That is a myth which should be dispensed with completely. I thought Chomsky/Herman already set the record straight in Manufacturing Consent?

The “lies” delved into above are trivial and mostly inconsequential compared to the massive propaganda efforts at promoting militarism, official enemies, and covering up what is arguably Treason at the highest levels. Failure to competently investigate is the real sin, part of a larger program of mass mind control, the real reason for the current state of what they tell you is “news.”

From Pearl Harbor being a deliberate “provocation” and not a “surprise attack” at all, up through 9/11, to the latest CIA sponsored would-be terror attack exposed by German authorities the other day, Americans are perhaps the most ignorant people alive today.

Thanks to their gullibility, their national myths and their obliviousness. All promoted by the corporate press of course.

Carry on.

Obviously you don’t need to have someone from the Flat Earth Society on your show each time someone happens to mention that the world is round. YET, that’s what started happening, starting during Regan.

They pushed the idea that there was a “liberal bias” to the news. At the same time (remember money talks!) it APPEARED as though Fox “News” was garnering a large audience. So, trembling with fear, they went for this false notion of balance and started giving equal time to liars and morons.

“The man can sit on the elephant, but the elephant should not sit on the man.”

They would say, “because a man can sit on an elephant, it is only FAIR that the elephant gets to also sit on the man!”

It’s only fair…

It’s true for ALL of us that our ideologies and our theories about the world sometimes come into conflict with facts and evidence that doesn’t fit with our preconceived notions. When this happens, some people slam the square peg of the facts into the round hole of their dogma and clip merrily along as though black really were white. Others alter their theories to account for the new information.

I think you can guess which sort I prefer.

And “asshaberdashery” is my new favorite word…

What is your opinion of media guys that inject editorial content and invective into their newscasts? I’m referring to guys like Matthews and Olbermann, and a bunch of guys on the right side of the aisle.

Jeff

What I’m talking about is when a candidate LIES. Like saying “I voted against bill X” when the record shows, in black and white, that he did the precise opposite.

You know, things like that. If they can get the obvious stuff right I’ll deal with the gray areas on my own.

If a reporter fails to research a claim sufficiently to report on the factual basis of a claim, then either a) the report shouldn’t be run in the first place or b) the report shouldn’t be run in the first place. If the facts are researched to be one thing and are later found to have been misunderstood, then a correction must be run. How bad the factual misunderstanding was determines how big the correction must be.

Seem’s pretty simple to me.

It’s already being done. This is exactly reason the media is pathetic today. The reporters insert their own value judgments into the stories they write. I’d much rather be told the facts of the case and let me draw my own conclusions. However, there are very few news outlets or reporters that do that anymore.

As a general rule-of-thumb I always assume that it’s the MEDIA that is lying. It’s been my experience that the media delivers more lies than politicians — and politicians lie all the time.

Great post.

Jeff