The headline should read differently.

"How can Media in America contribute to an effort that keeps the American people so mis-informed."

The sooner we stop pointing fingers at our fellow citizens for the manner in which they respond to local, state and world issues -- the closer we get to addressing the manner in which those issues are delivered to us.

The headline of the magazine as it stands is a beginning to the process: the answer, in part, is MEDIA.

The media is bad. It's in fact awful. Having lived abroad now for four years I can see very clearly how awful most American media is and, more importantly, how encased in an American Media Bubble the American people are -- news, entertainment, sport, the lot of it tends to be all-american.

But that said nearly 56 million Americans likewise in that bubble saw fit to vote for Kerry. I'm sure there are some Americans who simply do not have the capacity to think about the issues for themselves or see around the media. But not 59 million of them -- blaming the media is a scapegoating. Many of those people -- at least enough to effect the outcome -- knew there were no WMD, knew there was no connection between 9/11 and Iraq, didn't watch Fox or knew better than to take it too seriously and still voted for Bush. It's these few million we need to focus our efforts on in the future.

“blaming the media is a scapegoating”

Holding the media accountable for a loss of standards that contributed IN PART to our current situation is not to be confused with “scapegoating”.

If, in fact: “It's these few million we need to focus our efforts on in the future.” Then media literacy and media reform initiatives are necessary in order to reach them.

You people are killing me, ranting about the shortcomings of the American media in response to a post illustrated by the cover of the Mirror. Boy, there's some quality journalism! LOL!

Yeah, we need to be as smart as the Mirror will help us to be! You might as well use this as an example of how Eurotrash is propagandized.

No one said the Mirror was the standard. It only served to pose a question that led to a dialogue contextualized around dominant mainstream American media and its effects.

You oregon blue guys are more gay than aids. Faggots.

Sorry to not just respond by calling you an ass, but I can't help but point out that having AIDS (oh, by the way, it's all capitalized because it's an acronym, which means that each letter stands for a different word) is really only connected to being gay in our country. And even then, in both the U.S. and the rest of the world, AIDS infects gay and straight, men and women, GOP and Democrat. If you aren't interested in talking about meaningful issues, then go back to watching reality TV.

As G. K. Chesterton once said, "if disease is funny, it's generally someone else's disease."

Dave is an obnoxious idiot.

Allehseya, I take your point, but if the Mirror's a bad example, why choose it to represent the trend? I just think one ought not to miss the irony of a rag like the Mirror going on about "dumb Americans.

But I will acknowledge that the publication is indeed a mirror of much "sophisticated" opinion in Europe. But those sophisticates, like their admirers in America chronically underestimate the intelligence of Americans -- including their capacity to RESIST manipulation by the media. One of the main reasons the Democrats continue to lose is precisely because they a) simply misunderstand how a large part of American voters think, and running with their misconceptions, they dismiss those who disagree with them with contempt. That contempt and the obnoxious and stupid thinking that flows from it had, I believe, a significant effect on tilting the balance in favor of the Republicans. When a former president sits side by side with a mendacious propagandist at the Party's big event, people take notice.

Anthony posts:

“Allehseya, I take your point, but if the Mirror's a bad example, why choose it to represent the trend?”

At the risk of being redundant, my choice was to use the question that the headline of a European publication posed regarding the general ignorance of (a dominantly mainstream) America.

I used that question to submit a partial (and admittedly, not thorough enough) response: that dominant mainstream media, as an agent of information and its dissemination – is to be held accountable for the loss of industry standards and the manner in which it contributes to the mindset of its audience.

I did not choose to critique foreign media, engage in utilizing irony to expand it to a Euro-centric critique or even to insinuate that the headline of the Mirror was a standard of journalism we should mimic. It only served to pose a question with a context of America.

As for those Americans that do not rely solely on the dominant mainstream media for their information: I do agree with you, however, the key words to keep in mind are “dominant mainstream media” and “dominant mainstream population”.

To emphasize and further clarify, I will quote a post I made on Randy Leonard’s “Don’t Jump” contribution to Blue Oregon:

“Media alone is a powerful agent of information. Through the course of the night, in struggling to find the silver lining, I found myself defending America.

In spite of the average citizen being bombarded with sound bites that perpetuate fear, being coerced into a submissive ideology of what is ‘patriotic’ and ‘moral’, and being left with few options but to endure subjectivity disguised as journalism – there is a good portion of the country that IS consciously aware, concerned and actively engaged in maintaining democracy and being informed of the truth.

Media literacy initiatives and reform efforts are responding to a call for action – and have acted quickly. From the emergence and quick rise of Air America to the response taken by media advocacy groups surrounding the Sinclair fiasco – we have solid contemporary examples of What to address and How to effectively counter what has led to our current reality.

Change is a process; education is a process; and the acts of becoming aware to finally taking a truly informed action is a process as well.

That process begins first on the individual level, the local level – and we have a good opportunity to affect change on those levels here in Portland, using whatever resources we may possess, our talents, our voice, among our peers, within our state.”

I also reiterate because I believe it bears stressing:

If, in fact: “It's these few million we need to focus our efforts on in the future.” Then media literacy and media reform initiatives are necessary in order to reach them.

Anthony also states that “One of the main reasons the Democrats continue to lose is precisely because they a) simply misunderstand how a large part of American voters think, and running with their misconceptions, they dismiss those who disagree with them with contempt.”

There are many contributing factors to the outcome of the elections – and those outlined by you, while valid, were and are still “spun” and exploited to the point of mutation in the media as well – contributing to the current opinion on the right regarding the lack of ‘patriotism’ and ‘morality’ on the left.

It’s a sad indicator of the effects of media and a partisan country when I have to add disclaimers on posts that I make elsewhere regarding our common civil liberties -- disclaimers such as:

“The word ‘liberal’ has suffered the grave misfortune of being reduced to a partisan slur. I used it in my last post in an effort to retrieve its ideological dignity.

I in no way meant to imply that only liberals have morals or principles. I did, however mean to stress that the morals and principles of a ‘liberal’ echo those that our democracy was founded on.”

Whether a ‘lefty’, a ‘liberal’ a ‘progressive’ or a ‘democrat’ – your stance that “One of the main reasons the Democrats continue to lose is precisely because they a) simply misunderstand how a large part of American voters think”

--- We certainly understand the contributing factors regarding why dominant mainstream thinks the way that it does – how that thinking is perpetuated by the dominant mainstream mechanisms in place -- and how it affects the collective 'left' or minority in this election --

-- which brings me back to dominant mainstream media – as One area which needs reform in maintaining industry standards of objectivity – a basic principle that journalism was founded on.

disclaimer:

I in no way mean to imply that media is the sole factor in shaping dominant mainstream thought; nor do I mean to imply that is the only arena / industry requiring reform; nor do I mean to imply that is the sole 'reason' or aspect that led to the outcome of the elections.