Selfsufficientish.com

Most of the English-language media I see tends to be American. I have my default browser page set to US Yahoo, and I often browse the mainstream media headlines first thing in the morning.

Over the last 6 years particularly, I've noticed the reporting getting further and further away from observable reality, and the formation of a huge bubble of half-truths, full-on untruths, taboos, and flattery of the worst instincts and prejudices of the worst type of American.

Now, suddenly, in just the last few weeks, I've noticed that the reporting is getting sharper. Spades are being called, well, spades. When a politician tells a lie, some mainstream media are now actually making a point of counterposing the lie with the facts. This is especially conspicuous where the liar happens to McCain or Palin, although they're doing it with Obama too. And it's not only with politicians. There seems to be a move afoot to prick the bubble of foreign policy fantasy too.

This is a huge departure from the reporting of the last few years. Hitherto, when I read these absurd reports, I supplied the illuminating facts myself. Now I have to do a double take because suddenly, the illuminating facts are right there are on the page, and it's not just a voice in my head.

Is the 'liberal media' coming back? Has anybody else noticed this?

Dear Rod,
Wish I could say I had, but, if there are any green shoots of resurgence showng, my old eyes haven't picked them out yet.

There's always hope though ...

Love and Peace
Jim

I wouldn't trust any American news as far as I could throw it (don't think that analogy works here actually... oh well)

But while we are on the subject has anyone else noticed the today programme on radio 4 being more and more gossipy than it used to be (actually, I think that it isn't as bad now, because of the "Credit Crunch")

And... has anyone else noticed that 'the media' seem to continuously be reporting 'the media' "The media are reporting that....." "Politicians are blaming the media for......" "People fear that the media may be responsible for......"
The best one was seeing a news report on how "the media" were having a huge negative effect on the village that Madeline McCanns family are from..... is it me???


But no Rod, I haven't noticed... did you hear Madonna is getting a divorce

I hadn't really noticed the liberal media going away. That said, I stopped getting a 'paper years ago*, the only news I tend to see is the beeb, and they still have a very liberal agenda.


*got fed up of reading the same stories of mans inhumanity to man and nature dressed up in a new days clothes.

When we came back to spain we rented for 6 months and we had satellite. The only english language progamming was american news channels....I used to watch FOX as comedy - have you ever seen Anne Coulter, that's got to be a spoof right?

Rod in Japan wrote: This is especially conspicuous where the liar happens to McCain or Palin, although they're doing it with Obama too.

You mean, someone has dared to question the Obamassiah?!?!?


Sorry, I'll shut up now.

Ellendra wrote:

Rod in Japan wrote: This is especially conspicuous where the liar happens to McCain or Palin, although they're doing it with Obama too.

You mean, someone has dared to question the Obamassiah?!?!?


Sorry, I'll shut up now.

not heard that one before

Don't know about sharper reporting Rod. I've only noticed over the last few years that the media seems to spend less time going out finding and reporting on news than creating it out of nothing more than speculation and rumour.

I spend a lot of time swearing at the TV.

I'm only talking about the American media here.

The UK has always had liberal, conservative and brownshirt media, of which the liberal and conservative media reports freely within quite broad taboos. 'Liberal media' as a term of coercive abuse applied by brownshirts doesn't exist in the UK.

However in the US, what passes for 'conservative' media like Fox, which is really not conservative but a radical brownshirt organization, keeps howling about the centrist or conservative media being the 'liberal media' whenever this media reports inconvenient facts. This has had the effect of cowing the 'liberal media' into failing to report facts, or hedging them about with 'alleged's' and the like, often with risible consequences.

In the last few weeks, perhaps due to the likelihood of the government sponsors of the brownshirt media being dismissed presently, the 'liberal media' appears to have started reporting facts again. Of course, the broad taboos are still in place.

Good heavens - are you sure you don't lecture on some sociology course somewhere?

Wish you'd been around when I had those b***** essays to submit!!