Under the Bribery law, merely asking for a corrupt favor in exchange for an official action is a felony. The favor doesn't have to be delivered, the payoff doesn't have to be delivered, and the person whose arm is being twisted doesn't even need to have actually figured out the connection yet. The message can be delivered with winks and nods; actions (or inactions) speak louder than words, sometimes. (Trump repeating "no quid pro quo!" is a hilarious example of this; anyway, he had his stooge Sondland to make it clear, just in case.)
Zelenskyy finally got the message before he got the aid, long after it was due, and he agreed to do the favor. The only reason the aid got released before he did it was the whistleblower blew the whistle. Trump missed the legal deadline for the aid and didn't tell Congress about it, as the law required.
The transparently false cover story Trump, Jordan, Scalise et al are putting forward is pathetically inaccurate and illogical. Their only hope is to work themselves into a pretense of high dudgeon, yell, sneer, smear, bully, abuse witnesses, journalists, and Democrats, and drive people away from paying close enough attention to see the plain truth.
Professional prosecutors have expressed confidence an actual courtroom jury would have no problem convicting on this evidence. Not knowing which side to believe suggests the Republicans' go-to tactics of "what about," false equivalence, and unconscionable aggression are working.
18
If you want the best information you need to read both side. There are studies that show the left almost exclusively watches only left wing media. As a result they are badly uninformed or misinformed about the issues of the day. Democrats did far more damage in their quest for power than the Russians ever hoped to do. Why are we impeaching Trump? Well because we do not like him. We will find some crime if we just get a look at those taxes perhaps?
14
I cancelled my on-line subscription to one of our national newspapers because Trump took up the entire front page. I'm more familiar with how he looks than I am some of my family members at this point. I don't need to look at his big ugly picture every time I turn on my laptop. I used to love listening to the news in the morning; I stopped that as well because the minute I turn on the tv, there he is descending from Air Force One looking like a bloated balloon with that half hearted wave.
As much as I detest him and can't wait for him to leave office I don't need a constant play by play minute by minute report of his insane tweets, lies, misdeeds and policy flip flops. And none of the news sources, including the NYT are reporting anything unique. At this point you either love or hate him; a constant stream of stories isn't going to change my mind.
So much is going on in our lives already. Family issues, people struggling to survive, I don't need minute by minute coverage of his nonsense. Please take us back to the days were our officials went about their daily business of what we put them in office for, only generating stories when there was something significant to report. I don't care about Trump's taxes, his annual check up and on and on, I can only vote when the time comes.
I almost wonder how the news outlets will survive when he leaves office, reduced a shuffling old man on a walker.
15
Probably I hear and see far less of the noise and combative social media exchanges that are out there exhausting people today. I don't have a TV and rarely watch even video clips of news/politics on the internet.
I do take a raft of online newspaper and news or politics oriented magazine subscriptions. I have no Facebook account but do use tweeted items from newspapers to which I subscribe as launch points into my rounds of the newspapers themselves.
The upshot is that I know I'd be wrong to imagine it's simple for everyone to keep "news" neatly sorted into fact, fiction, opinion, wishful thinking, bat-wing crazy and so forth. Any such conclusion of mine would stem only from my not being bombarded by a lot of TV noise and online commentary from extremes of our political spectrum.
LOL and I plan on keeping it that way. Even without that exposure to TV and rude "social" media commentary, I can find reading news and opinion almost exhausting.
Still, I was alarmed after reading some quotes in this article: it's clear there's a lot of real news getting past a lot of real people, and likely no way to fix that on either the supply or non-demand side at the moment.
"Sad.." one could say. I rather regard it as potentially catastrophic. If we don't all get it, for example, that listening to a witness speaking under oath is different to hearing a TV pundit's opinion of that witness, well, this country's in big trouble. And so it seems like this country's in big trouble...
10
The earth is flat. Again.
6
Didn’t watch the impeachment hearings; Democrats became an alien, disgruntled, uncompromising sect when they made no effort to work with Trump and have been trying to roust him since the post election period.
I preferred trying to convince Alexa to play more “Escape “ music from Sirius XM.
15
@JRS
Sorry, that isn't what happened.
16
If we aren't careful, someday we may suddenly wake up to find we are living in a dictatorship--so let's pay attention. If we can understand all of the moves in a Sunday-night football game, we can certainly figure out Trump's moves, too.
10
This documents the success of one of the far-fight's (and regular right's) most successful tactics: using their now-dominant control of the media, to broadcast disinformation so incessantly and so unimaginably dishonest that it can actually appeal to distracted and/or disheartened citizens who not have the time or the interest to discern the fraudulence of right-wing propaganda. If you add to these, the number of voters for whom Republicans' overt and covert expressions of racism, and their feigned embrace of Christian fundamentalist doctrine, are decisive factors, this may be the formula for Republican victories in 2020.
Sound alarmist? Only if you haven't actually been paying attention in the last four years or more. Persons of good will, of all reasonable political and social belief systems, either keep this in the background of whatever political action they might take, or we may see a modern extinction of governments that attempt, even modestly, to work towards the goals that the great faiths of the modern age, including Christianity, Islam and Judaism, as well as all others of good will, truly seek.
6
Russell Memory laments that the story of trump being booed at a Nationals game was bigger than the story of trump being cheered at an Alabama football game. Really?
One would more or less expect the president to be recognized and applauded at a public event. That is not particularly newsworthy. One would NOT expect the president to be roundly booed at a public event. That is newsworthy.
Is it that hard to discern the difference?
13
Hey, Mr. Memory, the reason the booing at the Nationals game was widely reported is that it was news that Trump left his bubble for the first time ever and America showed him what they really think of him. His getting cheered in Alabama was not widely reported because it's not news that his base would cheer him. It's not some big conspiracy theory or unfair, it's simply news versus non-news. Just like refusing to cover Republicans' lies and conspiracy theories is not unfair or partisan. If you want to make good faith arguments, then by all means, have at it. But you can't when you're defending the indefensible.
8
@Dismayed You say it’s not news that “the base” cheers him, but wouldn’t it thus be common sense that the Heart of the Resistance - Washington DC - would boo him? So they are either both news events or neither are.
7
In the "liberal" media, National Politics is largely covered by journalists from wealthy families (Glenn Kessler, Anderson Cooper, Sydney Ember, et al) who attended private schools and colleges, worked on Wall Street (Erin Burnett, Chris Cuomo, Sydney Ember) and for whom economic inequality is not a problem, but a benefit. Jeff Bezos doesn't need to tell Kessler to spin his "Fact Checking" against Bernie Sanders, because it is in Kessler (and others') personal financial interest to focus on the horse race and ignore policies that don't affect them personally. Dallas Sportscaster, Dale Hansen once said that the press is "the sons and daughters of truck drivers and teachers. Cab drivers and cooks. We are the sons and daughters of those who work on our farms and in our factories.”
Well, you won't find any children of truck drivers covering the presidential race for the Times or the Washington Post or CNN or MSNBC. You won'f find and cad drivers' kids moderating the debates. Farmers' and Cooks' kids don't get invited to "round tables" on cable news shows.
The difference between Fox News and the "liberal" media is that Fox's motto is "Comfort the comfortable and afflict the afflicted" while that of CNN and MSNBC is "Comfort the comfortable and ignore the afflicted."
13
@lgainor
While there is a certain degree of nepotism running in all news organizations, Fox certainly seems to give more people a chance. Their biggest network stars were middle class people who made their fortune in talk radio before transitioning on tv.
Their on-air reporters are more diverse, economically and ethnically, long before diversity became a buzzword.
None of that holds true for the other networks, or major newspapers. They seem to go out of their way to hire minorities that are chronically embarrassing just for the shock value (Don Lemon now vs. Bernard Shaw back when Ted Turner ran CNN).
6
Democracy requires well-informed citizens. The effect of our daily bombardment by conflicting "news" reports is making it increasingly difficult for people to make rational decisions and cast rationally grounded votes. Citizens can no longer be passive receivers of factual news. They now need to be active, committed to getting all the facts, so they are well-informed. Difficult, yes. More difficult than in the past, yes. But the difficulty is no excuse for tuning out!
2
@David Kleinberg-Levin No difficulty here. I called 3 years ago that the Russian “collusion” story was a Fake and a Ruse, and for 3 years I said they have shown no evidence. And then there was none. It’s only very confusing for people who are looking for “crimes” and “wrongdoing” when there is none there. Basically, looking for “dirt,” if I may borrow a phrase. It’s alllll very simple to me. Now there’s the “Impeachment,” for which we have the transcript and thus no need for the various witnesses. It’s all to sully and pound Trump before the 2020 elections. So basically what the Democrats are doing is using taxpayer money for the 2020 campaigning. Now isn’t THAT at least “wrong-doing,” if not ILLEGAL? After all, they didn’t report it to the FEC!
7
The electoral fatigue felt by American voters is hardly surprising. This article points to the web of lies, misrepresentations and hectoring as reasons for turning away from the political issues of the day. The strong contrast was drawn with the 1970s, hardly an era of peace and happiness but perhaps one of more political stability. But I write to draw a strong parallel with current electoral fatigue among voters in the UK who have had 3 years of Brexit In/Out debate. And we face the same lies, misrepresentations and hectoring as our American cousins. The result is a shattered electorate, broken by a question that goes beyond the norms of national politics. We can just about deal with liars at home but liars about things abroad test patience. Many voters would rather walk past the polling booth.
3
I can understand that most folks in the US turn out the noise. Here in Germany it's the same "Trump here, Trump there. Populism here, Populism here." I do the same and turn out the noise - and listen to WQXR via internet live stream ;-)
4
I'm tried of hearing about the confused citizens of this country. They're not confused, they are lazy, too lazy to find sources, access multiple forms of media, and use their intelligence and love of democracy to sort out the truth. Most Americans don't deserve democracy because we wont put in the effort to preserve it, which has resulted in this scammer president. If having this grifter in the White House isn't enough to get our attention, I don't know what will.
11
For those who find the Ukraine basis for the impeachment inquiry too remote / taxing / confusing / boring, just check out John Oliver's Nov. 17 show, about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way through the half-hour.
A cogent look at and explanation of the objective facts, and for those who need 'pizzazz' and entertainment in their impeachments, he serves those up as well :)
Easy and fast. You're welcome.
5
As of Sunday morning, November 17 on CBS with Margaret Brennan, Rep. Jim Jordan's latest defense of Trump's bribery-extortion of Ukraine's President Zelensky was this: A quid pro quo crime never happened because an investigation of the Bidens never happened.
Jordan's bespoke 'no quid, so, no problem' explanation of Trump's attempted shakedown of Zelensky might be of interest to former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. Since March 2012, he's been serving 14 years in a Colorado federal prison for felony crimes that include attempted extortion.
Are the Republicans actually serious about 'No Quid, So, No Problem?!!
3
I began tuning out of the impeachment hearings and news when Nancy Pelosi said it needs to be bi-partisan. Yeah, right..
2
An overwhelming 70% of Americans think President Donald Trump’s request to a foreign leader to investigate his political rival, which sits at the heart of the House of Representatives' impeachment inquiry, was wrong, a new ABC News/Ipsos poll finds.
Editor::: Did you know this? You should have known.
2
I don't buy it. If you want to know the truth you go to reliable sources, but reliable sources are more challenging to read and aren't at all sexy, so people instead watch Simpsons reruns, which are so easily at your fingertips in this day and age. When Trump got elected I feared he'd drag us down to a least common denominator society and now here we are. If it's not in a meme people aren't interested. I knew we were in trouble a few years ago when former classmates of mine who graduated from America's top schools were posting car selfies and getting their news from The Skimm. How educated adults can stand to read that teenybopper lingo-laden stuff for more than a second is beyond me. Just the other day an ivy league educated friend of mine told me she isn't watching the impeachment proceedings because she doesn't have time for the minutiae. Meanwhile, she finds time to read Page Six daily. If this is what I'm observing from America's finest minds, god help the under-educated among us.
6
So, let me get this straight. My takeaway of this article is: For decades, us “trustworthy” people and organizations have given Americans the “real facts.” Us and only us. But now, there’s “other” organizations - it’s not us anymore. And people are beginning to see that we selected stories and framed those stories to advance our own agendas, and omitted stories which might go against that agenda. And we are very upset and downright angry about that. Because, we want it to be only us who shape how people see things.
Did I get that right?
11
@Alia
No. Real professional journalists have for the most part taken their ethical obligations seriously and have worked at policing themselves and enforcing standards of truthfulness and objectivity, even if imperfectly. The new narrative that they have "selected stories and framed those stories to advance our own agendas" has been based on cherry-picked and distorted "reporting" with the deliberate intention of undermining people's trust and making them too angry to think straight, in order to pursue a truly insidious agenda of destroying our functioning democracy so the sociopaths could satisfy their lust for wealth and power.
Hope that helps.
4
You can't blame the voters for their disinterest.
The fake news media complex did it to itself.
17
Dems, the media and the establishment of both parties have tried to remove Trump one way or other. Regarding the latest farce:
1. Congress date for delivering Ukrainian aid was Sept 30.
2. Aid was released on Sept 11
3. Ukraine hasn’t investigated either Biden.
Much to do about nothing.
My .02 is that Trump set this Ukraine bit up and as usual the media and the dems took the bait.
15
Well, if you are content that President tried to use your tax dollars to extract information for personal gain, or that he lied under written oath (R. Stone Wikileaks call), then good for you, just not very good for the Republic.
4
The problem is that the average American is incurious and not very smart. Turn off football and Housewives, read a book, read a newspaper (no, not USA Today), and spend a little time sorting and finding trustworthy sources of news and information. It really isn’t that difficult.
5
NYT plays the neutral source after having convicted Trump for Russian Collusion over the last 3 years. And yet it seems to be a mystery why the public is skeptical.
20
Because he did conspire, he was just too dumb and inept to pull of off. Fortunately, for you, the Russians are more competent than Team Trump.
4
@Scott
Testimony in the Roger Stone trial looks like prima facie case of perjury and obstruction by Trump to Mueller about collusion with Russia. No mystery why the public is skeptical -- Trump and Fox News lied to them.
4
What’s so difficult about finding trustworthy news sources? The news side of major newspapers like The Times and The Washington Post is reliable and credible. The opinion side of major newspapers is just that—an opinion—so judge for yourself how convincing the writer is. In my view, television news is more susceptible to bias, but the major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) and CNN are reasonably middle-of-the-road. MSNBC is less so, but Fox News takes the cake for one-sided punditry. Why would anyone listen to what Sean Hannity has to say? He’s a radio/TV performer who doesn’t even possess a bachelor’s degree, let alone government experience or public policy expertise. When I assess individuals, it all comes down to credibility. People like Kent, Taylor, and Yovanovitch have decades-long track records of service, integrity, and experience. How could any reasonable person be receptive to Republican attacks against them? Donald Trump has less credibility than any single politician in the history of this country. His is an entire lifetime of ignorance, dishonesty, selfishness, and cruelty.
And social media is just noise, so I completely ignore it. Only those with qualifications and credibility should have a platform for their views.
7
@BCM
CNN? Middle of the road? Thank you for the good laugh!
5
The chose President ,plain and simple, nation is tired.
@catherine
If I understand you correctly, that's no excuse for shirking the responsibility to try to get it right after you got it so wrong.
Journalism and objectivity are dead. Media spouts so-called news as trying to portray "the other" as uninformed, dishonest, deluded. Even coerced. So it's no wonder that everyone is exhausted with each outlet's particular form of propaganda.
15
The reason that people are getting numb about politics is because all the reporting is all editorials and not reporting what actually happened. The stuff that is coming out of Schiff's committee is all hearsay from 3rd parties and there is just no meat on the bone whatsoever.
Every anti Trump witness is lying as are all the pro-Trump witnesses because they are refuting the liars !! No wonder the public is more interested in other things like Netflix or sport,
16
It should be said again, impeachment hearing witness Lt. Col. Vindman was one of the people listening to the July 25th phone call between Trump and Zelensky. That is not hearsay.
It also needs to be pointed out that the people who listened in on that phone call have been ordered by Trump to defy the subpoena and not testify. Lt. Col. Vindman went against the prohibition and testified anyway. A brave and courageous decision of an honourable public servant.
4
@MJM Lt. Col Vindman gave his "opinion" about the President's phone call. A transcript of the phone call had already been released so the public is only getting Vindman's "interpretation" of the call. As a soldier the President is Lt Col Vindman's commander in chief. Some view Vindman's involving himself in a "political" hearing as insubordination at best and mutiny at worst.
6
@Bob
Pay attention, please. It's not all hearsay. Not all hearsay is inadmissible or worthless in figuring out the truth. There's enough meat for a real jury actually trying to get it right to convict Trump. The "antiTrump" witnesses are not anti-Trump witnesses, they're just witnesses. There haven't been any "pro-Trump" witnesses and no one has actually refuted anything the witnesses we've seen so far have testified to. There's a carefully enforced difference between reporting and editorials in responsible papers like this one, even if, like all human efforts, they aren't perfect all the time. The problem is you're believing lies about the truth, as this news analysis discusses.
3
What people are experiencing is cognitive dissonance. Especially if they subscribe to any right wing sources as they are blatantly lying. They also don’t have the time or the capacity to sparse it.
It truly is a daily job to sparse and refute right wing extremism in this country. I just watched a piece from Fox News where the interview went south with the anchor and the guy protecting Trump called all the witnesses shifty Schiffs witnesses. The anchor called him on it saying these were people in and appointed to the Trump administration. Then basically it devolves into asking who would you trust then since they are all Schiffs people. Only president Trump he said.
A person who agrees with anything in that piece from the right wing side will have massive cognitive dissonance. The fact our media is also weak and doesn’t call such aspects blatant tyranny is flawed.
Another problem is main stream media painting everything as equal. The democrats and republicans are not equal though corporate democrats push the line. Call a lie, a lie. Don’t repeat Trumps tweets in your headlines as if they are true. They are lies most of the time.
Our media is failing in dealing with propaganda because it claims to want to be fair by calling both sides equal and avoid the appearance of bias but the real bias is calling the extremists we are dealing with equal to the other side when they are not.
I believe if more people were informed we would have progressive policy in the US.
5
I can't take it anymore. Tell me when it's over.
4
What happening here, in a right wing
alternative universe has a name: BETRAYAL.
They play Russian Roulette with our country destiny, with present and future generations and our human morality.
They're selling our country as we speak to the highest bidder!
Who in the right mind put these spineless creatures in power!!!
Russia Loves the Impeachment Hearings Because GOP Is Parroting Kremlin Propaganda
https://www.thedailybeast.com/watching-impeachment-russian-media-delighted-trump-doesnt-give-a-s-t-about-ukraine
Putin and his Politburo are all gleeful!
Yovanovitch, Taylor, Kent are all outstanding, intrepid characters, Bravo!!!
Knowing how Putin's gangsters operate by throwing acid on their opponents, these are all simply heroic acts.
6
Seems like a lot of NYT stamps are anti-Trump and Fox bashers. Problem solved!
8
I dont know.
After years of russia collusion, and now an impeachment that will never fly (youre senile if you think it will): you do it to yourselves.
13
But a President lying and bribing for personal gain while using your tax dollars is ok with you?
4
@Russ
Russia collusion just got proved in the Stone trial, and Trump lied to Mueller about it. Trump and Fox lied to you. He might not get removed, but then again, he might, I don't know.
2
you left wingers have caused this and you did it to yourself.
16
It's hard for me to maintain interest in this Ukraine story when under the Trump presidency I've been able to maintain my standard of living and even earn a bit more than I ever have before. And from any political party, that's about all you can hope for.
Sure, what Trump did was irregular. But it didn't affect me personally nor did it affect anyone I know. There aren't any high stakes to it since Trump won't be removed by the Senate. And it is indisputably boring, in my opinion.
I'm not sure why we're constantly having to offer military aid to corrupt countries to "contain Russia" which seems like a timeworn and needlessly belligerent doctrine more than anything else.
17
@LR Not only military aide, but all of the bureaucrats were saying the goal was to get Ukraine into NATO. Which means we would be bound to defend them in battle! And we know 100% that Ukraine would get more benefit than it could possibly contribute to NATO. They stated that openly and for all Americans to hear (about the NATO part).
7
But the $1T deficits he’s running to goose an already humming economy are ok with you? I hope they are also ok with your kids and grandkids cause they’re the ones who will be paying it off. Common sense tells you not to run massive deficits in a good economy. This is an irresponsible destructive economic path the Republicans have charted.
1
@Mark Every president has run massive deficits. The 'balanced budget' during the Clinton years didn't exist. It was just some creative accounting.
I shrug my shoulders at deficit and debts because they will never be solved. To handle the deficit you are going to have to take an ax to, not just eh military budget, but all the social programs as well. The Green New Deal? Gone. For the debt, it'll be repudiated or the printing presses will be turned on full steam and paid off with US Treasury Notes. That is, modern greenbacks.
1
It's depressing that someone who is bright enough to program computers is also unaware of why booing the president at a ballgame is news, whereas cheered for him isn't.
Such things aren't an example of liberal bias in media -- they're evidence of the news judgement of reporters, editors, and producers.
7
This is just absurd, the authors present a picture where voters woke to the world only this morning. The truth is they are not interested and see no meaning or reason in paying attention. Had they paid attention as they grew into adults the lay of the land would be familiar. But no, would not want to strain their brains.
Any reasonably intelligent educated human being is more than capable of keeping up with news in a couple of hours per week. Assuming one is interested in the future, including family, community, and country.
It would seem to me that a precondition for continuing citizenship would be a desire to keep abreast of events effecting voters lives.
Our news organizations are MIA as they play games with the facts and the lenses, or contexts they couch their reporting in.
It all boils down to the fact that a segment of our country is unconcerned with fact, truth, and the wellbeing of their communities. While the press has decided the important content is mostly too complicated for the average reader so nonsense leads. By my lights our major print press should be pulling readers up, not what we see now.
6
@The Iconoclast
Ditto!
1
I believe the following publications:
New York Times
Washington Post
The Guardian
The Wall Street Journal (Editorially, insanely conservative)
The San Jose Mercury News
National Public Radio
For the first time ever, I subscribed to the first three in order to support our Free Press.
New York Times: I BELIEVE YOU!
I also believe MSNBC
I hear Fox Daily serving up lies, as this is a family member's source of Truth.
5
The Media's credibility is a victim of suicide. Just the fact that Christine Blasey-Ford found widespread support and had a cheering section in the media for her patently absurd and completely unsupported accusations tells you a lot. Where was the dispassionate analysis from the NYT? From CNN? from the "Alphabet" networks? They all chose sides because they don't want to see the Supreme Court with a conservative majority. Now, the Democrats are willing to stage a coup, and disregard the votes of tens of millions of Americas (for whom they mostly feel contempt, anyway) for the same reason. They want to damage or remove Trump before Ginsberg dies. They are desperate and their motives are truly Anti-American and Anti-democracy. The Media and the Democrats have EARNED the disdain directed towards them. No sympathy from me.
15
Schiff and the House Democrats are meticulously following the impeachment procedure as set down in theConstitution. Can you name even one thing they have done that is not according to legal procedure?
6
@MJM Me right now laughing so hard I nearly choke on my drink
3
Just from the headline of this article says it all, Trump is accomplishing what he intends to do for our country, confuse , divide, and destroy all that is decent , fair , legal and American .
There is no confusion, he’s unfit to be the president of the United States. He’s a disgusting role model for our youth, he’s not only an embarrassment internationally he is a security risk to the whole world !
7
It's not hard, folks: just get off of Fox News.
ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, NPR, PBS: ALL are pretty reliable. If you don't mind a little opinion, try MSNBC (at least this is separate from NBC; that's one reason Fox is so toxic, there is little distinction between news and "news", and there seem to be no commentators on Fox that are not foaming-at-the-mouth far right wingers).
Or, perish the thought, look at the NY Times, or any other reliable national news outlet.
6
ABC, CNN, NBC, CBS, NPR are pretty reliable? Seriously?
6
When even Mick Mulvaney can't believe what Mick Mulvaney says, I am almost inclined to sympathize with people confused by the political fog emanating from the White House and promulgated by Fog News. Then along comes Marie Yovanovitch like a breath of fresh air, and the fog lifts.
6
I believe everything Bernie says.
3
I got something different from the article than most commenters. Everyone believes the version of the news they get is correct. NYT readers will not believe the story if presented by Fox just as Fox viewers will not believe a story presented by the NYT.
The biggest breakdown IMO is that you no longer get news. Who, What,When, Where and How used to be the way news was presented. Now everything you hear has an opinionated analysis attached to it that spoon feeds the bias of what you already believe.
It seems that nothing today is written objectively with all the facts presented so that the reader/viewer can make their own conclusions.
11
It's best not to rely on social media for any news -- instead get your reports from long-established newspapers and television stations such as PBS Newshour.
The preferred way regarding the impeachment inquiry is to rearrange your schedule and stay glued to a television station that is airing the inquiry live. The majority of Americans cannot do this because of their jobs, but they can still get reports from reliable sources and come to their own conclusions.
As a retiree, binge watching the inquiry is easy for me to -- and I did last week and will do this week. Last week I witnessed the intelligence and bravery of our diplomatic forces -- it was hours well spent.
3
@PWJ You saw intelligence and bravery, I saw people who want to keep their positions and think that those positions are lifetime appointments. They are not.
4
According to recent polling, more people than not are following the proceedings, and have strong opinions about it.
3
@mt
Poll: 70% of Americans say Trump's Ukraine actions were 'wrong,' 51% want him removed
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/11/18/poll-seventy-percent-trump-ukraine-actions-wrong/4227312002/
3
There has been nothing but hysteria since November 2016. For three years we heard from all these unnamed government insiders that all this evidence existed. People use the term "deep state" like it's something mysterious. There is a deep state at your city hall. The vast majority of people there aren't turned out or brought in after an election. They are permanent. We have a situation where the unionized federal government has a much greater split Democrat vs. Republican than in society at large. Democrats get to head up a government of like-minded people. Republicans get the opposite. In years past, these people knew they were supposed to be apolitical at least in their behavior. Those days are gone. I doubt any Republican administration will ever be able to govern effectively.
7
To the extent that this is true, it is sad. I clearly remember Watergate. People were glued to their TV sets. Do people really care that little about their democracy? I hope not.
4
Unfortunately, this problem is not just about Trump, current partisan politics, or "internet madness"; and the latter is just a tool for it, rather than a problem itself. The "deep state", in the U.S. and elsewhere, has always been engaged in attempting to manipulate domestic public opinion and resulting legislative and other policy and action (as well as foreign, of course), with true, partially true, and entirely false information. This is distributed widely, and with the internet now even more widely, along with some accurate, and sometimes even in depth, reporting. This weeks news about a "leak" to the Times of "secret" internal messages from Iran intelligence services, and others, is a possible case in point. Along with the expanding commercial use of false, and essentially fraudulent, commercial advertising, this is the reason we cannot, and should not, believe anything at all.
4
In this era of distrust and confusion, key influencers may hold the electoral key.
With a digital grassroots campaign, candidates can amplify their messages by using influencers who younger voters already know and trust on specific issues. I’m not talking about celebrities, I'm talking about micro-influencers with a following due to their expertise on issues such as immigration, health care or income inequality.
Businesses have known about the value of micro-influencers for years. I’ve seen firsthand how businesses can use them to increase their conversion rates — the number of people who actually buy their products.
Winning over voters is no different. In elections, the conversion rate simply becomes getting voters to turn up at the polls for your candidate.
Here is where it helps a little to know how "news" happens: where it comes from, what the process is to go from whispers to the front page or the webpage. If you've had friends, family, coworkers, roommates, etc. working in media or government, you find out about this. You know there are gatekeepers (editors, fact checkers, more editors) who make reporters work, work, work until they're satisfied that the story is real. People can't just put some pet theory up on the website.
I've known people who work for multiple papers and media outlets, including the NY Times and Wall St. Journal. They've made mistakes; they do have a bias; there's plenty they miss. But I respect the process that produces the story.
As one reporter told me, "We don't even tell one-tenth of what we've heard." There is an effort made in advance to weed the garbage out before they post or print.
2
Political apathy has been recognized as the bane of democracy for over 2500 years. We know that the poor and alienated don't vote, while those with money or hope (or both) do. Your article identifies the overworked and underpaid as those who are most likely to give up on grasping political reality. Such confusion is obviously intentional. (See "he said, she said.") Democracy requires political participation and attention to the world. Authoritarianism feeds on political ignorance and fear of the public realm.
