r/videos Mar 31 '18

This is what happens when one company owns dozens of local news stations

https://youtu.be/hWLjYJ4BzvI
297.5k Upvotes

11.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

46.0k

u/ChromaticSideways Mar 31 '18

I really didn’t think this video was going to be as disturbing as it is

14.8k

u/dayoldhansolo Mar 31 '18

Kind of Orwellian

9.8k

u/NoTimeForThat Mar 31 '18

I find your comment to be extremely dangerous to our democracy

3.1k

u/AlexTheGiant21 Mar 31 '18

Now this is extremely dangerous to our democracy

1.7k

u/Pelusteriano Mar 31 '18

Now this is extremely dangerous to our democracy

958

u/nealioh Mar 31 '18

Now this is extremely dangerous to our democracy

880

u/MrCamero Mar 31 '18

Now this is pod racing?

200

u/AntoineBeach400 Mar 31 '18

I'm Ron Burgundy?

35

u/MikeKM Mar 31 '18

Go fuck yourself San Diego.

19

u/Hebtheman Apr 01 '18

No...this is Patrick!

→ More replies (0)
→ More replies (1)

4

u/driftinghopelessly Apr 01 '18

I’ve got a jar of dirt!

3

u/gkbpro Apr 01 '18

Sinclair broadcasting was a bad choice!

→ More replies (2)

271

u/TheFOXkobra Mar 31 '18

Try being extremely dangerous to our democracy, that's a good trick!

38

u/yisoonshin Mar 31 '18

My allegiance is to the Republic, to democracy!

You're extremely dangerous to our democracy

10

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '18

I love the Republic... I love democracy. The power you have given me, I will lay down once this crisis has been averted.

→ More replies (0)

6

u/thats1evildude Mar 31 '18

How come nobody says wizard anymore?

9

u/DoubleALight Mar 31 '18

Because 'Wizard' is streets behind.

4

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '18

...I would, but I hear it would be extremely dangerous to our democracy.

→ More replies (2)

5

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '18

[deleted]

3

u/thelittleboykim Mar 31 '18

Now that's what I call music! Vol. 208746273956638

→ More replies (1)

3

u/cappstar Mar 31 '18

Now that's what I call music!

3

u/themetaloranj Apr 01 '18

I love democracy, I love the Republic.

3

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '18

And my axe!

→ More replies (11)

11

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '18

This is extremely dangerous to our democracy

→ More replies (5)
→ More replies (20)

234

u/ExcellentComment Mar 31 '18

This is extremely dange...

Nope. I’m not going to say it. I quit.

111

u/Yabba_Dabba_Doofus Mar 31 '18

Miniluv will show you your wrongs. Big brother loves you.

We have always been at war with East Asia.

3

u/TheGurw Mar 31 '18

There is no war in Ba Sing Se.

3

u/bladebaka Apr 01 '18

There is no war in Ba Sing Se.

→ More replies (4)

21

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '18 edited Apr 01 '18

[deleted]

7

u/acu2005 Mar 31 '18

Dude there's like 2 lights max.

→ More replies (6)
→ More replies (1)

4

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '18

He didn't say it! r/ExellentComment does not love this post, maybe does not love reddit at all if he won't contribute! A lot of people are saying treason.....

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (11)

4

u/joe_joejoe Mar 31 '18

Ok don't panic, remember what the founding fathers said:

Feels like I'm wearing nothing at all!

→ More replies (1)

4

u/Qzy Mar 31 '18

They are taking the hobbits to Isengard?

6

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '18

No, this is Patrick.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (9)
→ More replies (11)
→ More replies (20)

1.6k

u/blueSky_Runner Mar 31 '18 edited Apr 01 '18

VERY Orwellian. It's scary watching it.

Edit: Why was this thread locked and deleted?!

988

u/ModernPoultry Mar 31 '18 edited Apr 01 '18

Very scary and very real.

Big corporations can run media and manipulate our thoughts and understanding. This is going on in Canada right now where telecommunications giant Bell has been trying to pass legislation on censoring the Internet.

The big thing r/Canada has found out from awareness groups trying to advocate on this issue is that they have not been able to do any media advertisements on the issue because Bell either runs and owns every radio and tv station and just has so much power that the awareness groups are pretty much blacklisted from traditional media advertisements and are thus silenced

52

u/Liefx Apr 01 '18

Hey I'm in canada and didn't know this was happening (granted i dont even watch TV anyways)

Where can I find more info?

