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Saturday, January 23, 2021

How Bumpy Will The Regime's Road Ahead Be?

One of the questions that has preoccupied conservatives for some years--and now more than ever--is: How many people are fooled by the Dem media? How successful is the full court propaganda press of fake news and disinformation?

Shipwreckedcrew has an enlightening and, from my perspective, optimistic article up that addresses that question:


A Majority of Americans Believe the Media Is Dishonest in the Way It Covers Politics


Note something. SWC frames this as a matter of politics, and no doubt most respondents to the poll in question viewed it in the light. But the actual question that SWC cites isn't framed just as a matter of politics--at least not in the sense of the usual partisan back and forth. As you'll see, the respondents view the issue as a broader one of ideology that affects all aspects of reporting.

Before we get to SWC's analysis, let's look at Axios' reporting on the poll that they sponsored: Media trust hits new low. Here's part of the summary that really hits the core issues:

Why it matters: Faith in society's central institutions, especially in government and the media, is the glue that holds society together. That glue was visibly dissolving a decade ago, and has now, for many millions of Americans, disappeared entirely.

 

By the numbers: For the first time ever, fewer than half of all Americans have trust in traditional media, according to data from Edelman's annual trust barometer shared exclusively with Axios. Trust in social media has hit an all-time low of 27%.

  • 56% of Americans agree with the statement that "Journalists and reporters are purposely trying to mislead people by saying things they know are false or gross exaggerations."
  • 58% think that "most news organizations are more concerned with supporting an ideology or political position than with informing the public."
  • When Edelman re-polled Americans after the election, the figures had deteriorated even further, with 57% of Democrats trusting the media and only 18% of Republicans.

Now, SWC points out just how grim those results are (and the Axios story doesn't hide this):


The “top line” statement posed to the poll respondents for their reaction was phrased as follows:

“Journalists and reporters are purposely trying to mislead people by saying things they know are false or gross exaggerations.”

Note the extreme nature of the language used in the statement to which respondents were being asked to agree or disagree with — “purposely trying to mislead” and “false or gross exaggerations.”

Those phrases were begging the respondents for a negative response.  But, 56% of all respondents AGREED with the statement as phrased.

A majority of Americans believe that the media — “journalists and reporters” — are purposely trying to mislead the public with false information.

That is the definition of propaganda.

Let that sink in — more than half the country believes the media is spreading propaganda under the guise of “informing” the public as part of its self-anointed mission.

By doing the math, we can see that 44% of the respondents disagreed with the statement. If you accept the generalization that 35-40% of the population would place themselves to the left of center politically in the country – the fact that only 44% of the population believes the NYT, WaPo, CNN, MSNBC, and NPR, are not propaganda outlets does not strike a hopeful cord for the effectiveness of the media as the water-carrier for left-wing politicians.  They already have just about everyone they can reach — the existing left-of-center in this country believes them, but almost no one else does.


SWC goes on to massage these numbers a bit more and discuss the implication--in particular--that Biden starts at the head of the new Prog regime with the lowest approval ratings ever for an incoming 'president'. The conclusion is clear:


The seemingly obvious link is that the public does not desire the policy agenda that Hiden/Barris campaigned on and has begun to implement, and the public isn’t going to be persuaded in that regard by cheerleading from the press.


That's progress, comrades.


2 comments:

  1. Good catch on how biased the question is.

    My guess is many, especially Trump supporters, are worried about any answers bring used against them, so the numbers may be even higher.

    Trump wrestled with the media in the mud about their reputation, popularized the term fake news, and hit back. What a good change from Romney and Bush.

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  2. But 81 million voted for Biden and "his" agenda. The most votes evaaaaahhhhhh!
    In other news - I have posted the Brooklyn Bridge on e-Bay and am now taking bids starting at a low $99.99 down and $99.99 a month for the rest of your life. ;-)
    Tom S.

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