Especially for any newly participating in POLITICAL discourse.
(EG After the #GOP #TrumpRussia COUP... THIS blog is a very good Reminder you will NOT FIND ANYTHING OF VALUE on BroadcastMedia …
To Find that you must JOIN a Group and work with them. eg. MoveOn.org (they are members of YOUR OWN COMMUNITY, who have been working for Local and National Progressive (eg Real Family Values) causes for DECADES. Do It Even if you have a longterm GOP Rep. (We did in Chico..but got him booted, only to see another rich farmer buy the seat but hey, Wally was gone.) …
Or If you are a vet join VoteVets.org, work with @IAVA or @VFW
NEWER groups are @IndivisibleTeam the #Resistance activist group, now supporting CHALLENGERS to RED District GOP
And of course, for #GunControl join #MomsDemandAction for #GunSense in America. …
REMEMBER the saying if you are not part of the Solution you are part of the PROBLEM
MT @cmclymer Tells us, for him, BROADCAST MEDIA Loses place in 4th ESTATE … BECAUSE How do you silence quiet.
1/ I have a few things to say about our media’s role in the Las Vegas terrorist attack and gun violence in general. This is a bit dense, so I hope you’ll forgive my lack of brevity.
2/ There are three branches of government in the U.S., each with a designed purpose. Presumably, there exists a system of checks-and-balances in which they hold each other accountable.
Then, there's the media, which is often called "The Fourth Estate". (thread)
3/ The term "Fourth Estate" was first applied in its current usage by the writer Thomas Carlyle, who wrote of the press: "Burke said there were Three Estates in Parliament; but, in the Reporters' Gallery, yonder, there sat a Fourth Estate more important far than they all."
4/ The United States government is often taught to schoolchildren as a three-legged stool: without one of the legs, the whole thing falls.
But it's actually a four-legged chair, and without a free, functional press, the whole Grand American Experiment is no better than dirt.
5/ We ostensibly have a "free press" in that the Constitution provides protections for the role of the media in the First Amendment.
We do not have a functional press. I believe our government is broken in large part because our country's press is broken.
6/ This does not mean all our journalists are ineffective. There are many who take their job quite seriously, often at great risk to themselves. They should be applauded. But overall, our media is lazy and ineffectual.
This is why I am especially annoyed at Vegas coverage.
7/ As I tweet, all three major news networks are covering the massacre in Las Vegas, but they're not really doing journalism.
As in: they're not telling us anything we haven't heard. Many times. Same story: carnage, devastation, coerced poignancy.
9:48am · 3 Oct 2017 · TweetDeck
8/ None of the three major networks are telling us things we haven't seen many, many times, and so, it begs the question: why are they doing it?
There's no risk but all reward. They know we'll watch. It's the easiest way for us to help: by listening to survivors. So we do.
9/ It doesn't cost the major news networks anything. As with any enormous tragedy, it's a ratings bonanza. They get to say they're "doing journalism", and we get to feel like we're helping survivors.
But again: there's nothing new here. We've seen this a million times.
10/ We know there was carnage and suffering. We know there were heroes. We know it was chaotic and scary and unthinkable.
And we all know, on some level, that there is likely nothing that will happen. Congress will not take action.
11/ If we're heard one aspect of these horrible tragedies a million times but not really the root of the problem, is it really journalism? No, not really. At best, it's simply empathy. At worst, it's exploiting unimaginable suffering for ratings.
12/ So, it begs another question: why aren't broadcast journalists taking camera crews over to Congressional offices and asking Members of Congress, in a moment of surprise and vulnerability, why this keeps happening?
13/ Why aren't television reporters asking Members of Congress how they can justify taking donations from the NRA while Americans are randomly and viciously slaughtered in public spaces? Why aren’t they pressing them on this repeatedly?
14/ Why aren't CNN and Fox News and MSNBC demanding to know from Members of Congress why we're far, far more likely to be killed in this country by a random white terrorist w/ a gun in public than a foreign “brown” terrorist (whom it is often implied we should fear)?
15/ Why aren't our news networks asking Members of Congress why it's perfectly fine to continue not acting in the face of repeated massacres? What is the point of public service if the public never feels safe because public servants aren't even trying to solve this crisis?
16/ This isn't about banning guns. I'm a military veteran and a gun owner. I respect gun ownership.
I also respect the role of journalism in our society, and ironically, …a ban on broadcast journalism would be moot because they're not doing anything. How do you silence the quiet?
17/ Congress should be blamed, of course. We all know they're irresponsible as hell.
But I am tired seeing news networks pretend to care but not really doing anything while they rack up huge ratings. I don't think I'm alone in that. /thread
