DKOS is our haven from the madness that is the Main Stream Media. But it can also be such an anxiety and anger producing place as well. Because here, through people-powered alerts and investigation, we help each other dig more deeply into issues that 90% of Americans are totally unaware of when they rely on the MSM for their data. How can you not get fired up about the deceptions, the ignorance, the agenda-driven ommisions, and the out-right defrauding of the public with misleading information.
We, the "peons" of the news-gathering and news-disseminating class, are only seperated from the "elites" by one factor, in my opinion, .....cash money.
We can't afford the FCC licensing requirements and equipement to broadcast our own television or radio programming. We can't afford national or regional advertising. But we can blog-- thanks to guys like Kos who've made this medium available.
But what we do is not any different from what they do-- we research and present information. Yes, we all have our political, social, sexual, racial, cultural, culinary, vetenary, and wheterever you can think of leanings and agendas just like they do. Yes, we make mistakes like they do. But the difference is that we have a legion of fact checkers that number in the thousands and perhaps hundreds of thousands. One minor error, inconsistency, foul language, or even grammatical mistake will get you an immediate slap on the wrist from across the internet faster than you can reload your browser.
I've seen investigative work here by many bloggers that could put many of the multimillionaire talking heads on network TV to shame.
And the AP and other "journalistic" enterprises-- the foundation of news in America? It seems as though the cost of getting a journalism education is way over-priced and over-hyped.
The volumes of articles by the "standard press" shows me that a journalism education maybe no more than an extended english writing course that we can take in university or at the local community college. As a medical professional, i see how clearly superficial and misinterpretted most press articles on medical studies can be. And i don't mean to say that they should know what i know, but the lay-person information they try to convey on a medical topic is so often erroneous and so ignorant in the understanding of even the simplest concepts of statistics-- which is much of what medical research is about. Every journalism education should include a thorough education of what research statistics actually mean.
But i digress...
Here is where i am going with this; we're all huffing-mad at the idiots on TV because of their "narratives", and their ommissions, and what appears to be outright lies. But what if they are just attrative looking models with capable presentation skills in front of a camera, but are essentially "low-information" people. They are given narratives to discuss. They are given summary data collected by a team of news interns. They are given talking points by their network producers who's already discussed with the Finance department and the Marketing department what will draw the most viewers (aka: cash money).
These TV talking heads aren't journalists people! Think more "Jerry Springer", think "Rikki Lake". Perhaps it really explains the need for them to constant rely an panels of "pundits" to help hash out the details of political topics.
Low-Information Anchors. Low-Information Journalists. Money-Focused.
It's not about the FACTS anymore. It hasn't been for a long time.
It's about MONEY. Educating the population doesn't make them money. America in general and for a generation now makes fun of education, it derides the concept of trying to be intelligent. The average American doesn't hold education in high regards any more. So that's not where the money is anymore.
And so driven merely for curiosity, for self-education, and for a still-strong belief that democary FOR the People, BY the People is still possible in this age of plutocracy, theocracy, corporatocracy, wealthtocracy, superficiotocracy, and consumertocracy-- we gather at our communal keyboards and we pound, beat, scream, cry, laugh, and search out new perspectives. It can be a place where we get to teach another something new. It can also be a place where our own ignorance, hatreds, mistakes, and prejudices are destroyed, if we humble enough to allow it. It is a place where can grow intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually.
And right there is what makes us GREATER than the talking heads on television. A deeper investigation of the facts, truer sense of self-education and self-improvement, and the willingness to bring our naked thoughts to the blogging community for consideration and judgement-- good or bad. Uncorrupted by considerations of profit or political obligations. And courageous.
We're like a giant army of ants, each making tiny, almost imperceptable impact, but together we can move mountains. We are still dismissed as mere "bloggers" and "fringe" by an outdated but wealthy elite class of so-called "journalists" who have almost no depth and seriousness as embodied by the standards of journalism-- Cronkite, Murrow, etc.
But revolution is happening.
Keith Olbermman may one day be known as the first journalist of the age of "neo-journalism"-- a return to truth and rigoressness in news finding and news reporting-- buttressed by the People he reports to. Journalism driven with information and perspectives by the People and financially supported by the People. A People-powered journalistic enterprised.
So stop being angry with the "journalists" on TV or whatever medium you chose. It's not their job to educate you on the facts-- it's not even their job anymore to find the facts.
It's YOUR JOB to educate YOU on the facts. Welcome to the real matrix.