Mainstream American journalism as we know it died in the wee hours of Nov. 9, 2016.
It is survived by click-bait shops and a few Macedonian kids who like to make up fake stories.
The funeral will be held at OH LOOK AT THAT LITTLE IGUANA ESCAPING FROM THOSE SNAKES!
I’ve talked to a bunch of distraught liberal friends since the election of Donald Trump to the presidency.
All are angry by what has happened and many blame “the mainstream media” for the result.
I do too.
Despite what some say, this was in fact a failure of media.
But I don’t blame cable news or print sources for letting Trump get away with it.
He was relentlessly covered during the general election and many typically straight reporters got dangerously close to the line in their reports on him.
Newspapers again showed why they are the most important institutions during a political campaign (outside of the FBI, of course).
David Fahrenthold’s indefatigable reporting on Trump’s lack of private donations and his shady charitable foundation for the Washington Post is deserving of massive praise from all sensible people. He also first reported on Trump’s controversial comments in a now infamous Access Hollywood tape.
The New York Times deserves plaudits for reporting on a leaked copy of Trump’s 1995 tax returns. It showed that Trump had possibly not paid taxes for up to 18 years and that he lost $916 million in a single year.
Many local papers chipped away at Trump’s lies and business failures in a daily beat that was impressive.
57 of the largest papers in America endorsed Clinton. Two endorsed Trump.
But none of it mattered.
People weren’t interested in the truth because they didn’t believe it when they saw it.
They either didn’t have the ability to see it or they did and chose not to anyway.
Many have simply lost faith in mainstream media and the form of journalism that emits from them.
It was a failure of media, not because reporters didn’t do a terrific job, but rather do to the fact that those reporters hold less influence that they did even four years ago.
Our media landscape is more cluttered and confused than at any time since the Tower of Babel hosted an economics reporting conference.
Social media is in part the culprit of this.
Fake news stories frequently run rampant through the ether, inciting anger and hardening views of people and issues that is unmoored to fact.
Proprietary partisan content mills churn out dozens of stories, videos, memes and pictures a day that only seeks to score points for the red or blue teams.
Some of the more irresponsible “Breaking News” twitter feeds keep people who follow them in a perpetual state of terror about the state of the world. Death and chaos is always around the corner and the decay of our culture is a foregone conclusion there.
News aggregators have trained us to only read the headlines and have stunted our ability to read pieces for depth and nuance. This started in broadcast media decades ago (rewrites and readers) and has reached a virulent level on the web.
By the time cable news outlets started doing serious reporting on Trump, it had already allowed him near unlimited amounts of free airtime during the GOP primary.
Sure Trump was horrific, but damn if he isn’t entertaining, the logic of executives seemed to go.
This cognitive dissidence on cable clearly impacted the way he was viewed by many.
But in the end, the biggest element that allowed Trump to outflank the media was the very fact that the media has been democratized and Brexited in its own way.
For example, the Times reports that one particular fake news story of Pope Francis endorsing Trump was shared millions of times.
When the news wasn’t totally fake, it was certainly skewed beyond recognition.
Breitbart has given voice to the Alt-Right, a force that has been circling under the waves of news website comment sections for decades and who forged beachheads on Reddit and 4chan. Breitbart is one of the worst offenders and it is only poised to get more popular as the go to voice box of the impending Trump administration.
Other sites feed into the worst fears and strangest parts of our brains.
Alex Jones and his Infowars outlet, for example claim that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are literal demons who smell of sulfur. Jones has one of the most popular Youtube pages out there as a result of his lunacy.
With all of this noise swirling out there, the delegitimization of mainstream media is somewhat inevitable.
Most people don’t know a journalist in their personal life and aren’t able to discern between truth and junk.
In that environment, mainstream media cannot possibly wield the same level of influence it once did.
Welcome to our post-fact reality.
It is whatever you want it to be.
