Everyone is stooping to the lowest common denominator. John Oliver

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This weekend it was pamper one’s self: Friday a couple of friends came by.  We ordered Viet food —my first try and delicious  http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurants-g34515-c41-Orlando_Florida.html  and watched some Outlander episodes https://www.starz.com/OnDemand  as one of my friends doesn’t have Starz.  Then Sat:  First Hand and Stone for massage  http://handandstone116.reachlocal.net/fl/orlando/   then nails and pedi….then shopping  (30% off certificate,  tax free weekend and a big sale) http://www.kohls.com/   and finally Mexican  http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurants-g34515-c29-Orlando_Florida.html for dinner and then home to veg.  Sunday another day with friends–Welcome HOME Misty—BBQ, and good Friends—Safe Trip Home Mom and junior Diva “J” 

 

 

 

 

An update on the books for those of us who actually read Gabaldon and the end of Outlander
I AM STILL WAITING FOR A DATE FOR THE RETURN OF MY FAVORITE SHOW AND MAN (SORRY CLAIRE)
“If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you’re mis-informed.”
Mark Twain
This week is theme-less, just another one of those what ever comes into my mind kinda things (boy are you guys in trouble).  Today it’s the news media:
Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets..”
Napoléon Bonaparte
According to the Journal Sentinel  Milwaukee

A new study on media consumption in the Midwest illustrates how this works in individual media markets like Milwaukee.

Heavy radio and Internet users here tend to skew Republican, while big television and newspaper users skew Democratic.

Viewers of Fox News, the Golf Channel, the History Channel, the Speed Channel, ESPN and Country Music Television lean Republican.

Viewers of MSNBC, CNN, Comedy Central, Lifetime and Bravo lean Democratic.

 

 

 

“I think the Cincinnati Enquirer must be edited by children.”
Mark Twain

 

 

 

 

aM

My favorite news take is Fox News recent involvement in the Debate.   Megyn Kelly irritated Trump and he over-reacted as to be expected.  It has occurred to me that this might well have been done on purpose  with the accused Republican backing network using the technique to try to displace Trump from the top spot allowing someone that can sway the middle and non-party voters to their cause—something Trump isn’t likely to do.

 

 

 

“… the man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them, inasmuch as he who knows nothing is nearer to truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors.”
Thomas Jefferson, Memoirs, Correspondence And Private Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Ed. By T.J. Randolph

 

 

 

 

But Our Media covers more than politics:

 

HEALTH

A 2002 Gallup poll showed that many Americans consider television their most important source of news and information on health. It also showed that television is one of the least trusted sources of such news and information. I studied each of the 840 health news stories that appeared between February and May 2003 on four television stations (KARE, KSTP, KMSP, WCCO) in Minneapolis-St Paul, Minnesota http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC534863/

His findings:

Too brief to matter—Brevity robs viewers of the chance to grasp the significance of health stories.

 

No full time health journalists

 

No data to back up sensational claims—Journalists not trained in the nuances of covering health and medical news may be more likely to report stories that make unproved claims of research pro

 

Hyperbole  Science doesn’t work that way; it demands independent confirmation. So should journalists.

 

Commercialism— statements from private companies with no balancing statements from competing companies or other sources

 

Single source stories

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RACIAL CONCEPTS

A content analysis of a random sample of Los Angeles television news programs was used to assess racial representations of perpetrators, victims, and officers. A series of comparisons were used to assess whether local news depictions differed from outside indicators of social reality. In a significant departure from prior research, they revealed that perpetration was accurately depicted on local TV news. Blacks, in particular, were accurately depicted as perpetrators, victims, and officers. However, although Latinos were accurately depicted as perpetrators, they continued to be underrepresented as victims and officers. Conversely, Whites remained significantly overrepresented as victims and officers. The implications of these findings are discussed in light of incognizant racism, ethnic blame discourse, structural limitations, and the guard dog perspective of news media.   http://crx.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/04/01/0093650215579223.abstract

Travis L. Dixon, Department of Communication, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, 3001 Lincoln Hall,702 S. Wright St., Urbana, IL 61801, USA.

 

 

 

 

“The Press, Watson, is a most valuable institution, if you only know how to use it.”
Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Six Napoleons/The Adventure of the Crooked Man
SO WHERE DOES THIS LEAVE YOU & ME?
We are bombarded more than ever before by the printed (though the predictions of the death of the print media appears to be more and more a reality), digital, verbal and of course TV—When I grew up there were 3 stations (the networks) and possibly a local independent and 3 of those had news a couple times a day.  Now we have 24/7 news reports with everyone vying to beat the other to get the new first, the fact no one has and the interview with the MIP (most important person).  All in all it allows for less time to check the story, verify the sources and assure the truth (i.e. the no go zones in Paris on Fox News.  http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/12/paris-lawsuit-fox-news-reporting-no-go-zones-non-muslims)
So what’s a person to do?
1.  Use your brain—Common sense has become a rare attribute in this computer age—As  I have preached for a long time…..listen to what’s being reported and if it makes sense.
2.  Never listen to just one news source.  I listen to Fox on Monday, the three networks and on Friday my cable’s news network which is largely local.
3.  If you hear a story that seems a bit odd, look it up—If you’re looking on the computer make sure it’s a good site–NEVER CHECK THIS BLOG—I am bias and often miss the latest news feeds–honest.
4.  Don’t let your own bias color your perception so much that you accept news reports that may eventually leave you in a reality gap or a Paris no-go zone.
5.  Complain and comment:  Your local news stations do listen to input and praise.  Use them to help keep things accurate.  On line you can do the same thing.  Even on Facebook:  When someone sends an item on the poor injured party I look it up and if I find something amiss or wrong I post the article  and I always try to use reliable sites and not the lunatic fringe that always has the unconfirmed and reactionary.
“I never read the paper myself. Why bother? It’s the same old shit day in and day out, dictators beating the ching-chong out of people weaker than they are, men in uniforms beating the ching-chong out of soccer balls or footballs, politicians kissing babies and kissing ass.”
Stephen King, Everything’s Eventual: 14 Dark Tales
WALTER CRONKITE
Picked in 1962 to anchor the “CBS Evening News,” and for two of the most tumultuous decades in American history, he was the authoritative voice of news in America, the man who told viewers that President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated, that men had walked on the moon and that the Vietnam War couldn’t be won.
This is Walter Cronkite, CBS News; good night.

  • His nightly sign-off line on CBS News (1962 – 1981)

 

 

 

1990 WINSTON CHARLOTTE Motor Speedway Poster

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I think the Cincinnati Enquirer must be edited by children.”
Mark Twain

 

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