# Did new media dig it's own grave with so much "this is an unforgiveable outrage" reporting? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 3, 2016, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-media-dig-its-own-grave-with-so-much-this-is-an-unforgiveable-outrage-reporting/773718 "2016-12-03T11:54:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-media-dig-its-own-grave-with-so-much-this-is-an-unforgiveable-outrage-reporting/773718/21 "2016-12-05T20:29:35Z")
> [@Corry\_El](#): > > There’s no one simple explanation for Trump’s success, media or otherwise. > > But every poll shows a low public opinion of the media now, new and old. The media itself typically blows that off by quoting even lower approval of Congress (politicians in general aren’t necessarily less well thought of than the media, but Congress is, so that’s what the media tends to emphasize). But we know the actual dynamic of the public’s professed distaste for Congress. They say that, then typically re-elect their own member. The outcome of the media, or individual media outlets old or now, won’t necessarily be that benign. As I see it, what has occurred is that “The Media” has been used as a term to describe a large range of information sources - everything from true Journalism to Facebook posts, from traditional Newspapers to suspect online clickbait, etc. And, the public has become prejudiced against “The Media” because they lump everything together and attribute the worst offenses of the lowest forms to all participants. It is all strikingly similar to how some people think about “The Blacks” or “The Muslims”, any negative perception gets applied to all. Consequently, our PEOTUS has found a willing audience pre-disposed to agree with him when he decries “The Media”. To me, a problem is that because so many people are accustomed to the sneering prejudice against “The Media”, there is no longer a modicum of respect for serious sources of true journalism, or an attempt to differentiate the wheat from the chaff. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-media-dig-its-own-grave-with-so-much-this-is-an-unforgiveable-outrage-reporting/773718/22 "2016-12-05T20:33:07Z")
Or, people like me just say who does the MSM support and we vote opposite. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-media-dig-its-own-grave-with-so-much-this-is-an-unforgiveable-outrage-reporting/773718/23 "2016-12-05T20:40:49Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > BUT the notion of how the person who does not care about how he’s portrayed has an advantage, may outlive Trump and cause a change in how is it that media influences public opinion and how others portray themselves. Especially if a “fact is what you believe to be so” environment takes root. This is a very key point. I absolutely think this “fuck em” attitude will outlive Trump and may become a new paradigm for people seeking power in dealing with a media that has been demonstrated have a lot less effective power than previously believed. My own perception of the media has been changed since Trump’s victory and I see them in a new light. With the halo of assumed authority stripped away a lot of the media opinions I read now comes across as poorly informed childish polemics and the work of hacks pretending to a-thor-itay. It really is like someone ripped the curtain away to some extent. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-media-dig-its-own-grave-with-so-much-this-is-an-unforgiveable-outrage-reporting/773718/24 "2016-12-05T21:04:33Z")
The way I see it, is if the media points out one teensy weeny little possibly negative depended on how you look at with your head tilted sideways and squinting just right and ignoring everything Republicans do on a regular basis, Hillary is an awful awful horrible horrible evil evil evil evil evil person and you (Republican) can simply never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever possibly forgive her. Trump? Oh, it’s just media lies, lies lies! Does anyone really think that if the media had merely pointed out one teensy weeny little possibly negative depended on how you look at with your head tilted sideways and squinting just right that Republicans and conservatives would have turned on him? I don’t think so. People were determined to hate Democrats and elect a Republican, and a Republican who would “destroy Washington” even better, and their minds distorted reality to make it work. Sure, Liberals and the media cry “racist!” and “misogynist!” too often but I don’t think that swayed the election. A lot of people decided to tune out and not believe what they wanted, and believe what they did want. Anyway, Democrats get held to an impossibly high standard that never applies to Republicans, and Democrats will never win an election by stooping to the level of Republicans and conservatives. When they do, they get ignored. Mr. Clinton getting a blowjob and lying about it? High treason! Republican presidents have affairs? We don’t talk about that. Republicans vote against gay rights while having gay sex in bathrooms? None of our business. Trump fools around on his multiple wives and marries an immigrant porn model? Oh, that’s his personal business. Not a problem. ---