Cover Photo Credit: Oli Goldsmith/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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Miss Puerto Rico Suspended Indefinitely For Anti-Muslim Comments
Looks like Miss Puerto Rico winner Destiny Vélez’s comments against Muslims have caught up with her as she has been indefinitely suspended from her role by the island’s official Miss America organization. Just last Thursday, Veléz engaged on a Twitter dialogue attacking Muslims and documentary filmmaker Michael Moore after he shared a photo of him standing… Read More
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Fighterjocks From Portland Are In Finland Right Now, Spooking The Russians
Some American flyboys are in Finland this month, in an effort to remind Russian President Vladimir Putin where his country’s borders really are.
The 123rd Fighter Squadron, based out of Portland, Oregon, is participating in exercises in Finland over the course of this month.
The F-15Cs of the 123rd will be assisting in improving the readiness of the Finnish Air Force, who has seen an increase in its necessity due to an increase in Russian airspace violations of sovereign airspace.
Finland is not a member of NATO, but has been a participant in the Partnership for Peace program, as well as assisting in ISAF operations in Afghanistan, and participating in NATO exercises, as demonstrated below.
The ongoing crisis in Ukraine has solidified North American and European security interests to a degree that may even exceed that of the height of the Cold War.
This in turn has lead to an interest among some to extend the NATO security umbrella.
This has led most recently to Montenegro’s invitation to the alliance, and some suggestions that Sweden and Finland consider alliance membership.
Both Sweden and Finland have historically followed a policy of neutrality, but this has not been entirely adhered to.
Sweden has had intelligence sharing agreements with NATO states since 1954, as well as relying on NATO capabilities in the event of war against the Soviet Union, and in more recent times against simulated Russian airstrikes.
Both countries participate in NATO exercises, and operations, as well as having strong relations with both Denmark and Norway; both founding members of the Atlantic Alliance.
However, the two countries are not equally open to formally joining the alliance.
The Swedish public has rapidly shifted in favor of NATO membership, with 41% in favor, 39% opposed, and 20% undecided as of late 2015. While Finnish support for NATO membership is at a historical high, only 27% support membership.
This is why the American deployment of aircraft into non ally Finland is such a strong signal.
The Americans may be showing a preview of the kind of commitment they would offer if Finland joined NATO.
By creating stronger military and diplomatic ties with Finland through interactions between the 123rd with Finnish units, and other NATO-Finland interactions, the case for affiliation becomes more concrete.
That does not make the Portland based unit’s sale easy.
Greater affiliation with the EU and NATO has historically lead to an increase in likelihood for Russian counter actions, ala the 2008 Russia-Georgia War, and the two year old ongoing fiasco in Ukraine.
It is essentially out of the question that Finland join without Sweden, or vice versa. In addition to the two countries having strong historical ties, as well as sharing a highly convenient border to ferry troops and material over in the event of Russian intervention into Finland, while Sweden joining with Finland might trigger a response against neutral Finland, in order to guarantee buffer space against the perceived NATO threat.
The Oregon Air National Guard is thus pulling double duty in appealing to both the remaining non aligned Scandinavian countries, as well as improving Finland’s unilateral readiness.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in public affairs. You can write for us.
Photo Credit: cryogenic666/Flickr (CC by SA 2.0)
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WATCH: Video Of Mock “Mass Shooting” Near University Of Texas Campus
Pro-gun activists staged a mock “mass shooting” near the campus of the University of Texas at Austin on Saturday to make a statement about gun free zones.
The event was controversial to say the least, with a public safety expert telling Rise News that the stunt was “over the top“.
A video obtained by the Austin American-Statesman, shows how the event turned out. The video was produced by two pro-gun organizations, DontComply.com and Come and Take It Texas. (So take it with a Texas size grain of salt.)
Read More: Pro Gun Groups Plan To Hold Fake “Mass Shooting” Near University Of Texas Campus
WATCH:
H/T: Rise News reporter Tony R. Myhre for the tip.
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