" If you only read The New York Times or watch CNN or so-called legacy networks such as CBS News, you might be surprised to learn there is a vast right-wing media ecosystem that goes well beyond Fox News."
But I’ve been assured by rightwing posters on this board that since they do not watch Fox News they are not exposed to rightwing news sources!
OK, you have two or three now counted. Only 76,818,362-3 to go.
“I don’t watch Fox News” has become as reliable an indicator of wingnuttery as “I have many Black friends” is of racism.
“But the thought leaders on talk radio and Fox do more than shape opinion. Backed by their own wing of the book-publishing industry and supported by think tanks that increasingly function as public-relations agencies, conservatives have built a whole alternative knowledge system, with its own facts, its own history, its own laws of economics."
–David Frum, former George W. Bush speechwriter
The alternate system of disseminating information is alive and well in my experience.
A few days ago I advised my administrator that I have put my plans for retirement on hold pending what happens to Medicare. She looked confused and asked what I was talking about.
When I explained the news of cuts to the program as well as federal workers she did not seem to know what I was talking about. She mumbled something to the effect of, “He wasn’t planning on doing that.”
The misinformation out there must be staggering.
And of course Trump has nominated one of the co-authors of Project 2025 to head up the FCC.
Gosh, I wonder why?
Definitely a “Brawndo simply bought the FCC and FDA” kind of move.
A lot of truth in that article.
Another growth area in rightwing media are young “commentators” such as Charlie Kirk, Matt Walsh, and Ben Shapiro. They’re having a bigger and bigger influence on the 20-something crowd, especially the men.
Misinformation is certainly well out there but the real information is too. The 50% cult just ignore it. Trump clearly stated quite some time back that day 1 in office the Jan 6 terrorists will be pardoned yet many people seem to be asking if it will happen. I have zero reason to believe it won’t.
I hate the term “brainwashing”; it implies that one can guarantee being able to make people think the way you want them to. If brainwashing in that sense is real, then we might as well abolish democracy because the Great Unwashed are too stupid to be trusted with a vote. Or at least be able to ban dissemination of “lies and slander”, just like the Soviet Union did. (And of course if you’re left-wing/Democrat then of course that’s proof that you’re not one of those drooling proles . 
)
Well as a simple statement of fact, I don’t. Are you going to hold that against me somehow?
Only if you start a political conversation with that declaration.
We’ve talked about advertising, demagoguery, and propaganda. Shall we next discuss organized religion and how influential it is on the beliefs of its adherents?
ETA:
“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”
― Carl Sagan
ETA2: or is it better if we discuss The Big Lie (about the 2020) election, and how many people – with zero evidence whatsoever – adamantly believe the Democrats rigged the election for Trump to lose?
I’m open to hearing what term you believe fits best, though I think that’s an absolutely semantic argument and a red herring.
So you believe the people would reach the correct decision if only they hadn’t been deceived? The only problem is that who gets to make the call? Every single instance we have back to antiquity of a group or class being entrusted as the official arbitrators of truth has a very, very bad track record.
I would never assert this. I’m as left wing as they come, but I derive most of my information from original sources, not spoon-fed via the news. I read news, but I also watch the actual speeches, read the underlying documents and transcripts, etc. I don’t need any media to tell me how to interpret those things, and there is no other or better way to ascertain if news media are bending the truth or outright lying.
I’ve been bamboozled. Very notably I recently was completely gobsmacked at Trump’s win. I honestly believed Harris would prevail. I based that on nothing offered by any news media, but rather on traditional metrics such as momentum, money raised, excellent ground game and past polls being very wrong about how “close” elections were.
The difference is, I can admit it when I’ve been bamboozled and fallen victim to misinformation. I hope you and anyone else can do the same.
One of the reasons that misinformation is so effective is that people rarely believe that they themselves are influenced by it.
I love that my statements are there for all to see, meaning that nobody need ever rely on your version of my positions.
I can’t quote the source but there have been experiments backing the claim that repeating the same lies over and over does amount to brain washing. The people that did not believe it at first were converted.
The article was by Dan Rather who failed to mention his place in the arena of news disinformation. He sank his career at CBS over a phony news story about Bush.
I’ve been around long enough to remember when the big 3 news networks (4 if you count PBS, 5 if you count the BBC) held to a legitimate standard of reporting news.
Those days are gone and you have to have been old enough to remember when there was integrity in the process. And I’m not just saying this from the “get off my lawn” perspective. I say this because of a course I took in college in the 70’s that was supposed to be an easy credit with little effort. It was a course in journalism. The professor would have us bring in random newspapers and he would proceed to explain where the various articles drove off the rails. It was the best course I’ve ever taken because it involved looking at information objectively. The application of the course applied to virtually every aspect of my life going forward. It went far beyond journalism.
If you keep seeing op-eds suggesting journalism is dead consider the possibility. Looking at the history of news empires and the owners who abused the power-of-the-press maybe it’s coming full circle.
ISWYDT
I think people who subscribe to the party of personal responsibility should take some personal responsibility for being incapable or unwilling to determine on their own whether or not people promising simple solutions to complex problems are full of shit.