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Thanks to Trump, fringe news enters the mainstream

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nota bene

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WaPo's Paul Farhi finds significance in Trump being interviewed by Alex Jones:

Trump finding common ground with Jones is in keeping with Trump’s own rocky relationship with facts and credible information during the campaign. Many of Trump’s more controversial assertions since he declared for president have come from the murky swamp of right-wing, libertarian and flat-out paranoid sources that have proliferated and thrived as the Internet and social media have grown. https://www.washingtonpost.com/life...2e518c-a01b-11e5-8728-1af6af208198_story.html

Farhi refers to an "'alternative' information ecosystem" including blogs and talk-radio as well as "citizen journalists" who "promote, debate, and inflate" sometimes questionable issues. He claims that by gaining the attention of Fox News and the Drudge Report--mysteriously, he mentions no progressive media outlets that pick up on progressive sites' news stories--the "fringe" has managed to insinuate itself into the mainstream.

So is it fair to now consider at least some blogs as "mainstream"?
 
nota bene said:
WaPo's Paul Farhi finds significance in Trump being interviewed by Alex Jones:

Trump finding common ground with Jones is in keeping with Trump’s own rocky relationship with facts and credible information during the campaign. Many of Trump’s more controversial assertions since he declared for president have come from the murky swamp of right-wing, libertarian and flat-out paranoid sources that have proliferated and thrived as the Internet and social media have grown. https://www.washingtonpost.com/life...2e518c-a01b-11e5-8728-1af6af208198_story.html

Farhi refers to an "'alternative' information ecosystem" including blogs and talk-radio as well as "citizen journalists" who "promote, debate, and inflate" sometimes questionable issues. He claims that by gaining the attention of Fox News and the Drudge Report--mysteriously, he mentions no progressive media outlets that pick up on progressive sites' news stories--the "fringe" has managed to insinuate itself into the mainstream.

So is it fair to now consider at least some blogs as "mainstream"?
Click to expand...

I think the right wing noise machine is at least as big a threat as terrorist. Seriously we have a potential nominee of one of the big two parties wanting to keep out people simply because of their religion. Murky swamp is an understatement. Remember the thousands of celebrating Muslims in New Jersy? Reality has slipped enough already Alex Jones might be mainstream.
 
nota bene said:
So is it fair to now consider at least some blogs as "mainstream"?
Click to expand...

Not really defending the idea, but perhaps another conclusion is so many distrust and dislike mainstream media to the point that they are willing to turn to "citizen journalists" and other independent sources that have not been gobbled up by these major organizations who dominate how and what news is delivered. Usually in a haze of political adversarial intentions.
 
OrphanSlug said:
Not really defending the idea, but perhaps another conclusion is so many distrust and dislike mainstream media to the point that they are willing to turn to "citizen journalists" and other independent sources that have not been gobbled up by these major organizations who dominate how and what news is delivered. Usually in a haze of political adversarial intentions.
Click to expand...

So just as we turn from bad experienced politicians to bad inexperienced politicians, so too do we turn from bad experienced journalists to bad inexperienced wacko bloggers.

We could just try to look to better politicians and journalists with principles and experience, but I guess that's just loonybins thinking.
 
mak2 said:
I think the right wing noise machine is at least as big a threat as terrorist. Seriously we have a potential nominee of one of the big two parties wanting to keep out people simply because of their religion. Murky swamp is an understatement. Remember the thousands of celebrating Muslims in New Jersy? Reality has slipped enough already Alex Jones might be mainstream.
Click to expand...

Believe it or not, there's a really good chance that Trump is full of crap. Prior to this year, the politics he espoused were far more in line with the left. Who knows what he really believes. I will say this about the right wing "noise machine", given his prior statements, I don't know why some of them are rallying around him. Maybe as some RL troll that you find amusing but someone you'd never trust yourself. Only Glenn Beck seems to have memory of who Trump is.
 
