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I'm young, so excuse my naiveté, but I can't remember another time (in my lifetime) that the gov't & press have been in such a standoff with a stark contrast of

I'm young, so excuse my naiveté, but I can't remember another time (in my lifetime) that the gov't & press have been in such a standoff with a stark contrast of opinion. It seems news these days is mostly feeding people's opinions back to them ("here's what you had to say on twitter") and taking pot shots at the other sides of the spectrum on lots of surface level points that quite frankly - neither side is going to shift anytime soon. That said, if nothing else, it seems the quality of news post-snowden has picked up a little & it seems the press is finally starting to do their job in informing the public rather than just appeasing it (or maybe I'm just paying attention more).

visakanv 13y ago
As a general rule, I think the press doesn't push itself very hard- it largely does whatever it has to do to sell papers (or equivalent). Here's what I think: Intelligent commentary on difficult issues emerges into popular consciousness whenever the difficult issues are serious enough that the intelligent, thoughtful folk are forced to have conversations with the general masses. In this simplistic sense, major issues "shake up" sociopolitical reality. I know this sounds a little elitist. I don't consider myself to be one of the "intelligent, thoughtful folk". I'm a veritable moron. But whenever these shakeups happen, there's an increased demand for intelligent commentary, and the press moves to fulfill that demand. That's my theory. I could be totally wrong; would love to hear input/criticism from others on this.
dredmorbius 13y ago
I'm not all that young anymore, and I certainly don't remember this either. As others have noted, Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers in the 1970s is probably the most recent precedent. And the mainstream press have absolutely been falling down on the job, with very few exceptions. The Times is barely worth reading, and I'm finding NPR/BBC increasingly unlistenable (or simply not worth my time). The Guardian has hit my must-read list, and I'll be very interested to see what Greenwald does with his new venture.

visakanv 13y ago

As a general rule, I think the press doesn't push itself very hard- it largely does whatever it has to do to sell papers (or equivalent). Here's what I think: Intelligent commentary on difficult issues emerges into popular consciousness whenever the difficult issues are serious enough that the intelligent, thoughtful folk are forced to have conversations with the general masses. In this simplistic sense, major issues "shake up" sociopolitical reality. I know this sounds a little elitist. I don't consider myself to be one of the "intelligent, thoughtful folk". I'm a veritable moron. But whenever these shakeups happen, there's an increased demand for intelligent commentary, and the press moves to fulfill that demand. That's my theory. I could be totally wrong; would love to hear input/criticism from others on this.

dredmorbius 13y ago

I'm not all that young anymore, and I certainly don't remember this either. As others have noted, Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers in the 1970s is probably the most recent precedent. And the mainstream press have absolutely been falling down on the job, with very few exceptions. The Times is barely worth reading, and I'm finding NPR/BBC increasingly unlistenable (or simply not worth my time). The Guardian has hit my must-read list, and I'll be very interested to see what Greenwald does with his new venture.