**Author:** ![greenmario](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/97f17d/32.png) [@greenmario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/greenmario)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-media-dig-its-own-grave-with-so-much-this-is-an-unforgiveable-outrage-reporting/773718/25 "2016-12-05T21:34:51Z")
I think the media proclaimed, “THIS is going to be what sinks the Trump campaign!” a few too many times. When the poll numbers kept rising most mainstream media outlets doubled down and said there was no way Trump would win the primaries/general. After being wrong so many times people started to have this perception that the media was there to make predictions, rather than report on trends. And by making a prediction you are in essence throwing your hat in with a particular candidate. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-media-dig-its-own-grave-with-so-much-this-is-an-unforgiveable-outrage-reporting/773718/26 "2016-12-05T22:07:18Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Or, people like me just say who does the MSM support and we vote opposite. I’m with you. Thinking is hard work, and I hear it’s overrated. ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-media-dig-its-own-grave-with-so-much-this-is-an-unforgiveable-outrage-reporting/773718/27 "2016-12-05T22:38:08Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > As I see it, what has occurred is that “The Media” has been used as a term to describe a large range of information sources - everything from true Journalism to Facebook posts, from traditional Newspapers to suspect online clickbait, etc. And, the public has become prejudiced against “The Media” because they lump everything together and attribute the worst offenses of the lowest forms to all participants. I don’t think public disgust with the media has much to do with Facebook posts or clickbait. The old line media, TV and print, is widely poorly thought of, more so than used to be the case, and the people who think poorly of it are not in general mistakenly applying their poor opinion of internet BS to the traditional media. They think the traditional media are full of it. I think this is one of a number of points where people generally to the left\*are better off facing and addressing weaknesses (doesn’t mean the right has none) rather than denying them. Again the success of Trump (so far) has many explanations, and is still a story in the making (where future illuminating chapters might include the broadly agreed failure of Trump in the actual office). But one aspect is reaction against perceived cultural (almost more than political) bias by ‘Real Journalists’ ™. If constantly calling the media dishonest only resonated with a few people…well it’s like a number of aspects of Trump where many people here still act like some small % of people are on his wavelength, when it’s clearly not so small. \*I realize people quite far to the left sometimes think the ‘MSM’ is the ‘rightist tool of corporations’ and such, but in general the center-left correctly perceives the ‘MSM’ as its friend more than not, so this situation has a partisan aspect. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-media-dig-its-own-grave-with-so-much-this-is-an-unforgiveable-outrage-reporting/773718/28 "2016-12-06T05:28:23Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > One might argue that the media overdid the “horserace” aspect with false-equivalency wrt Hillary, but the media was so anti-Trump it was pathetic. The news stories were overwhelmingly negative. Lots of people just didn’t care. No, the media slanted its stories [heavily anti-Hillary](http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/6/26/1542758/-Harvard-Study-Confirms-Anti-Clinton-Media-Bias), as well as making mountains out of molehills with her faked scandals. > [@](#): > > The study found that 84 percent of Clinton’s coverage has been “negative in tone” compared to just 43 percent for Trump and 17 percent for Sanders. The media wasn’t anti-Trump, it did its best to prop him up so they could have their precious horse race. But he’s simply such a horrible and incompetent person that even the softened version is awful. ---