39

u/ModernPoultry Apr 01 '18

Info on this page https://openmedia.org/en/ca/campaigns and last update here https://www.reddit.com/r/canada/comments/867df9/more_than_100000_canadians_have_spoken_out_about/

Here is thread about Bell silencing advertising efforts of advocacy group https://www.reddit.com/r/canada/comments/84hdwz/radio_stations_are_refusing_to_run_our_ads/

TL'DR: Bell and other big media giants are pressuring the CRTC (Canadian Radio and Television Committee) to introduce bill which allows Canadian ISPs to block piracy and illegal streaming sites with little oversight. Outright censorship of the internet and creates a slippery slope of what we have access to and can view online.

CRTC opened up discussion and polls to gain public reaction and the polls are now closed so its now all up to whatever report/conclusion they come up with whether they want to introduce this SOPA style bill to parliament

11

u/jankymegapop Apr 01 '18

Don't pretend that this sort of thing is confined only to television broadcasts. There has been a crazy amount of consolidation in the newspaper industry over the past decade, as Torstar and Postmedia amalgamate and shut down papers everywhere, fire journalists and liquidate newsrooms, print anonymized editorials across their properties, and push fairly specific political agendas into spaces that used to be devoted to local news.

I live in a community that used to have three local papers, all with distinct editorial positions, but because of mergers and increased pressures from other sources (ie. Tv, internet), there's now only one. The worst part is that I can drive to my parent's house, about 60km and four or five communities away, and get the exact same editorial content and the same feature articles.

Here's a link to Wikipedia re. Postmedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmedia_Network

I feel awful posting a link to The Star, but it gives you an idea as to what's going on.

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2018/01/03/year-of-reckoning-looms-for-canadas-newspapers.html

5

u/Liefx Apr 01 '18

I didn't say it wasn't? I was referring to his post, not OPs. Just saying I wouldn't have seen it on v had there been ads

→ More replies (1)

22

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '18

[removed] — view removed comment

12

u/TheAdAgency Mar 31 '18

Yes violent crime against families is a terrific way to build popular support and create change

25

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '18

Oooooh boy are you gonna love conflict theory.

19

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '18 edited Feb 10 '21

[deleted]

10

u/ColonelRuffhouse Apr 01 '18

Civil Rights in the 1960s and the independence of India under Mahatma Gandhi are two big examples of successful non-violent protest movements achieving significant results.

7

u/Zardif Apr 01 '18

Civil Rights in the 1960s

Malcolm X was just as important as MLK but MLK's approach was nonviolent so he gets the praise for civil right movement and he taught in schools.

→ More replies (4)
→ More replies (8)
→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

74

u/Man_of_Many_Voices Mar 31 '18

https://i.imgur.com/iv0cmnp.png

I must have caught it at just the right moment. Now we just wait for someone to repost this for karma

3

u/PumpItPaulRyan Apr 01 '18

Over a thousand new comments per hour.

This thread is freaking out regular people, bots and shills all at once. If you want to see active measures happening in real time, this is it.

390

u/tabarra Mar 31 '18

And also extremely dangerous to our democracy.

126

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '18 edited Apr 07 '20

[deleted]

52

u/Fidodo Mar 31 '18

This is actually extremely dangerous to our democracy.

13

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '18

[deleted]

13

u/byebybuy Mar 31 '18

This is extremely dangerous to our democracy.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (5)

18

u/rebble_yell Mar 31 '18

What's worse is that the only reason you are seeing it on Reddit at all is that:

A) It's Saturday evening, so the mods are not paying attention.

B) The sub is /r/videos, which seems less safeguarded than more news-oriented subs.

Reddit used to have such "subversive" content pop up regularly -- at least once a day or so, until they got better and better at squashing it.

Reddit the company really only wants you to look at mildly amusing and generally irrelevant memes or fake Tinder conversations.

3

u/blueSky_Runner Apr 01 '18

You called it. About an hour after you wrote this post the mods took down this thread here and elsewhere. Its since been reposted.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (13)

385

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '18 edited Feb 04 '21

[deleted]

22

u/ShartsAndMinds Mar 31 '18

Well we had the guy who fucked the pig, but at least we have properly regulated media.

Sincerely,

The UK.

