Interesting contrast: China's deliberate party censorship versus good old American journalistic infantilism and incompetence...

i like it...

Whatta country!

American journalism has decided the way to save itself is by adopting the platform of the tabloid press and Jerry Springer style interviews. Forcing the complex and nuanced issues of the contemporary world into a platform designed for celebrity daliances results in the train wreck we are subjected to on a daily basis.

Steve,

There is a diary up at dailykos that has a couple of sentences that nail the current state of our political and media discourse.
Sadly, I felt the same way during the campaign. Fast forward, and the political discourse is worse than ever.

Post by rennert at dailykos.com says....

I honestly don't know how America can continue to govern itself in any kind of responsible way when:

One of the two political parties thrives on hysteria and misinformation and has no interest in actually governing.

The news media assists in this and does not see truth-telling or correcting misinformation as part of its role.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/11/20/192619/60

And we wonder why newspapers and other sources of mainstream journalism are having troubles figuring out how to survive. I have a hint: do your frickin' job.

"It's a shame we don't have a media establishment equipped to report on it".

It's a shame we don't have a congress equipped to enforce anti-trust laws - in banking, in insurance, in media, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

Our main stream media really has gone down the shitter hasn't it. Thank God for organizations like Salon, Kos and Washington Monthly. CNN is completely unwatchable these day except to watch a space shuttle launch.

And even then, I would rather hear Jay Barbree on MSNBC report on a space launch. So CNN is completely worthless FoxLite.

My local news show ran a segment yesterday headlining Obama going "back to work." Apparently because he was overseas, he must have been on vacation, rather than, oh, doing his frickin' job. Idiots.

On the general topic of the MSM coverage of the Obama Presidency: since the election 2 weeks ago it has been repeatedly asserted that Republican victories in 2 governor races and in some local government elections demonstrate that "Obama has no coatails." For example, in tomorrow's NYT Magazine a Matt Bai piece on Obama has a subtitle that begins: "The President may not have coatails...."
My understanding of the 'coatail' concept has always been that it is a measure of a presidential candidate's ability to draw a higher percentage of the vote in congressional districts than the congressional candidate of his party and that the more districts in which this is done the greater the 'coatails' effect.
http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/article.php?id=FRC2009041601
So why is the MSM talking about Obama's lack of coatails in an election where he was not on the ballot and which was not even an off year Congressional election? Of course I know he campaigned for Corzine and NJ is generally considered a blue state, but his inability to overcome Corzine's weakness is hardly a measue of his ownj vote getting ability. Am I missing something here or is this just another example of how some/many are raising the bar for measuring Obama's performance?

I contrasted Katie Couric with both BBC World News America and PBS Newshour one day this week. Was appalled at the negative spin from Couric, so much that I'm not going to watch her anymore. The other two were much more fair and went into some interesting details that was not on the CBS show. To listen to Katie, the President's trip was a total waste of time. I feel insulted to be given such a slanted and broad-brushed report.

As someone who grew up in "communist" Poland -- where the media were under the total control of the government and where we had to try and catch the radio signal late at night in order to find a different point of view -- I've always envied "the West" its media's freedom to say whatever they wanted to, so that the population could get the whole picture, instead of the screened half. But it seems that, although you ave it, you don't value it enough to use it. Sigh... What a waste of freedom :)

It's beginning to seem to me that the MSM's only interest is 2012 and accordingly, they are doing all they can to make Pres. Obama seem ineffectual. Even as I write this many of you will say duh? The corporate media coverage of Obama's Asia trip was willful misinformation and as much as I appreciate the more nuanced and accurate reports on Daily Kos, PBS Evening News, etc., these sources do not reach enough citizens. Don't know the answer, but I do believe we need to see more forceful and frequent push back from the White House and more effective clear speaking surrogates for the president on Cable News and main stream news broadcasts.

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