on with the lame$tream media - darn near everything they report is:

INCOMPLETE
INACCURATE
SLANTED
SENSATIONALIZED
OUTRIGHT LIES/WRONG/MADE UP

...and done in a way that gets THEM THE MOST PROFIT - period.

They are after all, corprat sluts - and pimping for the bottom line is what they do. And it's ALL they do.

People need to stop reading, listening to, believing, watching, buying their shit - except ONLY to debunk it. ("people" - I realize - will never include the vacuum-packed wingnuts and others like them who will believe ANYthing they read or hear or see).

Reporting on civil town-hall meetings where meaningful questions are asked and answered is BORING. Reporting on poverty or humanitarian efforts by entities or individuals (people or organizations doing good) is BORING - they won't report it - they'll ignore it all and take the nastiest tripe they can find and blow it up 10000000000 times and sensationalize and report on THAT instead. 'Cause it SELLS. $$$$$$$$$$$$$

What are we the people missing when it comes to the lame$tream media? E V E R Y T H I N G

At least there's the internet now and NO ONE has any excuse to be misinformed by the lame$tream media. OR any excuse to believe a damn thing they say.

ALL THE POLLS done before the health care debate/legislation process began in earnest indicated that the MAJORITY of people in the U.S. WANT a single-payer system or at LEAST a gov't run public option for health care.

It never - to me - added up that SUDDENLY - the "majority" (as shown by the lame$tream media) is AGAINST IT?

BULLSHIT.