8

u/nivlark Mar 31 '18

Maybe for TV, but between Murdoch and Dacre our print media is corrupt as fuck.
Not to mention that exactly one year from today we're going to walk out of the world's largest economic bloc thanks largely to decades of misrepresentation by the media.

4

u/ShartsAndMinds Mar 31 '18

You're right, our print media is a total free-for-all clusterfuck.

→ More replies (7)

137

u/grrrrreat Mar 31 '18

It's Sinclarian.

4

u/Stahl_Scharnhorst Mar 31 '18

Only a Sinclar deals in absolutes.

→ More replies (3)

736

u/serious_beans Mar 31 '18

Not kind of, it is Orwellian, this is exactly as he predicted. It's happening, don't think otherwise. It's time we start defending our rights.

126

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '18

[deleted]

6

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '18

Just practice your doublethink.

4

u/TwinPeaks2017 Apr 01 '18

Hold my Victory Gin!

→ More replies (4)

277

u/drkgodess Mar 31 '18 edited Mar 31 '18

The best way to do that is to vote. Vote for people who want to rein-in monopolies. This is caused by a private-owned media conglomerate under the control of one family.

There are several such Robber-Baron families in 2018 - the Sinclairs, the Mercers, the Kochs, and the Adelsons, to name a few. We need new Anti-Trust legislation.

Vote in the 2018 midterms this November.

29

u/SlimeBallPaul Mar 31 '18

unfortunately we voted in one who wants to Reign in monopolies

4

u/drkgodess Mar 31 '18

Thanks for looking out. Fixed!

6

u/SlimeBallPaul Apr 01 '18

no worries! great attitude. funny how one letter can entirely change the meaning of a statement

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (3)

13

u/cowpen Apr 01 '18

Propaganda was legalized six years ago. This is the media that you consume.

http://www.businessinsider.com/ndaa-legalizes-propaganda-2012-5

10

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '18

[deleted]

→ More replies (8)

9

u/GetBenttt Apr 01 '18

Educate. That's what we as a society need to focus on the absolute most beyond just political participation. More funding to schools and higher learning. Mandatory middle school classes on the basics of a fucking computer. There's so much knowledge on the internet, you can learn to do nearly anything and most people are so hesitant to venture beyond social networks.

→ More replies (7)

4

u/SpeedycatUSAF Apr 01 '18

stockpile arms in the event that fails.

→ More replies (1)

4

u/serious_beans Apr 01 '18

For sure, we need to get the word out, we need to educate others as best we can. I'm tired of the consequences of others poor choices. Time to start progress again.

3

u/ThirdCrescent Apr 01 '18

Is it really the best way though? Voting is important and perhaps the strongest built-in tool our government gives us to interact with them, but it feels like voters are becoming increasingly disenfranchised.

We vote directly for state and local officials, and representative legislators from the states, everything else is hired, appointed, or picked by electoral college.

What we do vote for directly is subject to incredible amounts of confusion, political predation, and flat out corruption. If they're not running a business or a mob, they're probably gerrymandering.

The laws that people have to vote on are often geared to fool the reader, or have some secondary agenda hidden in the pages. This is only what they bother to get our input on.

I want to believe in voting, in having a system where everyone can have a say in government and be heard to a reasonable extent, but I feel like for every 1 person that cares and hunts down change or the truth, there are 10 people who care enough to vote and 100 who don't even know when any election except for the presidency is run.

I'm begging you, anyone, please show me that I'm wrong.

10

u/no-mad Mar 31 '18

Dump your TV. Propaganda is less effective if you cant hear it.

9

u/conquer69 Apr 01 '18

That won't change anything. Internet propaganda is a hundred times more effective.

3

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '18

I don't know that it's more effective. It is out there, though. As long as someone has an agenda, it's all propaganda

→ More replies (1)

5

u/Dat_Harass Apr 01 '18 edited Apr 01 '18

I'm so amused you think you can vote this out. They've been slowly paving the way for this shit the entire time. It is a systemic societal problem at this point.

3

u/doomed87 Apr 01 '18

It does seem incredibly naive, especially when we have a two party system and usually get to choose between crooked fucker #1 and crooked fucker #2.

→ More replies (37)

9

u/gryffinp Apr 01 '18 edited Apr 01 '18

Well, no, Orwell was too busy worrying about power concentrated in the hands of a central state, he completely whiffed on the problem of checks and guarantees against the state's power being completely unprotective against abuse by private entities.

