This is how the US television media outlets stifle the truth about Donald Trump & anything else

[mtnsnake]

It's very simple. They stifle the truth by giving equal time to liars. They blatantly allow liars an equal opportunity platform with which to overshadow the truth.

In 5 easy steps, here is what they do numerous times per day on their so-called news shows:

Example:

1) CNN anchor tells the viewing audience that someone said Trump committed an atrocity ... and then turns it over to the panelists, 1 Democrat and 1 Republican.

2) The Democrat panelist proceeds to prove that Trump is indeed guilty of the atrocity by using facts to prove his or her point.

3) The Republican panelist explains how Trump didn't commit any such atrocity by lying through his or her teeth.

4) The two panelists argue back and forth for a minute or two while the news anchor sits there twiddling his or her thumbs.

5) The news anchor eventually interrupts them, thanks them both for their time, and cuts away to a commercial.

The viewers are left sitting at home with the notion that Trump may or may not be guilty of any wrongdoing, just by virtue of the media giving liars an equal amount of time to stifle the truth with lies.

This is not only WRONG, it is extremely dangerous.

[unblock]

1. and that's the best case scenario where they actually have 1 true democrat and 1 republican

first, republicans found an advantage when they got disciplined -- the republican would not longer speak their own mind, but would be forced to recite the republican party line. so the democrat sometimes agreed with the republican side, but the republican would never agree with the democratic side.

then they started adding more and more people to the mix, and often there were more republicans and/or right-leaning "independents" than democrats. i have seen this often but *never, ever* seen a panel with more democrats than republicans.

[world wide wally]

18. And for the rest of that week, they have on one after another Trump surrogates so that by the end of

the week he is totally exonerated.
Then Trump tweets out another bullshit lie and everyone runs to look at the new one and forgets all about the other one.

[unblock]

22. Yup. They really know how to manipulate the media.

And the media is all too happy to oblige.

[Duckhunter935]

2. In fact it is the new normal

3 on 3

[Garrett78]

3. A ratings-focused media promotes false equivalencies and doesn't care to fact check.

Neil Buchanan of Newsweek wrote a great piece about just how awful the print media is, too: http://www.newsweek.com/neil-buchanan-cruel-crooked-caricature-doomed-clinton-520125

[NoMoreRepugs]

16. this Neil Buchanan opinion piece should be the #1 thread here at DU....

I would love to hear the arguments against what he is saying.... possibly it might help to determine who the true progressives are around here

[Garrett78]

26. It's a pretty damn good article.

And he doesn't even really touch upon TV media, though much of the same argument applies.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

4. It happens in other ways too -- e.g., giving equal time to global warming deniers.

I'm almost surprised that Republicans haven't yet argued that science journals that omit submissions not backed by evidence are violating "freedom of speech" or some such nonsense.

[Garrett78]

5. It's the "Teach the Controversy" method.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teach_the_Controversy

Because it's apparently good for ratings.

"Gish Gallop" and "false equivalency" should be household terms.

[BSdetect]

6. What about equal time for "creationism" in schools?

Creeping cretinism.

Dinosaurs must have existed with humans - I saw it on the Flintstones.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

7. Yep, that's another example. n/t

[NewJeffCT]

19. Democrats need to learn to turn these things around or use the situation

Unfortunately, it's usually an Alan Colmes like Democrat and Hannity type Republican.

[procon]

8. Back in days of real Journalism, my college prof taught that the first job

of any reporter or journalist was to report the truth and detail the known facts that supported the news stories. We were supposed to ask the five key questions of Who, What, Where, When and How, essentially be the voice, the eyes and ears of the common man who did not have an opportunity to demand those answers directly from our public officials.

When Trump (or anyone else) pops off with some crazy word salad, unless he also provides his sources, then those remarks should be tagged as a bizarre act and include a caveat that it is only an unsubstantiated story that has no credible proof... watch for further developments.

I think everything changed with the "fair and balanced" news model developed by Fox New that attempted to make the news appear to be neutral and non threatening. Reporters no longer needed to be skilled and knowledgeable, network news bureaus disappeared, research depts. vanished, because the new Fox style of reporting was just to hire good looking stenographers who could read Press Releases from opposing sides. So a story about scientists and global warming, would also include a spokesmodel from the fossil fuel industry... and no questions asked so everyone was happy.

It was a custom made opportunity for a person like Trump.

[CousinIT]

9. And THIS is WHY they do it. Clearly stated.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/leslie-moonves-donald-trump-may-871464

[Locrian]

10. exactly

"Moonves called the campaign for president a "circus" full of "bomb throwing," and he hopes it continues."

People want to talk about "deplorabales"? Here's the rich POS version right there.

