5 ms·

This is extremely dangerous to our democracy.

robotrout 9y ago
I agree. 232 people control the news that 277 million americans are allowed to see. ([1] from 2012). Many of us have been pounding this drum for a long time, including Trump himself. I think it is this control at a national level that the Sinclair news anchors were being told to warn people about, but the NYT has flipped the narrative on them, and now they're the bad guys. Genius, but unfortunate. [1] http://www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-in-america-2012-6 http://www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-...
- losteric 9y ago
  > Many of us have been pounding this drum for a long time, including Trump himself. Can you cite that? It sounds like prime material for Reddit's /r/TrumpCriticizesTrump/
  - robotrout 9y ago
    Cite it? Fake News has been his mantra for awhile. I think you'll find it.
    - losteric 9y ago
      I don't see how "fake news" relates to media monopolization. It's just a fallacious outright rejection of unpleasant news. In fact, Trump just stated he supports Sinclair's monopolization.
      - mistermann 9y ago
        Monopolization is highly beneficial to facilitating fake news, you don't see that?
        losteric 9y ago
        It's the other way around. Fake news is selective ignorance that distracts from the cancer eating away at our formerly-educated electorate.
        mistermann 9y ago
        One entity owning multiple outlets and therefore having the ability to broadcast a consistent message, as literally shown in the video, not only does not facilitate fake news, but can not? It acts as an antidote to fake news, in all cases?
        losteric 9y ago
        "Fake news" is a symptom of consumer ignorance, and beneficial for facilitating monopolization.
        mistermann 9y ago
        Please answer my question.
        losteric 9y ago
        Which one? They looked rhetorical to me.
- maxerickson 9y ago
  Your take doesn't jibe with Sinclair requiring their stations to air Boris Epshteyn and his, uh, "analysis".
- prolikewhoa 9y ago
  Agreed. This has been no secret and a lot of people have absolutely been pounding this drum for a long time. Bernie talking about it in 1988 as mayor of Burlington: https://youtu.be/KIQ_Kj7uBeg https://youtu.be/KIQ_Kj7uBeg
- IngvarLynn 9y ago
  It is not "are allowed to see" but "chose to consume". This whole "fake news" jazz is for the wrong reason.
black6 9y ago
Or our constitutional republic, as the case may be.
- astrodust 9y ago
  The United States is a monarchy now, you just don't realize it yet.
- chc 9y ago
  A constitutional republic is a type of democracy. Trying to draw a distinction there is beyond splitting hairs.
  - innocentoldguy 9y ago
    I agree that a constitutional republic is a type of democracy, but a democracy is not a constitutional republic. Both systems are a representational form of government, but in a true democracy the majority rules. In a constitutional republic, constraints are placed upon the government which, ideally, work to protect the minority. For example, in a pure democracy, gay marriage would not be a thing, because the majority voted against it. However, because we are a republic, and the government is compelled to recognize the minority and protect their rights, gay marriage is now legal. I don't think this distinction is "splitting hairs," since it is of vital importance to the minority.
TallGuyShort 9y ago
It's about as dangerous as Twitter spam. If people's votes are swaying based on the trash that is cable news and fake Twitter accounts, I'm not sure we had much hope for government-by-the-people to begin with.
CivilEngineer 9y ago
I'm not so sure. It really could just be a symptom of the fact that it's hard to make money on local news, because people get their news elsewhere now, so costs have be be kept low. This means getting stories from news services, and automating as much as possible.

I agree. 232 people control the news that 277 million americans are allowed to see. ([1] from 2012). Many of us have been pounding this drum for a long time, including Trump himself. I think it is this control at a national level that the Sinclair news anchors were being told to warn people about, but the NYT has flipped the narrative on them, and now they're the bad guys. Genius, but unfortunate. [1] http://www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-in-america-2012-6 http://www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-...

losteric 9y ago
> Many of us have been pounding this drum for a long time, including Trump himself. Can you cite that? It sounds like prime material for Reddit's /r/TrumpCriticizesTrump/
- robotrout 9y ago
  Cite it? Fake News has been his mantra for awhile. I think you'll find it.
  - losteric 9y ago
    I don't see how "fake news" relates to media monopolization. It's just a fallacious outright rejection of unpleasant news. In fact, Trump just stated he supports Sinclair's monopolization.
    - mistermann 9y ago
      Monopolization is highly beneficial to facilitating fake news, you don't see that?
      - losteric 9y ago
        It's the other way around. Fake news is selective ignorance that distracts from the cancer eating away at our formerly-educated electorate.
        mistermann 9y ago
        One entity owning multiple outlets and therefore having the ability to broadcast a consistent message, as literally shown in the video, not only does not facilitate fake news, but can not? It acts as an antidote to fake news, in all cases?
        losteric 9y ago
        "Fake news" is a symptom of consumer ignorance, and beneficial for facilitating monopolization.
        mistermann 9y ago
        Please answer my question.
        losteric 9y ago
        Which one? They looked rhetorical to me.
maxerickson 9y ago
Your take doesn't jibe with Sinclair requiring their stations to air Boris Epshteyn and his, uh, "analysis".
prolikewhoa 9y ago
Agreed. This has been no secret and a lot of people have absolutely been pounding this drum for a long time. Bernie talking about it in 1988 as mayor of Burlington: https://youtu.be/KIQ_Kj7uBeg https://youtu.be/KIQ_Kj7uBeg
IngvarLynn 9y ago
It is not "are allowed to see" but "chose to consume". This whole "fake news" jazz is for the wrong reason.

black6 9y ago

Or our constitutional republic, as the case may be.

astrodust 9y ago
The United States is a monarchy now, you just don't realize it yet.
chc 9y ago
A constitutional republic is a type of democracy. Trying to draw a distinction there is beyond splitting hairs.
- innocentoldguy 9y ago
  I agree that a constitutional republic is a type of democracy, but a democracy is not a constitutional republic. Both systems are a representational form of government, but in a true democracy the majority rules. In a constitutional republic, constraints are placed upon the government which, ideally, work to protect the minority. For example, in a pure democracy, gay marriage would not be a thing, because the majority voted against it. However, because we are a republic, and the government is compelled to recognize the minority and protect their rights, gay marriage is now legal. I don't think this distinction is "splitting hairs," since it is of vital importance to the minority.

TallGuyShort 9y ago

It's about as dangerous as Twitter spam. If people's votes are swaying based on the trash that is cable news and fake Twitter accounts, I'm not sure we had much hope for government-by-the-people to begin with.

CivilEngineer 9y ago

I'm not so sure. It really could just be a symptom of the fact that it's hard to make money on local news, because people get their news elsewhere now, so costs have be be kept low. This means getting stories from news services, and automating as much as possible.