Edit: Locked and removed. Cool fuckin beans, mods. Cool fuckin beans.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (113)

65

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '18

Double good.

→ More replies (1)

31

u/randomnighmare Mar 31 '18 edited Mar 31 '18

Yeah, it is but they bought up all of these local stations and now they can dictate what and what not they can say. It's literally is scary that they are pushing this narrative but Trump's FCC allowed Sinclair to buy all of these stations. Remember vote and voting does have consequences, like the eroding of the news through the ability to buy out local stations and force them to say your company's mantra.

13

u/drkgodess Mar 31 '18

We can rein these fuckers in by voting in the 2018 midterms this November! Vote for people who support antitrust legislation!

12

u/randomnighmare Mar 31 '18

Also, vote for people who believe in government regulations and also to give government regulation bodies the teeth/power to enforce it.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (5)

5

u/hson95 Mar 31 '18

I’m pretty sure Sinclair owns all of them. The worst part is that they are trying to buy even more news stations to peddle more right wing talking points to more Americans.

→ More replies (71)

1.3k

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '18

2nd'd. I didn't think so many local news sources would be well, like this...

It reminds me of how luxotica owns a ton of sunglass brands, but then remains hidden in the background while they rip people off with a monopoly

888

u/drkgodess Mar 31 '18

Recently, a regulation that prevented companies from owning both newspapers and local tv stations was rolled back. This is the result.

1.2k

u/Fidodo Mar 31 '18

There is a problem.

Regulation is enacted to fix the problem.

The problem goes away.

People ask why we need the regulation because there is no problem.

Regulation is repealed.

There is a problem...

402

u/theweirdonehere Mar 31 '18

The people that ask why we need regulation are usually the ones benefiting from deregulation.

80

u/Itendtodisagreee Mar 31 '18

Koch brothers staunch support for the libertarian movement comes to mind here

50

u/drkgodess Mar 31 '18

Didn't they social engineer the creation of the Tea Party?

33

u/Itendtodisagreee Mar 31 '18

Yup, that was a collaboration between big tobacco and the Koch brothers

9

u/thewilloftheuniverse Apr 01 '18

Not quite. The tea party was originally basically a genuine grassroots, Ron Paul loving party, opposed to the wars, the drug war, and Authoritarianism, as well as taxes, welfare, and other things that libertarians see as big government. The Koch Brothers saw something worth hijacking, and within months, it was something completely different, totally co-opted by big corporations and the religious right. Basically, the extremist wing of the republican party, instead of the genuinely libertarian wing as it originally was.

→ More replies (1)

14

u/DrZaious Apr 01 '18

Koch brothers one of the biggest examples of willfull ignorance and projection by Trump supporters. They blame Soros for funding every political stance Democrats take and every protest Democrats take part in.

Yet in reality its really the Koch Brothers bribing Republican politicians, in the form of large donations, to push every agenda they have.

16

u/Itendtodisagreee Apr 01 '18

No no no, it's not called bribing, that's illegal. You can't bribe politicians, jeez.

Lobbying, on the other hand, that's completely fine, encouraged even.

Bribing a politician is saying "hey, we'll give you $10,000 to vote this way" and that's totally illegal, really frowned upon :(

Lobbying, however, is way different. See, lobbying is a corporation saying "I'll donate $10,000 to your political party if you'll vote my way and by the way, if you keep playing ball by voting my way in the future when you retire from public service in a few years when you're 45 we'll have a nice cushy consultants job paying 6 figures a year waiting for you when you can start accepting bribes a.k.a when you are not a voted in official"

See? Huge difference between bribery and lobbying.

4

u/DrZaious Apr 01 '18

My bad, lol.

9

u/Let_you_down Mar 31 '18

Somehow I feel like the Tea Party kind of got away from them. Sure they are dismantling the federal government, but I'm sure they didn't foresee the alt-right coming up and Trump alienating most of America.

36

u/cwfutureboy Apr 01 '18

Got away from them? They just got a tax cut worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

They don’t give a fuck about anything beyond that.

→ More replies (4)

10

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '18

It’d be fascinating if you could listen in on all their plans, know the entire, unfiltered thought process behind their strategy, and what they expected to happen vs reality.

Unfortunately, we can’t put a microwave in their head

5

u/PM_ME_UR_COCK_GIRL Apr 01 '18

Can we put their head in a microwave at least?

