Media And Political Correctness

[steve_bank]

The cable news media is becoming as dangerous as Trump.

It is setting itself up as a moral authority. For over a week CNN demanded Trump apologize for an offhand remark about McCain. Does anyone think after his long political career he and his family are going to be affected by a backroom comment made public? CNN acted like it was the crime of the century.

Now Barr is morally roasted for making crude comments. Are these public figures so emotionally weak that they take a nosedive for some remark from an unstable comedian?

CNN was saying kids who hear it will be harmed. Given video games, music, TV, and movie content that claim is selective morality.

Cable media can now destroy a person without that person having any recourse. The free press with exceptions can not be sued. Abuse of power, no different than Trump.

While FOX goes to extremes, CNN and MSNBC twist words continually to seem negative. Unsubstantiated innuendo results in endless debate targeting an individual.

Precedents being set by media today is just as much a danger as the precedents being set by Trump.

Let's have transparency in media. Let's hearall the backroom comments, who is sleeping with who, whom is snorting cole in the closet.

Are there personal biases in reporting and behind the camera staff?

The idea that the media has some kind of moral high ground is laughable. I am no fan of FOX but they have a point, the liberal media is pushing a form of polecat correctness. They pick and choose who to attack. Who oversees the media? No one.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Well, the other option would be to have someone oversee the media. That's a worse option by far.

 

[Ford]

The idea that the media has some kind of moral high ground is laughable. I am no fan of FOX but they have a point, the liberal media is pushing a form of polecat correctness. They pick and choose who to attack. Who oversees the media? No one.

What is "the media"? Fox (and conservative talk radio leading up to Fox) defined traditional outlets as "the liberal media." Not because they were actually liberal, but because the conservative media (and Rush, Fox, etc.) had an agenda to push and a business to build. They set themselves up in opposition to the traditional outlets not out of a sense of duty to present balance (or fair and balanced) but because it served their interests.

They hammered away at the legacy outlets painting all media as inherently "liberal" despite the fact that they were themselves part of the media. Fox rails against the "mainstream media" on a daily basis despite the fact that they're part of one of the biggest mainstream media empires on the planet. The bullshit is so thick you need a knife to cut it.

Moral high ground? That's Fox. Have CNN and MSNBC shifted leftward? Sure, but they've only done so because Murdoch and company presented them with a better business model. Be partisan. Be bombastic. Be a network with shouting commentators and you'll get ratings. CNN is merely following Fox's lead.

 

[prideandfall]

Have CNN and MSNBC shifted leftward? Sure

i actually need to speak up to vehemently disagree with this, because they most certainly have not.
neither CNN nor MSNBC are in any way "liberal" news outlets nor have they shifted "left" at any point in the last 20 years - they simply didn't stampede right along with everyone else.
(to be fair, they both have one or two shows on each day that have a liberal bent, but i'm talking about the overall presentation of the channel itself)

 

[Opoponax]

Have CNN and MSNBC shifted leftward? Sure

i actually need to speak up to vehemently disagree with this, because they most certainly have not.
neither CNN nor MSNBC are in any way "liberal" news outlets nor have they shifted "left" at any point in the last 20 years - they simply didn't stampede right along with everyone else.
(to be fair, they both have one or two shows on each day that have a liberal bent, but i'm talking about the overall presentation of the channel itself)

Conservative voters believe that if the news isn't actively promoting their viewpoint, then liberal conspiracies are afoot.

And it's only been recently and sporadically that outlets like ABC, CBS, and CNN have finally begun to call Trump's lies what they are--fucking lies. The media has always had a duty to do this and by not holding politicians accountable, they fail in that duty.

I remember my parents being furious at the media during the Iran-Contra scandal. They weren't mad that Reagan and his buddies had done some seriously illegal shit; rather, they were mad that the media had the nerve to cover it.

And from that mentality grew Limbaugh, Fox, etc.

Holding up a light to the hypocrisy of Trump/GOP regarding Trump and his administration's comments about a war veteran is what the media must do. Before Trump, veterans were not to be criticized; they were sacrosanct. Then Trump comes along and publicly insults gold star families and war veterans, and now that's just dandy? What in the actual fucking fuck?

I personally have never cared for the idealization of the cops and military, but for conservatives, it's been their Thing for decades. Until now. And the media is supposed to just ignore that?

What-the-fuck-ever.

 

[Keith&Co.]

And it's only been recently and sporadically that outlets like ABC, CBS, and CNN have finally begun to call Trump's lies what they are--fucking lies. The media has always had a duty to do this and by not holding politicians accountable, they fail in that duty.

Yeah, that was fun to watch.

The whole campaign, they just reprinted every damned thing he said.
After the election, they started presenting everything he said, but with a footnote. "President Trump claims... without offering any evidence."

And Trump whines about a liberal media trying to hamstring him since he announced his candidacy.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

The cable news media is becoming as dangerous as Trump.

It is setting itself up as a moral authority. For over a week CNN demanded Trump apologize for an offhand remark about McCain. Does anyone think after his long political career he and his family are going to be affected by a backroom comment made public? CNN acted like it was the crime of the century.

The Senator's position on torture is irrelevant because he is dying anyway.

