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Originally Posted by Damien
I think we underestimate how much it is our own confirmation biases direct the media though. They're feeding us with what we want but because to be commercially successful they need a rather broad base the mainsteam press isn't as bad as the Internet. The internet though can go even more hyper-partisan as appeal to a narrow group feeding them everything we want to hear.
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Most people don't watch the news for entertainment, they watch for information and the way in which that information is presented will affect how they react to it. Clearly some people prefer certain media outlets for the reasons you cite but I reckon that when it comes to the news, most of the time, most people don't feel all that strongly about it either way, they're just trying to keep abreast of what's going on in the world.
What we do know categorically, though, is that commercial reasons do affect their output in various ways and they have a vested interest in sensationalising whatever they can in order to fill their airtime/pages. Those outlets with a definite and deliberate political bias such as RT will of course be highly selective in what they do/don't cover and IMHO it's the gradual drift in that direction coupled with the power of the internet to distort matters which means we're either going to wind up running around in circles not knowing what to do or working ourselves up into a frenzy of rabid outrage every time a decision, election or whatever goes the wrong way and we feel we have to overturn it. Who'll be the winners from that state of affairs? Maybe the resulting paralysis and disquiet will be the reason for someone to come along who's authoritarian enough to effectively seize control and thereafter dictate what we're told and how we're allowed to react.
I don't like the way the world's heading. Freedom is a wonderful thing but too much freedom exercised the wrong way can be a very dangerous thing and they could be on the verge of that situation in the states. It'll be interesting to see the outcome of the election over there and what happens next. I wouldn't be surprised if there's trouble.