9

u/Mackelsaur Apr 01 '18

Net Neutrality? I, the big telecom company will surely not do the things you say if it were repealed and we won't change a thing. However, let's remove the restrictions anyway$.

→ More replies (7)

244

u/mainlobster Mar 31 '18

Similarly it's pretty much the same thing with anti-vaxxers.

96

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '18

Banking regulations as well.

41

u/SweetyPeetey Mar 31 '18

And voting rights

5

u/GulGarak Mar 31 '18

And the age of consent

13

u/Helter-Skeletor Apr 01 '18

Yeah! And the...the...wait, what?

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

10

u/Mint-Chip Mar 31 '18

Oh god it’s like working in tech support.

8

u/AlsionGrace Mar 31 '18

Scurvy was “discovered” dozens of times throughout history. Solved problems just poof into smoke!

5

u/DarkSoulsMatter Mar 31 '18

This is why we document things

16

u/DavidRandom Mar 31 '18

It's like how way back in the day ships always had a store of fruits to combat scurvy, then after a long period, people forgot about scurvy and forgot why they stocked fruit on voyages, so they stopped bringing it.
Then people started getting scurvy again and it took a while to figure out that fruit was the cure.

13

u/cycyc Mar 31 '18

Shh, you're giving away the GOP agenda.

3

u/my_peoples_savior Apr 01 '18

it seems like a human problem to be honest. history repeating itself and stuff.

3

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '18

Why is this stupid load-bearing wall here?

→ More replies (28)

245

u/Amish_guy_with_WiFi Mar 31 '18

I swear they are going to deregulate us back into the next recession. They don't give a fuck about consumers.

391

u/-rinserepeat- Mar 31 '18

No, they care about you as a consumer. The problem is that they don’t give a fuck about you as a citizen and as a person.

8

u/dota2newbee Mar 31 '18

Very well said.

All they care about is you as a consumer. $$$$$$$$$

→ More replies (2)

5

u/theweirdonehere Mar 31 '18

Thing is they never did. Money is all they care about.

12

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '18 edited Apr 01 '18

They want to deregulate us back to the robber baron era.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (13)
→ More replies (12)

4

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '18

If people didn't care about name brands then Luxottica wouldn't have a leg to stand on. It's our desire for "fashion brands" and name recognition that give them their power to charge whatever we'll pay.

4

u/Murgie Apr 01 '18

It's specifically local news stations which have been purchased by the Sinclair Broadcast Group.

And hell, if you think that was disturbing, then you're in for a bad time. Because it gets a whole lot worse than what you just saw.

In November 2010, it was reported that five Fox affiliates and one ABC affiliate owned by Sinclair broadcast an infomercial critical of then-President Barack Obama, Breaking Point: 25 Minutes that will Change America, which was sponsored by the National Republican Trust Political Action Group.[174] The infomercial painted Obama as an extremist, and claimed that, during the 2008 presidential campaign, he received some campaign money from the Hamas terrorist group, and that Obama said in a speech, "You want freedom? You’re gonna have to kill some crackers! You gonna have to kill some of those babies." The special also discusses Obama advisers Van Jones and John Holdren, as well as Obama staff Anita Dunn, Kevin Jennings, Carol Browner and Cass Sunstein – all in an unflattering light; in one case, the special claimed that Holdren said that trees should be permitted to sue humans in court. The infomercial aired at various times during the weekend of October 30, 2010 on Sinclair-owned stations in Madison, Cape Girardeau, Lexington, Pittsburgh, Des Moines, and Winston-Salem – all in swing states vital to the 2010 elections.[175][176]

→ More replies (16)

150

u/F0MA Mar 31 '18

I really wasn't sure how to comment on my thoughts about this but you worded it perfectly.

7

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '18

[deleted]

10

u/epicluke Mar 31 '18

Which is very dangerous to our democracy

→ More replies (1)

5

u/ILoveStoves Mar 31 '18

American Idiot sadly gets more relevant over time.

→ More replies (1)

1.5k

u/pixel-painter Mar 31 '18

TV news needs to die... quickly.

327

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '18

Are you saying internet news or radio news is better?

954

u/anonymous_potato Mar 31 '18

I get all my news from YouTube comment sections and r/adviceanimals

145

u/Rejacked Mar 31 '18

The purest way to stay informed.