2
Slanted and biased (and sometimes untrue) news and lying politicians are not new. What IS new is the sheer volume it. That plus our ever-shrinking attention spans and willingness (or desire) to be spoon fed conclusions rather than form our own opinions is dangerous.
If you have current events fatigue, I'd suggest listening to NPR when you can, avoiding TV news entirely, and reading the national and local newspapers with a cautious mind. When reading an article continually ask yourself what new facts am I learning and how do they know this. Finally, if you read opinion columns (as I do) push yourself to read a wide range of perspectives, despite how much you disagree with some of them.
It really shouldn't take you more than 20-30 minutes a day to get generally up to speed. Everything else is fluff or repetition.
1
@Viking
Stay off stations that promote the leader as the only one they believe. That should be a red flag.
3
The analogy I see is people being told endlessly by the Trump-Kushner-GOP crime family that everything is OK while the water that they live in is slowly being brought to a boil.
Yes , the stock market is at new highs but this is because companies have used their tax cut to buy back stock and increase dividends. Joe the Plumber is not getting a benefit from the 1.4 $trillion tax cut. The Trump-Kushner crime family has saved many , many millions due to it.
Not being Woke is dangerous to your health.
5
I'm following the impeachment investigation as best I can on the radio while I work and run errands as well as listening and reading daily synopses on NPR and the New York Times, but ...
I am not one of the decision-makers here: it's up to the House in the first instance to vote on impeachment and the Senate in the required follow-up to try the President on those articles of impeachment actually brought.
If you're not a member of the grand jury that indicts or the jury that tries a case, it's not your responsibility to pass judgment.
Now, whether our 535 elected representatives will faithfully discharge their duties to impeach and, if that first occurs, then to remove our President, is very much a political question. It shouldn't be that way, but that's the reality.
I recommend that no one succumb to the fog obscuring the truth, but let our Congressmen and Senators do their job - or not. See how simple that was? Take two chill pills and continue to monitor developments.
2
I see so many comments saying that Republicans are cynical, while Democrats are arrogant. Is there a little truth to them both?
Over 90 percent of coverage of Trump has been negative in the media. Republicans see a strong economy, record low employment, deregulation of industry, trade negotiations, rights for ex felons, increased choice or prescription drugs, etc. News outlets know that they will lose viewer if they try and portray a Republican view. Republicans are not wrong when they are cynical of mainstream news. Trump gets away with racist remarks, lack of decorum, and trashing the news because he is the first Republican president that is not lying where it matters, helping the Republican voters.
Democrats have an abundance of news choices that all show the same news whether it's MSNBC, ABC, cbs, Washington Post, NYTimes. Even bill's that got bipartisan support have been glossed over because they were supported by Republicans. Democrats with this huge amount of confirmation from the news coming from multiple organizations conclude that anything else must be lies because they contradict all of their news sources.
The nation would be so much better off if Republicans acknowledged that the president is unpresidential, and if the Democrats acknowledged that there are other view points worth exploring.
6
@The middle
There are other views worth hearing but republicans are bad actors. I have rarely seen them listen and when you try to work with them they only use it as advantage to abuse.
If you want a return to such you need to convince republicans to stop abusing the rest of us. They are the ones bullying and gas lighting. And I have zero respect for gas lighters who lie to my face.
1
Of course there other points of view. However, when one party chooses a know fraudster as the head of their party, and he keeps committing fraud for personal gain, it definitely undermines that parties credibility.
2
If people don’t care or don’t know what to believe Trump will As likely as not win again. Where are the ex presidents?The former Trump administration officials ? Why don’t speak up loudly against this regime
The proper question isn't "are you listening to the news media"--one that increasingly offers opinion and "analysis" instead of news--but "what do you hear". An educated citizenry isn't supposed to trust its news media, not now nor in the past when there weren't so many choices. It's supposed to form its own opinions based upon info and developed abilities to discern right from wrong, truth from fiction, opinion from fact.
Politicians universally have given up on the democratic goal of an educated electorate, and that puts our democracy in as much trouble as "The Great Divider" Trump, who tells us "just listen to me". No recent president has set an appropriate standard for informing his electorate--Obama was particularly bad, tho nobody touches our current Liar in Chief--but I would give serious consideration to any candidate (esp a Dem, as Republicans are much more corrupt on this issue) who promises more, easier access to government info and new ways to appreciate it.
An educated citizenry is the key to much better democracy than what's experienced here in the US, or anywhere else.
1
I read a lot of different publications across the political spectrum. I have read and subscribed to NYT and WaPo for many years until recently. I am appalled at the consistent and expanding volume of primary news anonymous sources purported to be factual. Why is it a surprise that readers don't believe the news when so much reportage is cloaked in anonymity and in conflict with other anonymous reports from other publications. NYT and WaPo, to name just two, are partly responsible for allowing biased reporters to inject their opinions as news- every day.
8
What we need in this country is required media literacy so that citizens can discern fact from fiction. But it’s not that tough: Don’t rely on partisan news, make use of nonpartisan fact-check sites and ask questions. God gave us a brain for a reason. Tell lawmakers: no more conspiracy theories and misinformation. Remember, we’re in the alternate reality of the Trump administration, where 2 plus 2 equals 5 and we’re conned into thinking the president cared about Ukraine corruption.
1
THIS is why higher public education should be free. Most of the electorate lacks the ability to think critically. Most of them do not know the difference between news and editorial. If you "cannot find the facts", then you do not know how or where to find the facts and you need to be taught the skills.
3
Basically the source of the problem stems from elected officials lying and misleading the public. Trump and fellow Republicans have convinced part of the population reliable sources of news are fake while those Trump hosted this summer are legitimate, the conspiracy theorist, bottom feeders. Fox News should be broadcast with a warning informing people the content is the stations interpretation of news not based on reality.
1
Another attack on the amazingly successful peace efforts of the Obama administration. Obama did so well that I’m surprised that there is any conflict remaining.
1
I'm not worn out! That Ben Franklin quote: "A Republic, if you can keep it" should be restated as: "If you read your free press, attend public meetings, write letters to your elected officials (with your own questions and opinions), and vote, you will be holding yourselves accountable for holding your government accountable, and in so doing you'll keep your republic, your liberty, your freedom, and your democracy."
1
After reading this article I've concluded that democracy won't die with a whimper but with a shrug.
3
There’s a lot LESS to america than meets the eye .
The Wikipedia model, of accumulating a story over time, incorporating the most relevant elements and discarding the noise, is highly effective for helping people understand an issue that evolves in real time.
Check out “The Impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump.”
The NYT can better the work of amateur editors if it strategically sets out to do so, by using an evolving narrative as the main story, with highlights for recent changes and links to supporting and emerging stories.
1
Good article to which I say "Bah Humbug".
If voters don't know who to believe, they should just look at all the corrupt, incompetent people in this administration and the roll back of regs designed to protect the air, water, land and labor.
If voters don't want to dig that much, just listen to djt. He is not hiding in plain sight, he is parading.
Look to recent events:
1) abandonment of the Kurds
2) published partial transcript of call with Ukrainian Pres. Zelensky coercing him for political gain.
...and so much more for anyone who wants to get out of their bubble to see.
It doesn't take five minutes.
One way to find out is to listen to Ambassador Yovanovitch over your morning coffee. So, I'm not giving voters a break. I say, "get your head out of the sand!"
3
This administration and Trump in particular have been the train wreck you can't look away from, much as you try. Sorting out the distractions that they throw in the way of the big stuff is exhausting, but we have to keep our eyes on the big picture, even when the distractions themselves are heartbreaking.
44
I find that the average American is so badly educated in the art of living that they have become used to be screamed at by television news, punditry and the like. I haven't watched them in years, and if I do it is the BBC World service, or other non-American newsradio. It is a lot calmer and I just get the facts, which are presented calmly and not colored for entertainment sake.
No wonder Americans cannot handle sitting down and listen and observe the hearings. I don't expect most people to do that because most of you are not political scientists, or in any way involved in government. However, if you do have some time, do watch a bit of the summaries that are shown on C-Span, or any of the Public tv and radio stations. I mean just watch and observe without all the "blah-blah-blah" from pundits. As they say: "Just the fact, ma'am, just the facts."
52
@anniec3 What you say is very true and the BBC do a much more in depth report on various subjects and don't editorialize or opinionate on every story nor are they bound by commercial time constraints that have to be broadcast every 2 minutes. The flow is a lot easier. However the BBC has always had a left bent reference a recent election when it was predicted by them, fed by a left wing pollster, that the Labour Party were going to win by a landslide. Instead they lost by a landslide. My point being that you have to know your subject when listening to all the news nowadays because it is so easily slanted by political journalists with an ax to grind, i.e. a political agenda. Besides the American listener/viewer has the attention span of a gnat !
8
Thank you for reporting on the problems and exhaustion we all face in wanting to learn the truth. I'd like to see a follow up article making suggestions on how to do it in an efficient way. Teach people how to locate AP. Reuters. Bloomberg. Teach people how to go to the source and to skip the talking heads. We all have a need for education in this area. Rather than focus on the problems of which we're already aware, report on the solutions. Thank you.
2
This is the scariest article I have read since having a NYT subscription. If it's accurate :)... The manipulators have America right where they want you...hate to think of the consequences! I know the manipulators dismiss comparisons to historical precedents as hyperbole but America is a heartbeat from some of history's most devastating tragedies. It may be irreversible at this point.
1
But there really IS a liberal bias in the non-Fox major media outlets, including the NYT. Nowhere near as severe as the propaganda on Fox, but enough of a bias to erode trust among many people.
Step away from Trump for a moment. Consider the coverage of GMOs. The science is as "settled" on the safety of GMOs as is the science on human contributions to climate change. Yet even the NYT continues to foment unsubstantiated fear. People who doubt climate change are rightfully labeled anti-science, while people who spread misinformation about GMOs are portrayed as woke activists or healthily skeptical.
Both groups are anti-science. When the media chooses who to "call out", and it is one-sided, they expose their bias. And if there is a clear bias on an issue I am educated about, how can I trust media information on subjects where I am less informed?
Trump's attacks on the media are dangerous, destructive, manipulative and uninformed. This requires the media to be hyper-vigilant in their self policing. Unfortunately, the media has not risen to the challenge.
4
you reap what you sow, you are a major reason why we are where we are
7
This has definitely been the Republican playbook. Flood the swamp with lies, conjecture, deflection and disruption.
And, yes, the public does wear out.
But that’s why every professional who takes an oath to defend the Constitution has a job. While the public gets restless and bored, the professionals have to honor their oaths.
If they do not, the system will collapse.
Republicans always extend thoughts and prayers after a mass shooting. They need ours now for courage. If the Republicans continue to undermine the rule of law, they will find that no one will care when Trump turns his wrath on them.
And he will. He always does.
637
@Tell the Truth I've often thought the Republicans had the goods on Trump and could stop him at some point if they thought it necessarsy. If they give him absolute power, which it seems they are trying to do, he will turn on them, as you say.
25
@Tell the Truth
“But that’s why every professional who takes an oath to defend the Constitution has a job. While the public gets restless and bored, the professionals have to honor their oaths.“
Well said, and often overlooked.
33
@Tell the Truth Elected officials also have a responsibility to "tell the truth" and not spread misinformation. We need to have faith in our elected officials. McConnell, Graham, Nunes, Jordon and others have violated this responsibility by spreading mis information and by not confronting others who spread it.
14
You lost me right off the bat when you stated President Trump doesn't tell the truth, but provided no examples to back that. I find Pelosi and Schiff have twisted the narrative 99% of the time, but oh no...you don't care about that fact. Another fake news outlet.
15
14,000 verifiable lies from Trump. Doesn’t that make you wonder?
12
@Gretchen
This is frustrating to read. Why do you believe Trump tells the truth? I suspect what may complicate things is he actually convinces himself that whatever he's saying is true because that's the best way to sell his version of things, so after a lifetime of this he does it automatically. But he's the kid who when he gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar, instead of eventually 'fessing up, he just keeps insisting he did nothing wrong, blames and attacks anyone who tries to hold him accountable, no doubt starting with his mother, and never, ever apologizes or admits error. How can that possibly be consistent with being truthful?
From everything we know, and in NY we've known a lot about him since he was a young man, he learned very early that it works for him never to admit anything and to keep fighting back, and he has devoted his life to mastering this way of getting by. Seriously, at this point why would you need examples to recognize he doesn't tell the truth?
And I would also ask that you consider how it is you think Pelosi and Schiff have twisted the narrative. In my humble opinion, there's been no need to twist this one -- this time Trump actually did get caught with his hand in the cookie jar, in plain sight, in front of lots of witnesses, and there's no believable way to explain it away.
Thanks.
12
@bob
This isn't about Trump telling the truth. It's about journalists and Trump's detractors telling the truth.
Yet when they're caught in lies or deliberate misrepresentations, it's whataboutism galore because Trump lies "more", ergo it's okay to lie. No, it's not.
11
So instead of paying attention and demanding the truth, these lazy voters are willing to give up the constitution and their rights to a chronic liar. By time they bother to pay attention, it will be too late.
394
These voters are just lazy. Excuse me if our democracy is messy but the integrity of our government, our politicians and our votes are worth the time you spend binge watching reality shows or sporting events or standing in line at the apple store. It has the added factors of being the most important story in the history of our country (the one your grandchildren will ask you about), the story with the most impact to the future of our planet (the one historians will ask you about) and the one that will set the moral tone for future generations (the one St. Peter will ask you about). And the cure for the confusing part is the most simple of all, turn off FOX news.
169
Seriously. All it takes is to read the headline stories in the NYT or the WSJ with your morning coffee. It’s not that time consuming to stay informed about the fate of your country.
52
@Rick Gage Better yet, just listen directly to what comes out of Trump's mouth. Ignore the subsequent spin and come to your own independent conclusions.
7
“She added of the hearing: “I just don’t know what to think. You would have to know the facts, and I don’t know that I’m getting the facts from the media right now.”
This is why no one has ever lost money betting on the stupidity of the “average” American. The facts are crystal clear, Trump committed high crimes and misdemeanours.
Worse, Trump’s actions are not even hidden. Anyone paying any attention who isn’t a consumer of Fox disinformation should be able to see it. Moreover, this should not even be a partisan left-right thing because Trump is a cancer on the Republican brand who will damage it for years to come.
634
I like your thought process but let's face it most of what you get on TV cable news is not news at all. everybody's an expert who believes that. both sides have gone way too far it'll be settled at The ballot box where it should be peace
3
Americans are not stupider than you, a bunch of them simply have a lot on their plates: Multiple jobs, families, low pay... This is Trump's 90th scandal in office, it's not that easy to follow. Furthermore this scandal about him asking another president about corrupt practices of a political rival and his son does not seem like that big a deal when the best answer the bidens can give is that they wouldn't do it again. Yes trump broke the law but the bidens also had unethical dealings which is why it's hard for the public to feel strongly about it.
6
@Dnrir
And that means you let Trump continue? Because we have allowed legalized bribery into our system. If you don’t like the corruption help us at Wolf-pac or join progressives who agree with you and won’t take big donor money.
3
Glad The Times is addressing this. As a one-time daily newspaper guy (with a NY Times family paper) and still a voracious consumer of news, it’s disheartening to see public confidence in news organizations diminished when it has never been more critically needed.
Fox and its legion of alternate-universe pundits—aided by a President who labels critical media “the enemy of the people”—are clearly among the most shameless at intentionally blurring news and opinion to advance an ideology. But other mainstream media are also making it hard for the average reader to distinguish fact from hype. Whether it’s over-saturated coverage, editorial bleed-through on the news side or simple carelessness in getting the story straight, people who want fact-based journalism they can count on have to look harder than they should. The 24-hour news cycle and cable news’s breathless, insatiably repetitive coverage are the worst. They all have to feed the monkey and they do it at the expense of credibility.
It’s tough for news organizations who still strive for objectivity to compete with Facebook, malignant bots, news consolidators and the plethora of other sources freely available to anyone with a screen. I do appreciate outlets like The Times, the Post and other independent fact-gatherers which try to resist becoming part of the 21st century’s Tower of Babel.
244
@angus
The real-time editorializing is of great concern. Thorough analysis takes time and deeper consideration.
18
@angus
While it's important to identify the problem, i think as journalists, you have an obligation to help search for the solutions. Some regulations need to be looked at for the major broadcasters, and most definitely for social media. How about some controls as was done for children's television-- that in prime time, a certain percentage of time be dedicated in the form of fact-checking with reporting and analysis of the day's headlines? Regulations should also determine the placement of the "breaking news" shows. That young, female who is struggling to make ends meet, should be given the opportunity to tune in to something unbiased at 9:00 pm, after putting her kids to bed.
Not certain what can be done to social media, but may be for the major platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, there could be an unbiased agency,(Snopes?) that monitors the posting and immediately respond with a "true;" false" Or regulations for their "society" pages, to be separated from their news pages. That way, if I'm on Facebook browsing pictures posted by my niece, I don't have to look at biased political headlines sent to be by some unreliable source.
As for skepticism, it's in every facet of our lives: No one trusts the FDA, the EPA, the Criminal Justice system, and when Trump slanders the deep state , it is so easy for his base to believe him because both the CIA and FBI have done wrong in the past and have been unapologetic about their errors.
4
@angus To counterbalance this, tell friends neighbors colleagues community and help get out the vote! We can turn this around!
4
It’s extremely disheartening to think so many people believe Donald Trump’s theory of “fake news” and steer away from even watching public testimony which may deem extreme abuse of power and, yes, bribery with a foreign country.
Has this country forgotten what it is to be called to fight for the country, to serve the military, give lives? Ultimately, the person requesting service to lay down lives may be the exact person siding with Vladimir Putin and also corrupting our elections.
History tells us those who turned their back on political goings on in their countries allowed takeover by hatred, racism, corruption.
It’s quite the day when American citizens find cartoons to be more important than searching for the truth or integrity of the US government.
696
@MIMA
I agree with you 100%. However, much of the blame for this phenomenon lies with the debased cynicism of the Republican party, which has been lying since Reagan.
With the utmost cunning, Rupert Murdoch has ensured that every time FOX "news" is on air, truth will be concealed. People live in different realities because people like Murdoch, the Kochs, the Mercers, etc. prefer an oligarchy and know they must lie to the people who don't pay attention. That's how we got where we are, a concerted strategy for more than a generation.
59
@MIMA Yup, cant have a democracy if the demos won/cant participate or even sincerely try to inform themselves about gov't and politics. Is that the plutocratic (esp. GOP) plan, ot is it the unguided result of our era of digital/cable entertainment, antisocial egocentrism and mindless consumerism? Perhaps both.
9
@Adrienne Read Nancy McClain. “Democracy in Chains — it actually has been a plan for two or more decades.
8
This is exactly why I can no longer talk to my family, all of whom are Trump supporters. We can't agree on what is real vs. fake, what is fact vs. fiction, and whether up is down. The political divide in this country isn't so much about partisanship or tribal identity. It's about the denial of reality by a significant part of the population.
1167
@WatergateRedux Odd man out, eh? Your last sentence captures precisely what I've been trying to put my finger on for years. One can only hope/pray that truth will ultimately prevail.
24
@WatergateRedux True, there is too much noise. But if you want to know truth, just listen to the testimonies of the witnesses. Democrats and Republicans both use their time for their own platform but the witnesses are unimpeachable so far.
24
@WatergateRedux
Denial of reality can cut both ways.
If you ever stuck your head out of the echo-bubble you live in, you will come with a better appreciation of reality.
Reading NY Times (outside of international reporting) is part of the problem. Seeing that your comment was the most recommended post reinforces your & other readers' biases, further ensconces us all into the echo-bubble, and we are all worse off for it.
33
Russia's initial stealth campaign of infiltrating our elections through its criminality has been so successful due to our vulnerability of taking the truth for granted and our laziness to do anything about it until it was too late. The complicity of certain media outlets such as Fox 'News' and its hypocritical Republican accomplices has destroyed the truth as well as the law.
If we remain too busy to ferret out the truth, we'll all pay the price
for losing our democracy. Sooner rather than later.
Wake up, America or say good night, America.
38
It’s easy to listen to the truth in these hearings. Just mute your tv every time a Republican starts questioning. You have five minutes to get a cup of coffee.
47
@Wayne
I know you jest — but please be careful.
The inverse — applied to all forms of evidence — is exactly what may FOX viewers (as well as republican congresspeople and senators) think is an acceptable way of evaluating the facts.
A dangerous precedent.
5
@Wayne
I know you jest — but please be careful.
The inverse — applied to all forms of evidence — is exactly what may FOX viewers (as well as republican congresspeople and senators) think is an acceptable way of evaluating the facts.
A dangerous precedent.
1
@Wayne
I truly enjoyed your comment and I have to agree. Not because I'm unwilling to listen, it's just that they have followed this pattern of bringing up anything unrelated to the issue at hand for so long now, that I already know they will respond. I wouldn't be surprised if they are still bringing up Benghazi 100 years from now.
5
We will not be able to keep this republic. Only, by chance, or by the skin of the teeth of some really great people, who will probably be unsung government employees steadfast in their belief in the republic. But, perhaps, we deserve the breaking down of the republic. If we are not fit enough to read, analyze, pay attention, and know good from bad, why should we deserve representative democracy that is the best promise of equality, fairness and justice? I just feel bad for those of us who can't leave the country and find a better life for our children.
4
This is perhaps the most important test of constitutional and democratic values of the country. If you are not totally engaged in this matter then I don’t believe you realize what is at stake. There is so much riding on the outcome which will cast a long shadow on the future for us and the world.
3
As Michael Grynbaum's article explained on Sunday, this is not the first time in our country's history has the news coverage of political events been so polarized. (as in 1868)
I might add President Jefferson pushed a newspaper publication called the National Gazette and Hamilton published the Federalist under the pseudo name Publius.
These publications were all pushing their political beliefs and highly influential.
Don't forget that was the only source for news at the time.
Lastly, people are busy. I wonder how many people had the time to sit down to watch and listen to the live coverage of the Watergate hearings in 1974??
I'm sure most people obtained the summaries at the end of the day.
1
Many news consumers, especially conservatives, confuse political values with journalists' professional values.
Mr. Memory, for example, says he detects media bias in the coverage of Trump being booed at the World Series and cheered at an Alabama football game.
From a journalist's point of view, one was unusual (the booing) and therefore news. The other was entirely predictable (the cheering in a Red State) and therefore NOT NEWS.
There is no hidden hand calling these shots. Just professional judgments about what's news.
4
If "media bias" bothers you, try watching the testimony, mute the commentary and make up your own mind. The impeachment witnesses have comported themselves with integrity and dignity so far, and I for one found it compelling to watch.
3
That's funny. I thought it was pretty straight forward. Trump is breaking the law by using tax payers' money for political gains by forcing the Ukrainians to gin up lies about the Bidens in exchange for their survival against the Russian invasion. That's an impeachable act qualifed as bribery. What's so hard to understand? Unless you purposely don't want to.
4
I used to watch CNN at 6 & 7 PM but I grew weary of its tedious repetitions, My wife and I now watch MSMBC as the closest thing to the quality of reporting by Walter Kronkite & Huntley/Brinkley of days of yore. I checked in to Fox News now and again and am alarmed by their manic conspiracy theories and outrageous corruption of the truth. It's not simply that my political views are different from theirs - their shameful defamatory attacks should be obvious to a person of ordinary intelligence with a reasonable moral compass. But sadly, they have their base as does Trump.Ijust pray that Vod given common sense will ultimately prevail.
2
How many times do those representing legitimate news sources tell us the “Congress is doing nothing on gun laws, voting rights, healthcare, etc.”? In reality, the Democrats in the House have proposed over 30 bills in the last year but each have been blocked by McConnell and the GOP. The Justice system has now been packed with extreme right wingers embracing the ideals of the Federalist society before our Constitution! I have lost faith in NPR, as well as the WaPo and NYT, all of which I subscribe, due to the consistent inability to call out such actions that are, at best, an aberration of our democratic norms. Sometimes there just isn’t two sides to a story. While the Democrats are not perfect, the daily self dealing and abuse of the rule of law, the lies, half lies, and packing of right wing GOP cronies to guard our public interests are destroying our nation. I do not want lies and half truths from my media sources. I do them to call a spade a spade. Their longtime reluctance to do that is the real problem.
1
False Republican narrative.
Every day more and more Americans- the voting kind- see the Trumps lies for what they are.
Proof daily in the polls, at the polls and in the growing Republican desperation.
3
Fortunately, a lot of facts are available by digging up actual video evidence, or textual evidence from sources that are still trustworthy.
You can see Trump talk about something one day and a yer later see him claim never to have said it. You can see Mick Mulvaney admit to a quid pro quo in the Ukraine affair and tell us to get over it.
You can look up the Congressional record and see that Adam Schiff's use of committee rules during the impeachment inquiry hearings is perfectly in accord with the rules as changed by the Republicans when they were in power, despite the eye rolling and slack-jawed stares of outrage from Republican committee embers getting shot down with those rules.
You can see the "transcript" that Trump keeps telling people to read actually does not say what he claims: he actually did press for investigations into his political rivals (Joe Biden and the DNP), and did at least imply conditionality for military aid already approved by Congress. Implied as in, "That's a nice little country you have there, be a shame for Russia to roll right over it just because you didn't do a couple teensie weensie investigations."
It's not so much that the facts are not out there and verifiable. It's that Americans, and maybe humans in general?, don't want to make the effort to track it down. Even with an Internet that makes it much easier than, say, 50 years ago.
2
People are exhausted by the Trump circus but I believe they will have just enough energy left to vote this huckster out of office. We can only hope that all of his Republican enablers will also be swept out of office in the same 2020 election. Americans have their faults and some like the die-hard Trump supporters are in a fog but the majority of our citizens still know what's right and wrong. They clearly see that the Trump administration is unhealthy, exhausting and un-American. The vote to impeach Donald J. Trump in the Senate will likely not pass but Americans know that: enough is enough and our country can't take four more years of Trump.
2
One legitimate reason why Trump being booed at the Washington Nationals baseball game got a lot of attention, but his being cheered in Alabama a few days later did not, is because typically one *expects* a president to be cheered and so having that happens is not really news; whereas a president being booed in public is (still) unusual, and therefore *is* news.
2
I trust the New York Times and the Washington Post. Both have columnists from both sides of the political spectrum. Both are dedicated to presenting the news with honesty and accuracy.
3
The “reality is whatever you want it to be” phenomenon is a byproduct of the 20th century revolution in science, which gave rise to quantum mechanics, relativity, etc. The problem is that many misread the lessons of this science.
In a quantum world things exist in a state of potential until they are observed/measured. But that doesn’t mean they have no objective reality. Once an observation/measurement takes place, at least an aspect of their objective reality is established. A prime example is the wave/particle duality. Quantum physics says an electron exists in a state in which it is both a particle and a wave. However, once it is measured by sending it through either one or two slits in an experiment, that aspect is definitively established. If one chooses to proclaim their own reality in which the experiment shows that such electrons are governed by magic or by the deep state or by the grace of sacred pink flamingos, they will rightly be considered a delusional idiot by all other rational human beings.
Thanks to modern science our understanding today of reality is more complex and nuanced than it was 150 years ago. But we can still make a distinction between reality and fantasy. And when Republicans claim that contrary to all evidence Ukrainians - not Russians - interfered with the 2016 elections, we can quite easily state they’re indulging in a fantasy.
2
Trump began Day 1 trying to destroy the press. By calling it fake news, he could cast doubt on the truthful reporting of his crimes.
It has been fascinating to watch in real time how a dictator arises - destroying the very mechanisms that keep such people in check.
This country really does seem to be at an end - despite the many brave heroes like those who testified at the impeachment hearings last week.
68
@Nancy
Dear Nancy,
Reading your words this morning leaves me almost hopeless because for me they, your words ring so true. Kent, Taylor Yovanovich, Schiff - all of them glowing with integrity and correctness of heart and mind, why do others not see this?
But being a hopeless optimist, I will toil on to be a part of the solution.
Have a very good day, despite this all this!
8
"Conservatives are less trusting because they are suspicious of the liberal establishment and the media that they see coming from it, said Stephen Hawkins, director of research at More in Common, a nonprofit group studying polarization."