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OrphanSlug said:
Not really defending the idea, but perhaps another conclusion is so many distrust and dislike mainstream media to the point that they are willing to turn to "citizen journalists" and other independent sources that have not been gobbled up by these major organizations who dominate how and what news is delivered. Usually in a haze of political adversarial intentions.
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I'll defend that idea. Wasn't it just recently that Mit Romney commented on how there were so many other sources of information and actually lamented that it wasn't just the 3 major networks driving what was considered news and deciding what the narrative should be? I think it's reasonable to be wary of those who argue that less information is a good thing.
 
mak2 said:
I think the right wing noise machine is at least as big a threat as terrorist. Seriously we have a potential nominee of one of the big two parties wanting to keep out people simply because of their religion. Murky swamp is an understatement. Remember the thousands of celebrating Muslims in New Jersy? Reality has slipped enough already Alex Jones might be mainstream.
Click to expand...

I can't say "Alex Jones" in the same sentence. As "mainstream." ;)
 
X Factor said:
Believe it or not, there's a really good chance that Trump is full of crap. Prior to this year, the politics he espoused were far more in line with the left. Who knows what he really believes. I will say this about the right wing "noise machine", given his prior statements, I don't know why some of them are rallying around him. Maybe as some RL troll that you find amusing but someone you'd never trust yourself. Only Glenn Beck seems to have memory of who Trump was prior to this year.
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At first i thought the Donalds only appeal to the far right was his whacky political IN corrnectness. I figuredit would last a week or two. Now I dont know what to think.
 
mak2 said:
At first i thought the Donalds only appeal to the far right was his whacky political IN corrnectness. I figuredit would last a week or two. Now I dont know what to think.
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It's his rampant bigotry, xenophobia, and nationalism that appeals to the far right. Trump is a perfect example of just how extreme the GOP's core base has become.
 
OrphanSlug said:
Not really defending the idea, but perhaps another conclusion is so many distrust and dislike mainstream media to the point that they are willing to turn to "citizen journalists" and other independent sources that have not been gobbled up by these major organizations who dominate how and what news is delivered. Usually in a haze of political adversarial intentions.
Click to expand...

I think you may be right. I have worn a working journo's hat, remember well the principles of Journo 101, and never thought that "serious" outlets would shamelessly shape the news and attempt to influence the public in the way that is resignedly accepted these days.
 
SouthernDemocrat said:
It's his rampant bigotry, xenophobia, and nationalism that appeals to the far right. Trump is a perfect example of just how extreme the GOP's core base has become.
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Yes, but it's also his boisterousness which has appealed to the unaffiliated or lukewarm voter (this doesn't mean the moderates out there, it means one's interest and passion for politics​). They still accept that he says bad things and they don't like those bad things, but for some reason, they really like that he said it.
 
OrphanSlug said:
Not really defending the idea, but perhaps another conclusion is so many distrust and dislike mainstream media to the point that they are willing to turn to "citizen journalists" and other independent sources that have not been gobbled up by these major organizations who dominate how and what news is delivered. Usually in a haze of political adversarial intentions.
Click to expand...

I think it's the fact that the low-brow can manufacture their own interpretations on the cheap and desire similarly low-brow colleagues to talk with.
 
Cardinal said:
So just as we turn from bad experienced politicians to bad inexperienced politicians, so too do we turn from bad experienced journalists to bad inexperienced wacko bloggers.

We could just try to look to better politicians and journalists with principles and experience, but I guess that's just loonybins thinking.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily, not every inexperienced politician is bad. Just because Trump has somewhat rewritten the rules in all the negative ways, does not exclude the possibility that someone good can show up and rewrite the rules in a positive way. Since we know establishment rules DC, that experience comes with a cost.

By the same tone not every "citizen journalist" has to be a "wacko blogger." The problem with mainstream media is adherence to corporate ownership as to what and how news is delivered (including commentary, to an extent.) If you agree with the complaint that 6 organizations control over 90% of the media in the US, then it stands to reason that "principles and experience" in journalism is far and few in between. Not because they all are inherently sinister, just that they have corporatized expectations that are not always going to allow for journalistic integrity or freedom in reporting.

In principle the idea behind journalism is independent reporting of news and events, but corporatism of media makes that a business model (with all that implies.) So instead of attacking everyone outside of corporatized media to demean as you have, start looking at these organizations for what has really become modern US mainstream media. And a growing percentage does not trust them, or government.

