A true phenomenon is being played out by the Trump White House and Fox News on a National scale...before our very eyes. It is the creation of deniability or even an "alternate" reality by simply and repeatedly claiming that what we experience (directly or indirectly) is not true.
It's made me think back on a skit injected into the 1967 comedy film A Guide for the Married Man. In it Robert Morse is giving Walter Matthau advice on how to have an affair, and for this piece (played by Joey Bishop and Ann Guilbert) he's advising him to "Deny, Deny, Deny": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGu8qiBUf-4 . Watch this You Tube now then return to this post.
This method of shaping reality, as bizarre as it appears, has been part of the Trump playbook throughout his business life and where he has been recorded early on advocating the use of repetition. However, as a Presidential Candidate and now as President he has leap frogged this tool to virtually manipulate millions of people.
It is now done through a triangle of influence. Trump will personally (by camera, by Tweet, or White House communique) deliver an untruth. Whether this is an out and out lie or his narcissistic interpretation is unknown, but that question is ultimately irrelevant. It is then picked up by Fox News, which treats it as de facto truth simply because it was said by the President.
They will surround the statement with some "what about(s)" and patriotic sound bites and feed it to their (and Trump's) "base". It is then picked up by Republican Politicians and Conservative Pundits, who will use Fox News and each other as verification. Fox News will then repeat it as confirmation by broadcasting the Republican's comments.
This week the Trump White House published both the official transcript of the Helsinki news conference by Trump and Vladimir Putin. These are done routinely by all Presidential Administrations for the National archives. I watched live, and saw several times after, the Reuter reporter's question to Putin as to whether he (Putin) had supported Trump's candidacy and directed Russian officials to help Trump. To both Putin answered "Yes, I did".
Yet somehow the part about Trump in the question disappeared from the official transcript. And incase someone was charitable in assuming it was a rather large typo, the mention of Trump was also deleted from the video. The brashness of this action in the face of millions of people seeing the truth (and in the face of being called out on it by several media sources) is a stark example of Trump playing the part of Joey Bishop.
Somewhere along the way Fox viewers need to be put on notice. The rest of American journalism needs to call out on what is happening. They need to do it by publishing (in both written and video) what is occurring at Fox News. Stop fact checking Trump. The people who watch the endless parade of untruths that pass his lips are already aware.
Start fact checking Fox News...all the time. It's time to empower your readers and viewers to understand the reality of why their Conservative friends believe as they do, and, frankly, to share that concern with them.
Wednesday, July 25, 2018
Saturday, July 21, 2018
The News is the News
Perhaps two or three weeks ago, I caught the brief interview of a white, middle-aged man from Fort Worth, TX, looking average in every way, being asked questions regarding our President by a street reporter. He was a Trump supporter, not unusual for the region, but additionally he viewed Donald Trump as an extraordinarily good President, moreover an extraordinary individual, period. To this man Trump was the best President in living memory.
Those observations by this person caused the same misfiring of the neurons driving my cognitive abilities as comments made to me personally, from nice people, saying Barack Obama was the worst President in our Nation's history. Seriously? Actually, yes...dead serious.
These definitively extreme viewpoints now tell me there is another story to be told that isn't as simplistic as: "we are a divided Nation".
The control of information has always been critical in maintaining power, even more important than the second most used tool disseminated by information...fear. The importance of information control has increased exponentially as the means of communication has expanded exponentially. From print media, to radio, to television, and now to cyber content, the reach of media information can nearly be constant.
Since the rise of mass media (in the 1920s with the advent of radio) there is no historical example where a political strongman (despot, dictator, thug...call 'em what you want) didn't use and ultimately control the sources of media. Critical to that control was the denigration and/or elimination of competing sources of information. The obvious nature of this requires no discussion.
The most compelling issue I see today in the American body politic is the dedicated influence by Rupert Murdock's Fox News Group, the Sinclair Broadcasting Group, and "Conservative" talk radio. It is time that that they become not just a source for "News", but actually become the News itself.
Those who read this blog know that I watch the first 20 to 30 minutes of both Fox&Friends and Morning Joe most weekday mornings. I also try to catch various programs from Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, NPR, CBS, NBC, and ABC. It's a daunting task and I struggle to limit the amount of dedicated time. However, this effort to be objective, which was built in during the period the "Fairness Doctrine" was in place (1948-1987), has revealed more about "US" than the great political divide.