What liberal media? Why would corporate owned, corporate run and corporate sponsored (through advertising) media be liberal? Do conservatives every stop and think?
336
@Somewhere
Ok, I'll take some flack for this — and I'm not asserting equivalence — but there is liberal media and conservative media.
Liberal-biased media, like the conservative sort, exists and thrives because it gives some segment of readers/viewers what they want. It attracts large audiences, which is what advertisers care about.
Denying that is not helpful. We information consumers need to hold all media accountable so that we might have objective sources of information.
I think Trump and his associates — I won't say 'administration' because it's a looser conglomeration that is the problem — are a dangerous disaster. They have been from day one. He should be impeached and convicted in the senate (and elsewhere afterwards).
However...
I don't watch any broadcast news — and don't go to MSNBC or CNN online for news. In fact, the occasional clips I catch from those sources often make me cringe because of their obvious bias. Yes, FOX and conservative radio are far worse, but denying liberal bias on the part of major media outlets only plays into the narrative of those conservative sources.
11
@Somewhere in Arizona - the first sentence of your second paragraph speaks directly to the book of the same name and same topic as your comment. “What Liberal Media?” by journalist and professor Eric Alterman is well worth the read!
3
Because liberals click on liberal media and generate ad revenue just as conservatives click on conservative media and generate revenue.
Stop and think about it.
10
In other words, the Authoritarian Party's constent questioning of undisputed facts is working. Members of the GOP are literally stating that they won't consider facts they don't like, and their supporters are doing the same.
I think it's safe to say that this is how they will react if they lose the presidential election. The GOP is well past the point of being one of two parties that believes in representative democracy.
144
Back it up or shut up is what I say. Americans know what objective proof is. They are seeing facts proven before their eyes at impeachment hearings. Truth matters! Show your courage to stand up to it! Demand it from all representatives and executives!
3
This is precisely the desired nefarious result of Gaslighting Over People and Grand Old Propaganda: to sow chaos and confusion so people can't tell the difference between facts and right-wing fantasy, fiction and fraud.
This is precisely the disinformation technique that has been mastered so well by the old Soviet system and Putin.
The disinformation creates massive confusion and mental exhaustion so ordinary citizens that would normally be outraged by Trump's Rudy Giuliani 'deep state' and criminal extortion of Ukraine for 2020 campaign assistance are now just confused and exhausted.
This is why decent Americans cannot support Russian-Republican disinformation.
Up is not down.
Down is not up.
But the Republican Party and the FOX News channel wants America to think so.
Impeach the entire Republican disinformation-propaganda-industrial complex.
77
@Socrates
And corporate establishment media keeps saying "both sides" to confuse us even further.
They want those of us that oppose Right-wing attacks on the Constitution, to be called extremists.
Defending the Constitution is not extreme. Read your Constitution and compare it to what Trump says and does.
3
It is deeply saddening and disturbing that many in the country are tuning out on developments crucial to our democracy. As pointed out by the article, all due to the firestorm of media information, much of it false or manipulation. We desperately need a strong enforceable law that will punish and obstruct the flow of undocumented and unvetted 'news'. With Opinion articles there seems to be a need to be strongly labeled as being speculation and not fact.
2
Me too - I am tired of what the news has become. Watching different channels and reading from a variety of news sources (being a basic news junkie) I can spot the one-sidedness from a mile away. Sometimes I almost find it funny watching a program trying to impress it’s well-known point of view. Any trust has eroded and what’s left, unfortunately, is pure entertainment.
11
Trump got booed and he got cheered, one of your interviewees said and he was upset that the booing was a top story but the cheering wasn’t.
The cheering of Trump was at a Trump rally. Trump has many rallies and his supporters line up for hours to get in. They love cheering for a trump.
The booing was at World Series baseball game which wasn’t a partisan political crowd. It was a mix of people who didn’t politically self-select to be there. Thus when they booed Trump, it was more significant. It was said in the coverage that the baseball game was the first time Trump and appeared outside of his own political bubble in a long time.
The interviewee was mistaken to equate the two Trump appearances as being of equal significance. He said it showed media bias. But it’s a standard news judgement to know that People At Trump Rally Cheer Trump is not a news story while People At World Series Game Boos Trump is a news story, no matter what your politics.
6
@MJM it was an SEC football game, not a rally. Try not to act like the media and get your facts straight
3
He was booed at BOTH the football game and Game 5 of the World Series. Look it up.
@RJPost I made the same mistake in a previous comment, assuming the cheering was at a rally.
Still, a crowd cheering a president is expected and usual (especially in a region where people tend to be of his political party) and therefore not news. However, large crowds of Americans booing the president at a sports event is news.
What IS newsworthy about the crowd's response to Trump at the Alabama-LSU game, though, is the fact that Alabama students had been threatened with losing their access to student tickets if they protested. That threat was taken back before the game but people tend to still consider threats once they've been made, even if they've been taken back.
I have gone from watching several news shows daily to severely limiting my news input and reading most of it on my tablet. This is not because I don't care any more; on the contrary, I care so much that I am upset and afraid all the time if I allow myself to think about what is going on too much. I have a family to take care of, and if I don't keep myself sane, I won't be of much use to them.
I no longer watch any TV news. I am tired of the pretty talking heads talking about awful things, the catch phrases, the superficial analyses. I have quit all social media - if I want to hear someone's opinion, I will talk to them. Facebook and Twitter don't give you news, they give you reactions, and usually that's just too much for me to deal with. I read the Times daily, and get the Apple news feed, which gives me a taste of Fox News, etc., and I also read the Guardian. PBS on the radio is very good, and lets you absorb the news thoughtfully. I pay much closer attention to where my news is coming from now.
7
Americans not implicitly trusting today's American media, is a very positive development. One of the best things to happen in American lives since the Interstates.
5
I couldn't imagine a better outcome for the Republicans than for large portions of the US population to tune out the inquiry. They have fine tuned their disinformation campaign and this is the greatest test of of that approach. Fox News has been hiding behind the Freedom of Speach and wielding that speach into a weapon that is subverting all that we hope to stand for as a nation. Fox is not news, they are a blatent propaganda arm of the Republican party which is no longer conservative but a radical group of self interested players. If they successfully convince the general populus that Trump did no wrong or doesn't deserve to be impeached, then we will only see the further destruction of this world at a pace that seemed unimaginable just 3 years ago. As a parent, I'm terrified. I realize I may seem overreaching, but I fear a world war, with Russia at the helm and us on the wrong side of history.
3
@sarah
The "inquiry", in and of itself and not in the pudits' analyses that follow, is a kind of news that I like giving my attention to. I like it when I have a chance to see and hear events unfold and to think about and interpret them before allowing the interpretations of others.
I make sure that I'm not trying to sell myself anything.
I am unaware that any of the so-called news sources will offer me that same respect.
They’ve won.
We have become the world of 1984. We can now hold two opposing thoughts in our minds at the same time, and believe both are true. Or we don’t know what to believe and thus we believe nothing.
Either way the same result.
6
@Van Owen
Seems simple to me. When you repeatedly see a man on the screen, stage, or podium before you who consistently speaks and acts like an emotionally-immature sociopath despite him having been inaugurated as President of the United States and thus, leader of the free world, feel safe is assuming he’s a sociopath.
Now is the time to step up tired or not. Especially with these impeachment proceedings, here is your chance to be a citizen of the United States. Watch all the news and leave out the folks giving the commentary, all of them. How do you do this? Watch the live proceedings of the impeachment hearing in their entirety, do your other work during the commentary. Watch or record to watch later instead of shopping or sports. Either to record and or watch live the impeachment proceedings is of great importance. To record even makes it easier to leave out the side show commentary by those who want you on their side, remember you have fast forward still. Make up your mind with pure live stream of the important event. Make a place for impeachment and major constitutional implications in your life and put it high on the list.
The impeachment hearings are important either for the impeachment of a president, our US Constitution and for the next election or all of them. We are a nation of laws, even though this is a political trial, the House of Representatives follow a legal format. This proceeding in our House of Representatives has been handled very professionally for the most part by both sides. What is important, the next mini series or the impeachment and/or changes to the Constitution of the United States and your next vote. Be a citizen of the United States, I'm worn out too but this is the time to do our duty and get the facts ourselves.
4
This is exactly what Trump and Fox are counting on— that voters will become weary and numb from the incessant bludgeoning with disinformation and stop paying attention. The answer to the question of “what can we do ?” Is precisely this: to remain attentive and vigilant, to seek out reputable sources of information and look for converging reports of factual information, to educate ourselves and others whenever possible on them, and to work to strengthen our democracy. Voter education, registration, getting out the vote and dogged persistence in the face of this assault on our democracy are the keys to getting out of this crisis.
3
This is real simple folks, people don’t read anymore. And they don’t subscribe to newspapers because it costs money. Propaganda, wherever it may be found, is free.
Also, people don’t pay a $1000 for a phone to tell them what they don’t want to hear. But truth is truth, math is math, and eventually all is revealed for what it is.
1
I had a video news clipping service for over 15 years which meant watching local and network news 7 days a week and there has always been a bit of bias, usually in the delivery by the reporter/anchor, but today they don't even pretend to be neutral. Fox leans right and everybody else goes left. Now I watch local news, sports and weather and the moment they go political I hit the mute button.
7
"He was annoyed, for example, that stories of Mr. Trump being booed at the Washington Nationals baseball game were given top billing, but when Mr. Trump was cheered in Alabama a few days later, he could find almost nothing about it."
That's not biased reporting, that's reporting.
It's NOT news when an audience cheers for the person they came to see.
It IS news when the President of the United States is booed by large crowds at multiple sports events.
5
So these people choose not to watch the actual impeachment hearings or to expose themselves to facts, (so they can make up their own minds), but they still don't know what to believe? Here's a clue: binge watching cartoons isn't going to get you any closer to the truth about current events. But I suspect for most of the people interviewed here, being well informed or knowing the truth isn't really a life goal.
2
The article's discussion of FOX and MSNBC really helps put this picture into focus. Each of those entities now requires the other. Each benefits from, while it contributes to, the polarization we witness all around us. Every time I tune in, Rachel Maddow is claiming to have the proverbial "smoking gun" on the Trump administration. Her partner in crime down the street, Sean Hannity, is just as energetically screaming "what gun?" It's a mistake to think of these outlets as opponents. They are very much partners. Between them, they define this reality. We, the viewers, are the prize, and we also pay the price.
4
Seriously?
People find it hard to figure out what's true?
Is this 1930's Europe?
4
According to some news agencies almost seventy percent of the public wants the President removed from office. Funny because I live in leftist California and everyone I talk to supports Trump. So I 'm thinking they are worn out by the democrats.
3
@Ricardoh
Trump hasn’t fooled most Californians.
I've always considered myself to be a well informed, well educated political junkie. But last night I turned off MSNBC and downloaded "A Dog's Purpose"--a movie which earned a 35% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It was formulaic, predictable, sappy and I loved every minute of it. Watch out Rachel Maddow; I might forego you tonight.
4
@Ellen
Congratulations. Take a break now and then but remember Trump isn’t a bad dream — he’s very real — and really really bad news!
The media has gotten their diminished reputation the hard way, they earned it.
The media reported on "Russian Collusion" for years and covered themselves in self professed glory the entire time only to find out the narrative was (insert smart sounding euphemism for a false media narrative).
There isn't a single citizen who doesn't understand that a large segment of the media is actively participating with great zeal to take Trump down, not passively reporting the facts for posterity.
The media can be both biased and report the facts on Ukraine correctly, but after their certainty on RussiaGate who wants to do the work to find out? The media is too emotionally entangled to trust on this subject and they need to look into the mirror more often.
8
The Mueller Report did indeed find that Russia interfered on behalf of Trump in the 2016 election. It also said that it didn’t have enough solid evidence to prove it in court, primarily because the Trump government blocked access to the documents and other evidence needed to prove it in court.
Trump, through Barr, mounted a disinformation campaign to convince people that Mueller did not find collision when in fact, he did.
I suggest you investigate for yourself. It’s not difficult to find the Mueller Report online. Go to primary sources and think for yourself.
Freedom is not free. Democracy takes work. Adults are responsible for the consequences of their actions. Citizens in this country have a moral and civic responsibility to put a little elbow grease into their country at this point in history. There is no excuse for "not being able to tell what is truth and what is falsehood"; that's just intellectual laziness and spineless cowardice. Look at the documents and the statements from the witnesses. Compare those documents and statements -- are they consistent? Compare those documents and statements to Trump's tweets -- who is testifying at great risk to their career? This is no different then sitting on a jury, which citizens are asked to do all the time. Exercise your brains, people, and take responsibility for your country.
To be sure, the news has gotten caught up in the salesmanship that has ruled advertising for decades.
But, let’s not make excuses. Most of the problem is a selfishness that causes Americans to believe what they want to.
Trump supporters are like a nine year-old always willing to believe in Santa Claus.
1
As I’ve said before, social media has become a monster whose benefits are outweighed by its dangers. It could be policed by the people who run it, but for a variety of reasons, it’s not happening. I’m looking right at you, Zuckerberg. Facebook is doing horrible damage to people too ignorant to know better or care. It needs to be shut down, maybe reopened under new management. Actually, if it were possible, I’d say the entire Internet should be revamped and used as originally intended: by and for the government, scientists, and educational institutions. As a commercially exploited entity, it has become a cesspool that does more harm than good. But having opened that box, like Pandora’s, we will never get it closed again. Woe is us.
1
Among my better paid, college-educated coworkers, most are,following the news and have strong opinions about Trump, House Democrats, the Bidens, and Ukraine. About half lean conservative and half lean liberal. But my non-college educated coworkers mostly avoid the news. It's divisive, distasteful, and they don't have time for news, as many work two jobs.
4
All you need to know about the state of our country is the opening line of this article:
"(He) got an alert on his phone Wednesday morning telling him the impeachment hearings had started. He turned on Disney Plus instead."
This encapsulates the dream of Trump and his GOP minions of mass manipulation: they have succeeded in "dumbing down" America's populace.
3
How many more Cletus Safaris does the New York Times have to go on before they realize that Trump voters love Trump and there’s no changing their minds? Maybe spend a little more time interviewing marginalized persons who are being hurt by Trump’s policies.
We can all understand the exhaustion from a media (taken as a whole) that values constant headlines, breaking news and spectacle chasing to a more measured "Just the facts approach". However, some of these folks, are choosing to hide themselves in a perpetual escapism that would refuse to acknowledge the facts if they were right in front of their face.
Every media outlet including the NYT has a particular bias, just as every human is biased. But that doesn't mean that one can't ascertain factual reporting on the events that occur in our world. Or you could escape into Disney Plus, where Homer, Barney, Moe and Mayor Quimbey would be Trump supporters.
The news media is only part of the story for mass cynicism in this country. The war on drugs, mass incarceration, the Iraq War, 2008 recession and growing economic inequality serve to undermine legitimacy of long-standing US institutions, the press included.
1
It's very sad that so many voters don't care about their family and their country. It's a little bit deflating to read that people don't think it's worth the effort to protect themselves. This wide spread laziness/apathy is shameful.
These days will go down in history as a period unprecedented corruption mad possible by millions of spineless voters who were too indifferent to help themselves.
1
I cannot wait for the day that Trump leaves office. I do believe his offenses deserve impeachment many times over.
But at the same time the impeachment process is tiresome + may backfire.
I cannot have Trump take so much of my time + skip reading about it. Absolutely tired of it. My focus is on the environment - not one crazy man.
If we ignore the news, then the extreme right wing has won ! Their goal is to lie and confuse people to reach this point. The impeachment hearings exist to objectify facts and reach the truth. If we ignore them, then all is lost. I'm pretty pessimistic about the outcome of all of this. To think that an incompetent and likely criminal can continue to be President means that democracy has surrendered. So sad...
1
Trump and Bannon have been clear about this objective from the beginning. Once people get exhausted from competing views you can tell them anything.
That way you don't have to apologize or win arguments. Just keep the lies coming, and you'll win. With Fox News as a guaranteed channel, there's nothing to stop it. It would be nice if the rest of press would stop cooperating.
1
My experience is with individuals from all levels of age and economy. They are intelligent, they are concerned for the Common Good, and the General Welfare. They are not racist, fascists, sexists, ageists. They have little to no trouble discriminating between lies and truth. They do not hate, or fear the forces of fascism or the individuals who promote it.
They do on occasionally express a kind of righteous indignation which looks like anger. Most of them are pretty well informed. Some of them get involved in the nuts and bolts of the election, and all of them actually vote.
I do not think my experience is unusual. I rather think it is rather common. And I think that regardless of what occurs in the impeachment of the criminal who occupies our presidency the forces of retrogression, the exclusive wealthy, and very wealthy who have purchased a large, often controlling, part of our Government are rapidly becoming, like the dinosaurs before them, extinct....say 50 Years.
Even now, as they try to make halfway deals that will extend their existence, run for office, and say they are willing to pay even 20 million in taxes, many of them sense the rising tide of consciousness that will obliterate their delusional, decadent, sense of superiority and generate the re-emergence of the "self evident Truths" of our nation.
2
Desensitization from three years' worth of terrible news + limited opportunities for civil engagement at a federal level = checked out citizens.
1
Less than 1/2 of Americans trust them media? I’m surprised that many still do!
4
Reading the news — which I was just attempting to do today — and staying alert to the purposeful lies, calumnies, character assassinations, and denials that are the bread and butter of the right-wing press — are making me literally sick to my stomach and affecting my physical health. I know I'm not alone.
I feel gaslighted by thoughts of my "fellow Americans" who tune out, appear not to care, and act as if "truth" is simply a point of view promoted by "elites." Who could have imagined that the more news we had, the fewer facts we would agree on? That congressional hearings and career diplomats would be mocked by Twitter, Fox, and lockstep politicians? Well, Roger Ailes, Roy Cohn, and Aeschylus (as commenter Charles Michener reminds us). There are so many channels. So many ways to tune out troublesome details. The Roman empire took hundreds of years to fall apart; the American empire, going, going......
1
It's really very easy. Turn off the TV and Radio and read newspapers, preferably a few per day. There are still papers which separate their editorials from the news.
1
I am not on social media, so I cannot speak of its impact.
Nor do I have cable, which means I have not watched CNN, MSNBC or Fox News for years and have no idea what kind of impact they are having on viewers.
Thus, it would appear that I am not missing very much.
But, I have read what those on the right now think of "legitimate news sources" and if you cannot tell the difference between sources like the NYT, WAPO or NPR, when comparing them to the likes of Infowars, Breithart, or The Gateway Pundit, then something is deeply wrong with our educational system!
It makes one ask, whatever happened to critical thinking?
Whatever happened between telling the difference between right and wrong and how far down the rabbit hole must we all fall before it becomes too late to take on any kind of action?
The media has always played a role in shaping public opinion, but, if people have convinced themselves that there was no such thing as "yellow journalism" before the arrival of social media and the net, then they fooling themselves.
The net just gave us all more choices where you can delude yourself, but, there must be dividing lines and if Donald J. Trump is your idea of how you want a president to be, then I can only blame our educational system for producing this kind of end result.
Trump, once again, has solicited a foreign power to interfere in our election process.
There should be no debate about how wrong this is and he needs to go!
Period!
1
Wow! The statistcs are devastating. So apart from 64 percent of gullible Democrats, people have woken up and tune out the media. I am not surprised.
The NYT, WaPo, CNN, MsBNC etc are no longer in the news business, they are a 24/7 infomercial to remove Trump from office, working for the establishment Democrats and the Deep State, and have been so since he declared his candidacy.
The NYT only reports news that could hurt Trump and once at it they phrase every sentence in a way that inflicts the most harm, regardless weather they are in the news section or the opinion section. All the facts that do not fit their narrative are either not reported or falsely labeled as debunked or consipracy theories.
I tuned out last June. It was too much negativity all the time, too much partisan carnage. I am not following the impeachment at all, and I am a former journalist and news junkie. I only care to read the new about measures that HELP American people, not including the Dreamers, such as the recent executive order to ensure transparency in the hospitals pricing, lower drug pricing, and such.
I see that the Democrats and their judges are trzing to castrate the Presidential power at every turn, and prevent this adminsitration to implementing the agenda for which Trump was elected.
The most eloquent description of what is going on was made by Bill Barr speech at the Federalist, available on YouTube. The man is brilliant, and I am an independent, former Bernie voter, not a R.
6
Fine, even an advantage, if you're a political theorist or a stand-up comic.
Fatal to the union in the electorate.
Americans are bewildered, tired, confused--no wonder!
Being in a relationship with liars is exhausting and unnerving.
We yearn for trust in our human relationships, and when lovers and friends lie to us, we are disappointed, feel duped, betrayed, and get mad. But when they lie repeatedly and nothing is done, we become numb to lies, or we walk away.
So why don't we do that with our politicians? We have a president whose default mode appears to be lying rather than telling the truth. As a con artist, he gets a kick out of duping others (Trump U., bankruptcies, stiffing contractors).
The Republicans have a media network that reinforces rather than challenges Trump and GOP lies and campaigns of disinformation by wealthy business people: Climate change is a hoax. As the old expression goes: "One lies and the other swears to it." Lie, repeat the lie; lie and repeat (Goebbels).
And please don't play the false equivalence game that Rachael Maddow is as big a liar as Sean Hannity.
But Mark Twain's observation is germane in the Age of Trump:
“A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”
So Trump has lied, and the Republicans and Fox have sworn to Trump's lies. With impeachment, that hasn't worked well, so now they argue wrong isn't wrong when Trump does it, and anyway, he is president so is above the law. Really???
Be patient, the truth is putting on its shoes, and if Americans don't care, history will.
They are confused because of Facebook and state-run television (AKA Fox News).
1
The Yahoos are winning!
They are unable to distinguish between truth and fiction, and ant to destroy anything that might alleviate their ignorance and that of their children.
A nation gets the government it deserves.
There are still legitimate domestic and overseas news sources that strive to mostly get it right and some of these are conservatively oriented. Our task is to seek them out, keep up and crucially, ignore all politically oriented clickbait on social media. But most importantly, remember that the objective of these disinformation channels, domestic and foreign, is to induce a reaction exactly as characterized in the headline of this article. It's called gaslighting or formerly "the big lie" and meant to induce the public to believe that no one is telling the truth. Once the Nazis and the Soviets had achieved this state, it became much easier to control and manipulate their largely apathetic populations.
You can't believe anything coming out of dc. As they don't even know the truth as they have lied so much.
3
Funny, just came across a business that just launched in my hometown that speaks to this very issue. One of their tees is "nopoliticstoday" and others also deal w/ the fatigue in our society, esp from politics. butterflyeffectsasbury.com
1
Although I’m anti-Trump, I know a number of Trump partisans who have roughly the same amount of education as me, and they can explain their views on the basis of actual facts and credible political views (repugnant to me, but nevertheless informed). The people who blindly follow Trump or say that they can’t understand what’s going on are simply not educated people; They often seem to purposely avoid thinking about politics since it requires a slight effort. There are people on the left who are like this of course, but not nearly such a large percentage of the total as the people who like Trump rallies. The problem with the country today is that too many people are simply blind, deaf and dumb when it comes to politics. Especially dumb in the plain stupid sense.
1
I do the easy thing when it comes to making sure what I read is true: I read the NYT, the Washington Post and the LA Times. I'm mystified that people would rely on a "feed" that someone else sends them, source be damned. For anyone who doesn't know this, major print outlets pay qualified, experienced staff to vet info before it's printed and distributed (hard copy or digital). So many ills connected with the digital era could be avoided if people just did sensible things like turn off their phones. The major dailies aren't perfect and don't claim to be, but they get as close as they can to getting it right. Pay for and read them!
This story should not be about the American people; it should be about the media. Trump has objectives including accumulation and self-aggrandizement. The media also has objectives which include providing information, but which include expanding the audience, attracting advertisers and most important making money. The media creates confrontations where none exist. The media is proud of its "balanced" reporting which gives credence to obviously false information; the impact of this pride is that the media rarely and fully labels inaccurate statements as lies and rarely explores the implications of those inaccurate statements. As an example, it has been reported that Lindsey Graham is will not read the transcripts of the hearings. He has been labelled as a Trump supporter. It has not been reported that this violates his duty to perform oversight of the Executive Branch and it has not been reported that by failing to participate he might allow behavior leading to the destruction of the American Democracy. The article is a very good. There should be a follow-up.
4
Fake news, internet propaganda and Trump trying to wear down everyone with his relentless lying, all of it is just DESPICABLE. Find a news source you trust (not one that tells you what you want to hear), and be engaged with what’s going on. Trust your instincts and use your brain to decide what is the truth. It’s the only way we can wade through the sickening fact of fake news, disinformation and propaganda we citizens are faced with every day.
3
MSNBC and FoxNews muddied the water by presenting commentary as news.
6
I recall Walter Cronkite solemnly signing off each evening with "And that's the way it is." Even then, as a 20-something in the early 1970s, I knew better than to take that sort of statement at face value - no matter the source.
There's no getting around the fact that being an informed citizen means spending the time and energy to learn all sides of the issues. I don't find it to be a particularly pleasant task anymore.
8
I will watch the Senate trial, assuming there is a trial. At the moment, I refuse to partake in viewing this group of posturing politicians each trying to capture a memorable moment for cable news. The House will vote to impeach the present occupant of the White House probably by mid January. Hopefully this will all end one way or another on Wednesday, April 1st 2020.
6
I confess, my preferred news sources are now Reuters and BBC.
Lost PBS when I cut the cable. Can't watch CNN - how could they have given so much air time to Michael Avenatti; thanks to CNN we got Sarah Palin and Donald Trump, who it has now turned on.
Still read the NY Times though sometimes I feel the Times is now competing with digital news sources and social media.
For people who followed print and TV news for 2 1/2 years and heard over and over that Trump was a Manchurian candidate, the eventual report and Robert Mueller's testimony created the impression that news was, as Trump screams "fake". An unfortunate outcome.
Then there is the Trump exhaustion factor. I suffer from that. The onslaught of reports on tweets, lies, and crazy policies is just too much. Yes, I did listen to part of Marie Yovanovich's testimony, payed no attention to anyone's interpretation, but that's about it. I skim other articles. Working people just don't have the time.
12
I no longer listen to CNN and Fox. I listen to the local news stations which focus mainly on weather, accidents, crime, sports, and upcoming local events. I have also started to listen to RT because it covers international news and some US news other than the political news that DC is generating. RT does have some biased reporting, such as its lengthy story this morning on Venezuela, but when it is reporting current events, it focuses on the facts. It is too depressing to listen to DC news and think about the upcoming election because I do NOT like the choices that either party is likely to offer.
8
How many of Trump's cronies are in jail now or headed there? If Americans can't figure it out by now, we're doomed.
6
The price of opinion is near-$0 but the price of researched fact seems to be higher than people can (or care to) afford.
People aren't sharing NYTimes, WaPo, WSJ, or Economist (among others) in the same way they are with CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Breitbart or a host of any other mostly-opinion-driven drivel. Fact-based news (should there really be any other kind?) these days has a lot of depth but no breadth - available only to a select audience.
We're locking truth, facts, and honesty behind 5-article-per-month-paywalls. These 'free' outlets -- made with 5% real news-juice! -- continue to starve the people of vital nutrients while heaping on the empty calories.
10
Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.
Cynicism is the last refuge of the coward.
8
It does not help when the media insist that every story has exactly two sides of equal size and value. Anyone who wants a future must choose social responsibility over ratings.
7
The problem is propaganda. Propaganda is dishonesty of all kinds used for many purposes. In general it keeps people confused about what exactly is the truth. That eventually leads to attention fatigue. People stop trying to follow news because it is too difficult to parse out the truth. In specific it is meant to prevent a person from making a good decision or judgment on whatever topic it is directed at.
How was propaganda like Fox does ever allowed to be aired? I was taught from a young age propaganda is destructive to society and anti democratic. I was not taught that our news agencies often in cahoots with our government used it on us out of a sense of doing the right thing.
IDK how it was regulated prior to the late 80’s but it was. Radio "shock jocks" LCD appeal that had something to do with preparing the ground. Then Morton Downey Jr, then Jerry Springer. When did exploiting people in that way become OK?
All of that behavior is part of being human but how does one justify allowing it to be used for making money? Used to be we recognized that kind of lack of mental emotional development as the effect of poverty and ignorance that it is and dedicated or tried to resources to correct it.