If the below is at all accurate, you are predictably going after the wrong people...

media(2).jpg

government(1).jpg
 
mak2 said:
At first i thought the Donalds only appeal to the far right was his whacky political IN corrnectness. I figuredit would last a week or two. Now I dont know what to think.
Click to expand...

Simple, Mak. Trump represents the none of the above voter. Look at the choices:

On the left, a unindicted felon and a self described socialist, and that other guy.

On the right, a couple of theocrats, a bunch of establishment types who think it's their turn. A failed CEO. And Trump.

RW voters have sent several not so gentle reminders over the past few years. The firing of Cantor, the popularity of Walker, handing them a major victory last November, and again it's business as usual.

We don't need another compassionate conservative, nor a hopey changy.

Trump may not be the best answer, but he's the only answer.
 
jimbo said:
Simple, Mak. Trump represents the none of the above voter. Look at the choices:

On the left, a unindicted felon and a self described socialist, and that other guy.

On the right, a couple of theocrats, a bunch of establishment types who think it's their turn. A failed CEO. And Trump.

RW voters have sent several not so gentle reminders over the past few years. The firing of Cantor, the popularity of Walker, handing them a major victory last November, and again it's business as usual.

We don't need another compassionate conservative, nor a hopey changy.

Trump may not be the best answer, but he's the only answer.
Click to expand...

If you run I will vote for you, otherwise I'll stay home and drink bourbon if it's Trump and Hillary.
 
OrphanSlug said:
Not necessarily, not every inexperienced politician is bad. Just because Trump has somewhat rewritten the rules in all the negative ways, does not exclude the possibility that someone good can show up and rewrite the rules in a positive way. Since we know establishment rules DC, that experience comes with a cost.

By the same tone not every "citizen journalist" has to be a "wacko blogger." The problem with mainstream media is adherence to corporate ownership as to what and how news is delivered (including commentary, to an extent.) If you agree with the complaint that 6 organizations control over 90% of the media in the US, then it stands to reason that "principles and experience" in journalism is far and few in between. Not because they all are inherently sinister, just that they have corporatized expectations that are not always going to allow for journalistic integrity or freedom in reporting.

In principle the idea behind journalism is independent reporting of news and events, but corporatism of media makes that a business model (with all that implies.) So instead of attacking everyone outside of corporatized media to demean as you have, start looking at these organizations for what has really become modern US mainstream media. And a growing percentage does not trust them, or government.

If the below is at all accurate, you are predictably going after the wrong people...

View attachment 67194058

View attachment 67194059
Click to expand...

If a politician is inexperienced, it by definition means that he has not yet acquired the skills to carry out his job in any practical way. And a blog is worthless, ironically linking to the media headlines that make his blog possible in the first place. Also, a blogger is highly unlikely to have the budget, manpower and other resources to travel on site to get real interviews and facts. It's certainly possible for bloggers to sometimes have unique insights, but they are by no stretch of the imagination "reporters." Getting your news from them is only middlingly worse than getting stock tips from fortune cookies.
 
mak2 said:
If you run I will vote for you, otherwise I'll stay home and drink bourbon if it's Trump and Hillary.
Click to expand...

There's one vote for me right there. I'm not sure I would vote for me.
 
This is what happens when you let the crazy tea party rabble take over...
 
nota bene said:
I can't say "Alex Jones" in the same sentence. As "mainstream." ;)
Click to expand...

I can't say it in the same sentence as "sane", myself.

Politics does make strange bedfellows, though, I guess. Considering that most I have seen here promoting Infowars have been leftists who routinely defend all things Trump oposes, the mind boggles.
 
Gardener said:
I can't say it in the same sentence as "sane", myself.

Politics does make strange bedfellows, though, I guess. Considering that most I have seen here promoting Infowars have been leftists who routinely defend all things Trump oposes, the mind boggles.
Click to expand...

Infowars causes me to scroll past. Salon tends to give me a groan.
 
mak2 said:
If you run I will vote for you, otherwise I'll stay home and drink bourbon if it's Trump and Hillary.
Click to expand...

