Originally Posted by GJAJ15

One of my longstanding issues is that the left wing main stream media is a fallacy invented by this administration to dismiss discussion about what is happening in this administration. It is played out daily on Rush, Hannity, Savage, O'Reilly, Robertson and even though they often do not tell the whole story, are seldom held to task on their shortcomings. Unfortunately, many folk in this country take what they say as truth and do not take the time to understand the whole issue. Conversely, anything said by either side should be researched before believing in this day and age.

And of course they're always wrong but DU is a 'great' source of factual research. {eye rolls}

Came across this article in the Democratic Underground, before you cast aspersions about this think about and don't throw the baby out with the bath water. It is an interesting perspective on the role of media in why people do not question more of what is going on today. My concept that there is undeniable belief in what is being said on the radio and tv by the right wing folk, coupled with the below lends credibility to my assertion that the so called left wing mainstream media is not a reality. This administration has been very successful in controlling what is being said, and the use of media has been beneficial in extending its agenda.

Spiral of Silence is primarily tied to the "news" media. The American "news" media has been almost completely hijacked by massive corporations and their political arm, the GOP. This media drums out its basic message 24/7: Democrats are bad, republicans are good, and * is GREAT.

Utterly wrong. Hollywood, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, PBS, the NYT, LA Times, WaPo, most every major paper (W Times, etc. excepted) and local far left rags like the Portsmouth NH paper et. al. rarely if ever criticize Dems and often attack business and Republicans. The fact that talk radio gets by on ratings and is almost all right wing irritates liberals. Liberal radio is booring. Maybe it's the message that stinks.

Spiral of Silence suggests that people will remain silent in the face of what they perceive to be majority opinion. That is, even if a person believes * to be bad and wrong he will remain silent if he believes that the majority think * is good and correct. This leads to alienation and uncertainty among those who have doubts about *.

Demonstably false, as the above cited mainstream majority media spout anti-administration and anti_Iraq War viewpoint stories 24/7. Therefore, current public opinion should be if your premise is correct, anti-Bush and anti-Iraq War...
Uh-oh! Wait! You may be right about the phenomenon, but you're 180 degrees out of sync with your deeply flawed media imaginings.

Originally Posted by GJAJ15

One of my longstanding issues is that the left wing main stream media is a fallacy invented by this administration to dismiss discussion about what is happening in this administration. It is played out daily on Rush, Hannity, Savage, O'Reilly, Robertson and even though they often do not tell the whole story, are seldom held to task on their shortcomings. Unfortunately, many folk in this country take what they say as truth and do not take the time to understand the whole issue. Conversely, anything said by either side should be researched before believing in this day and age.

Came across this article in the Democratic Underground, before you cast aspersions about this think about and don't throw the baby out with the bath water. It is an interesting perspective on the role of media in why people do not question more of what is going on today. My concept that there is undeniable belief in what is being said on the radio and tv by the right wing folk, coupled with the below lends credibility to my assertion that the so called left wing mainstream media is not a reality. This administration has been very successful in controlling what is being said, and the use of media has been beneficial in extending its agenda.

http://www.democraticunderground.com...pic_id=5701359

There are two communication theories which, taken together, help explain why people in the United States continue to allow the * regime to remain in power. These theories are (1) Spiral of Silence and (2)Mean World Syndrome. Both involve abuse of the mass media.

Spiral of Silence is primarily tied to the "news" media. The American "news" media has been almost completely hijacked by massive corporations and their political arm, the GOP. This media drums out its basic message 24/7: Democrats are bad, republicans are good, and * is GREAT.

Spiral of Silence suggests that people will remain silent in the face of what they perceive to be majority opinion. That is, even if a person believes * to be bad and wrong he will remain silent if he believes that the majority think * is good and correct. This leads to alienation and uncertainty among those who have doubts about *. Alienated, uncertain people have diminished capacity to dissent and are easier to control. Spiral of Silence has been used to help explain why the German people accepted nazi atrocities.


Mean World Syndrome is tied to both news and entertainment media. The corporate "news" media treat local crime stories (kidnapped children, missing women, etc.) as national crises and spend grossly inappropriate amounts of time and energy covering these stories. While it is correct for media to report crime, very often the stories with which the corporate media choose to saturate their "news" shows are of legitimate interest only to a specific community or region. The Lacey Peterson and Natalie Holloway stories demonstrate this beautifully.