3
It was regulated by the fairness doctrine. Republicans got rid of the fairness doctrine decades ago.
1
While I agree social media is a problem, and that splintered and biased media are also major factors, not to mention outright lies and deception, citizens need to take responsibility. Tuning out is no answer.
When I worked as a reporter, I was disturbed when journalists quoted founder Thomas Jefferson, who said, “…Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” I believed then, and do now, Jefferson’s words need two critical items of context.
First, Jefferson said of emerging democracies that “the basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right.” Next was his statement about newspapers, after which he said, “But I should mean that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them.”
As a citizen in 2019, I believe we, the people, must exercise responsibility to separate the wheat from the chaff. I avoid social media for news at all costs. I seek out those news sources I feel I can trust – newspapers, magazines and books. And I follow the fact-checkers to separate liars from the honest citizens.
Like Jefferson, I see freedom of the press as a two-way street – journalists dedicated to facts and fairness and citizens capable of understanding and acting responsibly. In a democracy, we owe each other that much.
2
The fact is that our US voting population is split into thirds: 1/3 Democrat, 1/3 Republican and 1/3 Independent. As an Independent, I am listening to/watching the Impeachment hearings and learning a lot from the testimony.
4
Here is a huge problem with traditional media: there is not enough separation between news reporting and opinion. This includes newspapers but applies most directly to CNN with their endless series of panels.
Viewers seeing panel discussions, especially if they've had a steady diet of Fox News, assume that what the person on the panel is saying means that CNN is saying it. They label various speakers as "Republican Strategist" or "Terrorism Expert" but don't put a title on the screen saying the person is expressing opinions. Why not?
Newspapers need to also do a better job of both setting off opinion with labels and separating it from news content. The Washington Post puts six opinion columns about half way down its home page on the internet but it is never made clear whether they are speaking for the paper. There should be an explanation of opinion versus news reporting every day, especially online where additional pages don't cost extra money.
It is not enough to state the purpose of a media outlet once every ten years or even every year. There should be a lot more public outreach where reporters and editors meet with the public.
In short, people don't fully understand the media and what it is. The idea of objectivity and the separation between news and editorial opinion hasn't been explained or explained sufficiently.
6
It's an unavoidable step in human evolution. We're developing resistance to alcohol and too much sugar in our diet; eventually, if we survive, we will develop resistance to opinions, misinformation, and lies disguised as news.
On TV yesterday I watched a news reported discuss impeachment with a group of 7 or so citizens. He asked if they were following the proceedings and solicited several weak 'yesses.' He asked if anyone had made up his/her mind but no one had strong feelings one way or the other. A fellow said he'd wait for more evidence. Someone else jumped on that coattail. It was clear no one really had a grasp of the issues.
Let's face it America, as straightforward as these issues are (bribery, witness tampering, obstruction of justice), they frankly confound most Americans languishing on very long workweeks, perhaps two jobs, a surfeit of cat videos and tweets about what a second cousin had for breakfast.
I fear the Democrat's bet on the 'movie rather than the book' will miss the mark.
2
It's completely understandable that the explosion of multiple currents of information, good, bad, fake, real, has overehelmed many. But I wonder if intellectual laziness might not also play a role? It doesn't take but half an hour a day to skim through the best and most trusted sources of news on the planet like the NYT or the WAPO. Still, it *is* admittedly, so much easier and less stressful to watch the Simpsons, or reruns of Seinfeld - especially these days.
Because I am a scientist, and the media often get stories about scientific research wrong, my first criterion for evaluating mass media is how well they do at covering new scientific developments: I look up the peer-reviewed research and compare that to how it was reported. By that standard, such outlets as The Economist, BBC, NY Times, NPR, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post do better than average, with The Economist often doing better than any other non-specialist publication.
4
It doesn't matter what country you are in, when political conservatives become extremist right-wingers (or when liberals become extremist left-wingers), then a country is headed for authoritarianism and dictatorship.
Now our concern with the right-wingers and the demagogic, charismatic, but malignant Trump, who clearly lacks a conscience and is not playing with a full deck, as demonstrated by his words and actions and the consequences of his decisions on people, the planet, our country, and foreign relations.
There are plenty of signs we are headed for dictatorship with Trump and the GOP. Read Hannah Arendt's "The Origins of Totalitarianism."
A few key signs:
1. Truth becomes elusive and no longer matters. Propaganda replaces journalism and scientific research. How? A renegade partisan or loyalist state media swamps conventional media and provides concerted campaigns of misinformation, misrepresentation, smears, and trades on rumors ("People say....") and conspiracy theories.
Information/facts are withheld or twisted, with the intention of: (a) creating uncertainty, fear, stress, etc., which is to be filled in/replaced with (b) propaganda, lies, directed toward biasing public opinion, attitudes, and allegiance to one leader, ideology, political position while totally rejecting alternative views. Tolerance for differences is rejected.
2. Dictators assail truth & the conventional media ("the enemy of the people"), and politicize the justice system…
Are we there yet?
3
Trump has turned reality and truth upside down, but we cannot be victimized by his methods and needs.
Every citizen, regardless of party, must do whatever it takes to find the energy/attention to watch the Inquiry. When you see the comparative behavior of interrogators and those giving testimony, truth becomes much clearer.
No less than our future and that of the country is at stake. I thought that was melodramatic, not any more!
3
Democracy is incapable of functioning when there is
little consensus about what is or is not fundamentally
true or false.
Democracy is incapable of working when too many of its citizens decide it's just too hard to work out what's true and what's false.
Did they decide this task was too difficult because they are too distracted by everything else they must attend to, too incapable of critical analysis, too atomized and psychically fragile to believe any of it would really help them get through their daily struggle to get by?
If there is so little trust that what is told to you is not a lie
then how can you, as citizen, operate as a free agent capable of making a rational choice that is in your interest? You cannot.
Orwell and Koestler (to mention just two) knew well this conundrum and gave us a vivid portrait of how societies
do function in the absence of mutual trust between
authority and citizen. It is not a pretty picture.
Soon that distrust extends and inserts itself between citizens themselves, establishing mutually distinct and hostile mental universes that resist any interaction.
There is nothing here that is the least surprising after
what we've experienced since the catastrophe of Jan. 20 2017.
What is tragic is how ineffectual non profit public institutions at all levels, whose roles are to instruct/
inform the society, have been at pushing back against these large and powerful forces of disinformation and obfuscation.
An interesting article, covering many different views of news, slants, truth. Having already made up my mind that this president needs to go, I listen to the impeachment hearings in the background, while downloading the new Disney app (thanks for the facts on that, NYTimes!), playing an old Plants/Zombies game, or doing needlework.
The latest spin, that we liberals have been against Trump from day one, I can say....yes, but maybe from day...20, 30, and on. Trying to toss millions from health care, a massive tax giveaway to corporations, daily changes in statements, outright lies...regulatory changes in direct opposition to the underlying legislation (they later learned how to at least dress that up with fabrications)- my view is- what’s taken all the rest of you so long to figure it out.
Today’s companion article on Denver’s talk radio host, Greg Silverman, being fired for lacking sufficient Trump love- and other examples in that story (just the facts, ma’am), tell me all the propaganda, right-originating obfuscation, is failing.
On the left, in the House, hello- we need charts. Visualization of all these players. With arrows. Maybe it will look like a Jonny Carson map, but too many players, too little broad overview.
We may be two America’s, but if a split comes, like Jefferson Davis, the right will not put up with crony government for long. Or last for long.
2
Not keeping oneself informed about current events is an abdication of one’s duties as a citizen. Ignorance enables tyranny. Keep watching the Simpsons and the day will come when you won’t be able to watch anything else.
2
This attitude is a huge part of the problem. Apathy and ignorance are what allow evil to take root and grow. That and the "both sides do it" belief that many Americans hold. At its root is an inability to think critically and to take the time to at least do a little research. Our educational system shares at least some of the blame for not teaching critical thinking, instead focussing on rote memorization and test prep. But any time I hear people complain about politics, I have one simple response. If you want to know what is wrong with the American political system, go home and look in the mirror, the answer is staring right back at you.
White noise. Nothing but Charlie Brown's mother.
The constant blather of anonymous sources and people familiar with a situation has gone from stale to moldy. The breathless pronouncements of talking heads have left most thinking they need an emergency inhaler.
Why? Because every accusation and prognostication has been nothing more than the hopeful musings of the opposition, and their inability to accept the outcome of an election.
On the bright-side they have brought into the light the existence of the deep state. Long thought a conspiracy theory. We have learned there is an entrenched bureaucracy that believes Joe Sixpack should acquiesce to their "wisdom" on matters of our own benefit. They have no respect for those they are charged with serving, and some believe it is we that are their minions.
In the end all this does is play to Trump's hand. I think we need to prepare for another round of indignant disbelief come the end of 2020.
6
Rebuilding trusts in media requires teaching average citizens to be critical.
While there are many media outlets that are trustworthy, many Americans don’t have the time and patience to separate chaff from grain. They also lack the knowledge they need to be informed about public affairs.
It comes as no surprise that some aren’t qualified to judge, and – more often than not – it’s the reader who can be biased, not the journalist.
It is always easy to trash everything, including the media, because it doesn’t hurt to do so, as long as it doesn’t require to contribute constructive criticism.
According to the 2018 Gallup/Knight Foundation survey only twenty-seven percent of Americans say they, personally, are “very confident” that they can tell when a news source is reporting factual news versus commentary or opinion.
More Americans have a negative (43%) than a positive (33%) view of the news media, while 23% are neutral.
Some 66% of Americans say most news media do not do a good job of separating fact from opinion. In 1984, 42% held this view.
Less than half of Americans, 44%, say they can think of a news source that reports the news objectively. Republicans who can name an accurate source overwhelmingly mention Fox News, while Democrats’ responses are more varied.
May God help America!
4
As quoted in the article, Mr Pomerantz hit the nail on the head :
" Mr. Pomerantsev, who worked in a Russian television station in the early 2000s, said there is a transgressive thrill in strong leaders thumbing their nose at the facts.
“We slightly miss the point if we don’t understand how much pleasure their supporters derive from this,” he said. “Did he really say that? You can’t stop watching him. It’s partly about power. But it’s also anarchic, and there’s a weird freedom in that.” "
Which is entirely supportive of Hannah Arendt's observation in 1974:
" If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer.......... And a people that no longer can believe anything cannot make up its mind. It is deprived not only of its capacity to act but also of its capacity to think and to judge. And with such a people you can then do what you please"
It is a precondition of fascism that the very nature of truth be dissolved and replaced with a nationalistic fairy tale..... Maga.
In Mr Trump’s world, a confused electorate that tunes out the press is not an aberration - it's a feature
10
It is so sad to read this article. Our nation has been dumbed down so much that they would rather watch Simpson re-runs than the drama of the destruction of our democracy by Trump. One day, soon, they will wake up and realize, too late, "How did we get here"?
6
I really don't understand these people. I mean how hard is it to discern truth from lies if you just think about things for a minute?
This country's media literacy is embarrassing.
4
At some point, the question has to come back to the education system, the information system and the media. People who can't tell if they're hearing facts when watching a primary source like the actual hearings are at the very least poorly educated. We learned what was a primary source, what was a secondary source and how to be circumspect with opinion or advertisement starting in grade school, and had to prove we knew it in high school.
So somebody who questions the trash on the internet, or even questions when a new article is heavily laced with the author's opinion? That's fine. Someone who questions the primary source, the videos, the testimony, etc. is just a sitting duck for the statement, "Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?"
If they're ignorant because they never learned that in school, it's a reflection on the school. If they're ignorant because they've been convinced that by some political source, that reflects on those politics. If they're ignorant because the media have taught them to blur the lines by blurring the lines between opinion, advocacy, and journalism in their reporting, then it's on the media to answer for.
Remember there was a lot of change in the midterms 2018, Dem's took over the house, Michigan & Wisconsin elected Dem Governors. 2019 KY gets Dem Governor. More suburban women are voting Dem. Somehow, someway people are deciphering the truth of what is going on in this era of disinfomation by Republicans, Trump, Fox news, even from Barr our AG. The truth is still on the majority of major news outlets. Thank you NYTs, ect. for relentlessly telling Americans the truth. Your hard work is making a difference.
6
William L. Shirer started the Berlin bureau of Edward R. Murrow's CBS News in the 1930's. As a foreign correspondent, his firsthand reporting on the rise of the Nazi's and on World War II illustrates the danger of a citizenry that is not paying attention.
After listening to testimony last week in the impeachment hearings, I was reading from author Steve Wick's "The Long Night: William L. Shirer and The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich." Drawn from Shirer's journals and letters this passage: "Shirer found the government's lies to be so over the top that he could not fathom how the German people could possibly accept them as truths. On top of that, his view of the Germans as a people had hardened and grown more cynical...They wanted to be lead around by a strong leader who lied to them every time he opened his mouth. They did what they were told and did not debate moral issues. They never debated moral issues when self-interests were involved.
I think history can repeat itself and we ignore it at our own peril. I hope all the citizens of this country make the effort, take the time to be critical thinkers and follow through on our responsibilities as members of this democracy.
9
@Suzanne I would vote your comment as being the most cogent and prophetic if I could.
I can only underscore your comment by noting that history does repeat itself because humanity has never exceeded it's flaws, ever.
4
@Suzanne
Ironic, given that CBS News's "that's the way it is" was a central player in making American Japanese internment camps socially acceptable, as well as the hunting of commies by the McCarthy hearings.
How selectively we remember history.
1
This American was listening carefully to last week's damning testimony of Trump's failed attempt to strengthen his 2020 campaign at the expense of United States security. I will take the time to pay attention to this week's testimony and write my US congressman and senators with my conclusions.
5
It's pretty simple. The president is a liar. Ignore social media "news" sources. Read newspapers that have been in business for decades that have staffs of journalists reporting worldwide. Watch the testimony of the House inquiry. Make a decision from the information you have absorbed. Done.
6
FOX....
This false-equivalency article fails to use the word Fox. The journalists owe NYTimes readers an explanation.
Americans have endured *thirty-three years of disinformative, destructive propaganda* by former Australian Rupert Murdoch, who became an American citizen expressly for the purpose of owning a American media properties (don't forget the WSJ; foreigners can't do). As have the British: Murdoch has profited nicely from the boiling pot of Brexit. And his manipulation of Australian governance. Read Mahler and Rutenberg's NYTimes Murdoch/Fox article: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/03/magazine/rupert-murdoch-fox-news-trump.html .
I was in a house where Fox aired continuously. Hearing the actual words was unnecessary: The tone was one of intense hostility and fear. It's doubtful that any human can endure such psychological abuse without eventually breaking down.
As to the endgame: While those who wish to be unregulated benefit from *an uninformed public*, even capitalism doesn't ultimately benefit from *chaos* or a lack of *mutually agreed-upon reality*. Nor does capitalism ultimately benefit from fascistic totalitarianism (government/business collusion), although America has long approached, if not embodied that model. (There is an analog in guns: civil society can't long exist with random death possible.)
Today, right-wing forces in America are on a path to get what they have wished for (like the dog who caught the car) and have set in motion.
6
All signs point to this country becoming a dictatorship. With Putin at the helm.
4
Trump put a doctored video out of Adam Schiff today. This is merely a trial balloon for the 'deep fake' videos the Russians will help him with in the next election. Scary stuff indeed.
7
"Pathological leaders hate democracy. Once they obtain power, they do their utmost to dismantle or discredit democratic institutions including the freedom and legitimacy of the press. It was the first thing that Hitler did when he became German chancellor, and it is what autocrats like Vladimir Putin, Viktor Orban of Hungary, and President Erdogan of Turkey have done." - Ian Hughes
4
There is no point watching the hearings because the Republicans announced in the media repeatedly beforehand that they were NOT going to vote to impeach.
Despite the evidence, they were sticking with Trump.
It is really up to Americans with Republican Senators to email them demanding justice. They are the only people that can save this country.
The Republicans are in the perfect position to take their party back, but they are terrified of Trump. They just lost two very "Red" states in Governor races last week. They aren't listening to the people.
5
For me, it's been as simple as turning off the TV and refusing the 24 hour news cycle. I will only read the news from what I feel are a few reliable, centerline sources. If I do watch the news, it is only the 6 o'clock local stuff and then I either shut the TV off or switch to a mindless sports recap at 630.
Honestly, it's been like a refreshing regression back to the years when we didn't have cable.
3
When a single person dominates the news for as long as Trump has it is more about weariness. The fatigue comes from knowing the president and his minions will always twist the truth in his favour, not from barrage of media coverage. The exhaustion comes from trying to understand why every single person cannot see Trump for who he is. Watching him being defended against the indefensible is what is so wearing, Every day I ask myself the same question, ‘what parallel unIverse am I living in?”
3
If we're just talking about the current impeachment hearings, the problem is that the mainstream press has been thumping the tub for that, and getting exercised about everything else the President has done since the first days of his administration, and it has just become background noise as a result. This is their fault, not that of the social media, or President Trump himself. It's gotten so bad on the news channels, that one has to search for, or go to foreign media to find information about anything else, as I did last week in seeking out information and video about what was happening in Bolivia, or the Gaza Strip. Just like the little boy who cried wolf, no one wants to listen to them when they may have actual news to report, finally.
7
Confusion is the natural result of Republicans trying out new defenses against impeachment. First they attacked witnesses but realized that those witnesses were in better standing than them. Now they claim that he is innocent by virtue of crimes he was not YET able to commit. Hmmm... Attempted murder is still a very serious crime. So is attempted bribery of the leader of another country. So is attempted obstruction of justice, even if justice is later served. So is attempted conspiracy against the United State
4
Timely article for me to see others are also suffering information overload and knowing some of it is probably not true, but not knowing which part. Which makes me skeptical of anything I read/hear, especially where there is an obvious point of view. Two points: (1) there does not seem to be any fact checking or journalistic standards in social media as there is in professional media, so view social media with greater skepticism; and (2) when voting on reelection of a president I ask Reagan's famous question (am I better off today than I was 4 years ago?) as that fact is entirely in my control.
2
A very informative news article, and good commentary from readers. Globally, the "war on truth itself" is old news, and in the hands of modern-day autocrats and professional propagandists it has gotten more intense, more overwhelming.
"Reality," aptly defined as "that which, when you don't believe in it, doesn't go away," provides us with little comfort. I find it useful to assume that "reality has a liberal bias," but sometimes that bias cuts against things I want to believe.
My own old-fashioned lifestyle has little time for social media, and I don't confuse political news with entertainment, as it seems many people do today. I rely heavily on print media, and print accessed through my laptop, but I find that radio (i. e., NPR) supplies the most reliable and truthful access to news of the world.
1
The typical Republican voter has been gaslighted into intellectual submission for perhaps decades.
Once in about 2010 while visiting family, I was forced to endure a Rush Limbaugh TV program. I posed a simple exercise, to identufy one FACT that ever came from his mouth.
Instead of defending their hero demagogue by simply waiting for a fact and identifying it, the exercise quickly devolved into a bullying session where I was harassed for being a liberal to suggest such an exercise.
Let me underscore the crux of my point: for the conservative contintengent, fact based critical thinking is a liberal endeavor and should therefore not only be avoided but actually fervently opposed.
Pause for a moment and let that sink in.
I fear there is no hope for these people, my family included. I gave up on them soon therafter and can barely tolerate talking to them for even the briefest period.
Perhaps the familial divide itself is a well planned consequence of a conservative agenda designed to shred the fabric of society, serving some nefarious agenda of power consolidation.
3
@Badger I suspect there's another side to this story of family breakup!
People who have trouble telling what is true brought it on themselves. Trump was elected as a man who was going to shake things up. That means that if he lies a little (a lot really), has a multitude of affairs and pays off the women, and smears opponents with falsehoods it is just Trump being Trump and it is just fine because it is part of the shaking up process.
Lies fill the headlines all the time and we don't react because it is the new normal, lead by Trump. Boy, we'll just show those elites.
It really has become admirable to lie!
Don't like your kids lying? or the doctor, or your lawyer, or the teacher? And now the news is completely suspect for being the truth. Look in the mirror; you made it OK. You like being lied to because that is the truth you want.
4
Any reported knows in his or her heart that her first obligation is to make her editor or publisher happy. They may not adit it easily, but giving your bosses what they want is the filter than gets you a bi line, a story above the fold on the front page or the lead story of the day...and possibly either a bigger payday or noticed by other media looking for a new correspondent. Plus ego dollars. It's like any other business. Then again, news media is actually show business. So maybe the song is right?
6
So much depends on the editor. If you have an experienced, veteran journalist as an editor, then what the editor wants is good journalism.
Unfortunately, what media owners usually want is profits. If sensationalist, scandal-ridden, inflammatory content is what makes money, then the owner tells the editor to have more sensational content.
In short, unless people support good journalism, media won’t have the money to pay for it.
Remember, if you’re getting something for free, including news, it is very probably worthless.
@Mark Shyres
Sorry for the typo. I'm 75 and my vision is going south with the rest of my body. And I cheated on my 6th grade spelling exam. Did not study, Never recovered. Lucky i had good editors as a reporter. Even misspelled "Lincoln" once or twice (forgot the second "L". Was there a third "L"? No, he was not Welsh.
@MJM
Good points. Now please define "good journalism". After being graduated (the correct form) from the University of Missouri School of Journalism (over rated) I still had no idea what was and was not "good journalism". Sleeping in class was permitted as long as you did not use Helvetic to dream in (overused even then). Not sure in the more than 50 years since I was there much has changed - other than no one much knows how to change a typewriter ribbon.BTY, I pay for this subscription (along with many others) and find most close to "worthless" if not less. PS. Yes, I was graduated. Earl English was the dean then. I was the art director on the school newspaper. I drew cartoons that passed for news and news that passed for cartoons. I guess nothing much has changed.
1
The fact that Hunter Biden had no business working for a Ukranian company gives Republican Senators an adequate talking point. A failed impeachment will change very few minds, and will only widen the divide. It didnt help to have months of Mueller precede months of impeachment.
12
The press is botching this issue so badly -- and everything is so incredibly biased one way or another -- that, at this point, no one could be bothered.
Wait until we find out that, all of a sudden, Super Tuesday is here, and this nonsense is still going on. I pity the poor Democratic candidates trying to get their message out.
8
A few anecdotes do not provide an accurate picture of the public. While many tune out most are trying to stay informed. Unfortunately, many get their disinformation from fx. But many rely on normal sources which paint a fairly accurate picture. It is articles like this that are damaging. Please do your job media and quit trying to be sensational.
3
I threw my hands up a few years ago. When it became clear to me that Donald Trump was a habitual liar, with an ego the size of Titanic. When FOX "News" defended him to the death, and many of my friends and associates defended FOX news. Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for President Trump.
It seems that only one side believes it is ok to blatantly lie, and demean, that honor and honesty is for dupes and losers. The truth becomes left wing conspiracy.
Trump twitters lies and insults about an honorable public servant and then proclaims an absolute right of free speech.
I trust the news I read (NYT) and listen to because I know they put their best effort into journalistic standards. Also I am from NY know several NYT reporters and have grown trusting the paper. But imagine you are from the mid-west, the trusted local city paper has folded that you knew was concerned with issues you were concerned about. Who can you trust?
1
I've been teaching high school for 32 years. It always amuses me when I hear about the things ""young people...kids...high schoolers...." supposedly don't want to do anymore.
I don't know a lot of adults , like those who make these kinds of statements, who dig very deeply into issues or actually READ. "Tuning out" point to where so many Americans get any source of news. If Fox, CNN, MSNBC, or talk radio is the extent of your interest/knowledge, you aren't all that ""tuned in" to begin with.
1
Time for some rules as to truth in advertising for politico's.
1
Cognitive strain, by definition, requires effort. When presented with the opportunity to listen to truthful testimony, documenting the criminality of our elected/appointed leaders, some Americans are turning away. Some would rather judge the value of the hearings as to thier bingeablility, or worthiness of syndication. For these non-critical-viewers/readers, in search of cognitive ease, a state where the most often repeated message is the most true message, none of this inquiry is of import. We should then not be surprised that what is important to them are those facts that set their minds at ease: The Real Housewives of _______ are on Bravo!
As more damning information bubbles up from the hearings, the noses of even these fact-averse viewers will turn toward the pervading stink of the President's illegal deeds. Hopefully it will be enough motivation for these passive onlookers to strain their thinking and engage with the meat of the inquiry. Look. The Democrats even gave us Monday off!
2
Why would you show interest in partisan breast beating? We all know how to vote.
1
What do you expect? The average American has an IQ of 100. Half the US populace, so more than 160 million Americans, has an IQ of 100 or less.
A person with an IQ of 100 will always struggle with elementary mathematics, spelling and grammar. A person with an IQ of 100 will not be able to work out ten per cent of $100, will confuse 'lose' with 'loose', and 'reign' with 'rein'. A person with an IQ of 100 will write, 'John spoke to Mary and I'.
In England and Wales, the average school leaver, with the same IQ as the average American, used to leave school with four CSEs at Grade 4.
This was when a mere pass at O-level at the lowest grade of 6 was equivalent to a Grade 1 CSE (the highest grade) and even the dimmest kids at the independent school I attended would get between seven to ten O-levels.
Humans as a species are not sapient. This is a myth created by Linnaeus. Humans as a species are stupid. Humans as a species are ignorant, cowardly, and selfish.
Just because a tiny handful of humans are brilliant doesn't alter the fact that most humans are as thick as bricks.
2
@Colenso. Well your comment certainly proved your next to the last paragraph.
1
Why is advertising never mentioned? On the same page that I'm reading about people's distrust of the media, I'm being told that, at Pete and Gerry's Farm, "the hens are serenaded". Or that CapitalOne is "banking reimagined". Or that a new movie is "A Masterpiece!!!" And on and on, non-stop, on the street, in the subway, in elevators, in shops I'm already shopping in, on every computer page, I am inundated with hype, stretched truths and outright lies.
And it's the search for ever more advertisings that is the basis for editors' decisions on what becomes news and how it's reported, true as much of the NY Times as Fox.
5
The best description I've heard is that the republicans are like George Castanza playing trivial pursuit. They are insisting that the card says "Moops."
2
This is why the hearings are important to watch in its entirety. So you hear facts for yourself. Read the tweets yourself. Watch a Trump rally and listen for yourself. It’s easily available.
3
I live in Louisiana. I haven’t paid attention to the news since Katrina. The news reporting on that event was so far from accurate, I realized watching/reading news was a waste of my time. My time is valuable. And it’s not just the news that is slanted. Many tv programs are anti Trump/conservative and it’s obvious. If I have to go and dig out accuracy by myself, I have no need of all these subliminal attempts to influence my poor weak mind. It’s insulting. The news has no one to blame but themselves. Their own lack of facts and ethics have brought us to this point. The free press was intended to be one of the vital pieces of our Republic. It is a sad thing to realize it is gone. News media, you have defaulted on your very important part in the function of this country.
7
So she doesn't watch and there's nothing indicating that she reads about it in the papers. And then she complains that she isn't learning the facts from the media. Really, what does she expect them to do? Come to her house and explain things in person. This type of attitude goes to the willful ignorance we see in so many Americans. And, may I add, it "is" contributed to by the media, which suggests that something isn't important unless it's reality-show exciting. So discouraging.
2
“I don’t think things are fake, they’re just one-sided,” said Mr. Memory, 37. “Both things happened. He got booed and he got cheered. But one of them will be a much bigger story. That’s what bothers me.”
And there's the root of the problem: what is news? Many people seem look at news stories as a running dialog. For example, a sitting president being roundly booed in a large crowd is news, but being cheered by a large crowd in a state in which he was elected with a resounding majority is not. But if you are one who believes news is a continuous dialog, you might say that failing to report the cheering crowd constitutes slant. I don't believe news is a continuous dialog but I'm sure a lot of people do.
3
Very interesting to see the consensus that exists in the comments pages about how the left is factual and the right is always wrong. There is no self awareness at all that value judgements aren’t facts and a fair amount of media reporting today is the latter and not the former. Here is an example - as per the media “immigrants” all the same, regardless of their status in the country and “no human being is illegal” - a value judgement and not a fact. Same with the wall - it’s not a fact that it’s a bad idea, it’s a value judgement. It’s a fact that many people do come on visas and overstay, but it’s also a fact that a drone can’t actually stop people from entering the country, it can only document their actions. A physical impediment is needed. One could go on and on, but it’s pointless. Stick to your value judgements and expect the population at large to tune you out.
