For me this eye opening New Yorker article begs the question of the character of the electorate and takes me back to the days in the early 90's when I began working on public access television in Petaluma -- what would become PCA. As myself and my partners in crime pushed and shoved and lobbied for access to local cable TV, paramount in our minds was community self expression and free speech in a media environment dominated by six corporations cozy with the power structure. From the very beginning one of the valuable connections we made was the League of Women Voters and American Association of University Women and we shared a common plank -- what's needed in democratic elections is a truly "informed electorate". In one of our earliest efforts in local media, together we sponsor and televised candidates forums and debates with that very goal in mind. We persisted for many years. Over 27 years later, the jury is in! The electorate has gotten dumber, information has been replaced by tabloid style sleaze an innuendo and civic participation has plummeted.
For those few who are not regular readers of the Enquirer, and just to give the flavor, this from the article.
Throughout the 2016 Presidential race, the Enquirer embraced Trump with sycophantic fervor. The magazine made its first political endorsement ever, of Trump, last spring. Cover headlines promised, “donald trump’s revenge on hillary & her puppets” and “top secret plan inside: how trump will win debate!” The publication trashed Trump’s rivals, running a dubious cover story on Ted Cruz that described him as a philanderer and another highly questionable piece that linked Cruz’s father to the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
It was even tougher on Hillary Clinton, regularly printing such headlines as “ ‘sociopath’ hillary clinton’s secret psych files exposed!” A 2015 piece began, “Failing health and a deadly thirst for power are driving Hillary Clinton to an early grave, The National Enquirer has learned in a bombshell investigation. The desperate and deteriorating 67-year-old won’t make it to the White House—because she’ll be dead in six months.” On election eve, the Enquirer offered a special nine-page investigation under the headline “hillary: corrupt! racist! criminal!” This blatantly skewed coverage continued after Trump took office. Post-election cover stories included “trump takes charge! success in just 36 days!” and “proof obama wiretapped trump! lies, leaks & illegal bugging.”.
OK, so what does this have to do with real media, you may ask? I don't read tabloids! Although inquiring minds want to know if you really do. My answer: With Trump's Twitter, campaigns hiring trolls to propagate similarly sleazy fake news memes, CNN getting into the act by producing scripted "breaking news" using actors holding signs standing in for demonstrators, and a system wide echo chamber of lies and deceit -- well the media as a source of information has seen better days. The conclusion: If the so called "free press" is not contributing to an informed electorate that is crucial for the health of a democracy and instead making us dumber, what to do? Read the Enquirer and find out.
I know that's not a conclusion but I will leave it there for now because this is a conversation must continue, but since it happens in the media, it won't happen -- HELP!
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