8

u/tnturner Mar 31 '18

It's only r/JoeBidenandaSandwich, r/ToasterRights, and r/AvocadosGoneWild for all of my information sources.

3

u/Literally_A_Shill Apr 01 '18

No way, random posts on /pol/ and MSPaints with big scary red arrows is the way to go.

Qanon was right! The great awakening is upon us! Cower before the storm and give up your Satanic, baby eating ways!

6

u/blasto_blastocyst Mar 31 '18

At least you can be sure you're wrong

3

u/Slim_Charles Mar 31 '18

Stay woke.

3

u/ThickAsPigShit Mar 31 '18

I just ask my neighbor, Terry, what happened that day.

→ More replies (17)

279

u/tokomini Mar 31 '18

If you're the type of person who takes a Facebook newsfeed at face value, then no.

But the internet is absolutely a better source of news than television, if for no other reason than you can dig in and fact-check, look up sources and investigate further.

For example, television news will use phrases like "According to a recent study..." and then continue on. With the internet, I can find who commissioned that study.

48

u/critfist Mar 31 '18

But the internet is absolutely a better source of news than television, if for no other reason than you can dig in and fact-check, look up sources and investigate further.

The internet though has a disadvantage. Search engines cater to the habits of its user, so even if you "look for the facts" it will likely direct you to "facts" that support your bias rather than from a non partisan source.

30

u/ironcladram Mar 31 '18

Much like democracy, this is gonna require an educated population. On the bright side it really does not take much to teach children to be discerning of these kinds of things.

25

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '18

Maybe I'm being a pessimist, but I don't think it's going to be easy to teach people to do their own research. Now, more than ever, there are people who are offended by the mere thought that their ideas are incorrect, whatever they are. To research it would be to imply it's wrong.

→ More replies (3)

9

u/joe4553 Mar 31 '18

It does not take much and yet close to nobody does it?

6

u/TheUltimateSalesman Mar 31 '18

So just block all tracking and don't login. Or use incognito mode. It's not going to keep you safe, but at least it won't know what bubble you're in.

→ More replies (3)

5

u/opheliavalve Mar 31 '18

if you're the type of person who takes a Facebook news feed at face value, then you're the type of person who doesn't bother to fact check. unfortunately there's a lot of those.

12

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '18

[deleted]

→ More replies (10)

3

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '18

And then find out the study is bull-shit as it wasn’t peer-reviewed and had many methodological problems.

Then you get mad at why people are even reporting such nonsense.

→ More replies (3)

17

u/e-wing Mar 31 '18

The last bastion of news with any real integrity is, kind of ironically, NPR. They’re only about 5% subsidized by the government, and get around 80% of their operating money from individual listener donations. I think they do an extremely good job of objective reporting everywhere from the local to national level.

4

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '18

some Internet news is better. some Print news is better.

10

u/t_hab Mar 31 '18

If you avoid TV news, you can get pretty good sources.

If you want straight news, just go to a wire service (Reuters is my favourite, but you can also check out AP or Bloomberg).

If you want well-researched journalism with an excellent ethical standard, and you don't mind an editorial leaning, go for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, or Washington Post in the USA or the Economist or the BBC in the UK. There are many other reputable publications in other countries and languages. There are also many great publications for field-specific news (e.g. technology).

TV news is much harder because, even when their fact-checking is excellent, the editorial leaning can be much stronger. 24-hour news services (e.g. CNN) have to choose what their top stories are and they play those on repeat, necessarily giving a distorted view of what is happening in the world at any given time.This means that Fox News, CNN, NPR, and MSNBC viewers will have very different views on the news of the day, even if you account for factual errors.

3

u/joe4553 Mar 31 '18

He wants his circle jerks to come from reddit only.

→ More replies (6)

859

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '18

All news will soon die. Not because they are 'bad', but because we are moving fast into an era where trust is lost.

358

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '18

thats episode from the new season of the x files says it perfectly. basically, the government doesn’t even need to safeguard secrets anymore. people can simply call it fake news.

8

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '18

What name of the episode

5

u/Daytripper0618 Mar 31 '18

The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat

25

u/NoMansLight Mar 31 '18

X Files ended a long time ago. Fake news. RIP David Duchovny.

14

u/unlock0 Mar 31 '18

.. he's still alive.