10
I encourage everyone to watch Ms Ling's part of the documentary on North Korea's dictatorship under the Kims. A doctor performed 1000 cataract surgeries for North Koreans and as soon as they regained their sight, they immediately worshiped and expressed their gratitude like in a trance to portraits of Kim. The humanitarian doctor was never given any credit. All that went to Kim. This is truly a backward, starving country run strictly for the profit of the Kim family. Kim is a murderer and a dictator whose people are starving while he and his family profit.
Yet Donald Trump fails to see any of this and praises Kim for a fine leader of his people.
Turn off your social media. It is the river of disinformation, meant only to sway you in a particular direction.
Turn off your social media and turn on your brain, again.
"Social" media. What a misnomer. It's anything but "social", because real "social" is a thing schooled, and practiced in the art of listening, and not just speaking. Real "social" is schooled and practiced in the vanishing arts and skills of hearing, and considefing the merits of what one hears.
So-called "social" media's goal is to drown out all else and engage your emotions, not your thoughts.
2
In these violent and corrupt 'Trumpian' times, withdrawing from participating in 'politics' is not wise...by a mile. It is precisely this public indifference, or complacency, that led to demagogues and charlatans like Donald J. Trump to astutely convince gullible and misinformed folks to vote for him. And now, we are paying for this mess. Politics is the art of the possible but it demands public contribution. No one said that democracy can be a passive sport.
1
“No One Believes Anything”. Credit to Donald Trump. This is the fundamental reason why we must remove him from the White House.
1
The irony in this story is stunning. It is a story about what is true, false or spin...and within the story is a tremendous amount of spin, slant, and selective reporting.
Example: The story makes a blanket statement:
"In the late 1970s, nearly three quarters of Americans trusted newspapers, radio and television."
The NYTimes is making this blanket statement based on a Gallup Poll in which it provides a hyperlink.
If one reads the poll however, one realizes that the NYTimes is putting the most favorable spin possible on Americans "trust" in the media in the late 1970's.
One could also read the poll and put an unfavorable spin on the "trust" factor and accurately state:
"In the late 1970s, only 18% of Americans had a great deal of trust in the media, while 26% had not very much or none at all."
The NYTimes selectively omitted the fact that they combined two columns in the poll ("great deal of trust" and "fair amount of trust") to deceptively conclude and tell readers that nearly 75% of Americans trusted media in the late 1970's.
If one looks at the poll data, Americans have rarely had a "great deal" of trust in the media...hovering between 7% and 21% since 1972.
10
@John
Yet 67 million (double check me) believe a realtor for President.
Yes, we've seen this movie before. And it doesn't end well. Vladislav Surkov, one of Putin's chief spin-doctors, has refined disinformation to an exhausting art. Trump and company have simply put their own unique stamp on it. Similar strategy though. Great article about the parallels here https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/03/is-trumps-chaos-a-move-from-the-kremlins-playbook
1
Goebbels would be proud of my country. A dissatisfied, lazy, uninformed and distracted population makes for a potentialy explosive mix.
Is there a leader in the horizon who can really tackle the fundamental problems or will we keep sliding down the slope of Empire decay that seems so predictable?
3
Everyone needs to read On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder, scholar of the Holocaust. Post-truth is pre-fascism. The confusion many people feel, the inability to believe anything, it is by design.
5
Most Americans don’t care about Ukraine.
4
No fog or confusion for me. Listening to the hearings has elevated my disgust for the Republican Party and the obvious, blatant guilt of Trump trying once again to get dirt and smear not only a strong political rival in 2020 but hard working, honest, honorable public servants who have come forward to testify at great risk. What the heck people, listen to the hearings, listen to your public radio and tv channels. It's not hard to figure out where all the corruption is that's propping up a sick administration. I live in Montana and if I get it, so should other Americans.
6
It should be obvious that Donald Trump has not for a minute taken being president seriously. Anyone not cognizant of that fundamental fact is willfully ignorant.
3
Gone are the days when the arguments were about whose tax plan is better, what type of SCOTUS justices do you prefer, whose foreign policy do you want, etc....Debates over the actual issues..
NOW, we are debating utter nonsense like whether or not Ambassador Taylor is a deep-state spy, Robert Mueller is a partsian Democrat out to get Republicans, Christine Blasey Ford was a paid Soros operative out to undercut Brett Kavanaugh, etc...
We are in a bad place in this country right now....Facts no longer matter and we have a party (GOP) that pushes baseless conspiracy theories on a daily basis..
6
Mission accomplished
“i love my uneducated voters!”
The Republicans and their propaganda arm, Fox, are licking their chops over articles like this.
Want a simple method for understanding this story?
The right is desperate to cover for their criminal president who thought he could get away with canceling much needed military aid for Ukraine last Spring unless their new president made outrageous false statements about Joe Biden - who's beating Trump in all polls right now.
This is Trump extorting another country till he could get them to slander Joe Biden.
Who's beating Trump in all polls.
Oops!
He got caught doing it and all the witnesses are verifying that.
So, just avoid anything the right says.
They are desperate to cover his crime and they will do and say anything to confuse you.
They are the phonies in this matter.
Covering for a criminal.
That's all you need to know.
You've landed on The Times.
Good start.
1
I did not read all the comments, but in the many comments I read this has not been addressed, or addressed well.
It is true that social media and an overwhelming number of web sites spread misinformation. This, however, is not the cause, but the culmination of many factors over the years. The biggest contributors to the state of not having a set of reference facts in news are two things.
First, the injection of opinion as news. It is almost impossible to obtain a simple set of facts as to what happened. What one gets instead is an incessant stream of opinion. And much of that opinion is presented as if it is fact. The lack of distinction is itself corrosive.
Second, is the amalgamation of talk radio into what amounts to a monopoly. Together with certain television channels, this monopoly feeds the population an alternative universe.
Social media exacerbates these factors, but the other two have been eroding the landscape of news for more than thirty years.
6
Who would have thought that electing a dangerously narcissistic habitual liar as the leader of a democracy would lead to the erosion of fact and truth? Huh.
8
Americans are worn out, probably by design. Compluscation, i.e. obfuscating issues by unnecessarily complicating them, is a timeworn technique in crafting legislation, in both criminal prosecution and defense, arbitration, even in academic papers, where a party seeks to advance its case by burying opponents in an avalanche of technical or irrelevant evidence. However, understanding our current predicament is not as difficult as it might seem.
A vulnerability inherent in the U.S. Constitution grants the President executive immunity, while also granting him/her the right to appoint the Attorney General. Confirmation has been achieved by blatant intimidation of U.S. senators by the President. Under the principle of sovereign immunity, the Attorney General has exclusive discretion to prosecute, thus two individuals - the President and the Attorney General - are now capable of escaping any responsibility for obeying U.S. law.
Both are, quite literally, above the law. By law.
The Founders might be excused for making the fundamental assumption these two exalted representatives of the people might share a common respect for rule of law, but Donald Trump and William Barr are exceptions. There's a hole in the boat, and the first step for 2020 Democrats must be demanding a Constitutional amendment to fix it.
2
Well, articles like these don't help one bit. They're sort of like "that" reporter going to "that" diner somewhere in the rural midwest, talking with a few folks, then concluding that everyone in the midwest just loves trump for no good reason whatsoever. Or not.
There are actual good polls that better reflect what people who are paying attention think, who actually read or watch well-sourced news (and not just one of those) and can form an opinion.
Yes, it's exhausting when there is so much spin. We need to get over it, do our homework, and protect our democracy.
6
This is EXACTLY what Trump and the Republicans want; apathy. That means less voter turnout which mean less votes for Democrats. I truly fear for our future as a free nation. A second term win will only make Trump feel like the gloves can completely come off. We must stop him or this nation will never be the same.
5
A large part of this problem is the "one side says this, the other says that, next story" style of reporting. Psychology tells us that just repeating lies increases their credibility with human beings. The President, GOP and Fox News understand this well. They are delighted with the confusion.
The answer, I believe, is 1) recognize that the press has a responsibility to identify the truth not just report "both sides", 2) to identify false statements as false and, if possible, not repeat them and 3) realize that false witness against others is destructive of community and no one is entitled to make false statements about others.
The good news from psychology is that if the media repeatedly report the truth and avoid repeating the lies as much as possible, people will come to believe the truth.
4
In the main, I agree with the piece. AND, I'd offer a caution. Keeping ourselves informed today is no longer as simple as tuning into a source with the status of an Edward R. Murrow or Walter Cronkite. Oracles with "The Word."
Instead of a singular river, we have a huge number of streams, populated by people with varied credentials, convictions, perspectives, and ethics in journalism. Some are open and honest about where they stand. Some not. But, It IS a rich environment.
In assessing credibility, I look for three things. (1) Original/Source data. Show me the tape. The source document(s). Where did the information come from? (2) What sense does the news person make of it? With what degree of certainty? The more explicit the sense-making process is, the better. (3) what other interpretations are possible? What do others say about it? Think of it?
News sources that regularly offer up those three things get my trust. Ones that don't, I will see as trying to limit my ability to come to any conclusion other than the one they want me to make.
News sources that provide me choices in making conclusions are friends. Ones that take away my choices in making conclusions are not.
2
The two issues that have the most shared reality are the 2017 Tax Bill and Healthcare. I think that the economy will soon emerge as another key issue. These are issues that matter. The Republicans said that they had a healthcare plan to replace the ACA. This was a disaster for them. The Tax Bill is not popular with some of the base. I think that Trump's trade policies and his inability to bring back quality manufacturing jobs will also matter. The main thing is to start with what really matters and stop the emotional rhetoric and ad hominem arguments. Self interest may then have some breathing space.
1
Thank you for recognizing that reality. The fog is made worse by pundits, "trusted" news sources, editorials on the news page and hyperbolic pleas from entertainment personalities and biased experts. Trump has set the bar for truth very low and it is not clear that we can rise above it.
On the one hand I can certainly appreciate a person not wanting to invest their precious time and energy in absorbing every nuance of the impeachment story. Outlets will often string their readers along and manufacture drama when the news is slow as they did with the Mueller report. Most outlets are for-profit entities after all, looking to cash in on the biggest story concerning a polaraizing president. However, to say you don't know what or who to believe when most established and long standing news carriers are reporting on a general level very much the same information smacks to me of willful ignorance. The same kind of willful ignorance that would cause someone to vote for a person obvious unfit to be president. Congress is investigating actions taken by the executive branch. That is a fact that is not in dispute, regardless of one's political position. For better or worse, unless one plans on relocating to DC to become a staffer, the media is our only prism into the government. Yes, news that is not AP and Reuters often couples sub-textual editorializing with the relevant facts. But if a person cannot make that discernment on his or her own, it says a lot about why we find ourselves in the position we’re in in with this President. I would venture a guess that most people who say they aren't paying attention either simply don't care, or cannot face the fact that they voted for a person who is bent on deconstructing our national fabric.
2
Well, yes, getting people to tune out is a strategy that benefits one party. Guess which one.
3
My wife and I have been political news hounds for decades and we are confident about the news we learn every day.
To keep our news reliable we stopped watching televised news over twenty years ago and more recently made sure we wouldn’t get pulled into the Facebook vortex.
By avoiding the ideologues on TV and the algorithms on Facebook, we don’t have any of the problems described in this article... none!
Let me say that again...
No television news. No Facebook. No problem.
3
Bottom line, democracy cannot function with an electorate who are unable to distinguish between the truth and a lie. Worse still, those who just don't care, or can't be bothered to try. Trump's war on the media, justice, and the truth itself is the one area where he has succeeded brilliantly. That so many work-a-day Americans, elected and otherwise, are willing to accept, defend, deflect, or deny this fact is the proof in the pudding.
1
I agree with so many comments written here. I feel that is the time in which we need to pay attention more than ever and not give up hope. Our country has been through worse and has survived for the better. Yes, with the rise of “Fox News” there is now a juvenile spinning and spewing of facts by many of their spokespersons via the alt right think tank. That is getting clearer everyday, and their broadcasts more silly each day. More people are tuning into this. I take hope in the recent election of Edwards in Louisiana in which Democrats had a higher turnout than Republicans. Ambassador Yovanovitch called out the amoral behavior of Trump’s public slur of our public servant (s). Trump’s behavior is getting more belligerent and nasty every day as more and more dedicated Americans testify. I think many more of us are tuning in than this article suggests. Even if people are getting overwhelmed, the truth is seeping into the masses. Not enough for impeachment perhaps, but enough for us to get to work to keep the voters coming out to vote in 2020. Don’t give up, do what big or small thing you can do to stand by the truth and get others to vote next year. That is our political responsibility.
2
How can you not pay attention to the greatest threat to democracy since Nixon? Nobody back then wasn't paying attention, because we all knew how much it mattered.
3
This should be an Opinion article as it is making assumptions and observations not born out by data. It is also making a point about the inquiry that itself is a distraction. "No One Believes Anything" as the headline quote is a distortion. I am one of the 13,000,000 watching with rapt attention to the impeachment hearing and news developments. It's not my usual daily activity as it is now to look for all the news about the inquiry all day long. The headline more rightly should be "Paying attention to the impeachment quality means....having to figure out what is true, false or spin."
3
I am worn out, not by a fog of news - I am adept at navigating through the Fox-led propaganda. What has done me in, is the corrupt legislative branch. Even if impeached, the Senate is sure not to convict. Voting remains the people's only power, and even this is under attack through gerrymandering and hacking.
2
this is a grand tradition in the USA of being willfully ignorant. Having lived in Europe, I observed that people of all classes and backgrounds were engaged and informed about current events.
When people are kept in ignorance it is easier to manipulate them. Friday, I watched a constitutional Law professor at Harvard being interviewed on msnbc and then, wishing to check out the perspective on Fox, switched over and watched a "facial emotion expert" analyze the eyebrow movements of Mr. Kent during his testimony, giving fodder to the hosts ideas that he was angry and biased against the president. Really? time to stop with the equivalency between so-called right and left. There are facts, there is knowledge, there is such a thing as critical thinking.
2
There is a huge difference between spin, opinion or point of vies and fiction. When you tell me that millions of people came to your birthday party I know you are lying to me. Remove the complete fiction and the rest is not all that difficult to deal with. Look at all the time wasted just trying to prove that the lies are just that, lies. It's the lying that is exhausting.
Never had I been able to be convinced that Trump should have been taken seriously as our President. That said, I hope Nancy Pelosi didn't pursue this impeachment investigation for the sole purpose of changing voters minds. I'd like to think she thought she had some chance at having the Reds come to their senses.
Perfectly aligned with the Right-Wing Playbook: Confuse and propagandize relentlessly, rendering the electorate (or at least a big chunk of it) completely impotent about what's happening, then push their buttons weeks before an election, typically with lie-based fears. What else explains electing a government that constantly works against the interest of the majority of it's citizens?
We are so dumb we deserve what we get, the world is very large and this is beyond our little communities, our white picket fences, and favorite church.
After years of Russia investigations the Democrats have become the boy who cried wolf.
11
Maybe if the NYT didn't insist everything has both sides people wouldn't be left wondering what the truth is
3
"All the same" is an intellectual cop out.
But then, that's what we are about these days, isn't it?
3
A US President being booed in public is news because that's not normal; a US President getting cheered is normal so it isn't news. How weird would it be to see the headline "Crowd Cheers President?" In a bygone era that would be like publishing "Water is Wet." But here we are so far off the rails we've got reasonably intelligent sounding people wondering where that headline is.
It's a bit like asking why the media didn't cover all the news conferences in which no one threw any shoes at Bush.
I think it's very informative that this Mr. Memory guy has adopted this narrative; it is a good illustration of 1) how low the bar has dropped for a US President 2) how emotional this is for conservatives 3) how desperate they are for a safe space 4) how intensely they embrace victimhood while obliviously calling out snowflakes.
6
People are tuning out because they are tired of being lied to by this man. The media and I mean all media had a hand in setting the stage for this burn out.
6
If indeed a large proportion of Americans tune out or believe obvious lies and use but do not question social media like Facebook that can and is exploited by Russia, then Russia and Putin wins the day. It is clear that Trump and now most Republican members of Congress have become Putin’s puppets.
2
"I just don't know what to think. You would have to know the facts, and I don't know that I'm getting the facts from the media right now."
Seriously, how is that? There's no doubt about the veracity of Trump's tweets. Or his public appearances. Every person with even a shred of basic human decency would instantly know what to think about Trump.
How can anyone with a moral compass witness any of his obvious malevolence, his narcissism, his bottomless ignorance, and still think "Trump is the man that I want to be in charge?" Seriously, I'm dumbfounded.
6
I use my HS German and read German media like Der Spiegel and find such media just regurgitate the Democratic talking points, NYT and WP opinions writers thus doing a great disservice to German readers. I also find in their discussion forums a very warped understanding of USA politics.
3
Ridiculous. This isn’t quantum physics and it’s certainly not a full time job. The major newspapers have to follow some journalistic standards or they get sued. Sure, they all have a slight bias, but that has always been true. That’s no different now than it was 40 years ago. Read a real newspaper or two, one of the old ones with tradition, and ignore the rest of the garbage.
Seriously. How hard is this? Mulvaney admitted publicly that they withheld the military aid money from Ukraine in return for investigations into Hunter and Joe Biden. He even told us to “get over it.” Do people not remember that? Even Trump’s Republican lackeys aren’t really disputing that Trump asked the president of Ukraine for a personal favor in return for military aid. What are people trying to figure out here? Whether or not using our tax dollars for extortion is appropriate behavior for our president? That’s too hard? What, exactly, is confusing people?
The information and facts are there and being reported on. It’s not difficult to get. Citizens are choosing to be ignorant. They don’t want to read or listen. They choose to live in a bubble that confirms their opinions and they ignore reality. Then they lie to themselves and say it’s the “media’s” fault. Nonsense. Fox “News”, Breitbart, and other such rubbish would never have existed if more people actually wanted the facts.
Freedom of speech and bill of rights give media a lot of room vs “they’ll get sued.” So when they veer off from chasing down the facts with balanced perspective, they do us—their consumers—a disservice. The power WE have is to emphasize learning, exercise listening for truth and keep an open mind. If you don’t, then you’re simply conspiring with the media. Don’t mistake government and politics for being a sports fan. The requirements here are more demanding.
1
I am beyond frustrated with people who both complain that they don't know which sources of information they should believe AND say that they didn't watch the impeachment hearings, which was their opportunity to get information straight from the source.
9
The truth is inconvenient to Trump voters. They'll never be swayed. Our only hope at restoring our democracy is unity in the Democratic Party and good voter turnout in 2020.
6
I'm not tuning it out...I'm retired...and many of my politically active friends are not tuning it out. But I also know alot of people who are tuning it out. I'm afraid people just go to their favorite news provider and get the edited snips and commentary that suits their proclivities. Too many media sources will be the end of coherence and truth. This is unprecedented in my lifetime and is a problem with no easy fix. I've been watching the investigation and reading numerous journals available through apple news and I subscribe to the NYT. I check into TV news programs, including FOX to get a sense of what people are seeing in the news, if they're watching anything at all that is. We have a problem. No one believes anything that doesn't align with what they already think.
4
I don't think as many people would be confused if they knew how our government works or what laws and bills are passed. This is what it all comes down to.
We could easily bypass news and just look at political policies of politicians who are running.
If Americans want to know what is actually being done then read the bills that get passed and learn who worked on them. What politicians say is not always what they sign off on.
What I hear all too often especially now are people confusing political policies for personalty traits. Spoiled or entitlement knows no class or political party.
3
I was raised watching the evening news every day. My mother taught me it was a civic duty to be informed of current events. She was a librarian and taught me how to determine if a source is reliable and/or biased.
But now in the age of 24hr news and social media, the strategy seems to be to jam the radar until all the data is meaningless. If I try to cite an article to disprove some outrageous meme on a friend's facebook page, he will just reply "Fake news!" and we've gotten nowhere. Every fact has its "counter fact."
It seems that our brains have not yet developed the mechanisms to vet 21st century information, and as a result many cannot distinguish NPR from Breitbart, or the CDC from a layman's health blog. Layer on top the active propaganda machine at Fox News, and our president's daily demonstrable lies and his insistence that anyone who disagrees is the enemy and doesn't love America.
This is how authoritarianism happens. Americans, be vigilant.
5
This may be fairly simple, everyone: bring back the Fairness Doctrine and update it for the digital age.
7
@unreceivedogma Wait, think this through...because then 90% of media would have to present a conservative rejoinder.
It would have been more accurate to title this article. "All Tend to Pick Different Outlets to Believe" rather than "No One Believes Anything". True, as you say, there are some who practice "news avoidance" avoiding the pain of having to select what is true ; they lack anything to believe--but there are many who are fired up with their own version of what is true. In this country where speech is free with a plethora of media outlets ---in all sizes, from hand-held to gigantic--we are inundated with so much data that we should expect some befuddlement . Some feel that this newspaper, and similar media are reputable outlets, basically truthful---others prefer FOX and the administration, empowering the Bully Pulpit. I would give the pronouncements of our president negative credibility. Of course, not all agree. So in the "fog of political news" we come as divided groups with disparate facts and cannot discourse rationally with one another , but we can talk to each in our own group.
What will determine the outcome for our democracy is how many we can convince to join the group we consider to be the most truthful bearer of truth. From time immemorial, people have vied with one another to convince others to to join the group they considered to be the most truthful. Once it focused on religions. Now it focuses on politics. Nothing actually new here.
1
If anyone is struggling with their decision on what to believe, perhaps a good first step would be to compare what is being said by those who have shown the courage and conviction to testify under oath versus those who refuse to do so. If you're not willing to state your case under oath, any statements you make can be disregarded.
3
I am deeply, deeply saddened to read this article and some of the comments. Yes, I am exhausted as well. At 78, I simply can't sit at my computer and read all that is available to me, even from the sources I trust: The NY Times & The Washington Post. But every day, every morning I try.
And even though the Republicans will be as destructive as possible at the hearings this week, I will watch all witnesses
opening statements and then as much as I can of what follows.
That is the least I can do. Others have died for our democracy. I can at least pay attention.
7
All anyone has to do is pay attention. Sorry, it's not so hard. I don't have a lot of respect or sympathy for people who say they're overwhelmed. Isn't our democracy worth a little, I don't know, intellectual investment?
3
The televised hearings are the closest thing we have now to a shared national experience. If a citizen missed it live, they can view it later online — an option not available in the Cronkite era.
2
On the political side it's all about the votes. On the news side, it's all about viewers and ratings. For each they take sides with no true deep questions just enough inquiry to make a sound bite. The weather channel tells me what I need to know for now.
3
For the second time in only days, after a warning in Congress, Trump went after a witness on Twitter.
If there is a desire for a solid attention getting headline, the committee should find a federal prosecutor and federal judge to issue a witness intimidation warrant for Trump's arrest. Maybe the FBI is afraid to act on it until Trump is no longer president so sadly stating the DOJ actually claiming the president is above the law but imagine it just sitting out there waiting for Trump.
2
Very interesting article. Many studies have shown that the main stream media has reported on Trump and his administration with a 90 plus percent negative slant. Attorney General Barr has recently reported that the Democrats have been attacking Trump non stop since he was elected (and even prior.) The Democrats and Republicans are acting based on partisan lines, same with many people in the US. Many in the US have "made up their minds" even before the facts are presented, and in many cases the facts are more opinion than actual truth. We are in some crazy times right now.
5
Lots of my friends are so mired in the 3 kids, 3 soccer games, 2 softball games, dance recital, Saturday dinner party, church filled weekend that they don’t have the time (care) to commit to reading a news article. Work weeks are filled with activities too. It’s sad but a tweet is about all they can handle. Many of them have very short attention spans unless it is about the kids, soccer games, softball games....they don’t care about what is going on cuz they are waaaayyy to busy to care. These are some of the people that depend on TV news and it’s no wonder that they are struggling. In one minute of flipping channels one can end up with several narratives.
2
I think it's all fascinating drama - like watching a (slightly unbelievable) thriller movie unfold in real time - think "All The President's Men".
I'm able to avoid attachment since it seems pretty obvious that, in a hundred years (give or take), we'll have made Our Only Home uninhabitable for us and the cockroaches who take over will mostly just be glad we're gone.
1
At my gym there is a TV at the front. I wish they would lock it to the discovery channel or the food network or something apolitical.
4
"No One Believes Anything"
To be honest, I began cultivating skepticism and mistrust since the Kennedy Assassination and the Warren Report.
My heart and my brain continues to follow and believe what I read in the NYT and am grateful and appreciative for all of their long hours of hard work. They continue to keep the candle lit in the current political storm and do an exemplary job at keeping the public informed. I truly would be lost without their due diligence in getting out the news.
But when politicians work harder at keeping lies and corruption covered up which only enhances and enriches THEM and yet have the brass to claim everything written about their deeds is fantasy and fiction, well, I often wonder if this country has finally crossed the Rubicon of truth and integrity and have fallen into an endless pit of doom and gloom.
1
The issues confronting the American public are complex and serious. As such, we are responsible for being able to separate the wheat from the chaff, as it were, so we can understand what's going on and make informed decisions based on that knowledge. Sadly, the reality is that many of us simply don't do that very well. Too many of us lack the discernment or analytical ability to sort through the noise and collate various bits and bytes of information to reach sound conclusions.
Yes, it was easier back in the day when all we had were Harry K. Smith, Uncle Walter, and Huntley & Brinkley. Compared to today, we were spoon-fed the news, like pureed peas. Now, we have a full adult menu of data, much of it junk. But, we know how some folks behave at the all-you-can-eat buffet, right?
Mr. Memory's complaint of how Trump was treated by the media at the Nats game is a perfect example of his lack of critical thinking. He clearly did not understand that news coverage of that event was, in fact, a big deal because our excuse for a president never travels to unfriendly territory. Thus is was newsworthy. How many times as Trump been to Alabama or Florida?
If Orwell's vision ever comes to fruition, it will be our own faults.
2
It was heartening to read that the two characteristics that people believed most ensured that information was factual was data and verification by scientists.
2
The people who voted for Trump were mostly the people who were not paying attention. Polls show an educational gap between Hillary and Trump voters.
So rather than defining voters in terms of left and right, it might be more correct to define them in terms of up and down, with the more educated crowd being "up" or on top educationally (and staying on top of the news) instead of "left."
The only way to continue to support Trump is to continue not to pay much attention. For many of us on the left (top), the impeachment proceedings are almost irrelevant because Trump's other behavior is so far beyond the pale.
More proof than ever that we desperately need an infusion of support and funding for media literacy and the critical thinking that the humanities offer throughout K-12 education and beyond.
The younger generations have never had a world without the proliferation of mis-information that the Internet (and Fox News) makes possible. They routinely grow up lacking the skills and tools to help them differentiate between fact and fiction, even when simple critical thinking and logic would make this distinction crystal clear.
But we'd have to stop living under the delusion that the modern Republican party has any claim to the dignity or respect that people seem to keep giving them and their "ideas." Forgive me for not holding my breath...
Three years into a presidency that is defined by lying and corruption, most news outlets still cling to norms of "bipartisanship" and refuse to even use these terms.
When you cover serial liars and corruption, neutrally reporting what they say without context or analysis is not "news"; it's propaganda.
Presumably what people say under oath is true? That's what I go by.
Yes, much of the news today is extremely difficult to navigate. But, I must say, where the president is concerned, how hard is it to believe that when he says to us: "Don't believe anything you see or read, believe me," or when a president has been caught in roughly 14,000 or more lies to the public, or when the president has been found guilty of using his "charity" for his own benefit and fined $2,000,000 and the charity shut down, etc. etc. -- how hard is it to believe that this is not a man who should be sitting in the most powerful office in the world?
1
Adult supervision required.
Perhaps if the general populace spent less time with brain-rotting entertainments they'd have the time and mind to understand the mechanics of their own governance. Perhaps they might care enough to discriminate the details.
Instead we're ever steadily becoming a nation of phone-addicted socially-networked children with more exciting things to do than to actually observe the preservation of truth and justice.
So go live in Pakistan, or Saudi Arabia for a few years or until you realize how precious our messy system can be from time to time. Adult supervision required.
1
Nobody is listening because they know what is going to happen. The House will impeach and the Senate will acquit. If you already know the outcome, whichever facts you may glean from all the haggling doesn't matter. It won't change the outcome, but will make you frustrated and angry, whichever bias you may have.
