NPR essay on losing "America's trust"

[Azrael]

Noted.

What would you like the media do? What is not doing that it should do? What is it doing that it should stop doing?

I still don't know.

It might be too late to do anything about it.

The net effect of our national news exhaustion is to be soft on Trump and hard on Biden. In part, as I've often said, because our national politics have moved so far right that the center looks like the far left.

And the national news apparatus is at great pains to avoid seeming "leftist" or "liberal."

There's also the collapse of the newsgathering business model, which is being addressed almost entirely by chasing clicks. And "Trump" has become synonymous with "clicks."

The irony being of course that Low Information / No Information voters aren't really clicking anything.

 

[The Big Ragu]

But Trump is denigrating his "opponents" - and his "opponents," plural , are whoever he says they are. Joe Biden? The DoJ? Every Democrat? - with remarkably precise language from the Goebbels glossary for mass violence.

This isn't a media issue to me. It's a "Why the f&^@ don't more people care and send this guy back to his clown car?" issue.

I honestly don't think "the media" has failed. Anyone who is actually engaged with the world knows who Donald Trump is (and either are horrified or for whatever reason, just don't care). And in the case of the millions of people who make the choice to be ignorant (like the people who can't even name the president), "the media" can't make them into something they are not.

 

[Azrael]

This isn't a media issue to me. It's a "Why the f&^@ don't more people care and send this guy back to his clown car?" issue.

I honestly don't think "the media" has failed. Anyone who is actually engaged with the world knows who Donald Trump is (and either are horrified or for whatever reason, just don't care). And in the case of the millions of people who make the choice to be ignorant (like the people who can't even name the president), "the media" can't make them into something they are not.

I agree in part. As above

The irony being of course that Low Information / No Information voters aren't really clicking anything.

I think at least part of this is a failure in the schools to teach what used to be called 'civics.'

And I've long since given up on the idea that anyone anywhere will get a decent education in modern political history. It would never get past the local school board.

But maybe that should be part of the role news outfits play in the current world. Educators in history and civics.

Trouble is we've never had fewer outlets or resources with which to do it.

 

[Alma]

because our national politics have moved so far right that the center looks like the far left.

This is not accurate as a generalization.

In some ways, politics has moved right. In some ways left. Perhaps in all ways, in the direction of elitism, or, the cares and concerns of the very wealthy. Many of whom, now, are Democrats. Mostly Republicans in the 1980s? Sure. Not anymore.

And it's hurting a party that sh0uld be crushing Trump. Instead of accepting and adapting to the quirks of the broader American public - especially on immigration and health care - the Democrats fixate on more picayune topics, polishings of their moral portfolios. And, tying to back to NPR...so does NPR.

 

[Octave]

a president said it might be advisable to ingest household cleaners. It's a pretty big leap to say trust was there to lose or be lost.

 

[Azrael]

In some ways left. Perhaps in all ways, in the direction of elitism, or, the cares and concerns of the very wealthy. Many of whom, now, are Democrats.

By saying Democrats have become corporatists who moved to Wall Street, you're agreeing with me. Money is essentially conservative. Wealth is essentially conservative.

The overturn of Roe - against the wishes of a clear majority of Americans - is a pretty glaring illustration of just how far right the Right has moved.

And there's no difference at all between right and left on the matter of US immigration . . . when Cargill and ADM and American Sugar are the ones making immigration policy.

What we're hearing right now from American campuses is exactly what I'm describing. Young people see no difference between Democrats and Republicans.

 

[Alma]

Money is essentially conservative. Wealth is essentially conservative.

I don't think I can sign on to that definition.

 

[justgladtobehere]

By saying Democrats have become corporatists who moved to Wall Street, you're agreeing with me. Money is essentially conservative. Wealth is essentially conservative.

The overturn of Roe - against the wishes of a clear majority of Americans - is a pretty glaring illustration of just how far right the Right has moved.

And there's no difference at all between right and left on the matter of US immigration . . . when Cargill and ADM and American Sugar are the ones making immigration policy.

What we're hearing right now from American campuses is exactly what I'm describing. Young people see no difference between Democrats and Republicans.

The point of the Constitution is that majority rule doesn't carry the day. It's an odd point to make.

 

[justgladtobehere]

This isn't a media issue to me. It's a "Why the f&^@ don't more people care and send this guy back to his clown car?" issue.

I honestly don't think "the media" has failed. Anyone who is actually engaged with the world knows who Donald Trump is (and either are horrified or for whatever reason, just don't care). And in the case of the millions of people who make the choice to be ignorant (like the people who can't even name the president), "the media" can't make them into something they are not.

I'll agree with that. MSNBC hosts are pretty open about being anti-Trump. They are smarter than their competitors on Fox, but the point is the channel is a voice offering a Democrat/liberal opinion that people can watch.

 

[Azrael]

The point of the Constitution is that majority rule doesn't carry the day. It's an odd point to make.

Unless one of us is trying to make a point about the rightward lurch of US politics.

 

[justgladtobehere]

Unless one of us is talking about how conservative US politics have become.

But that's not how Constitutional law works. There are many decisions that are celebrated but we're a minority opinion of the voting public. You can't have it both ways.

 

[Azrael]

But that's not how Constitutional law works.

But it's how politics and elections and in this case Supreme Court appointments work.