Come on mak, that's the lazy man's alternative to moving to France. ;)
 
nota bene said:
WaPo's Paul Farhi finds significance in Trump being interviewed by Alex Jones:

Trump finding common ground with Jones is in keeping with Trump’s own rocky relationship with facts and credible information during the campaign. Many of Trump’s more controversial assertions since he declared for president have come from the murky swamp of right-wing, libertarian and flat-out paranoid sources that have proliferated and thrived as the Internet and social media have grown. https://www.washingtonpost.com/life...2e518c-a01b-11e5-8728-1af6af208198_story.html

Farhi refers to an "'alternative' information ecosystem" including blogs and talk-radio as well as "citizen journalists" who "promote, debate, and inflate" sometimes questionable issues. He claims that by gaining the attention of Fox News and the Drudge Report--mysteriously, he mentions no progressive media outlets that pick up on progressive sites' news stories--the "fringe" has managed to insinuate itself into the mainstream.

So is it fair to now consider at least some blogs as "mainstream"?
Click to expand...

It's no secret Trump reads Drudge so likely follows the infowars links. I just don't like anybody who sits down with AJ, so that just solidifies my opinion about Trump.
 
Cardinal said:
If a politician is inexperienced, it by definition means that he has not yet acquired the skills to carry out his job in any practical way. And a blog is worthless, ironically linking to the media headlines that make his blog possible in the first place. Also, a blogger is highly unlikely to have the budget, manpower and other resources to travel on site to get real interviews and facts. It's certainly possible for bloggers to sometimes have unique insights, but they are by no stretch of the imagination "reporters." Getting your news from them is only middlingly worse than getting stock tips from fortune cookies.
Click to expand...

OMG! I have been saying this about Trump for ages. But Trump isn't just inexperienced. He is NOT a politician, or at least he claims not to be. All the while boasting about his shady back room deals he makes "for us." Yet that doesn't stop Trump supporters from saying how great he'll be, how he has experience and how everyone will just bend to his will like a mix between the Anti-Christ and Hitler.

Also yes. Alternative media like blogs are universally unreliable. YouTube being one of the worst place to consume information.
 
ModerateGOP said:
OMG! I have been saying this about Trump for ages. But Trump isn't just inexperienced. He is NOT a politician, or at least he claims not to be. All the while boasting about his shady back room deals he makes "for us." Yet that doesn't stop Trump supporters from saying how great he'll be, how he has experience and how everyone will just bend to his will like a mix between the Anti-Christ and Hitler.

Also yes. Alternative media like blogs are universally unreliable. YouTube being one of the worst place to consume information.
Click to expand...

Nobody with any sense would get their car fixed by their accountant, or their taxes done by a barber. The reason our politicians are bad isn't because politicians are by nature corrupt, narcissistic people. It's because the qualifications and standards we demand of them are absolutely appalling.
 
nota bene said:
WaPo's Paul Farhi finds significance in Trump being interviewed by Alex Jones:

Trump finding common ground with Jones is in keeping with Trump’s own rocky relationship with facts and credible information during the campaign. Many of Trump’s more controversial assertions since he declared for president have come from the murky swamp of right-wing, libertarian and flat-out paranoid sources that have proliferated and thrived as the Internet and social media have grown. https://www.washingtonpost.com/life...2e518c-a01b-11e5-8728-1af6af208198_story.html

Farhi refers to an "'alternative' information ecosystem" including blogs and talk-radio as well as "citizen journalists" who "promote, debate, and inflate" sometimes questionable issues. He claims that by gaining the attention of Fox News and the Drudge Report--mysteriously, he mentions no progressive media outlets that pick up on progressive sites' news stories--the "fringe" has managed to insinuate itself into the mainstream.

So is it fair to now consider at least some blogs as "mainstream"?
Click to expand...

Fringe news has always been there. (Crack Pipe Post, Media Matters, DailyKOS, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, etc)

What has changed is that Trump is so powerful a candidate that all the Democrat National Committee mouthpieces (CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC) are following him around like groupies in a rock concert. His ratings are like crack cocaine to a bunch of addicts.
 
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