The only real question left is will Trump feel chastened or emboldened, and how will he behave because of that. We won't know that for sure until the impeachment drama is over and the election drama begins.
3
We should all be alarmed that we are now succumbing to one of the main objectives of the right wing propaganda campaign: an inability to tell lies from truth. This is brought about but flooding voters with so many facts that are frequently lies, contradictory or incredible. This is further exacerbated by the media's "two sides" approach, often considering disinformation as if it were a good-faith point of view.
2
Sadly I agree with the article. I’ve witnessed too many people treating sources such as Fox, conservative radio, and Facebook opinions as fact, as equal to print based news such as NYT that demands fact checking, citing sources, science, and quoting in full even though it will take someone longer to read & digest. I firmly believe this trend is terrible for the future of the world. Thanks for at least trying to face this head-on.
1
Both siderisms undermine credibility of the press, and this article in particular.
It’s time to remind the authors that if one side says it is raining, and the other says the sky is clear, their job is not to report both sides. Their job is to look outside and see who’s telling the truth.
2
We were given a "Democracy" by the founding fathers, but can we keep it? How can anyone with any communication from the outside world not be aware or want to be aware of how democracy is being threatened as they go about their every day tasks, oblivious to the destruction of the rule of law and ignorant of the fact that "W e, the People" are responsible for the government we now have.
I don't really care about the impeachment hearings because I don't believe they have any chance of going anywhere. Trump will not resign and there's no hope of gaining a supermajority in the senate, and Dems probably know this, so the whole thing just seems like a stunt manufactured to reach its climax during the 2020 election.
4
Then those “many Americans” who can’t be bothered to pay attention deserve an out of control and corrupt government. The rest of us who choose not to rest on our laurels will continue to pay attention, apply critical thinking skills then volunteer, participate and vote as informed citizens. Take note, America.
1
I would recommend turning the channel to a few news stations and trying to form an opinion. Is it so hard to spend an hour keeping informed in our democracy? And bear in mind especially in the hours from 8 to 11 pm that what we see is not news per say they are often “opinion” shows.
Life in a dangerous world is largely about evaluating the clues around you and communication directed at you to form an idea of reality. It is the real world that determines whether one survives. If Americans have become so coddled and separated from reality that they no longer think they need bother with it, we are in grave danger.
The Republican disinformation is working, This, along with defunding government and stocking it with contrary lobbyists and incompetents, is working to delegitimize governance and the rule of law. Add in stacking the courts and gerrymandering and they lay the groundwork minority rule. Never mind basically eliminating corporate and estate tax to ensure their fortunes build are passed on. The red elite, pulling strings from behind their golden curtain.
When Mind does not get enough time to absorb, understand & react to the abstract information, at some point it gives up.
Constant lies of President Donald Trump & his administration is doing it every day, almost every minute, so people are fad up & can longer keep up with it. News media reports on no stop bases, normal persons have normal responsibilities & are giving up on the whole system, bye.
It is a sad testament to the inadequacy of American education that this trend is seen as new. In the USSR and other socialist countries, it was assumed by definition that all news were false and reporting tainted. Incidentally, this is a rebuttal to those zealots on the left who believe that the only way to combat disinformation is censorship. Censorship creates distrust, conspiracy-mongering and information fatigue. This is why Putin’s regime which is a sort of USSR-lite, practices both censorship, in the simple way of murdering journalists, and deliberate dissimulation of nonsense. The same is true about Cuba, Venezuela, China, Iran and other dictatorships. Propaganda is as old as humanity, and the only defense against it is critical thinking. As for those Americans who are tuning out of the impeachment hearings - they are right. The facts are known. Everything else is political theatre.
Americans have become too lazy to care about politics and civics. It doesn't take a great deal of thinking or time to stay abreast of what's going on. But we would rather watch "Dancing with the Stars" or another football game. If we continue to slip into an oligarchical state run by authoritarian figures we have only ourselves to blame.
1
This is an excellent and accurate story. It should be required reading for the editors and reporters of the New York Times. The fact is the news media, especially the liberal media, has seriously undermined its credibility. The Times is the poster child for this phenomenon.
It is no longer possible to distinguish news from opinion in this paper. The Times is selective in the facts it chooses to report, emphasizing those that fit its political world view, and often ignoring those that do not. Virtually every headline that relates to politics is spun to the left.
Don't get me wrong. Much of the right-leaning media does the same. But I used to expect better from Times; I no longer do. And, as this article describes, I'm not the only one who feels this way.
Credibility, once lost, is difficult to regain. But the media, and especially the Times, would do well to at least try.
At the Times, a good place to start would be to restore the office of Public Editor. A good second step would be to show respect for the First Amendment's protection of a free press, and reconsider the Times' opposition to the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United. SCOTUS got it right.
Just saying.
4
Lionel Trilling spoke of intelligence as a moral obligation on the part of the individual. Such as to say we all have a moral obligation to distinguish fact from fiction with respect to the current impeachment proceedings. That idea alone is the only concept that matters in determining who may be in the right, or in the wrong, regardless of political affiliation or ideology, with respect to these hearings.
But herein lies the rub. Ideology and party loyalty act as blinders that distort the optics of the Impeachment process. In order to remove those biases one must remove those vary same blinders. Only then can an individual, regardless of what news channel or what newspaper one reads, make an intelligent assessment, separating actual facts at hand, from alternative out-of-hand facts, thereby separating fact from fiction.
Only then can one say, as the blind man once said, “I see” as he or she opens their eyes, resulting in moral clarity, in order to arrive at some basic moral truths with respect to this impeachment process, which many individuals may prefer tune out, in favor of watching the Disney Channel ?
Therein lies our moral obligation to be intelligent.
It means potentially having to confront your own weak character and personal failings. Half the country have already shown that they’re not strong enough to do that.
Having to figure out what is true??? This is the problem: the gop lies, and Republicans believe them.
I have no problem and this is scary.
"Having to figure out . . . " is, these days, what? Beyond comprehension?
The lying is staggering, but it's really not hard at all.
I'm not addressing Republican vs Democrat - I'm talking how to
evaluate. We can't do this anymore???? It's too hard?
Truth fatigue is a tactic. Wear out the electorate with "Chewbacca Defense" nonsense and they'll eventually throw up their hands. Gotta stay vigilant and see through the nonsense.
No question there is news overload on the national level. Big media fans the flames with outsized reporting in an effort to get more viewers to support raising more advertising revenue, hence the numbing effect on the population. The biases of various news outlets is another part of the problem, but discussing that here requires “barrels of ink”.
The shame of it is that on the local level we have a news desert with the closing of so many local and regional newspapers. The loss of serious local reporting is a boon for less than honorable local politicians.
Stem courses are fine but one line of defense is to reintroduce civics into the K through 12 classroom. It is crucial that we educate the coming generations of everyone’s responsibility to carefully sort through the facts and ignore the noise on social media and the internet.
3
Who or what poisoned this well?
First, the right in America has been teaching a lesson for more than forty years: don't trust the major media. They have said this a thousand and one times all the while they, the opinion leaders on the right, use the major media as steady, reliable sources of information.
Second, the internet. One unfortunate side effect, not yet studied or reported widely, is that it gives users the feeling, but not the fact, that they control, even dominate information. Its all here, right? All you gotta do is find it.
One comment in this article came from a person who said she had to to "research" to find out what was truthful or not. Poking around the internet until you find something that follows your prior views is not research, it is just a search for someone who shares your biases.
For years, I produced and edited The TerryReport
at http://terryreport.com/ That website was something, I was told, that even right wing readers could look at and not feel they were being chased away or ridiculed. The purpose was explanatory journalism, a sincere attempt to make sense of contemporary developments. Most websites, however, are devoted to one political view exclusively or, in thousands of cases, providing disinformation that seems genuine.
The internet is polluted.
5
1. All my friends in Houston either watch the hearings continuously on TV when they're home, or watch the new roundups at night. There is no "fog" here.
2. Gordon Sondland better watch his back , as Marie Yovanovitch was told to do, because Putin's men may find a way to slip him some radioactive Polonium-210 before he talks on Wednesday.
3. Whopper of the year: "I hardly know the gentleman."
6
If you are in fact correct then the Republican strategy is working to a tee.
6
All the more reason to educate the critical faculties, not just the STEM subjects, so that we can see through the specious arguments on both sides of the political divide, the hoodwinking of the commercial world and the emotion-trying-to-pass-itself-off-as-reason that fills the internet.
4
I would point out that as a society we have lost the ability to think independently and form our own opinions. The labeling that permeates our lives, ie. right, left, good, bad, seems a quick fix that we seem to desperately need. It is challenging to look at all sides of an issue; much more comforting to latch on to a pat answer. A better question might be, WHY are we so desperate for the absolute?
3
One of the hardest things to do in life is to admit you were wrong. Many people who voted for the loser in the White House like Lindsey Graham refuse to watch the hearings. They're afraid they will find out that they voted for a criminal - that they were wrong.
It takes great courage to admit you were wrong. That's why there are few genuine heroes in life. I say to Trump supporters it's time to "man up". Open your eyes and ears and stop watching the propaganda on Fox News. It isn't hard to tune in to CBS, NBC, ABC, or the New York Times. They are NOT fake news. The fake is in the White House.
11
And what responsibility does the NYT take for this condition and what is the NYT willing to sacrifice to make it better? Perhaps that would help us as citizens be better informed.
8
Those who avoid reading/watching news seem to avoid it out of fear of having information. It is just easier to tell yourself and others "I don't know" . In times past, you would have been deemed lazy and uninformed, but now you are just too busy or tired to find the truth. We all know that social media is no more truthful now than the old office/school bill sessions. The mainstream media, with a few exceptions, is telling the truth! If your choice of media doesn't sometimes make any corrections of its stories, it's probably giving you biased, wrong information. Don't ignore the details, but get facts from believable sources!
4
This is Trump’s intention. BUT....Children were stolen from their parents and placed in cages. The Attorney General of the US is a Roy Cohn clone, abusing the power of his office that is supposed to be for the citizens of the US. The President is hoping to emulate a Russian dictator. The EPA is dismantling protections of citizens. The Supreme Court is likely to take away women’s rights, and send them back to the 19th century. Hate crimes have climbed drastically. The debt and deficit are growing for future generations to deal with. Many that have surrounded Trump are in prison or soon to be. Politicians are bought and sold every day. Our infrastructure is crumbling every day.
Is this the country we want to be? If we are too exhausted to care, I guess becoming a Banana Republic is what we deserve. But is it fair to let hate and division grow for future generations? Is it fair to increase climate change because we are too exhausted to care?
5
@Tricia it would seem that a percentage of our voters do want an authoritarian to tell them how and what to think. I have come to the sad conclusion that we are on the brink of disaster either through ignorance or pure greed. My hope is with the young new voters. Statistically they are very aware, very informed and not burdened by apathy.
1
"A democracy if you can keep it".
1
Bombshell. Every media outlet including the NYT had a lead article with Bombshell. William Taylor during the first day of impeachment hearings brought up a second Trump telephone call. Bombshell.
I thought Trump would immediately be impeached, it’s all over now.
Turned out the hyped up Bombshell was not even a small firecracker but more like a children’s 4th of July sparkler.
As a result of such constant unnecessary over the top News Alerts many of us are just shutting down and have stopped paying attention.
9
After 3 years of hearing the president is a Russian spy, a tale for which no evidence ever surfaced, voters who - unlike many reporters - can actually locate Ukraine on a map of Eurasia have simply decided to give this latest cloak-and-dagger tale a wide berth. It doesn't add to credibility of these new charges that aid - military and civilian - to Ukraine notoriously ends up in African and Middle Eastern arms bazaars still in its original containers, as all US ambassadors to Ukraine well know. Tuning them out is the kindest treatment we could extend to Obama appointees for their abject failure to even make a dent in what is easily the most corrupt nation in Europe - excluding the Islamist-run Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia, all 3 hors concours.
5
To all those people who claim to be confused or overwhelmed by the news, I say "piffle" By now they know exactly what sort of person Trump is, and the depths to which he is capable. They know he is inherently dishonest, greedy, arrogant, racist, sexist, and outright lazy. That's the "signal" Trump has been sending out since Day 1. All the disinformation which surrounds him is only "noise" meant to distract.
5
Too lazy to bother with it all? Then don't complain when the whole country falls apart, the Constitution is shredded (further), and the US is under a dictator. YES, it is that dire.
As Charles Ives once said about lazy audiences that only wanted music they "understood" (i.e., is "pretty"): "Get up and use your ears like a man!"
In this case: "Sit up, wake up, pay attention, and use your brains like a human being!"
10
“Don’t I have a beautiful bridge to sell you” I should go into the Eiffel Tower and Brooklyn bridge selling business. I would make a killing. Never underestimate the level of stupidity and suspension of reason of large swats of the population.
1
I find it ironic that this paper even bothered publishing a story like this, as it is a crucial part of the problem described within. When you come to the NYT homepage, about 50% of the screen real estate you see is dedicated to very left wing progressive OPINION pieces, juxtaposed with news.
7
An uninformed electorate is a dangerous thing. That's how we got in this mess in the first place. Facts are facts and people who wont
change the channel or choose not to tune in because they dont want to admit they voted for this crooked swampmess, are dangerous to our Republic. Bumper sticker voters.
2
A misinformed public is even worse! Shame on people who do not pay attention to the impeachment hearings! If trump is re-elected, it’s will be the end of Democracy as we have known it. If Americans prefer to be ignorant of our Constitution and the Rule of Law then we will become like Russia, with an authoritarian leader running the show. That leader is Putin.
Oh, it's quite simple.
F is for Fox.
F is for fake.
F is for fascist.
Just avoid F and you'll understand T.
The Truth about Trump.
See, now you got it!
Me?
I'm still waiting for the, well researched, multi-credible source, Trump and Rudy fully documented explanation, corroborated by several other news outlets anywhere in the world, story about all the corruption from the Bidens.
Still waiting… waiting… waiting.
Oh, well, meanwhile I'll watch a parade of upstanding Americans bearing witness to what even John Bolton (flaming liberal not!) called a "drug deal."
That's inside terminology for a President gone rogue.
Gone criminal.
Extortion for personal political gain.
Extortion for personal political gain.
Extortion for personal political gain.
The truth slaps you in the face here folks.
Come on.
7
We've seen this script before:
"What makes it possible for a totalitarian or any other dictatorship to rule is that people are not informed; how can you have an opinion if you are not informed? If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer. This is because lies, by their very nature, have to be changed, and a lying government has constantly to rewrite its own history. On the receiving end you get not only one lie—a lie which you could go on for the rest of your days—but you get a great number of lies, depending on how the political wind blows. And a people that no longer can believe anything cannot make up its mind. It is deprived not only of its capacity to act but also of its capacity to think and to judge. And with such a people you can then do what you please."
That's Hannah Arendt in 1974.
5
Exactly this. The purpose of all the lying and conspiracy theories isn't too push lies it's to destroy the foundations of truth. If there is no foundation upon which to build more complex truths they will never take hold.
We've been through this before but the internet is a complicating factor as it essentially puts obfuscating blowhards with alterior motives on a level playing field with cautious experts who don't stand a chance in the court of public opinion.
Politicians who should be leading and listening to experts have figured out that it is better for their careers to go where talking heads rather than thinking heads take them.
i blame the media for taking sides in their reporting i.e. i have to read 6 sites to get all the news and deal with outlets like the NYT and Breitbart who have an agenda
6
The constant churn of headlines of numbing. Each minute fact gets its own headline, then there is the “takeaway” (shouldn’t that be early in the main article?), then the analysis.
It truly is exhausting.
I am not sure how else to cover it though . . . .
2
Exactly what the GOP and Russians aimed to do, distort to confuse.
8
Agreed. And Pomerantsev should be required reading.
The most boring show on TV. Quid pro quo indigestion.
3
@johnthol
There are no uninteresting things, only uninterested people.
2
Fog of Political News? The impeachment inquiry is a culmination of years of fighting the same pattern of behavior of President Trump and his cronies; corruption and dirty dealing.
Most Americans know Trump lies like a bed bug.
4
In "Arsenic and Old Lace," two cops are fighting with insane murderer Jonathan Brewster while Mortimer Brewster, the mild-mannered playwright, sits on the stairs and says softly, "Go ahead...fight, fight" as furniture shatters around him and glass breaks and men yell.
So say I - go ahead, devote your life to this stuff, knock yourselves out. I'll see you at the polls.
I am a lifelong Democrat and it appears to me that some Dems personally loathe the President (rightly so) to the extent that they will do anything, anything to dislodge him, rather than taking their medicine, "manning up" and trying to topple him the way you're supposed to - with the 2020 election.
I ignore this mess. It's never good for our country to impeach the President. You think you'll be happy with Pence? Good God.
The President is also going to be re-elected in 2020, it looks like, due to the same reasons (partially) that Obama won in 2008 and 2012 - the lameness of the opponents.
6
The main stream news media has gone all in with the left and its seems they use the same talking points with the Democrat party each and every day. So no one trusts the MSM as they have proven they are fake news, have a political agenda, and will outright lie when it comes to President Trump and his Administration.
In short, journalism is dead. Especially at the New York Times, Washington Post and fake news specialists CNN. Why not try reporting the news, unbiased with no agenda?
9
@Robert Richerson
Context, which matters, makes your Trump appear as the criminal that he is.
NYT: If you want to be trusted, write articles that leave the reader, when they are finished reading, fully informed so that if they go to another source--even one from a slanted right wing publication--there are no additional facts there that would change the reader's mind.
That's when I will start believing you. Right now, I keep finding things--that are confirmed to be true by other sources and the light of day--that you didn't tell us in the first place.
9
Democracy is a concept by which we measure our trust. When the reality of a well-educated and well-informed citizenry comes into conflict with old mythology inconvenient truths about everything pop up everywhere every day in every way.
The first casualty of war is truth. With all due respect, Americans have too long clung to the myths dispensed by their leaders to grow the profits of the military-industrial-oil establishment.
Perpetual war abroad and fascination with gangster fantasies at home - they create fear, greed and falsity inimical to democracy
3
‘No One Believes Anything’
Sadly, that's the goal of trump, isn't it.
and people are buying it.
It's not that hard people.
6
I left social media years ago. Ok, I have a YouTube channel, but that's for music. My 43 year old daughter has done the same, and we read actual newspapers including this one as well as the very right-wing local Albuquerque Journal (I have thrown it across the room at times). It's sad that my family and I are on the tail of the distribution of Americans with regard to real news and paying attention. If we give up, the fascists and anti-American nationalists win easily.
4
“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” Never has this been truer and never have some of our elected officials shown how very little they actually care for freedom or truth.
The lack of an appropriately serious attitude by the Republicans to the uncovering of truth and their disregard and so elegant trashing of those who have come forward to reveal it shows exactly why our freedom is what’s on the line. Every time they casually belittle evidence and those who testify they are doing the same to every American. Every person who sits before that committee represents US — you and me. It is the voters that Republicans are sarcastic with; it is we whose veracity is questioned; it is we, the voters, who are getting smoke blown in our faces.
It isn’t the hearings per se that are turning people off, it’s the digs and the insults, and the belittlement, the intentional obfuscation and the casual denigration that wears away at the soul and which is registered as boredom and tuning out. As a society we have been insulted and degraded every day since Trump came into office, so it is little wonder that we feel tired. But if we value democracy we cannot afford to feel tired or confused. That way lies tyranny and history shows it again and again and again.
1
Articles like these do not help. Crafting narratives based on anecdotal evidence is part of the problem. What fraction of the American population do the people captured in the article represent? We don’t know; yet, the headline implies that all Americans, or at least a great proportion of them, prefer not to know what goes on.
2
The problem is too many American's have stopped reading. As an English teacher, I know that reading stimulates the imagination in a logical way and while it takes more of an effort to read than to watch, the rewards are much greater in developing an ability to think for yourself. Now, viewers are hypnotized by voices and images, subliminal messaging and propaganda. Their brains are weak because they have not been reading -- just watching and looking. The decline in reading is the culprit in a breakdown in logical and independent thinking.
5
Americans are poorly served by the news media, as they are by healthcare, and for the same reason: it’s run for profit. The priority isn’t exposing the truth, it’s access.
The best news media is publicly funded, and answers to viewers, not advertisers and shareholders. The American media has an approval rating almost as dire as Congress.
8
This is why I subscribe to the Wall Street Journal. It seems to be the last media outlet focused on investigative reporting and hard facts, no matter the political implications. No drama, no obsession with the personalities of politicians. Opinion pieces are left in the opinion section, and are not strident or immature. I read the NYT and LAT when I want to see what the latest outrage is. I read the WSJ when I want the news. LAT and NYT function more akin to entertainment to me. Right wing news like Fox had shifted to entertainment strategies a while ago and now left wing media has followed suit. It's not information fatigue, it's outrage fatigue that's the bigger problem. Many once-great newspapers have turned into outrage machines, all trying to get the most clicks, just following the banal strategies of social media. There's actually a dearth of real information in most media now and instead it's emotion that's put at the forefront. The WSJ is the last refuge.
7
If you don’t trust the media, then get it directly from the 2 first hand witnesses testifying this week at the hearings. Really its not that hard to come to the conclusion that this is a textbook impeachment case.
7
this is largely true. for years I've kept abreast of pol news. within the past few months, I've started avoiding it
3
I am not numb by information saturation.
I am stunned that anyone would believe anything that comes out of Trump's mouth.
8
Trump is the master of confusion. He thrives on it as he commands a huge part of our daily lives no matter how one feels about him. He understands this type of authoritarian rule just like Putin, Kim Jong-Un and others. Wear down the public until everyone just gives up listening to all the nonsense and allows the autocrats that rule our live to do as they please. We then turn ourselves into another China or N. Korea or Russia. The 1% who rule us then can get whatever they desire and the voices of the few dissenters can easily be extinguished. At this point, humanity has lost it's soul.
4
The majority of NYC residents have always known what Donald Trump is. I have a relative who lives in Wisconsin that voted for Trump. Now he regrets voting for him with the excuse that he didn't realize what Trump is all about. I responded "I have lived in NYC for over 40 years. Did it ever occur to you to ask me about Donald Trump?" His response........crickets.
5
Let's start off easy. Don't believe the habitual liars (translation - Trump and the Rs that support him).
3
Why not have a few articles on the corruption of Trump and his offspring while his Trump Toadies in the GOP babble on routinely about General Bonespur's searchy for corruption in Helsinki.
Because simultaneously, a court of law in OUR country ruled that the Donald J. Trump Charitable Foundation was corrupt, and it involved not only Trump's little darlings, but Trump himself.
This is a newspaper. Expose them. Expose them WHILE the GOP is making nonsensical claims about Trump's motives. They are ridiculous and destructive. Uphold the truth and reveal ALL the news that is fit to print. Stop lobbing softballs.
2
The real problem with news in our nation is what they withhold; crimes committed by police which is a daily tragedy, images of our endless wars, white collar crime, etc..
Currently in the US there is NO reliable television news service they are slanted and on the take. For instance why why why every year we have to hear on every channel on every stupid morning show about the breaking news that Starbucks has pumpkin spice lattes???? How is that news? Why is that now considered news? Look at what is broadcast and ask yourself that question: why is this news? and you'd be surprised on just how much trivia our news channels broadcast.
3
Checking out, or tuning out is a cop out. This is our country, our values and the future for our children.
4
Believe the people who spent their lives serving their country, versus those who has gotten rich serving their own self interests their whole lives. Everyone else defending the bad guys are just spinning tales to confuse and divide. The question is if you believe the good guys, whay do you choose to do. That is the hard part, close one eye because it suits you? Or not.
2
This is disturbing, in the face of what Trump's done already. In other words, if the law and the Constitution aren't able to keep a rogue president in line and hold him to account, then the game is already over.
It's not a matter of differing opinions or perspectives; rather, it's the GOP and its attendant propagandists successfully throwing enough chaff up that people just tune out their illegal conduct, because thinking about it is somehow too hard.
That's a net win for the perpetrators, literally and figuratively. Pay attention, and vote out the GOP in 2020 and beyond, if nothing else.
4
Radical idea: what if journalists only interviewed people for facts, not opinions/spin? Chris Wallace gave Steve Scalise almost ten minutes of air time to spin, spin, spin on Fox. The story was covered as if Wallace did something good. He should have cut Scalise off at the first lie -- and every other spinner/mouthpiece should get the same from the media.
Those Americans who over- generalize about officeholders are just too lazy to bother spending some time learning about issues.
Walk into the homes of millions of Americans and see if there is a single book anywhere to be found. I've heard many people proudly claim that they have never read a book in their life.
For too many Americans, the most important news issue is who is competing in a WWF pay per view event on television. This mental laziness is a disgrace to every American, in and out of uniform, who ever fought to preserve or create our freedoms. There is no excuse for this "I'm too cool for school" attitude.
4
@rocky vermont Very well said, maybe my favorite comment of the day!
So, so difficult. Which is why we got Trump in the first place.
Ignorance is Bliss, and the USA is one of the most Blissful Countries on Earth, if only 20th as the Happiest Country on Earth.
3
What a testament to just how much reading and critical thinking ability has degraded in this country. Unbelievable.
1
"May 23, 1938 – The aim of education in the Third Reich and of the language of the Third Reich, is to expand the popular stratum in everyone to such an extent that the thinking stratum is suffocated."
"I Will Bear Witness, 1933-1945", Diary of Victor Klemperer
3
Our democracy is being dismantled day by day, and we can do nothing about it until November 2020. Until then, I can’t watch the train wreck.
1
I see it as the truth vs prejudiced beliefs. We can adjust our news input to our belief system.
For another take on "reality" in a time of media gone mad, I recommend reading Salman Rushdie's latest novel, "Quichotte." I think Rushdie is "back," with a novel worthy of his earlier "Midnight's Children" and "The Moor's Last Sigh." We are all becoming victims of mindless media, much as the 16th century Don Quijote who became obsessed with reading about chivalric knights. Of course, my recommendation does require that we actually read a 400-page novel cover to cover, something quite hard to do compared to checking out our smartphones (or responding to NYT columns!).
Because young people are never really taught how to think critically, and things like civics and the working of government have been pushed aside in schools, we are left with adults who do not understand the most basic functions of government.
Without the ability to think logically and rationally we end up with what we are seeing every day in cable television news and that's a standoff where people watch Fox and then MSNBC and throw their hands up in the air and give up. Unable to process fact from fiction these people resort to who knows what to determine the truth.
When Trump stood up at one of his rallies, looked out at a sea of faces of gullible people and claimed he "Loved the highly uneducated" he wasn't kidding around, he was serious. The sad thing is that those people didn't even realize he was telling many of them how clueless and willfully ignorant they really are.
1
I've tuned out the impeachment hearings because I firmly believe that nothing will come of it. Even if it did, the Menace would declare Marshall law and we'dstill be stuck with him. Depressing.
Martial, not Marshall.
1
Americans are lazy and a by-product has become stupidity. This has been a Russian intelligence operation that has been aided by people like Zuckerberg and Facebook. Anybody wondering what he talked to Trump about last month?
The next real President will have to deal with Russian Disinformation and the internet.
4
This is what socialist/communist Saul Alinsky's Rules for Societies is all about.
2
@E J Anderson
So you agree Trump is a Russian tool.
1
Opinion comes in versions; truth does not (unless we're dealing with quantum reality). There is one litmus test we can apply to this blizzard of verbiage that's accurate. It is this: Any public statement, vocal, written or tweeted by Mr. Trump is almost certainly false. You don't build a reputation for probity by racking up over 13,000 documentable public lies in three years. "Spin" may be omnipresent in Washington, but Trump is as constant as the north star--whatever he says is bull.
5
All one needs is a knowledge of American history, a moral compass and a belief in American ideals. Then watch the actual hearings. It is the most important event we may experience in our lifetime. Sadly - make that tragically - if enough people deny what Is happening in real time, we will experience a series of repercussions from which we may never heal.
The very soul of America (and the free world) is in dire jeopardy.
7
Demonstrated media literacy proficiency must be required to graduate high school and be admitted to college and the military.
4
I have retained my ability to absorb details and discern the truth from the Big Lie.
2
This is the outcome of the GOP noise machine. Overwhelm the public with a constant stream of innuendo so they become numb and stop paying attention. Trump, and his cult of enablers, has countered fact-based narrative with his barrage of lies, and slandered anyone with the temerity to call them lies. Add the packing of the courts to this and our future is truly bleak.