[mtnsnake]

33. That is an awesome example of how the truth takes a back seat to money.

Wow, it's one thing that we already know that they do it for high ratings which means more money in their pockets, but to see them brag about it in the manner in which the CEO of CBS did in that article you linked to, is simply disgusting.

Thank you for posting that. It's plenty worthy enough that you should consider posting it as a new topic on this forum.

[vkkv]

11. That's because

TRUTH LEANS LEFT.

That's how far the country has gone to the right.

[angrychair]

12. This has become a horror movie for me

The "every opinion is valid" is nonsense. Facts are still facts. Deductive reasoning and facts should matter. They don't seem to anymore. Facts and evidence have been replaced with panel "experts" that give their partisan perspective and public opinion polling.

[tclambert]

13. Well, you have to be fair and balanced to the liars, don't you?

You gotta give liars equal time, 'cause they have a right to be heard. Besides, truth is so-o subjective. For instance, science is just the opinion of a bunch of nerds. The people who feel more passionately about an issue and yell louder, those are the ones who are right. They win. People who whisper the truth lose.


(I was gonna put the tag on here, but I'm not sure it is sarcasm in a post-Trump world.)

[JimBeard]

14. Its the "We report you decide" bullshit. Zucker at CNN also said it was a Godsend.

[elmac]

15. I quit watching news on the 9th

That includes local news. Mostly because I could care less what happens in this country I'm stuck in. Very easy to do since I have no pay TV in my home.

[Mr.Bill]

17. TV News discovered a long time ago

That instead of hiring real reporters scattered around the globe to actually investigate and report on news events by writing a story they could back up with facts, it was easier to hire two blowhards to sit in a studio and argue the case of the two major political parties and call it reporting. The really great discovery, though, was that it was more entertaining for the uninformed public. Edward R. Murrow or Walter Cronkite would put today's audience to sleep. It's a sad state of affairs, and I see no way to fix it without stepping on the 1st amendment.

[barbtries]

20. turn it off.

alternative media the only way to go.

also, too much reality tv is bad for everyone.

[rtracey]

27. I totally agree

I was even considering not coming back on here, but I needed a little outlet, because I have COMPLETELY CUT OFF any network TV that has Fuckump news stories. I will not watch MSNBC, CBS, NBC, FOX... only sports on these channels, and the occasional non political show. I even stopped watching Bill Maher. I will not watch any any state of the union addresses, not news conferences, not breaking news that involves Fuckump on TV, not anything.....and I feel great about it. If I am in a room and he comes on, I walk away, if i see a paper or internet blurb, i turn away or delete it.... I love it...

[barbtries]

29. i haven't got that far.

after the 1st week of shock and grief, i slowly returned to watching seth meyers, the daily show, stephen colbert...then i turned to alternative media. as a way to hopefully save the 1st amendment i subscribed to the NYTimes and the LATimes, and i donated to Slate, Mother Jones, Daily Kos, NAACP, SPLC, and so on...already a member of TYT and David Pakman, but still haven't been able to sit through a whole program of either one since the election.

i found this great cartoon and printed it and hung it up at my desk. 2 people walking and one says, "My desire to be well-informed is currently at odds with my desire to remain sane."

it's funny but it's also actually true sad to say.

[world wide wally]

21. When they are pressed to tell the truth, pundits say that is not their job. (Chuck Todd)

When they are pressed to take a side, they say that is not their job.
They are merely pundits, not journalists.
So, as far as I can see their job is just to "shape" the news.

[Initech]

23. I'm a moderator on another internet forum.

Been at it about 3 years now. And I'm to the point where it's really easy to tell when a user doesn't want or care to be moderated. Donald Trump is that user. He bends the rules because he can't stand it when he's wrong. He resorts to other mediums to make his point clear even when he's wrong. He's even been banned from the medium because he can't use it correctly. Time to make that ban permanent.

[rtracey]

24. face it

Face it - we have 4 years of this...8 unless we come up with a young, motivated John F. Kennedy type democrat that will knock their socks off. Sorry, but time to dump the 70 and above crowd.... Gavin Newsome type democrat is needed......

[HAB911]

25. BOYCOTT.......n/t

[Dr. Mullion Blasto]

28. My own little battle plan: no more cable news (Except Lawrence)

No purchasing from a red state if it can possible be avoided, no travel through or to a red state and boycott all business that have anything to to with tRump except Amazon which I just can't give up.

[iluvtennis]

32. I like Lawrence, but Joy Reid (on Sat/Sun) and Rachel Maddow (Mon-Fri) are good too (n/t)

[mopinko]

31. they always give the liar the last word.

simple as that. subtle. unmistakable.