4 ms·

1) She's criticizing the creation of a government-run media organization, not the creation of an org that punishes media organizations for false news. These thi

1) She's criticizing the creation of a government-run media organization, not the creation of an org that punishes media organizations for false news. These things have different costs and benefits. Also, believe it or not, government-funded media already exists. For example, there's Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, the various spokespeople of government agencies like the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Health and Human Services, etc etc. With that in mind: why should one more new media agency be uniquely offensive? 2) Many of these arguments seem vague and conspiratorial. For example, it asserts that plutocrats really control all of our media. For this, it cites another article by the same author, which talks about Jeff Bezos acquiring Washington Post. That seems like a pretty big jump to me. 3) Many of these arguments argue things that do not support her point. For example, it claims that the media is pro-establishment. Okay, so what? The establishment has some good qualities. Imagine the skit from Life of Brian, "What have the Romans ever done for us?" but s/romans/establishment/.

zeth___ 8y ago
Bad example. When the Roman empire fell the average life expectancy increased in all regions [0] and [1]. Turns out complex societies are used to funnel wealth to the richest at the expense of the poorest. Who would have thought, apart from anyone who has studied them. [0] The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Economy, chapters 15 and 16 [1] Britain After Rome: The Fall and Rise, 400 to 1070
jadedhacker 8y ago
The reason you think these points are unsupported is because there is a large context that people on the left are familiar with but the rest of us opinion is not because it is not regularly discussed in corporate media. For instance, the work by Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman, Manufacturing Consent documents how mainstream news consistently reinforces government narratives, even when they are based on lies (Iraq, Vietnam, etc). These organizations you mention are in fact propaganda outlets intended for foreign audiences or literally government agencies, they don't regularly directly criticize US foreign policy on other than a tactical basis. The Jeff Bezos story is an example of the larger story of media consolidation where the majority of US media is owned by a handful of corporations. How often will such news organizations report conflicts of interest or report critically on their bosses? The establishment position is bloodthirsty. That's a big point of contention.
swebs 8y ago
>Many of these arguments seem vague and conspiratorial. For example, it asserts that plutocrats really control all of our media. For this, it cites another article by the same author, which talks about Jeff Bezos acquiring Washington Post. This one isn't exactly a secret. 90% of US media is controlled by 5 companies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_cross-ownership_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_cross-ownership_in_the_U... These 15 Billionaires Own America's News Media Companies http://archive.li/hWTJt http://archive.li/hWTJt
- mirimir 8y ago
  > We find that transnational corporations form a giant bow-tie structure and that a large portion of control flows to a small tightly-knit core of financial institutions. This core can be seen as an economic “super-entity” that raises new important issues both for researchers and policy makers. http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0025995 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal....

zeth___ 8y ago

Bad example. When the Roman empire fell the average life expectancy increased in all regions [0] and [1]. Turns out complex societies are used to funnel wealth to the richest at the expense of the poorest. Who would have thought, apart from anyone who has studied them. [0] The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Economy, chapters 15 and 16 [1] Britain After Rome: The Fall and Rise, 400 to 1070

jadedhacker 8y ago

The reason you think these points are unsupported is because there is a large context that people on the left are familiar with but the rest of us opinion is not because it is not regularly discussed in corporate media. For instance, the work by Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman, Manufacturing Consent documents how mainstream news consistently reinforces government narratives, even when they are based on lies (Iraq, Vietnam, etc). These organizations you mention are in fact propaganda outlets intended for foreign audiences or literally government agencies, they don't regularly directly criticize US foreign policy on other than a tactical basis. The Jeff Bezos story is an example of the larger story of media consolidation where the majority of US media is owned by a handful of corporations. How often will such news organizations report conflicts of interest or report critically on their bosses? The establishment position is bloodthirsty. That's a big point of contention.

swebs 8y ago

>Many of these arguments seem vague and conspiratorial. For example, it asserts that plutocrats really control all of our media. For this, it cites another article by the same author, which talks about Jeff Bezos acquiring Washington Post. This one isn't exactly a secret. 90% of US media is controlled by 5 companies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_cross-ownership_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_cross-ownership_in_the_U... These 15 Billionaires Own America's News Media Companies http://archive.li/hWTJt http://archive.li/hWTJt

mirimir 8y ago
> We find that transnational corporations form a giant bow-tie structure and that a large portion of control flows to a small tightly-knit core of financial institutions. This core can be seen as an economic “super-entity” that raises new important issues both for researchers and policy makers. http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0025995 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal....