You Can Fool Some Of The People All Of the Time...

I was going to follow up yesterday's final Cash For Clunkers post by talking about distressing new health care reform numbers but I will put that discussion off for one day and talk about an observation that hit me today. It neatly tied together three events that illustrate a trend that I have been harping on for years:

• While at the gym this morning, I was on a stationary bike and had to watch the morning CNN news show that was on the monitor in front of me. There is no sound from these TVs, just closed caption. One of the main, and continuing, stories during the news broadcast was about Sarah Palin, ex governor of Alaska and John McCain's VP candidate in last year's Presidential election, and her new book. The hilarious thing I observed is that in almost every case, whenever the CNN news people mentioned Palin they only used here last name. When the talked about her appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show, they referred to Oprah Winfrey by using both her first and last name. When they discussed the infamous Palin interview with Katie Couric last year, they used Ms. Couric's first and last name. For most of the morning, the CNN staff used only Palin's last name but everybody else's full name, a very subtle form of disrespect.
• This CNN disrespect reminded of Peter Jennings broadcast of the 2004 Presidential election when he was going through the preliminary results and trying to add some insights to how the election was unfolding. According to my recollection, when he referred to Senator John Kerry, he almost always said "Senator Kerry." When he referred to President Bush, he almost always used just Bush's last name. A hypothetical example would go like this: "Senator Kerry must win Ohio to have any chance of winning the election while Bush could lose Ohio and still win the election." The preceding is not a direct quote but was similar to what Jennings was saying that night. Again, a subtle form of disrespect and slanting of the news, much like CNN did to Palin this morning.
• Both of these instances reminded me of a short blurb in the September 25, 2009 issue of The Week (www.theweek.com) magazine. The article referenced market survey results from Pew Research which found that only 29% of the survey respondents felt that today's news organizations "generally get the facts straight" while 63% believe that news stories are often inaccurate. I find the word "generally" interesting since it implies that the percentage of time the news organizations exactly get the facts straight is less than 29%. Also, the research found that 60% of the respondents say news organizations are politically biased.

Thus, democracy has gotten a lot harder in this country when the majority of people do not believe that free press in this country are unbiased. Who do you believe if you cannot believe news broadcasts that are supposed to be giving you the facts (I am referring only to new broadcasts, not the talking head shows on cable and broadcast TV) and not slanting the "facts" and news to suit their slanted views? As we see from above, this slanting can be very subtle, i.e. giving respect to "your side" by using their full name and dissing "the other side" by slandering them with just their last name. It can be slanted by stressing certain news stories that make "the other side" look bad and ignoring or downplaying news stories that would make your side look bad. Very, very sad that we do not believe that we can turn on a newscast and feel confident that 1) they got the story right ("generally") and 2) it is not slanted.

This all ties into the first paragraph on page 181 in "Love My Country, Loathe My Government":

With regards to media, look for different and varied ways of getting your news. Understand that most major news outlets today are not unbiased, and each has its own political slant and favorite wing of the political class. If you do not diversify your information sources, you will continue to be fed the same messages that the political class wants you to hear, messages that divert your attention from the real needs of the country, and allow the political class to proceed with their freedom and power grab.Without actively looking for different ways to get your information, you will be forced to live with what the political class wants you to hear as forced through the media outlets they want you to use. You will become a warrior in their tribal fight against other Americans.

At the end of the movie, "the American President", the Michael Douglas character, the President of the United States, states that "America is not easy." The press and its biased reporting make America harder, harder to get the facts and harder to correctly act on those facts. But hard cannot stop us from being free, the political class is depending us to find America too hard.

Visit our website at www.loathemygovernment.com to order an autographed copy of the book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government -Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom and Destroying The American Political Class" and to sign up for the cause. The book is also available online at Amazon and Barnes And Noble.