The morning after the July 16th Trump/Putin press conference, the three TV personalities that comprise Fox&Friends actually began to talk directly to Trump to convey the need for him to apply damage control. It was obvious without being stated. They know he was watching, as they know he does nearly every day. The power that they have, or say Sean Hannity who talks with Trump almost daily, to convey policy and shape Trump's thinking is virtually mind boggling.
The reason it exists is because they are communicating to the same audience.
Every other network, cable or otherwise (with the exception of Sinclair local broadcasting), constantly waxes dumbfounded on why this core Republican support continues to be so unshaken by Trump's ethical, personal, and political shortcomings. How is it possible that this Fort Worth gentleman thinks the way he does?
The answer to that question is so obvious as to wonder why it's a question at all.
He and all the other Trump supporters are only watching Fox and listening to the likes of Russ Limbaugh and Mark Levin. Why would they think differently?
It is no wonder why Trump has labeled all news media other than Fox as the "enemy of the people". It is no wonder why these Trump supporters (Conservatives, Republicans, call'em what you like) are so susceptible to conspiracy theories when they're told that all information other than the sanctioned Trump media is disseminating "fake" information to undermine the "truth" he represents.
Fox News, primarily, is the real story to be told. They control their viewers, they control the President, they control the compliant Republican congressmen. What Trump is and what he represents has essentially been cooked. What the rest of the world's information gatherers should be doing now is looking at how Trump is delivered to his "base". That's the real news.
Those observations by this person caused the same misfiring of the neurons driving my cognitive abilities as comments made to me personally, from nice people, saying Barack Obama was the worst President in our Nation's history. Seriously? Actually, yes...dead serious.
These definitively extreme viewpoints now tell me there is another story to be told that isn't as simplistic as: "we are a divided Nation".
The control of information has always been critical in maintaining power, even more important than the second most used tool disseminated by information...fear. The importance of information control has increased exponentially as the means of communication has expanded exponentially. From print media, to radio, to television, and now to cyber content, the reach of media information can nearly be constant.
Since the rise of mass media (in the 1920s with the advent of radio) there is no historical example where a political strongman (despot, dictator, thug...call 'em what you want) didn't use and ultimately control the sources of media. Critical to that control was the denigration and/or elimination of competing sources of information. The obvious nature of this requires no discussion.
The most compelling issue I see today in the American body politic is the dedicated influence by Rupert Murdock's Fox News Group, the Sinclair Broadcasting Group, and "Conservative" talk radio. It is time that that they become not just a source for "News", but actually become the News itself.
Those who read this blog know that I watch the first 20 to 30 minutes of both Fox&Friends and Morning Joe most weekday mornings. I also try to catch various programs from Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, NPR, CBS, NBC, and ABC. It's a daunting task and I struggle to limit the amount of dedicated time. However, this effort to be objective, which was built in during the period the "Fairness Doctrine" was in place (1948-1987), has revealed more about "US" than the great political divide.
The morning after the July 16th Trump/Putin press conference, the three TV personalities that comprise Fox&Friends actually began to talk directly to Trump to convey the need for him to apply damage control. It was obvious without being stated. They know he was watching, as they know he does nearly every day. The power that they have, or say Sean Hannity who talks with Trump almost daily, to convey policy and shape Trump's thinking is virtually mind boggling.
The reason it exists is because they are communicating to the same audience.
Every other network, cable or otherwise (with the exception of Sinclair local broadcasting), constantly waxes dumbfounded on why this core Republican support continues to be so unshaken by Trump's ethical, personal, and political shortcomings. How is it possible that this Fort Worth gentleman thinks the way he does?
The answer to that question is so obvious as to wonder why it's a question at all.
He and all the other Trump supporters are only watching Fox and listening to the likes of Russ Limbaugh and Mark Levin. Why would they think differently?
It is no wonder why Trump has labeled all news media other than Fox as the "enemy of the people". It is no wonder why these Trump supporters (Conservatives, Republicans, call'em what you like) are so susceptible to conspiracy theories when they're told that all information other than the sanctioned Trump media is disseminating "fake" information to undermine the "truth" he represents.
Fox News, primarily, is the real story to be told. They control their viewers, they control the President, they control the compliant Republican congressmen. What Trump is and what he represents has essentially been cooked. What the rest of the world's information gatherers should be doing now is looking at how Trump is delivered to his "base". That's the real news.
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