3 ms·

There is a bit more nuance in the "playing defence for the rich and powerful" that has been somewhat lost over the last few years. For starters, I don't think

There is a bit more nuance in the "playing defence for the rich and powerful" that has been somewhat lost over the last few years. For starters, I don't think print/broadcast journalism has ever been truly independent. As an example, to work for the BBC in the past you had to have the "right" background so naturally they protected their own. That attitude was pervasive in print journalism (even the so called "red tops" did that). It was less a conspiracy and more of the expression of the class system, even in the US. Point (2) though I think is largely correct. There seems to be no "golden age" of bold journalism. Certainly we have waxing and waning yellow journalism but that's about it. What has been truly lost is the ability of the 4th estate to establish a single narrative. Thanks to the algorithms of our search barons, each of us is trapped in an individual cone of narrative and none of us really share one any more. That to me is the biggest problem with the modern news cycle. It fosters extremism.

roenxi 3y ago
The moderate position in the US appears to be building Chinese manufacturing excellence, forever wars and a path to some sort of bankruptcy-style debt monetisation crisis. That has been the consensus position across both major US parties for around 50 years. The moderate path in Europe has been to push software dominance to the US and manufacturing excellence to China. They appear to have failed to keep the peace in Europe to the point where there is a major and apparently escalating war afoot on the continent. The energy crisis is ongoing too. What are the extremists going to threaten us with?
- smackeyacky 3y ago
  Random acts of grievance related violence if the US is anything to go by. It won't be a coordinated threat, more of a disturbing side effect of being able to cocoon yourself in wild conspiracies combined with the general rage that comes with billionaires telling us it's our fault all the manufacturing jobs went to China. Look what you made me do!
drewcoo 3y ago
> lost is the ability of the 4th estate to establish a single narrative For a brief while, radio and then television reigned. They were a tight little oligopoly. The only other news came from periodicals that "weird uncles" might read. That was the era of the single narrative. Then there was the rise of cable and in the US, the loosening of rules that led to the talk radio boom, then finally the Internet. The carefully-groomed narrative gave way to cacophony. Today the fingerprints of government are all over main news sources, be that "ex-" spooks actually on camera on network broadcasts or active government interference with Internet feeds. We've always had government trying to stop reporting and censor, but this seems like a different magnitude of involvement. I'm more concerned about that, frankly. > It fosters extremism. Disagree. I think it fosters quarrels. Everyone being encouraged to conform fosters extremism, from the fascist movements of the 20th century to the red scare to the cold war, people were required to salute and stop thinking or else they're not "one of us."
- smackeyacky 3y ago
  This is a considered response and it raises a good point. What fostered extremism and then conformance in fascism (or Stalinism): The threat of violence and a surveillance state. We certainly have the ingredients for authoritarian takeover in much of what are democracies, All it will take is somebody to harness them together.

roenxi 3y ago

The moderate position in the US appears to be building Chinese manufacturing excellence, forever wars and a path to some sort of bankruptcy-style debt monetisation crisis. That has been the consensus position across both major US parties for around 50 years. The moderate path in Europe has been to push software dominance to the US and manufacturing excellence to China. They appear to have failed to keep the peace in Europe to the point where there is a major and apparently escalating war afoot on the continent. The energy crisis is ongoing too. What are the extremists going to threaten us with?

smackeyacky 3y ago
Random acts of grievance related violence if the US is anything to go by. It won't be a coordinated threat, more of a disturbing side effect of being able to cocoon yourself in wild conspiracies combined with the general rage that comes with billionaires telling us it's our fault all the manufacturing jobs went to China. Look what you made me do!

drewcoo 3y ago

> lost is the ability of the 4th estate to establish a single narrative For a brief while, radio and then television reigned. They were a tight little oligopoly. The only other news came from periodicals that "weird uncles" might read. That was the era of the single narrative. Then there was the rise of cable and in the US, the loosening of rules that led to the talk radio boom, then finally the Internet. The carefully-groomed narrative gave way to cacophony. Today the fingerprints of government are all over main news sources, be that "ex-" spooks actually on camera on network broadcasts or active government interference with Internet feeds. We've always had government trying to stop reporting and censor, but this seems like a different magnitude of involvement. I'm more concerned about that, frankly. > It fosters extremism. Disagree. I think it fosters quarrels. Everyone being encouraged to conform fosters extremism, from the fascist movements of the 20th century to the red scare to the cold war, people were required to salute and stop thinking or else they're not "one of us."

smackeyacky 3y ago
This is a considered response and it raises a good point. What fostered extremism and then conformance in fascism (or Stalinism): The threat of violence and a surveillance state. We certainly have the ingredients for authoritarian takeover in much of what are democracies, All it will take is somebody to harness them together.