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naraburns  nihil supernum  2yr ago (text post)   36582 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 24, 2022

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It's safe to bash 'journalists' and the 'media' because to them it categorically excludes their preferred sources of news.

Leftists are just as eager to not treat NYT and Fox News as purveyors of the same product. Cite to a redditor a claim by using Fox News, and they will not accept it, but they would were it WP. They will also likely to include that talking point that FN is "entertainment".

Thus it seems unfair to single out conservatives for insisting on a distinction, when their political enemies also agree one exists.

NYT:WSJ as MSNBC:fox

You're correct insofar as democrats aren't nonpartisan saints, also dislike outgroup media and have their own criticisms of red tribe media.

You're incorrect insofar as the politicians and base of one party are much more vociferous in their criticisms of what they call the mainstream media, of CNN and 'the failing NYT,' of fake news and the Washington Compost, sleepy-eyed Chuck Todd, the dying WSJ, 'Dumb as a rock Sour Lemon Don Lemon,' and so on and so forth. I suppose about 8 years ago I can remember people saying 'Faux News.' I can remember some measured comments from Obama bemoaning conservative media and echo chambers, but it really pales in comparison, doesn't it?

We can talk about why that is, and I don't think it's because my outgroup are moral monsters, but it doesn't change the fact that it is.

I think this really undersells the cultural impact on the ground level. Perhaps it somehow elides respectability because of how much was driven by the Daily Show, but for a lot of regular Democrat types I encounter in real life, watching Fox News is seen as appalling.

I suppose about 8 years ago I can remember people saying 'Faux News.' I can remember some measured comments from Obama bemoaning conservative media and echo chambers, but it really pales in comparison, doesn't it?

Fox News is apparently "uniquely damaging." Activists trying to block Fox from getting any ad revenues get sympathetic write-ups in nationally-funded media. "Civil Rights" groups try to get the hosts of popular programs taken off the air.

And that was just the first page of one google search.

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