Two types of media malfeasance--or one?
The peaceful occupation of Liberty (aka Zuccotti) Square in the Wall Street district of Manhattan is completing its second week. Initially, there was a virtual news blackout. It was left to a foreign newspaper, The Guardian in Britain, to initiate serious coverage.
Through their misconduct, including the use of pepper spray on innocent participants, the NYC police made a backhanded contribution, one that made the events harder to ignore. Yet even though the movement has spread to a number of other US cities, coverage in the mainstream media remains spotty.
This looks like conservative bias.
In a different development, for some months flash mobs have been invading stores in a number of American cities. Most of these unruly crowds are made up of African-American and Hispanic young people. Overall, media coverage has been skimpy.
This looks like liberal bias.
A paradox? It may be, though, that there is a common denominator: the media are chary of reporting any cases of unrest stateside. I say stateside, because these folks went full throttle in the Arab Spring counties, not to mention Greece and England.
Why this reticence? It is almost excruciatingly notable in view of the absolute incompetence of the politicians in Washington, DC. That slow-moving disaster cries out for mass protest.
There I think is the key: the mainstream media and the politicians are two wings of the culture of corruption that is regnant in this country. It is high time that both were called out for it.
Through their misconduct, including the use of pepper spray on innocent participants, the NYC police made a backhanded contribution, one that made the events harder to ignore. Yet even though the movement has spread to a number of other US cities, coverage in the mainstream media remains spotty.
This looks like conservative bias.
In a different development, for some months flash mobs have been invading stores in a number of American cities. Most of these unruly crowds are made up of African-American and Hispanic young people. Overall, media coverage has been skimpy.
This looks like liberal bias.
A paradox? It may be, though, that there is a common denominator: the media are chary of reporting any cases of unrest stateside. I say stateside, because these folks went full throttle in the Arab Spring counties, not to mention Greece and England.
Why this reticence? It is almost excruciatingly notable in view of the absolute incompetence of the politicians in Washington, DC. That slow-moving disaster cries out for mass protest.
There I think is the key: the mainstream media and the politicians are two wings of the culture of corruption that is regnant in this country. It is high time that both were called out for it.
Labels: Media defalcations
posted by Dyneslines at 5:12 PM
1 Comments:
Agree with nicely nuanced article. Suggest treating "media" as a plural noun, comprising the television medium (singular), newspaper medium, magazine medium, radio medium, and perhaps the Internet medium.
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