2
I get angry at our citizenry. The same folks who get apoplectic when someone does not stand for the anthem can’t be bothered to pay attention when our very democracy is at stake. We are a bunch of lazy, thoughtless zombies who want a watch a Disney Plus piece of garbage that we have seen hundreds of times rather than do our homework/duty as American Citizens. We stare at our phones, as we ignore a disintegrating world, as we mark time until we die. Such stupidity doesn’t deserve the Constitution nor does it deserve freedom; we are the problem, not the politicians or the media; we are the problem because we are too lazy to care, too lazy act, too lazy to stay informed.
17
The headline should read, “Uninformed people with no capacity for common sense or moral clarity are the marks for supervillain’s that now rule the world and The Times isn’t sure what side it’s on and God is dead.”
5
"Bwa-ha-ha-ha. Just as I intended." R. Ailes
9
This is exactly why the right gaslights.
9
"No one believes anything"
Exactly what Fox Propaganda has been trying to accomplish from day one. Please keep at it NY Times - you are more critical than ever.
19
This voter is not tuning out anything, not about the current administration, not about the impeachment, not about presidential hopefuls, not about the tumultuous state of affairs across the globe. This voter does not get me news through television. I get my news primarily through various papers - so please keep good journalism coming, NYTimes.
It's good for the brain to utilize your critical thinking skills to decipher what's true or not, instead of being mentally lazy through willful blindness.
7
I call it TMU - Too Much Ugliness. I’m highly educated but I’m burned out and depressed by all the ugliness in the news. Makes me hate humanity.
6
I guarantee you that those in power are counting on most people to throw up their hands in confusion and turn the whole thing off.
8
If the news part of Fox "News" and coverage by reliable media agree on a fact, it's probably true. If it's commentators commenting, or inflaming or spewing hatred, one will likely believe what one likely believed before s/he heard the commentary, no matter how true the comments are. And when the comments are diametrically opposed (i.e., typically), I'll believe the ones most directly aligned with those agreed-upon facts; also typically, those facts align more with CNN, MSNBC, the NYT and WaPo than with the hateful slurs coming from Fox, Newsmax, Breitbart, Salem, Sinclair, Epoch Times and the other right wing parrots.
2
These people who are tuning out because they don't have the "facts" - sorry they're just mindless. Trump handed the country his own indictment. The transcript of the July 25th call is clear. And I'm sorry, NY Times, but these kinds of articles really bug me. What's driving me crazy is that one day you publish an article about how people are energized, engaged and more involved than they have been in decades. Just as I'm starting to feel good about the future, you zap me with an article like this. Everyone I know is watching the impeachment hearings, everyone I know is going to work really hard to elect the Democratic nominee. So there's a slice of America you're not covering. Come visit my town. You'll find intelligent, engaged, politically active people. Those who aren't watching - if they're like the woman who can't get at the "facts," then they're hopeless, but this is not the behavior of "all" Americans. Please, stop with the broad brush level of reporting. You constantly do depressing articles on Trump voters and how they "feel" and why they're stupid enough to keep supporting Trump. You rarely do articles that are on the ground reporting about people who actually don't support Trump.
20
Mr. Trump is right, Fake News!
4
Conservatives tuning out means they can't handle the truth that their boy is going down.
6
@Murray Bolesta
I stopped listening to the evening news on television one year before Trump was elected. After Jane Pauley and the Dateline NBC rigged test, Dan Rather and then Brian Williams, and everyone in between, it was crystal clear the news folks lie for ratings. Simply not trustworthy.
One wonders whether they ever were and it was just not apparent. Actually, there is nothing to wonder about.
1
Sad to say, but for all the high brow posturing of this piece, this paper’s planned hatred of Trump puts it in a special category of fake.
7
@Bill Carson Explain.
2
@Bill Carson
Trump is a grossly morally deformed man of infantile character consumed with malice and vindictive rage, and lying constantly as a central part of how he controls situations. This is his lifelong pattern, observed in public for over half a century.
And you speak of "this paper's planned hatred"? Once again, we see the pathological process of projection at work.
Sorry Trumpers. I mostly believe the MSM. You know what I fully believe ? The exact opposite of the GOP and Trump-Fox propaganda. You have convinced me not to trust anything from 1600, at least until 2020
5
Fascism can’t be voted out of existence, it can only be driven out- with truth.
3
“‘No One Believes Anything.’”
Vladimir Putin is succeeding beyond his wildest dreams.
8
I am a confessed news junkie, currently in rehab.
My Grandfather, one of the Greatest generation, was the one that got me turned on to the news. He would start his day with his newspaper, then in the late afternoon with the locals, then the networks (he passed away before 24 hour news really hit), then at the end of the day, right before shower and bedtime, with a political book, would watch PBS Newshour. My family would laugh, oh there he is again, plugged into the news. In my naïveté, I asked “why all the different channels? It’s all the same” to which he replied “No. it’s not the same. They all spin it their own way, but it’s up to you to learn the truth”. I have lived by those words, sucking up just about everyone’s view.
I’ve gotten news everywhere from NYT, CNN, Facebook, the Intercept, Vanity Fair, and on and on. After the election, I entered news rehab; but it’s crept back in. I need to be informed, but now only with a few trusted sources.
I think back to my Papa, and what he would have thought about Trump (he would have despised him as the sham he is).
I think the 24 hour news cycle and social media are responsible for the blunting of human response to this very important moment in the world. Too much information for people who struggle with their own realities to navigate.
203
@Suzanne
"...it's up to you to learn the truth." That is the key to what's going on. I have yet to read a article in even the NY Times where the writer holds the public accountable for their laziness and lack of responsibility about where they put themselves with their beliefs. I am retired now, (74) probably about the age of your grandfather. I am very pessimistic with very little encouragement from fellow Americans as to what American will look like after five more years of Trump and his Party's attempts to threaten and destroy anyone who searches for truth based upon evidence and facts not the opposite.
Enjoy that San Diego sunshine.
12
@Gert Agreed. One has ask where the responsibility lies, with the media or the electorate? Deliberate falsehoods and willful ignorance play a significant role. In addition I'm not sure what constitutes a 'great swath' mentioned in the photo caption.
2
@Suzanne
I think the Trump phenomenon is an anomaly. I think once he's gone its done. Not immediately- there’ll be the malingerers hoping the party isn't over. But it will be. Its all about Trump, President tv personality, The Apprentice and his gold plated toilets, wives and offspring. Its make believe come to Washington.
No one can convince me any supporter truly believes this president is responsible for anything other than upsetting the spple cart snd nonstop TV watching and tweetIng.
After decades of undermining The public’s perception of media/press versity add to disgust with politics in general, this larger than life, orange man of no boundaries, willing to say anything that pops into his head - to a person who’s written off all of it - Trump’s genuine reveling in destroying it all is a tonic.
Thankfully, hes one in a gazillion.
2
I refuse to be resigned to cynicism or give up hope ever and believe this country is beyond redemption, but the warning signs are flashing all over that this country is on the way down. Ignorance, pride, arrogance — a truly unique and dangerous blend.
If we don’t enact systemic and profound change in the next decade, the American experiment will be over.
3
There is a risk that the coordinated campaign against Trump which seems to include the media as a whole , will start to feel somewhat desparate , hysterical and loose with the facts .
It will look like a politically motivated campaign attacking acts which shock no one who has followed the shenanigans of politicians over the years.
5
In a fog is exactly where Trump, the GOP, and their fellow travelers want the American people to be.
This article should terrify everyone reading it. It would terrify Hannah Arendt.
5
Bingo!
How could anyone discern the truth when every narrative - blue or red - is an exercise in meta-news, the kissing cousin of fake news.
Unlike fake news, meta-news is not sheer make-believe that claims to be primary facts; meta-news is stories about stories.
It matters not whether there is objective evidence that a high crime or misdemeanor took place - all this necessary for today's journalism is to report that someone else reported that something might be true.
There is no getting to the truth because no one's even looking any more.
4
More than 2500 years ago Aeschylus said, "In war, truth is the first casualty." Today, we are living in a war on truth itself.
275
@Charles Michener Look at any fascist society and you'll see the same thing.
How to get back on track? Every Democrat needs to do more than just vote: Get out the vote, talk to friends, colleagues, family, neighbors about what is at stake this time around. Trump is symptomatic of what we have to address, and if we choose to stick our head in the sand and just hope things go out way, this time the result will be unfixable. (If nothing else, global warming will be full blown world-wide crisis).
8
@Charles Michener Aeschylus said a lot of great things about war and truth, but that quotation is not his. Nor did he say anything resembling it. It's variously attributed to several others as well, but there is no clear originator.
This is a good example of what happens when we depend on sources online!
2
All anyone has to do is watch the hearings and listen to the testimony. The egregious behavior of this administration is obvious, and it's right there, in public hearings, for people to access. At this point, it's willful ignorance if you can't see that this administration's behavior toward Ukraine is indefensible.
13
How did interviews with a handful of people lead to the broad overstatement that people are tuning out?
This article seems narrowly reported, and the title is misleading and leads to the conclusion that the situation is futile, thus furthering this defeatist attitude seen so often in the NYTimes. This is not helpful.
7
Hard to believe anyone could possibly be confused. The facts seem crystal clear as to what’s been going in in the deceitful, corrupt world of Donald Trump. Only Fox News viewers are confused by the ongoing fantasy show they’re watching as facts are turned upside down.
9
If you’re so sure, you might need to take a step back.
The economy is too strong for American voters to care about nebulous crimes, especially when all politicians lie.
4
@MJG Don't be so sure about the economy. There are major rumblings of a housing crash and corrections in the markets.
All of it media right or left, continues twist and spin reality into something it isn't. I've stopped believing it. I still remember what it was like to get the facts and was allowed to make my own decisions. You can't expect people to act like trained monkey's forever. What is journalism going to do to fix itself?
Try as I may I can't worked up over Trump and Biden's corruption in the Ukraine but when I'm told they're our strategic partner that's a different story.
5
@JoeG
You speak of several different things. Let me address the bottom line. The truth is Trump committed a crime, in plain sight. Biden committed no crime and there is no evidence at all that he did, notwithstanding all the conspiracy theories, sarcasm, and spin of the right.
Real journalists try to get it right, try to catch errors and bias and weed them out of their reporting. The fake journalists are the ones who push an agenda with no ethics or professionalism about it -- it's just theatre. Real journalism doesn't need to fix itself. It does need to be able to help people distinguish itself from the deliberate liars but obviously people who recognize the need to monitor and control themselves are at a disadvantage vs. those who don't care.
All media does NOT try to twist and spin reality. That really is a specialty of the right wing Big Lie machine these days.
@bob
"All media does NOT try to twist and spin reality. That really is a specialty of the right wing Big Lie machine these days."
Does the name Amy Robach mean anything to you or the propaganda about climate change? How about he coronation of Clinton for 2016? The Kavanaugh hearings?
The difference between the Right and Left is the right is not as skilled at lying as the left.
1
I for one have found the public testimony riveting and interesting. If Americans would take the time to read something other than Fox News there has been a lot of really good, comprehensive analysis and background on the impeachment proceedings with a narrative of what exactly Trump did. It isn't complicated, the fact is he shook down a foreign government for personal/political gain. But I guess it may be too much to ask of my fellow Americans to use their minds and be informed. It's time they start while we still have a democracy to defend.
4
This is what we voted for. Get used to it.
@Steven T
I didn't vote for this. Like the majority of the electorate, I voted for Hillary Clinton only to have my vote thrown in the trash by the Electoral College.
5
Actually, “we” voted for something else, by almost 3 million more.
3
@Steven T
Electing a criminal is nothing anyone has to accept.
It is of vast importance that we all remember that one of the steps to dictatorship is to WEAR THE PEOPLE OUT. This is going as planned and we will soon be hammered by Barr's new campaign to further confuse. Stay clear headed, folks. Watch the evening news but do not get caught up in the 24 hour new shows that overstimulate and often can misinform in an attempt to fill those hours. Step back. Walk in the woods. Take deep breaths. Clarify your own beliefs. Do you believe everyone should walk around with a gun and baby should be snatched for it'd mother? Vote for GOP. Do you believe people should be paid a decent wage and have access to health care and education? Vote Democrat. Avoid 'news alerts' as they are merely attention getters. Take care and stay strong. We can do this.
2
Not quite the whole truth - as indicated in other articles of the NY Times - namely, that Fox News sustains a counter fantasy to the facts being given during this impeachment. Once America can cure itself of Fox News propaganda, it can begin to recognize some reality. The reason Trump is still in office is because he is sustained by Fox believers.
3
@1blueheron
Fox isn't any worse than the rest of them, it just doesn't comport with your perspective.
4
@1blueheron That's the argument of a Fox viewer. But in the end you will learn and find that Fox News will be corrected by the impeachment testimonies.
2
@Elizabeth Erwin
Fox is absolutely worse than the rest of them. It doesn't comport with the truth. And it doesn't even let the truth speak for itself, like the way it's crawl commented on the hearings last week.
Your flatly wrong comment is exactly the problem this analysis is about.
2
Roger Stone nailed it. 'No one cares'.
3
Watch the hearings on CSPAN. No spin.
"No one believes anything" - Mostly by Fox viewers who can't tell fact from fiction. Thank God for companies that feed into this ignorance with their ad dollars.
1
All this insanity brings to mind the spiritual concept of maya as illusion. We humans will continue to fight and squabble, insisting this is true, this is real, I am right, you are wrong, in an ever increasing frenzy, as the universe laughs at our folly and nature nods knowingly, astounded at our arrogance on this planet.
1
If you asked citizens of the Soviet Union shortly before it fell, they would give similar answers.
3
@Canadian Roy
Spoken like somebody who's never set foot in the country.
Care to opine what it's like in Cuba or Somalia? Or anywhere else outside your self-congratulatory bubble?
1
Impeachment Inquiry for Dummies: If a career diplomat with years of honorable service to our country testifies under oath, believe him/her. Anything that comes from the White House or the GOP, don’t believe it.
6
The impeachment process is playing out exactly as the founders designed. Trump, before the 2018 midterms, predicted he would be impeached if the democrats won the house. The people spoke, the democrats won the house, and Trump's prediction came true. It took the whistleblower (the people) to turn the tide, and get it rolling.
Republicans can't say democrats are trying to overturn the 2016 election, as the republicans are trying to overturn the 2018 election.
1
As a teenager, I was riveted by the Impeachment hearings of Nixon. He covered up a crime. The crime never should have occurred to begin with, because he would have won the election in a landslide anyway. But, his fundamental nature set his course. With Clinton, I was interested, thought that impeachment was appropriate but removal not. With Trump, we have someone who has never respected laws our institutions of this country. It's a classic case of familiarity with NY politics in the 70's breeding everlasting contempt. However, when all is said and done with these impeachment hearings I think it will become clear that Trump violated the laws, the violation was significant, and impeachment is warranted as is removal. Give the American public the time to see that play out. It's early days yet.
1
When my husband isn’t listening, it’s the best time to institute new furniture. Put through Medicare for All, and they’ll never notice!
The real culprit is the profit motive, which leads to hiring pundit after pundit, because they are a lot cheaper than staffing news bureaus and hiring reporters. And so whatever news there was left to report was drowned in a sea of opinion, with each company competing to see who could be the most outrageous and thus draw the most ears and eyeballs to their advertisers.
The answer to this is public radio and television, and I choose the CBC from Canada and the BBC from Britain, both able to cover American news and yet remain at a healthy distance from it.
Trump didn't initiate the notion of politicians lying to the public -- he merely refined it to a remarkable degree. And with a voracious media starving daily for an audience, whether right or left we lap up reports about everything he does or doesn't do or say. Or, we tune out because we're overwhelmed, in a nod to self-preservation. I watch CNN, but as a devout Democrat (leaning independent more and more) I am stunned by repetitive coverage of all things Trump, wondering, What else is there in the world?!
It's inevitable that "truth" and "facts" have become less objective, clearcut, or agreed-upon. The internet, globalism, and access to a multitude of perspectives have made a single vantage point far less feasible. But what's so discombobulating is that even a simple fact is lied about, twisted out of shape, and made into the pretzel of choice by those deliberately misleading us. Intent means everything. And malice on the part of elected officials is pretty much conspiratorial.
If we quit paying attention to malice, intentional and constant lies, and the desire to shape public opinion to sinister ends, however -- well, we have the end of democracy and freedom. And we're pretty close right now,.
Not surprising. In 1974, this country had a media that prided itself on fundamental honesty. And we all know that "facts have a well known liberal bias". This appetite for news that reinforces one"s prejudices was noted and mined by Murdoch and Ailes. Thus, Fox News. Sadly, a considerable part of the electorate still believes in the kind of media honesty that existed a half-century ago. It's no wonder people are confused. If they are, Murdoch and Ailes have done their job.
When some media give majority or a false equivalence to lies and/or repetition of misinformation by multiple talking heads, they also actively support disinformation that creates a situation in which Americans aren’t sure what to believe.
How does having multiple paid staff repeating the same lies, clarify this situation? How does flooding 80% of media coverage with the same lies, support understanding the facts? How is spinning a constitutional argument into soap opera, different from disinformation?
With very passing day, we spend more of our ever=shrinking carbon budget, and more at an ever-increasing rate. Few pay any attention to that, either, and that's far more serious than the impeachment proceedings.
With every passing day, yet more R&D into hypersonic nuclear weapons proceeds, along with the hundreds of billions being spent here and around the world on new nukes of all kinds, including smaller ones (how convenient for future terror groups!). Few pay any attention to that, either, and that's far more serious than the impeachment proceedings.
With every passing day, antibiotics' effectiveness is running out and we're losing that arms race with bacteria. Few pay any attention to that, either, and that's far more serious than the impeachment proceedings.
With every passing day, ever-more-unchecked development threatens to connect pools of potentially pandemic diseases, both known and unknown, to the global system. Few pay any attention to that, either, and that's far more serious than the impeachment proceedings.
With every passing day, both commerce and governments find new ways to devote ever-increasing computing power to the surveillance of, soon, every human being on the planet. For power and profit. Few pay any attention to that, either, and that's far more serious than the impeachment proceedings.
Get the point? If we don't pay attention to that stuff, and do something about them, we're finished.
But we can't hack an impeachment.
1
It's not that hard to know the basics. In fact if one wants the truth here is a simple guide. If Trump says it or tweets it, it's not true.
1
Let's regroup with clear thinking in 2020. Let's judge politicians by the content of their character. Honesty, integrity, and leadership are three of the most important characteristics we need ASAP.
This is good news. The perfect antidote to manufactured outrage on both sides is exhaustion. Mental exhaustion makes mass civil unrest less likely. Unfortunately it can also depress turnout. But this is the kind of atmosphere where a candidate with calm, hopeful, simple common sense and compassionate message can break through.
1
"In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality, was tacitly denied by their philosophy... And what was terrifying was ... that they might be right. For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable – what then?"
George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four
I have to completely disagree with this headline and story.
I, and many others like me, believe in the rule of law and the constitution of the United States.
I ,and many others like me, believe that the president broke the law (attempting a crime is still a crime), and, that some in congress are shirking their duty to the constitution.
These hearings are not about whom to pick for president in the next election, nor are they here to entertain us. They are about the future of our democracy, and they are history in the making.
The hearings are fascinating. Watch them live, record them to watch later. Forgo the spin, and make up your own mind —we are capable of figuring out the truth.
Democracy is a contact sport my fellow Americans. Take the ball from the politicos, pundits, and the media, and run with it!
When I want entertainment, I turn to sports or movies. When I want a circus, I wait until one comes to town. When I want government to do what it's supposed to do, I don't know where to turn. Main stream media has turned what used to be news into a circus at best and a comic tragedy. Way too many politicians, AKA pseudo rock stars, crave the attention now bestowed on them and forget that we elected them to pass laws for the benefit of the country.
2
Although the thrust of the argument here is that people are overwhelmed and exhausted (and skeptical) of the news, to suggest no one is watching the impeachment inquiry live in the tagline of this article is very discouraging, and suggests that is the truth, when it is not for this reader, nor is it, I am sure, for like-minded folks. (Moreover, there is no statistic given to support this claim.) I found this blurb alone, below the title of the article to be very misleading and almost a subliminal way of aiding and abetting the problem of people "tuning out." (i.e. I am just like everyone else, so why pay attention.) I believe it is every citizen's job to be paying close attention to finding the truth, no matter how arduous that may be at times. If anything, watch the testimonials if you can, if your job and time allows for that. That is one way of getting a much better sense of things, to be sure--looking at primary sources, as it were.
I'm inclined to think that those who complain that they just don't know what to believe i.e., 'so much fake news' don't take the time to know what to believe and are Republicans. I wish Pew could comment on that but those same folks either don't know about Pew research or dismiss it as fake. 'Fake News' has come to mean 'I don't agree'.
1
Perhaps the most important political event of their lives, but it's just too hard to pay attention. They might have to think.
1
"No one believes anything." There is good reason for that. Since I am old enough to remember LBJ lying on TV virtually every night during Vietnam, I am somewhat astounded at the number of people who believe government officials when they say anything.
2
The idea of critical evaluation of information has left the minds many years ago. Instead of asking who, why, any benefit to the source kind of questions, most, darn close to all voters prefer confirmation bias and listen to the sources that repeat their own beliefs and thoughts.
The hearings produce and present an avalanche of information that comes in our direction with no easy way to store and refer back to it later on. Even then, most listeners use some very questionable terms like "treason, illegal, corruption, ..." without having any legal bases for the terms of how to tie them to the flood of a narrative. Ultimately, they, we, choose someone to trust and accept his or her conclusion as the ultimate answer without asking the same kind of critical evaluation questions.
The ability of the human mind to process information must diminish as the amount and the speed of information increase. It was much easier to follow the news and ponder upon them, without missing the next wave in the era of newspapers and evening news. Instead of being an avalanche, they came like snowflakes, a few at a time.
The so-called social media added an earthquake to the avalanche of snow coming down the mountainside. We need to learn to slow down, ask the same critical questions, ponder on the accuracy and validity of the information then reach a conclusion. And, most importantly, we must accept the fact that our conclusion may be wrong!
I have a self-imposed 12-hour news cycle which cuts out a lot of the "gossip."
I take a few minutes to glance over the headlines and will read those that merit my attention.
Then at the end of the day I check to see what developed over the previous 12 hours. I found out that not much does change in a day.
One unintended consequence: I have developed an interest in entertainment news.
C-Span is a great option for seeing governmental actions in real time generally without spin. Our democracy is on the line with the pervasive abject corruption in the White House and most Senate Republicans. We can’t give ourselves a pass by concluding it’s too much to figure out.
It is not difficult to follow that Trump did indeed withhold, for his own personal, political gain, funds Congress had already approved for Ukraine to help defend again Russia. The Russian government is not an ally, it’s an enemy of what we hold dear about our democracy, values and way of life. Ukraine is our ally. Weakening Ukraine strengthens Russia. It doesn’t exonerate Trump that he eventually released the funds, months later and after the whistleblower raised concerns. He and Giuliani also tried to get Ukraine to accept the blame for Russia’s meddling in our 2016 presidential election, as Putin had tried to do to deflect the real blame from him.
We have a corrupt President, and we must not as citizens ignore the shame and indeed horror of his multitude of high crimes and misdemeanors.
We need more reporting on why Trump is at the beck and call of Putin, which seems to be a key driver in the crimes being committed to further Russia’s interests and Trump’s interests, not those of the United States.
I have ample time to read all about it, but I don't as I don't have an endless supply of emotional juice to expend. I am tapped out. I came to the conclusion before the election that Trump was a dangerous person and that opinion has only been reinforced by the facts. Yes, my friend, facts do exist.
This headline from my experience is a gross over statement and /or mis- statement.
Most everyone I encounter from doctor office admin staff, in Santa Monica to family and friends in Wisconsin are paying attention to impeachment hearings.
We have a re-engaged civic and activist citizenry throughout the country, and women are changing the face of politics.
All one need do to stay informed is check in twice a day - most of what’s in the middle is repetition . And the hearings are available at your convenience, anytime on your cellphone, on c-span.
The cup is half full these days in comparison to decades of real apathy and complacency pre- trump. He has frightened the bejesus out of democrats, independents, and republicans too.
1
Yes, CNN and MSNBC have been clearly biased against Trump, starting day one of his presidency. However, Trump has done nothing to assuage and appeal to anyone but his most fervent supporters, most who have been consuming large amounts of FOX prime time infotainment and other conservative commentary for years. It has been said many times before, but thanks to the media divide, politics have turned into a daily/nightly sporting event, my team vs. your team with no comprise. This started long before Trump, but hopefully soon it will reach its peak, and our country will start rejecting divisive programming, and understand that both sides having something good to offer.
2
We have moved from astonishment at Trump’s outrageous behavior to just not being aware of how he is tearing us into pieces. We no longer can tolerate fact from opinion. News tv fills endless hours retelling old news until the next news ‘something’ comes along.
When it gets to the point that the ads on tv are a welcome relief from the constant droning repetition of just opinions, things have really gotten bad.
The majority of the people I have encountered in my admittedly very limited circle that have 'tuned out' are nearly universally current or past trump supporters and republicans who would rather feign ignorance than deal with their previous positions.
Like the Republican Senators and Congressman, Will Hurt is an example, who one can see know, truly know, how awful this presidency is for America, yet they fill the air with bombast about all sorts of things save for the issue at hand. They are there to pledge loyalty to Party and so ignore any facts.
The moderators are not journalists in the vein of what existed during Watergate, instead they are corporate cogs. Their questioning, when they push back, must then be met with equal pushback to anyone that appears next on air, so has to give the semblance of 'fair and balanced'. It never occurs to hosts that sometimes there truly is only one side - truth. Pelosi has done an admirable job of shutting down some of the questions that are merely talking points of the right, and she has been applauded for it.
Yes it is confusing our there, and yes there is much distortion, but we citizens have an obligation to be informed and not just quit. It is our responsibility to our democracy. If we do not use it wisely we will lose it.
1
Is this the result of the decline of teaching critical thinking in school? Or have children been too lazy to learn this important skill in school and apply it as adults? Or have parents been too lazy and distracted to make their children apply themselves with their education?
It seems as though a few decades of bad parenting is coming home to roost in this country. If you're not willing or able to take on this critical responsibility of being a parent, why have children?
2
If you don't believe the news, look at what the president DOES.
* Left and right surely can agree that disparaging _his_ Ambassador to another country's leader is clearly wrong. Ditto threatening her under any circumstances.
* Can we not agree that tweeting during her testimony was mean and childish, and only underlined her dignity and his weakness?
* Can anyone justify this draft-dodger's intervention in the sentences and trial of three American military men over the disapproval of military lawyers and advisers?
Thank you.
Harriet
What has made me a sane, compassionate adult is to truly accept that I live in a world WITH other people, that my views aren't omnipotent, and that I am often mistaken when I judge others hastily.
It is hard to live up to this code of conduct, and be an adult, when I read things, daily, that suggest that the people I disagree with are totally and completely unhinged. How do I live up to my standards of understanding when it seems that a vast majority of people on the right have sold their souls for the sake of "winning?"
I am absolutely not positing a "both-sides have points" debate. I don't believe that is the case. But my sense of reality is being challenged every day and it seems like I'm living in a never ending, "to be continued next week" limbo.
If the New York Times and other outlets on the left are simply stoking partisan rage to sell papers (like the propaganda spewing Fox News), I don't know how we will ever recover as a society.
When they’re not watching, could someone institute Medicare for All?
If Americans (and in fact, many Europeans) don't find their news outlets credible, perhaps those news outlets need to do some serious soul searching.
At a minimum, the electorate needs news that is largely cleansed of hyperbole, especially when that news outlet is using it's staid reputation in order to convince readers that it only presents vetted and verified information.
1
Trump is showing us the holes in our system and I believe it is very important for all of us to pay attention, understand what has and is been going on and why this impeachment process is necessary. Foreign involvement in our elections is not good and it is my feeling that there was not enough uproar over that aspect of the Mueller report and the fact that several of Trumps peeps are in jail. Find a way to at least get the facts and make it a priority to vote. The government should be working for us but if we don't show up or don't care, then it will see that as a tacit consent (more than it does.)