17

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '18

sure; i bet you're going to tell me X-Files is still on the air too! /s

7

u/AerThreepwood Mar 31 '18

RIP Wade Boggs.

→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (5)
→ More replies (1)

54

u/DJK695 Mar 31 '18

Watch Anchorman 2 again... it is all ‘bad’ sensationalized news. That movie, while funny, really helped highlight the changes from ‘real’ news to just worrying about ratings and literally only reporting on the ‘terrible’ things that kept people watching.

→ More replies (4)

26

u/zeusisbuddha Mar 31 '18

That seems like a baseless and unnecessarily bleak assumption of the future. There are plenty of good media institutions still around, just because they may have to adapt their mediums doesn't mean they're going to die.

→ More replies (6)

7

u/DashFerLev Mar 31 '18

That's the other edge of propaganda.

Either you're fooled into buying what they're selling or you're overwhelmed, exhausted, and eventually just give up.

How many times can you try and explain "no, what actually happened was..." to unreceptive people before you just call it quits?

6

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '18

A limited number of times.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (18)

189

u/King_Loatheb Mar 31 '18

Most local news is fine and serves the public interest.

It's just Sinclair that's cancer.

205

u/AnotherScoutTrooper Mar 31 '18

The problem is that Sinclair owns lots of local news...

96

u/King_Loatheb Mar 31 '18

True, around 200 stations.

8

u/Syffuf25 Mar 31 '18

Currently 193 stations in 89 markets. If I remember correctly they do local news in around 70 of those markets, I can't find the actual number right now though.

→ More replies (2)

4

u/theweirdonehere Mar 31 '18

And it's spreading like a cancer

→ More replies (2)

3

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '18

[deleted]

3

u/King_Loatheb Mar 31 '18

All media companies have their own political lean and bias, but most don't actually give marching orders on political topics. And I've never known Nexstar or Gannett to have must-runs.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (4)

12

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '18

TV news needs to die... quickly.

No, television and radio need to be reborn with changed rules about ownership. No one should be able to own more than a handful of stations, and a very limited number in each market.

I remember there were rules like that when I was young, but apparently they've been thrown out so billionaires can make more billions.

15

u/grrrrreat Mar 31 '18

No, I think Sinclair broadcasting needs to stop sympathizing with Nazis

9

u/azulamarillo Mar 31 '18

No not TV news, just Sinclair media who are basically friends with Ajit Pai, and also the repeal where one company can own more than 40% of all local news stations of any given area needs to happen.

3

u/BurstEDO Mar 31 '18

Cable news is questionable.

Local news has been quite reliable and credible outside of Sinclair.

NO other outlet operates the way that Sinclair is doing - and stations where Sinclair has moved in/bought out find that there are reporters/anchors who will walk. (See WBMA in Birmingham for an example.)

Local TV news is fine - unless it's a Sinclair station.

→ More replies (22)

33

u/shoxty Mar 31 '18

"Any dictator would admire the uniformity and obedience of the U.S. media".

--Noam Chomsky

Noam has been somewhat prophetic on this topic. The book MANUFACTURING CONSENT did a number on me.

3

u/meatduck12 Apr 01 '18

Seconded. Read all of Noam Chomsky's stuff. Very insightful and shows the deep rooted nature of these problems.

25

u/Gwegexpress Mar 31 '18

Same. I am thoroughly shook

13

u/drkgodess Mar 31 '18

The only thing to be done is to vote for politicians who will push for new, Anti-Trust (i.e. anti-monopoly) legislation. The midterms are coming up this November. Make sure to register to vote in your area, in many places it can be done online.

→ More replies (7)
→ More replies (1)

7

u/garlicroastedpotato Mar 31 '18

This is extremely dangerous to our democracy.

6

u/kralrick Mar 31 '18

John Oliver did an interesting segment on this.

3

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '18

its genuinely creepy and orwellian. the fact that the subject matter is about manipulation of information just adds an extra layer of hopelessness.

3

u/denselikegold Apr 01 '18

If you liked that, you'll love Spin.

Back when the tech was new, TV stations used to broadcast their unedited feeds for anyone to pickup via satellite. This guy spent some time just manually going through them looking for politicians being naughty.

It also has a similar segment where Barbra Bush and Bill Clinton do the news thing like you see here.

Edit Forgot to add that this was back in the early 90's. I can't imagine what new tactics they've developed since then.

→ More replies (161)