The Distorted News Reports

I remember a story about a computer, I believe it was in England, that was being used to study artificial intelligence. They wanted to give it the ability to figure things out and draw it's own conclusions. They would commonly use newspaper reports as one of their sources of info. They would feed in the news accounts during the day and at night it would correlate the data. In the morning they would ask it for some insight. I don't remember all of the conclusion but one really stuck in my mind. It decided that "Everyone was famous". That is of course absurd but after a bit of reflection it is easy to see how that perspective could be developed and what that means to us. Descriptions in stories emphasize notoriety or extreme events. Everyone is famous, infamous, or in some way worthy of our attention. Floods are massive or fires are devastating. Over the top coverage seems to be the norm.

Newspapers, television and their extensions into cyberspace can only survive if the can pay the bills. To remain viable they have to make profits. Usually, they focus on the things that grab our attention quickly and draw us in and get us watching or reading advertisement. 26 years ago the lyrics from a song by Don Henly, Dirty Laundry. says it all:

We got the bubble-headed-bleach-blonde who comes on at five

She can tell you bout the plane crash with a gleam in her eye

Its interesting when people die- Give us dirty laundry

Can we film the operation? Is the head dead yet?

You know, the boys in the newsroom got a running bet

Get the widow on the set! We need dirty laundry

Well, that was then. This is now. Much of the broadcast and print media seems to be cheerleaders for the take down of America. The New York times has released secret information that has directly affected our ability to capture information about folks that wish to do us serious harm. It has almost become a joke that when a politician is snared in some scandal it is easy to identify the political party of the predator. If it is a Republican it will be noted in the first 2-3 sentences of the very first report. If it is a Democrat it might not be identified anywhere in the story for days. This has been evident in the last few weeks with 2 New York Governors and a Detroit Mayor, all Democrats facing scrutiny for personal and criminal offenses. When they don't have a recent Republican to beat on they dredge up Larry Craig, the poster boy for stupid politician. I think they minimize Democratic failings because they undermine the media mantra "Culture of Corruption". Straight out of the Democratic playbook. If you doubt that this bias is not noticed by the general population this is what was said by Dianne Sawyer:

"You know, I wanted to sit on a jury once and I was taken off the jury. And the judge said to me, 'Can, you know, can you tell the truth and be fair?' And I said, 'That's what journalists do.' And everybody in the courtroom laughed. It was the most hurtful moment I think I've ever had."

Maybe there is hope but only if we start to push back and reward, by increasing viewership of the news outlets that speak to truth. Let the manipulators of idea know why you object to their coverage.