It’s interesting to see the phenomenon expressed formally, but this is hardly news. First, the people who get their “news” off dubious social media accounts are hopeless, anyway. They are the same people who in another age would be voting based off a conspiracy theory they heard in a bar. It’s a nice straw man when things don’t turn out the way you want, but it’s not the problem.
The problem is partisan news media. Any of us who do read the news from multiple sources can accurately predict the tone if not the actual coverage itself from each outlet before it comes out. Of course, after a while you lose credibility.
Also, people don’t understand that a lot of these outlets are publicly traded companies. They exist to make money. That is their only reason to exist, by their bylaws, to raise their stock price. So when that cable news anchor is saying something is outrageous and pounding their desk it’s not because it is, in fact, outrageous. It’s because more people tune in. Heros and heels, WWE style, that’s what we’ve become.
Let’s take this impeachment. It’s problematic. I know Fox News is going to take that angle. The problem is that virtually none, if any, of the left-leaning sources will acknowledge that. So, yes, it’s confusing. I’m sure someone well-informed and on the ground could sum up the situation clearly and concisely in 1,000 words. But no one wants to because the truth is ugly.
3
These headlines frustrate me so badly. I am a voter and I'm not weary. I'm a voter and I want to hear all the information. I'm not tuning it out. How can we at this point?! The fate of the nation hangs in the balance. What voters are they talking about? Because I'm a voter and every headline I see about voters doesn't describe me at all. Exactly who are we talking about? And are we sure they actually vote?
2
First, credit when it’s due. Thanks, NYT for this article. When CNN was founded in the 80s, I imagine it was true to its mission of providing the public 24 hour news. My, has it all changed. Personally, I’ve always been a news consumer. But, frankly, I’m not sure that what I’m watching anymore. The news networks clearly generate more viewership and revenue by stirring things up and providing political entertainment. This feeds predispositions more than helping us inform or evolve positions. I find a set of reporters and programs that traverse networks and print. I read provocative articles with substance from either side. And I try to make up my own mind. I avoid Hannity and Maddow (I already know where they’re coming from.). And because it isn’t the news, or someone’s version of the news, I sometimes have to shut the whole thing off. The most annoying part is the whining and grunting from CNN. (I’ve already shut down msnbc’s Mika and Joe.). It like sitting with a group of snoots in a junior high cafeteria. It is sad because my assumption that intelligent people could sit down and find solutions and compromises for nearly any problem is slipping away. I think this is becoming less likely everyday because people just can’t see past the fury.
Maybe we need the next CNN. A new vision that’s old again.
3
We may be burned out on the culture wars. Most people can and do think and most can tell who's lying. I guess conflict 'sells newspapers' as they used to say, so the one between liberals and conservatives gets lots of attention. Now it sells whole news networks. It is easier to detach from print. TV is so mesmerizing that people are transfixed. Nice to learn there's a trend in which people refuse to be 'news' zombies.
It was fun to see the impeachment hearings, a real event, but I tuned out most of the blather about them. I did read this article, wondering if it would show that the mind numbing process had worked, but I don't think that is the story. People haven't lost interest in reality or lost the ability to discern fact from fiction despite all the efforts to confuse the two. Seems to me the people in the article are just sick of being subjected to that effort.
Did read some coverage about the hearings, and one piece, Poniewozik in this paper about how the hearings--reality--failed as reality TV, was quite funny. The zombies felt frustrated.
1
Let's take one example here as someone succumbing to info fatigue that shouldn't be so fatiguing:
This article quotes a Mr. Memory and he says this about recent crowd responses to Trump in Public (in quotes):
“I don’t think things are fake, they’re just one-sided,” said Mr. Memory, 37. “Both things happened. He got booed and he got cheered. But one of them will be a much bigger story. That’s what bothers me.”
The booing he refers to was at the Nationals game of course - and the cheering was at a Trump rally in Alabama. And it is the booing that he believes will be the bigger story and shouldn't be.
But let me offer; the booing was a surprise visit to a public event about something not Trump related. So the crowd was being their version of authentic. The Alabama event was a staged rally for Trump, not quite so authentic as a "public" event. Yes they were authentically enthused by Trump but it is not news anymore than hearing that music act got applause at a concert. The Nationals game booing toward Trump was news.
Do we not see the difference?
If we don't see the difference in those two things than that is a problem.
2
Perhaps late is better than never. Welcome to the club, everybody!
With the exception of cursory reviews of headlines, looking for actual "news", I stopped purposely watching all TV "news" and stopped patronizing "news" papers in 2001: nearly every outlet, both national and local, carrying almost exactly the same stories while neglecting genuine news for the sake of their agendas.
Generally, the mainstream isn't worth the paper or the electrons on which it rides.
1
As with so much else in our divided country and media landscape, there are two distinct - and contrasting - versions of this sense of news exhaustion/skepticism/tune-out: those who claim they don't know what facts to trust (generally Republican supporters who take refuge in the false narrative that ALL sources engage in partisan disinformation) and those who are genuinely tired of sorting the overload and depressed by the sense that having the facts right (for example, the obvious smoking gun facts in the Ukraine matter) doesn't seem to change outcomes. When the truth is spoken and it doesn't make a difference, something in your heart goes cold.
But you find a way to keep informed and to keep caring. Falling for the false idea that all news is partisan spin means falling for the Republican narrative that it's ALL "Fake News".
No, Virginia, there is a difference between propaganda and fact.
The New York Times is a good example of news one can often trust.
Occasional news fasts are a good idea in the age of information overload, but keeping up with essentials and distinguishing truth from lies remains a duty of decent grown-up citizens; and it really isn't so hard to distinguish.
Climate change, anyone?
1
Trump's inability/unwillingness to distinguish between "objective truth" (recognizing that's a highly problematic concept considering what we take for "objective truth" is inevitably shaped by its source and further reshaped by its receiver) from what serves his political aims is central to the fog that's enveloped the nation. No less at fault are newspapers of record -- like "The New York Times" and the "Washington Post" -- which have explicitly declared war on a President they detest. The "Post" goes so far to have a motto -- "Truth Dies in the Dark" -- which attests to the fact that it's a propaganda sheet. The largest single distorting lens associated with the media is the disappearance of the line between news coverage and editorial comment. It's been erased. This development is far more dangerous than the malign influence of social media. Most readers approach social media with a higher degree of skepticism than they do the "Times" or "WAPO." But opinion masquerading as news is a much more insidious source of distortion and a far more effective medium of propaganda than the assertions made on media without the same provenance. The result: while few take the President at his word --- the sources that should counterbalance that are frequently suspect as well. Just count the number of liberal/left opinion writers at the "Times" as opposed to those on the right. The sheer imbalance further distorts.
2
You are tired because you have been handed work that used to be many someone's sole jobs. When I was a child, I was fascinated by the AP and UPI teletype machines at my father's newspaper job, unrelentingly churning out undifferentiated news stories of all kinds, from waterskiing squirrels to Presidential resignations. While every person in that room spent 8+ hours a day listening to it bang away, today, you are trapped 24/7 with the digital equivalent following you everywhere you go. In the past, people consumed curated news at discrete times- morning paper, evening news, weekend in-depth coverage. It was not a steady diet of force-fed raw information- not even for a newspaper "man" like my dad who worked long hours, but came home and turned it off. There's nothing new about a news source having a "spin," what is new for us is the impact of external sources and their accomplices on the highly partisan right trading in lies, conspiracy theories and propaganda which command equal attention with good-faith reporting because of the device in your hand. If you're tired, it's because we are at war and it turns out that psychological warfare is exhausting.
It isn't too difficult to determine that Trump is guilty as sin, whatever obfuscation is thrown around.
Ever since 1972, when I voted for president for the first time, I've been a political junkie, but count me among those have become burnt out. While I still trust most "legacy media" like the Times, three years of Donald Trump and a race for the Democratic nomination that seems to have begun the day after Clinton lost has worn me out. I don't blame the media for reporters doing their job; I'm just tired of reading about it.
Democracy is never easy---it demands an informed electorate who pulls itself away from Netflix, reality TV, the games of the week, fantasy football, to engage in a process requiring the ability to ferret out truth from lies. Let's be honest, our electorate has become lazy--throwing up their hands at a process that goes to the very core of the Constitutional checks and balances. What worries me most, is Trump's behavior and actions in the Ukraine really does not require high levels of critical thinking---Trump is incapable of any form of sophisticated sleight of hand. He is up and close and personal about crossing ethical, moral, and legal boundaries. I have little respect for those who turn off the testimony of a William Taylor and turn on Disney Plus---which, of course, is what all of forefathers feared most about turning democracy over to the mob.
To Mr. Memory - One house catches fire. Another house doesn't catch fire. "Both things happened. . . . But one will be a much bigger story." It happens all the time. Get over it.
I am one of the millions tuning all of this out. Don't watch it or listen to it. With all of Pres.Trumps many faults, I also believe, along with many I know, that since the 2016 election, Dems have been plotting and trying everything to impeach him. So tired of this routine. Nancy Pelosi can blah blah blah herself to infinity. I view her and her socialists as the future demise of this government.
7
@Second Chance
They've been trying to impeach him because he's a criminal, is unable to fulfill his oath of office, and doesn't even think it matters. Calling her a socialist is just infantile name-calling.
@Second Chance interesting you throwing out Socialism. Democratic Socialism is not the same as Socialism. But you would know that if you actually did your research
My suggestion if you have the time, is to shut off the news and listen carefully to the hearings. Go to the source. You'll be hearing the same testimony that the Senate will be hearing, and deliberating the truth, just as they will be asked to.
This is a very high stakes election for our country and the planet. Do your homework.
7
I just saw a CBS feed of the Russian State TV coverage of the impeachment. It was like watching FOX news. The Russians are repeating Republican talking points. The Republicans are repeating Russian talking points. The party of "Mr Gorbatchov, tear down this wall" is gone.
7
We know plenty about the unfit President in the White House.
He was up to 13,000 verifiable lies ( it has to be an even larger number now)
He has increased polarization in our country with his xenophobic and racist comments
He has incarcerated children in cages
He has abandoned our allies and those such as the Kurds who have fought with us and died for us
He has abandoned American policy and sided with Putin at every turn making Russia great again
He has threatened everyone who criticizes him or attempts to bring into the light his back channels
He has trampled the Constitution of the United States
I
What more facts do people need.t is mind blowing
What more facts do people need for them to realize our democracy, our values are at stake.
3
People who are too lazy to keep up are the problem. These people want something for nothing, no effort on their part. I hope that uninformed people stay home.. doing something stupid and ignorant and uninformed is worse than doing nothing at all.
People should care more for what is going on in their own country. They don't have time for important things, but can keep up with the Kardashians. SAD.
5
I’m a news junkie. It’s embarrassing but true. But of late my fix no longer provides as much pleasure. I still check lots of news sites and find much of it interesting and informative. But the impeachment has now become boring, even depressing. Senator McConnell has ruined the ending of what was already a bad movie. I’ve learned some new things and that’s good. But I’ve also been further enlightened about the shameless corruption of our elected officials and the astonishing ignorance of many of the voters who selected them.
Oh well, on to Der Spiegel in English. I hope they don’t lead with impeachment.
3
Chaos has been the prerogative of Trump administration since day one. This country is slipping even further in a situation where disorientation is considered the new normal, by design. People still doubting about Russia attack to subvert American democracy is or naive or accomplice of this horror.
3
When it comes to the good old fashioned print news on paper or the on-line form, far too many Americans don't distinguish between what is indeed hard news and what is opinion.
When it comes to those receiving all their news from their television, it's even more confusing.
Statistic after statistics have proven that those not receiving the news on television at all but by reading, are much better informed in all subject, by they politics, art and even religion than those receiving theirs through their tele.
4
“I just don’t know what to think. You would have to know the facts, and I don’t know that I’m getting the facts from the media right now.”
I share a similar sense with that notion from time to time except I would venture to say that I often question the accuracy of the information which I am reading or hearing.
I realize much of the intel being printed comes from various sources and individuals.
The major difference I've seen in the past few years is the bold face lies and fantasy information which is being printed from other less than credible news sources.
Exaggeration is one thing, flat out lying is something else.
I always trusted Brian Williams until I couldn't because of his various "missteps" in reporting news stories.
Trust is the foundation of everything. Once that has been compromised or broken, it's difficult to ever fully trust or believe in that individual or news source again.
3
I share your confusion at time. It is hard to tell the truth of rom fiction, but when you hear something pushed by what you know is a fringe news source that doesn’t sound credible and then it is repeated by “mainstream” news source like Fox and Friends, you can bet it is either a lie or a less than credible piece of news.
1
I belong to a good size group of retirees who read books and discuss world events. We're following closely as are many people I know otherwise. If there is any truth to this assertion then shame on those Americans.
2
ALL news organizations are relentlessly "spinning" for their "side" -- MSNBC and CNN are just as guilty as Fox. The resulting politics fatigue is exactly why many progressives oppose impeachment and favor instead presenting voters with a clear, forthright progressive counteragenda to the Republicans' far right authoritarianism. But Democratic leaders terrified of offending are instead doing everything possible to tamp down policy and ideological debate to make the election all about Trump. That is exactly what he wants and may be political suicide.
Obama's recent, misguided "warning" not to stray too far from the center is only part of a larger pattern; look no further than their passage in the House last July of their signature Raise the Wage Act. Merely symbolic as it won't get past the Senate or be signed by Trump anyway, it was nevertheless so watered down due to neoliberal centrist angst by delayed implementation until 2025 (?!) and an attached mandated study on its impact on jobs (and no, that wasn't a Republican rider that somehow sneaked through) that the whole enterprise fairly screamed "We don't really believe in what we are espousing! We're just messaging, don't worry!"
The media's presentation of lies and spin under the guise of "airing both sides" is one reason America at large is tuning out impeachment and why these hearings may well end up helping rather than hurting Trump.
2
Just what the GOP wants.
4
My sister works for a local newspaper and recently shared the following: "Print journalism has zero interest in publishing information that is factually incorrect, if they did they would go out of business"
Editorial bias surely influences how news is reported (front page story or buried in the back) but it doesn't change facts. Just try listing the "top ten" fake news stories of 2019 reported in print journalism.
Put down your phone, turn off the TV and pick up a newspaper.
5
@Tom
They can’t afford it!
After three years of harassment and intimidation of Trump, and claims about things he has done that are embraced by the media and then suddenly dropped, I am worn out. When I heard Pelosi talk about it I thought that she should have said “We thought that we could connect Trump with wrong-doing several times in the past three years but our attempts fizzed out. But this time I think we finally got him”. It’s all a lot less interesting than “I did not have sex with Monica Lewinsky” and semen on her dress.
4
@John Bowman
And infinitely more important.
1
Ignore CNN pundits Faux pundits and MSNBC pundits et al and watch the hearings which do not need interpetion to be understood. Can't watch? Read the NYT annotated article about the hearings. The worn out folks are the folks who tune in to the yakkety yak talking heads.
Step back in time to the half hour national news and the News Paper; not nearly so tiresome.
1
That's the playbook: Wear us down with lies and doubt. How can you not be numbed by this horrible circus being ringmastered by you know who? Most people work and have lives, but deep down they know who the liars and crooks are. The question is, do they care? If not, they will.
5
What is so hard for the GOP supporters to believe there leader is a traitor and criminal. Last week 6 of Trumps aids were convicted of collusion with Russia to steal the election from us Dems. There was intense investigations and it all led to Trump. The GOP should not be allowed to vote if they can’t see the criminality there Trump is all about. Very sad.
2
Hmm, I wonder what leftists will believe after high Obama officials are charged with serious crimes over the next few months.
2
@Bill Carson
Hmm They are fake charges from a desperate group you support. At least President Obama was trying to save our climate from you shameful climate deniers. We need to end the corrupt electoral college and fast.
Tuning it all out is just what Republicans are hoping for.
The more apathy the better. Don't look here, look there. Or even better don't look at all.
4
You need to be "informed" to be informed. A modicum of historical and political literacy is needed to apply the sniff test to "information" and "issues", and most Americans lack that kind of knowledge. They may be professional and well trained, but not really educated. If they are young and do not have experience, they have no tools at all for triage of the "news" glut in order to make sense of this mess. "The Age of American Unreason" by Susan Jacoby outlined the dimensions of the dumbing down of America back in 2008. It had everything in it but Trump, and his advent completed the Dunning-Kruger circle of ignorance. Let us hope that enough salient fact floats to the surface so that people's comon decency is engaged when it is time to vote, or the Republic will be history.
1
As long as we're living in a loopy society, let's not forget the words of the philosopher George Costanza. "Remember, it's not a lie if you believe it."
4
"America isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You got to want it bad cause it's gonna put up a fight".
Wish folks would remember that,
6
Just what the Republicans wanted, to sow doubt and confusion with their non stop lies.
2
Fox News, Breitbart, Info Wars, Rush Limbaugh, NewsMax, and 4Chan are all propaganda mills of the far right. Am I supposed to waste my time carefully digesting and considering their spew? Please.
In some respect the mainstream media is responsible for today's seeming inability of people to gauge reliable news sources. They played the “fair and balanced” game, where so called opposing views were given equal credence. Lacking the spine to stick to reality, facts and truth; the networks and major print media effectively began to undermine their own credibility.
We Americans are too fearful to deal with real pending crisis and reality. Even after 9/11 our then leader told us to go out and shop rather than focus on evaluating the causes of and the right actions to deal with it.
The nation today is facing several genuine and looming and complex crisis that respected experts, authors and academics see as threatening to the nation and our future. Failure as citizens to face, these realities means that our Democracy will very likely go out with a whimper, handing our future and that of our children to greedy and sociopathic authoritarians and oligarchs.
Life and the problems it presents today are complex, there are very few absolute truths or certainties. If we want a Democracy to exist time must be devoted to the often challenging business of understanding what it will mean to you and future generations.
1
To those people who claim that they are confused by the media and need to know the "facts" I would ask, then why not watch the hearings and decide for yourself?.
4
@LeeBee
Anyone who's watched the hearings know that facts are in very short supply there.
They do ask a lot about people's feelings, though. Learned ambassadors who've dealt with Somali war lords are "devastated" and "intimidated" by mean tweets. Fantastical, indeed.
1
The tone of the article is very general and based on selective evidence. No one expects the Alt-right, racists and ultra nationalist minds to be changed by watching the impeachment hearings. Trump is their conduit to achieving their hate goals. There will be another segment of the population who don’t pay attention to politics of any kind, period. But, many voters are engaged as Louisiana’s and Kentucky’s gubernatorial elections demonstrate.
3
Trump measures success by the amount of attention given him by the media, not whether it's flattering.
Trumpleskiltson spins attention in to revenue for the media. This is the alchemy of the devils bargain.
The press signed on starting when the birther hoax was given enough oxygen to get his balloon off the ground in the first place.
His popularity is directly increased by stoking controversy in exchange for clicks and eyeballs, boosting TV ratings and newspaper subscriptions.
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My problem with the Media can be illustrated by the reporting in Syria;
Typically NPR flies one of their reporters to Jordan or to Turkey where hours later, they give a breathless account of an atrocity in Homs or suchlike. The same report shows up in the NYT, WaPo, Fox, etc.
So far as I know NPR etc. have no reporters on the ground in Homs but there are dozens of natives in Homs, each a partisan broadcasting his party line on the internet. Someone in the headquarters of NPR etc., (and hopefully the reporters who went to a nearby country) see the various partisan accounts and has to decide which one to use.
Oops, now the "news" that we get is made in NYC or maybe in a hotel room in Beirut. What is reported must be soothing to American feelings and never, ever, upset powerful interests in the USA.
Now watch RT broadcasts on Homs. A Canadian lady named Eva Bartlett is actually in Homs (along with a cameraman; they have to be suicidal) filming scenes in hospitals and at sites of bombings; She actually speaks Arabic and has been in the mideast for 10 years. Her reports have that granular feel that real events with their unexpected details present.
And Bartlett gets smeared in the Wikipedia article.
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@erwin haas, Arwa Damon, Richard Engel, Jane Ferguson, Ben Wedeman, Ben Hubbard, Kareem Fahim, Jane Arraf, and numerous others as well as the Middle Eastern journalists, and those we lost, like James Foley. Specific to NPR, not sure..they are, after all a non-profit, probably using expertise of other in the field experts/correspondents.
I would hardly consider RT an objective news source on anything.
A part of the issue is the media’s refusal to call balls and strikes. Obvious patterns of dishonesty, deception, and bad-faith arguments become obscured by he-said, she-said reporting. Our democracy and our nation are paying the price.
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Yes, there is a problem with people not believing the news. But you glossed over the root causes. Every day Trump and Fox News pundits tell people not to believe. They have assaulted all news, except theirs, as fake. I’m surprised that you didn’t focus on that but instead chose to “both sides” that people are tired of and non-believers of facts. The majority of us know what we see and hear.
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Our politics are confusing and the facts are murky only to those steeped in Fox News and other right wing media.
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Many years ago, those years when "John,Martin and Robert" were all the news, all the time and bras and cities were burning, many people had a hopeless feeling about just about everything. I remember taking a month time out from all the news, radio, tv and print. I am not sure it gave me any better perspective but I felt a great sense of relief and peace during that time. I am like that today, much older, perhaps no wiser but I disdain all of the social media outlets, especially Twitter. I am not sure what I learn from the NYT, Christian Science Monitor and the local papers but those are the only news outlets I use and I I have limited trust in all of them. I consider FOX, MSNBC, CNN and all other print and broadcast media as simply partisan fake news.
Lazy, under-informed (or intentionally mis-informed, in the case of Fox News watchers) citizens will be the death of our democracy.
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Americans have next to zero attention spans....that’s a huge problem.
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Unfortunately, this is what a disinformation looks like! Remember the New Hampshire phone jamming scandal? Drag the process out with attorneys, public loses interest over time,person walks! A complicit Bangor Maine judge thru the jamming case out after I believe 10 years! This is what republicans do best! And they are good at it. Until laws with teeth allow disinformation and character assassination to stand we don’t stand a chance in my view! Sad!
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Only 15 percent of Republicans trust the news, because nearly 100 percent watch Fox TV, whose commentators tell them the news is fake.
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"No One Believes Anything:"
Yes.
Yet another symptom of the dominant phenomenon of our era: Exponentially Accelerating Complexity — EAC.
eg
“There were 5 exabytes of information created by the entire world between the dawn of civilization and 2003; now that same amount is created every two days.” Eric Schmidt—Google
EAC is an emergent phenomenon — distilled here as: add more than 6 billion people since 1900, and simultaneously, give billions of people access to exponentially more powerful technology — technology born of another emergent phenomenon, exponentially accruing knowledge.
We've generated environs too complex for us to process, to navigate.
We can't even get along with the Sky & Ocean. They're being armed with weapons of mass extinction.
Code & Complexity — A Fundamental Consequence
Complexity increases weaken the efficacy of code, whether genetic, legal, monetary, language, religious, software, etc.
The relationship complexity generated by our species unprecedented numbers, powers and concomitant reach have altered natural selection tests.
eg
Natural selection tests have become more complex for many species. Genetic codes remain on the exam; human culture codes have been added. Eg: elephant & dolphin survival are no longer merely a function of their biological genomes, but also a function of the human cultural genome, that is, of moral, legal, monetary & other cultural coding structures.
A hard, micro-plastic rain’s gonna fall...
& has, repeatedly.
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The most lucid to the point statement I have seen on NYT in 3.5 years.
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Too taxing? Please. It's your responsibility to watch and read the news in order to be informed. And only a completely ideologically blinded person could begin to think they're getting anything approaching actual news if they choose to watch the Fox News 'commentators.' The news folks there seem, from what I read, to be trying to be fair and balanced in their reporting.
Don't know what to think? Have you had your brain turned off for the last 3-4 years? The information on the president's crimes, misdemeanors, and overall corruption of his own person and the office is out there for all to see. And it is not in the least difficult to understand.
If you don't know what to think, you need to have your head examined. And if you don't trust the reporting of the country's major, tried-and-true news organizations like the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal (ignore the columns and editorials in all of them, if you will; ignore CNN and MSNBC, watch the network nightly news instead), then there is no hope for you, because then you have nothing real to trust and thus have no choice but to crawl into a hole and just hope it will somehow go away. "It" being life, even if particularly distressing since 2016.
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@pb
I don’t know what happened to CNN. It’s like they’re become the anti-Fox. That’s a fool’s errand. Like the old saying: Don’t pick a fight with a pig. You both get dirty and the pig likes it.
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You give these "citizens" way too much credit for being so overwhelmed they have to look away. Oh my... it's just such hard work, and their poor little brains might explode.
I have another explanation - intellectual laziness and apathy.
Well, they'll get the crooked government they deserve.
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Reminds me of the Pied Piper and his lemmings.
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Really? With all the information at our fingertips? It's more than simple to check out news and find out whether it's real or not! THIS is the demise of our democracy! Not Individual one and his minions but lazy people unwilling and uncaring to lift a finger to understand what's happening. They willing eat at the trough of Fox News!
"A Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.”
Jerry W N E Kingdom VT
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“Paying attention ... having to figure out what is true [is hard!] … Many Americans are throwing up their hands and tuning it all out.” – The Times
With all that US cynicism, laziness, and fatigue, why were there more viewers for other political events?
*And,* how explain that the highest day-one viewership consisted of the irredeemable, deplorable, closed-minded Fox watchers, the Deliverance crowd living in a right-wing bubble, listening only to Limbaugh & Co. propaganda?
There has long been low “confidence in the media [and a] general exhaustion with news,” but that fails to explain *relatively* low impeachment viewership. Could it be that public skepticism has been generated by the Anti-Trump Resistance which has been demanding impeachment since November 2016?
Consider that “Day One's 13 million live TV viewers fell well shy of James Comey's testimony in June 2017 (19.5m); [way below] the Christine Blasey Ford/Brett Kavanaugh hearing from September 2018 (20m); and the Michael [Michael who?] Cohen hearing in February [2019] (16m). – Axios
For three years we were told by the left, by never-Trumpers, and most of the media that Trump was a Russia-colluding traitor whose walls were closing in, whose days were numbered, etc. Fool me once ….
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I think a larger issue is that elected officials are morally and ethically bankrupt by the time they finish selling their souls to get elected. From the PTA President to the POTUS, and everyone in between - no one goes into politics for anything other than the money. Do you really think anyone in congress cares about that measly $174K "salary"? Heck, most of them spend that pittance on mistresses anyway. The real loot is coming from the lobbyists and the oligarchs (including our very own made in USA mafia bosses, like the Koch Brothers).
We have a president who is lazy about keeping informed, minus what cockamamie conspiracy theories that he has long subscribed to,and Fox News ,which does his bidding. And then,we have the same lazy,uninformed populace who wanted someone different, who didn’t seem to know ,or care about his history of lies and bankruptcies. I am exhausted,but realize that these are pivotal moments in our history, and shrugging it all off is stupid.
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Just a reminder of the NYTimes 2016 campaign prediciton: "Hillary Clinton has an 85% chance to win.". But yeah, you guys are always in the right and have zero blame for the total lack of trust that any media source has to deal with now. Not like you guys spread disinformation and lies. nah-uh! You only print the news the actual facts, not a single opinion piece or anything like that =)
Some other commenters also recommend subscribing to WashPo. I can`t decide whether they`re trolling or not. But the only thing that can save America is you going back to your roots and doing some actual reporting.
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Truth doesn't matter as long as the Republicans hold the Senate.
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“the lines between fact-based reporting and opinionated commentary seem blurred” — this much is true. NYT and WSJ news headlines and articles emphasize left/right views, sometimes blatantly, even though nominally separate from opinion pages.
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"Man has not advanced very far from the coast of chaos.A frantic call to disorder shrieks in the world.Where is the power that can offset the effect of that alluring call? The world cannot remain a vacuum. we are all either ministers of the sacred or slaves of evil. The only safeguard against constant danger is constant vigilance,constant guidance." I Asked for Wonder page 107by A.J' Heschel.
"Many Americans are throwing up their hands and tuning it all out."
If you wondered why the Republicans defense of Trump is so unhinged, so fact free and so confusing, here's your answer.
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The news outlets have an agenda. How can I frame the story so that the person will read what I wrote?. The more attention the story gets, the better the story.
When that is your objective, you build up the inherent conflict and stress that. Just give us the facts and let the reader decide.
Emphasizing the conflict, puts stress on the reader and causes them to tune out the news.
Figuring out what the agenda is, will aid the reader in cutting out reader fatigue.
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