Jeff Stahler for January 03, 2020

It’s hard to believe that we are so divided that there are two (or more) completely divergent sources of “news” that all have an audience sufficient to support them. Of course we’ve always had newspapers and magazines that competed by choosing what news (and not-so real things) to publish, but we mostly understood which ones were “real” and which were just in it for the outrage and grocery checkout sales. Now, if you ask an MSNBC viewer whether Fox does news you get a flat denial. And exactly the other way about. That is what’s scary.

I blame Geraldo Rivera for all of this. Since way (waaaaaay) back in the seventies, when GR was doing the NYC local news, he started all this opinionated propagandized “journalism “.

We could get into the whole history of how we got here, but of course, most of it boils down to centralized control of most media outlets. That is, in the golden age of newspapers, every town of size had multiple papers with multiple outlooks. They were definitely biased, but there were so many that most of the time, no one or two biases took control. Back in the 70s and 80s, several things all started happening. The legal requirement that no one news source (owner) could hold a monopoly began to weaken. Cable television added countless channels, but with fewer corporate owners. Corporations began to own TV, radio, and newspapers, so all news started to look the same. They also started to cut funding for actual reporters and — especially on 24/7 cable TV — just started repeating the same thing over and over. We had less and shallower reporting on a never-ending loop. Then came the internet — and there has been so little regulation of it that bad folks have easily been able to take it over and give us 24/7 troll food. BUT, here’s one thing I think this cartoon misses — the person (ironically) on the right probably watches MSNBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, and PBS. And maybe the BBC for good measure. The person watching Fox probably only watches Fox.

“A person who does not read the newspaper is uninformed. A person who reads the newspaper is misinformed.” – Mark Twain. It’s been going on for over 100 years.

Back in high school, our class took a couple of weeks out of the curriculum to study journalism. We were taught how to read a newspaper. Since we were in New York City, we had many papers available to us and had to track the same story in both papers.

We did “hard metrics” like point size of the headline, where it appeared, inches of print, etc.

We also evaluated number of sources, their credentials, direct quotes, were they anonymous, etc.

We paid attention to metrics. Many journalists do not distinguish between a plurality and a majority. We even attempted to draw Venn diagrams on the metrics (the paper seldom gave enough information to do this).

Finally we were on the lookout for “judgmental words” like “wrong” or “right” and extreme adjectives.

It’s harder to do this with broadcast journalism, but my alarm filters are still on.

When I watch NBC nightly “news” (it has very little substantial content being more focused on commercials and entertainment), there are usually two to four alarms going off in the broadcast.

With Fox, someone mashes down on the klaxon button and tapes it down. I have to admit, I can only take so much of this.

One of Stephen Covey’s habits (7 Habits of Highly Effective People) is “Seek first to understand and then be understood.”

It is difficult to understand Fox: by the time I digest one lie the next two have already gone by. It’s like being a slow-witted person listing to Robin Williams, the jokes go by too fast to catch them all.

It’s hard to believe the lying Russian propaganda they present on Fox as truth.

But now only ONE of you is watching the News. The other is watching FAUX, which has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE NEWS!!!!

Never bought a National Enquirer type thread ever, still get the headlines at the grocery store waiting in line.

Maybe if you both watch CBS/ABC/NBC or the BBC, your news wouldn’t be so slanted and you would be able to talk again.

It’s hard to believe people are stup…, I beg your pardon, misinformed enough to watch Fox and still call it news.

trumps wall.. right down the middle of Americas families..

I prefer BBC, CBC, DW, NHK and sometimes PBS for news. MSNBC and Faux are news with a political slant so a viewer has to separate the wheat from the chaff. Lots of chaff on Faux.

Ehhhhh, SHADDAP!

The person who remains calm in the midst of all this confusion just isn’t aware of the seriousness of the situation (Unknown) Or realizes that until the rants and diatribes subside, and individuals and groups can talk calmly about solutions rather than problems, there is little use in becoming a target for either side.

The person on the right is the most likely to change channels at times.

Labeling FOX news as news is a gargantuan leap in the reach and distribution of stupidity. The White House Weasel thanks them for their service to his administration.

Good commentary

Don’t know for sure this would help, but, reinstate the Fairness Doctrine.

They used to watch the news together, until he stopped watching news in favor of watching misinfotainment.