What SUCKS is that the Western government/media axis continues to dominate, even with all of the alternative media now available to us.
Back in the 1990s, before there was much of any alternative media, the Los Angeles Times (of all outlets) actually had a reporter on the ground, Paul Watson, in Serbia covering our bombing of Belgrade (and yes, there were only civilian targets in Belgrade...the war on the ground was being fought in Kosovo).
Mr. Watson dutifully reported on the claims by the Serbian leader that CIVILIAN TARGETS were being hit non-stop, something ADAMANTLY DENIED by the US and other NATO governments...and guess what, Mr. Watson’s reports clearly CONFIRMED that the Serbs were telling the truth and that the Western governments were simply LYING to their people.
I give the LA Times (normally a horrific member of the Mainstream Media) credit for publishing those reports...but no one gave a damn, no one was interested, the reports just fell on deaf ears. So we see it again in Syria - our media is TOTALLY UNDER THE THUMB of the terrorists, and the media won’t even mention that, much less not trust them.
I don’t know if the local Russian media behaves like our media, but if they do, I have difficulty getting upset with Putin for some of the ‘unfortunate accidents’ of their ‘reporters’.
Decades ago I went to a supposedly conservative college...and it was conservative, at least as far as the students were concerned. One in a while a liberal politician would show up for a rally - and REALLY REGRET IT. We treated liberal politicians like liberals treat our side...it was fun. But the school had (and I’m sure still has) a “Journalism” department, and students from that department (and from the “Communications” department, whatever the hell that was supposed to be) wrote HORRIFIC LEFT-WING DIATRIBES in the student newspaper. No one else did...other columnists, and the editorial board were pretty much down the center, but I will never forget the FILTH that came out of their journalism/communications majors...and guess where they’re working now.
Also decades ago Rush said that if you ask a Journalism major why they chose Journalism, they would always answer something like “to make the world a better place”. Not report on what’s going on, but to change things. That is SCARY - the ONLY PEOPLE that should be “changing things” through government action are those elected to do just that. Those departments need to be SHUT DOWN as they appear to be a proving ground for the left to keep control of our media.
I agree.
One thing conservatives can do is do not click on the msm. If you absolutely must, when they demand you turn off your ad blocker, leave the site.
Wait 24 hours. Bloggers and vloggers will pick up the meat of the article. The 3”-5” clip from TV is all there is....the rest is filler. I discovered I missed nothing by waiting to read an article elsewhere. If you wait a week, it is available through a search, in toto.
I won’t recommend alt news sites....most of you already know who they are and everyone has a favorite. Most of those break out interesting segments of 3”-15” within a few hours of broadcast. These smaller bytes are usually commercial-free. On YT, I can also forward past commercials, if they are integral. Some channels put up alt news shows w/o commercials.
There are also special interest sites/videos and I will support those I find valuable, usually science or history or art-oriented. I lurk on several different boards, as well.
Even here on FR, I never go to the article if it is WSJ (pay wall), NYT/Boston Globe or the compost (general principles). I can search out stats and quotes from elsewhere, if I care.
And I will bet I am more basically informed than I was 10 years ago, when I was a total news junkie. For sure, I am calmer.
Oh, and check out HPB Marketplace. Most print books are available for a total of $5 w/shipping within a year of publication. Very few books are worth $35, IMO. I will sometimes break all these rules, but rarely and after due consideration.
Starve the liars and avoid the hos. It will force them to change.