We aren't talking some minor slight. We are talking about a POW that endured years of captivity... being lambasted by a Trump aid. A couple FBI workers make a few honest comments about Trump and Trump wants them fired. Goose and gander, right?

Now Barr is morally roasted for making crude comments.

Crude? She used 19th century racist imagery regarding a member of Obama's Administration. Crude is putting it nicely.

CNN was saying kids who hear it will be harmed. Given video games, music, TV, and movie content that claim is selective morality.

A video game is a video game. What Barr said is helping to normalize this racist shit in America. We should not let it become normalized.

While FOX goes to extremes, CNN and MSNBC twist words continually to seem negative. Unsubstantiated innuendo results in endless debate targeting an individual.

CNN and MSNBC are tabloid news, yes, but typically they just keep hammering no the same thing over and over. Fox News had a guy say the US President hated white people.

Precedents being set by media today is just as much a danger as the precedents being set by Trump.

It isn't even remotely close. Trump could be destroying our democratic principles as we speak. We won't know if we can undo or just ignore the Trump Presidency.

The idea that the media has some kind of moral high ground is laughable. I am no fan of FOX but they have a point, the liberal media is pushing a form of polecat correctness. They pick and choose who to attack. Who oversees the media? No one.

Fuck no! Not calling black people apes is not "political correctness" it is the barest modicum of decency.

 

[laughing dog]

Accurately reporting and describing reality is the basic raison d'etre of "the media". Calling a racist statement "racist" is factually accurate. So unless the moral high ground encompasses factually accuracy, I fail to understand what the OP is trying to say in regards to Ms. Barr.

The remark by Trump's aide is tasteless but it was not made for the public. And the remark certainly is consistent with Trump's remarks about McCain. Personally, I don't think the resulting hullabaloo was called for, but my view of basic human decency would indicate that an apology was in order. I don't think adhering to basic human decency is equivalent to taking the moral high ground. So, all in all, I find the concerns stated in the OP to be overblown.

 

[Keith&Co.]

The cable news media is becoming as dangerous as Trump.

It is setting itself up as a moral authority. For over a week CNN demanded Trump apologize for an offhand remark about McCain. .

Did CNN demand that he apologize? I guess I missed that. Where was it? Who demanded the apology?

I do recall a lot of people asking the White House if anyone was going to apologize. Because that's how it's done. Someone in your organization makes a faux pas, you apologize and either fire them or slap their wrists. The press pool was asking if Trump was going to follow form or not.
They also pressed other politicians to take a side. Defend or denounce the comment. Say he should apologize or say he doesn't need to. Either way, that's a story. Politician A thinks this is unprofessional or whatever. Politician B thinks it's 'poorly timed,' or whatever weasel-wording he uses, Politician C shrugs and says, "Well, he IS dying." Take a side, people. Trump is busy polarizing politics, where are you on the spectrum right now?

But I don't recall the network demanding an apology. maybe individual talking heads did? Was it on an opinion-show? One of those where they can literally say, 'the opinions expressed are NOT the network's?'

 

[Keith&Co.]

Cable media can now destroy a person without that person having any recourse. The free press with exceptions can not be sued. Abuse of power, no different than Trump.

Who would you say that the Press has destroyed?
Weinstein? Cosby?
Moore? Arpaio? Barr?
Zimmerman?

Or, better yet, who do you think has been destroyed who deserves to sue the cable media?

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Or, better yet, who do you think has been destroyed who deserves to sue the cable media?

What about Hillary Clinton? All that bullshit pretending that her emails were important cost her the Presidency and all the related donations and speaking fees which come from that. That's hundreds of millions in damages they owe her.

 

[steve_bank]

FOX, MSNBC, and CNN/HLN are having feeding frenzies. Like starving rats finding a small road kill and battling over who gets to eat. Push mg. shoving, biting, climbing over each other.

So much for cable news credibility, it is all tabloid journalism.

 

[Ford]

Have CNN and MSNBC shifted leftward? Sure

i actually need to speak up to vehemently disagree with this, because they most certainly have not.
neither CNN nor MSNBC are in any way "liberal" news outlets nor have they shifted "left" at any point in the last 20 years - they simply didn't stampede right along with everyone else.
(to be fair, they both have one or two shows on each day that have a liberal bent, but i'm talking about the overall presentation of the channel itself)

CNN started as a pure news outlet. They were 24/7 news at the outset. When the landscape shifted and they needed to fill the hours with more opinion than news, I do think they leaned a bit more to the liberal side, but that's arguable.

MSNBC? Not so much. They've got Joe Scarborough in the morning and used to have Pat Buchanan as a guest on some shows, but from Phil Donahue through Olbermann and now with Maddow, Hayes, and Joy Reid their opinion shows have leaned liberal. CNN still clings to the presentation of themselves as a pure news outlet, but MSNBC (IMO) is trying to be a fuzzy mirror of Fox.

 

[Patooka]

I forget who said it, but reality does have a liberal bias.

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

Have CNN and MSNBC shifted leftward? Sure, but they've only done so because Murdoch and company presented them with a better business model. Be partisan. Be bombastic. Be a network with shouting commentators and you'll get ratings. CNN is merely following Fox's lead.

That doesn't make it acceptable.

 

[Terrell]

I forget who said it, but reality does have a liberal bias.

Stephen Colbert.