**Author:** ![Waymore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Waymore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waymore)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-media-dig-its-own-grave-with-so-much-this-is-an-unforgiveable-outrage-reporting/773718/29 "2016-12-06T05:43:21Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > No, the media slanted its stories [heavily anti-Hillary](http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/6/26/1542758/-Harvard-Study-Confirms-Anti-Clinton-Media-Bias), as well as making mountains out of molehills with her faked scandals. > > The media wasn’t anti-Trump, it did its best to prop him up so they could have their precious horse race. But he’s simply such a horrible and incompetent person that even the softened version is awful. The DailyKos isn’t a very inspiring source. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-media-dig-its-own-grave-with-so-much-this-is-an-unforgiveable-outrage-reporting/773718/30 "2016-12-06T14:37:49Z")
Well lets take CNN for example. I dont know how to link to it but they were covering this Hillary rally. They made it look like it was this big hall filled with thousands of supporters when in truth the numbers were far lower than that and most were just there to see the entertainers Hillary brought in. They did this thru careful editing and camera placement. You cannot tell me CNN had no bias after seeing that. And “real” media outlet would have pointed out the truth of half filled lecture halls. So why should I trust CNN after that? ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-media-dig-its-own-grave-with-so-much-this-is-an-unforgiveable-outrage-reporting/773718/31 "2016-12-06T17:00:08Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > So why should I trust CNN after that? You shouldn’t. CNN like all the other MSM was so pro Trump that they didn’t and still haven’t reported on all the brown people Trump has murdered. Or all the women he has imprisoned so he can grab their pussies whenever he wants to and worst of all they still haven’t reported on all the countries Trump is currently nuking. The MSM is a joke. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-media-dig-its-own-grave-with-so-much-this-is-an-unforgiveable-outrage-reporting/773718/32 "2016-12-06T18:30:31Z")
Jokes are okay. Until you start hearing the same person make the same one over and over and over again, which gets pretty fucking tiresome. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-media-dig-its-own-grave-with-so-much-this-is-an-unforgiveable-outrage-reporting/773718/33 "2016-12-06T18:37:19Z")
Conservatives have been attacking “mainstream media” for decades, trying to discredit it as being biased (liberal). Their propaganda is paying off, and you can even see their talking points here in this thread. I really don’t see what the media could have done differently to fight back. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-media-dig-its-own-grave-with-so-much-this-is-an-unforgiveable-outrage-reporting/773718/34 "2016-12-06T18:47:31Z")
> [@astro](#): > > …Oh you must mean BREITBART!!! It doesn’t apply to the others except the ‘Fake News’ websites. Don’t anyone go shooting up Comet Pizza in DC now… > > […Ooops. Too late…](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2016/12/04/d-c-police-respond-to-report-of-a-man-with-a-gun-at-comet-ping-pong-restaurant/?utm_term=.591a45df6563) (post shortened, underline added) It’s actually called **Comet Ping Pong** , but why let the facts get in the way of a good social media post? According to the Washington Post story you linked - _The report says in addition to the weapons, police seized a folding knife, a T-shirt, a hooded sweatshirt and denim blue jeans_. “A hooded sweatshirt”?!?! Doesn’t everyone know how dangerous hooded sweatshirt wearers are? _Some of the people who share fake news stories on social media surely know they are spreading fiction. They just like to imagine a world that conforms to their views. Or something._ [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/22/a-harsh-truth-about-fake-news-some-people-are-super-gullible/?utm\_term=.aca5765ff44c](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/22/a-harsh-truth-about-fake-news-some-people-are-super-gullible/?utm_term=.aca5765ff44c) ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-media-dig-its-own-grave-with-so-much-this-is-an-unforgiveable-outrage-reporting/773718/35 "2016-12-06T19:08:53Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > Conservatives have been attacking “mainstream media” for decades, trying to discredit it as being biased (liberal). Their propaganda is paying off, and you can even see their talking points here in this thread. I really don’t see what the media could have done differently to fight back. The media outlets could go back to vetting their stories BEFORE they publish them. Or not. The media outlets could include the basic Who-What-Why-Where-When in their stories. That would make MSM stories credible. Or not. There used to be a time when reporters were EXPECTED to verify their stories BEFORE the stories would be published. “If your mother tells you she loves you, check it out with two independent sources.” - City News Bureau of Chicago > **[City News Bureau of Chicago](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_News_Bureau_of_Chicago)** > > City News Bureau of Chicago (CNB), or City Press (1890–2005), was a news bureau that served as one of the first cooperative news agencies in the United States. It was founded in 1890 by the newspapers of Chicago to provide a common source of local and breaking news and also used by them as a training ground for new reporters, described variously as "journalism's school of hard knocks" or "the reporter's boot camp." Hundreds of reporters "graduated" from the City News Bureau into newspaper dail... ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-media-dig-its-own-grave-with-so-much-this-is-an-unforgiveable-outrage-reporting/773718/36 "2016-12-06T20:42:01Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > The media outlets could go back to vetting their stories BEFORE they publish them. Or not. > > The media outlets could include the basic Who-What-Why-Where-When in their stories. That would make MSM stories credible. Or not. But did the media lose credibility due to their own failure to vet their stories and provide details, or because Conservatives have spent decades nit-picking and attacking them in instances when they did make those mistakes? ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-media-dig-its-own-grave-with-so-much-this-is-an-unforgiveable-outrage-reporting/773718/37 "2016-12-06T21:06:24Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > “Pharaoh…! Let My Reporters Go…!” > (ok, wth Egypt has to do with this is confusing…) Shakespeare. > [@](#): > > [QUOTE=Evan Drake] > since they are just the right wing propagandists of rich owners. Oh you must mean BREITBART!!! **It doesn’t apply to the others** except the ‘Fake News’ websites. Don’t anyone go shooting up Comet Pizza in DC now… […Ooops. Too late…](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2016/12/04/d-c-police-respond-to-report-of-a-man-with-a-gun-at-comet-ping-pong-restaurant/?utm_term=.591a45df6563) [/QUOTE] That Washington Post owned by Jeff Bezos ? Or those owned by Rupert Murdoch, Sheldon Adelson, Carlos Slim, Warren Buffett, the Newhouse Brothers, Michael Bloomburg, Morty Zuckerman, the Cox family, and others of the wretched of the earth ? And the billionaire owners of the British Press, campaigning for an end to the EU and the Welfare State, and anything else that keeps any money out of their grasping little hands ? ‘_You are bought and sold, and don’t even know it_’ ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-media-dig-its-own-grave-with-so-much-this-is-an-unforgiveable-outrage-reporting/773718/38 "2016-12-06T23:05:25Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > But did the media lose credibility due to their own failure to vet their stories and provide details, or because Conservatives have spent decades nit-picking and attacking them in instances when they did make those mistakes? The news media has lost credibility because of THEIR failure to include the basics of good journalism - Who, What, Why, Where, and When - in THEIR stories. That was, and is, THEIR choice. People from all sides of the political issues have complained about the media outlets inserting their own spin, and biases, into their alleged news stories. If the media outlets would have simply supplied the facts, the vetted facts, and let the viewers make up their own minds, the news media outlets would NOT have lost their credibility. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![HeweyLogan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heweylogan/32/547_2.png) [@HeweyLogan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeweyLogan)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2016, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-media-dig-its-own-grave-with-so-much-this-is-an-unforgiveable-outrage-reporting/773718/39 "2016-12-07T02:19:03Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > The media heavily\* favored \*Trump… giving him lots of free airtime. I’m not using your whole quote because I’m not focusing on you specifically, so don’t think I’m trying to put words in your mouth, I’m not. But that sentence I’ve heard of lot of during the campaign - he gets all this free publicity, air-time, etc…,. The horror! I thought the left was on the side of exposing, highlighting, and examining all sides of the coin, exposing for the ludicrously of the extreme. You did just that with Trump. It backfired in the extreme. ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2016, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-media-dig-its-own-grave-with-so-much-this-is-an-unforgiveable-outrage-reporting/773718/40 "2016-12-07T14:03:34Z")
> [@UberArchetype](#): > > It’s not hard to dismiss most what gets reported in the mainstream media these days after you get past the point of understanding they really have nothing but their own best interests in mind. and as long as this attitude is widely shared (it is), regardless of whether it is true (I don’t know) the situation won’t change. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-media-dig-its-own-grave-with-so-much-this-is-an-unforgiveable-outrage-reporting/773718.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-media-dig-its-own-grave-with-so-much-this-is-an-unforgiveable-outrage-reporting/773718.md?page=3)