Many of those more liberally inclined justifiable accuse Fox News of misinformation and extreme bias. The Jon Stewart Comedy Central video below shows the extent of Fox News bias. Sadly it is a disservice to every American to concentrate on Fox News and not on all of mainstream media.
It is true that Fox News misrepresented President Obama’s statement where he was stating that no one builds a business all by themselves given that society has provided the infrastructure and education to have made that business successful. It is also true that NBC misrepresented tapes of calls to 911 made by George Zimmerman just before he killed Trayvon Martin. ABC misrepresented the Aurora Colorado killer James Holmes as a member of the TEA Party. CNN and Fox News erroneously stated that the Supreme Court overturned the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).
While NBC took appropriate actions by firing those involved, ABC provided an immediate apology, CNN provided an immediate correction and apology, Fox News not only continued the misrepresentation but further built stories around both fallacies. Is it any wonder that American confidence in television news is at an all time low?
These issues should not just be dismissed. They have consequences. While it should never be the case, many depend on the mainstream media as their only source of information. Those that are not savvy enough to take all the information with a grain of salt and do appropriate fact checking from several other sources are then easily misled.
During the healthcare debate, the lies and misinformation for all practical purposes were treated as just different sides or as a simple ideological debate. This gave plausibility to many Republican arguments that were morally wrong. The same can be said for the DREAM Act debate, the deficit debate, the tax debate, and many other issues.
One knows that the mainstream media is on its way to irrelevance when comedians on Comedy Central present better analysis on the political discourse than they do. Sadly mainstream media currently have more eyeballs and as such have a bigger impact on Americans.
The failure of mainstream media is partially responsible for the state of our politics. They have caused middle class Americans to vote against their own interest by ignoring news, misrepresenting news, and being used by politicians to put their false messaging out.
It is important then that all Americans do their own research on issues that matter. For those who have some time you must be the media providing the information to those you network with, those in your circle of influence.
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Jon Stewart Slams You-Didn’t-Build-That-Gate In Romney, Fox News’ Faces (VIDEO)
The Daily Show
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"You really want to hang your entire campaign on a willful, out-of-context misunderstanding?"
Yes… yes, he does.
If the 2012 election can be likened to a war, then each news cycle is a battle. Actually, that’s probably a terrible way to look at it, but that’s not stopping either campaign or their respective media mouthpieces. To wit, Jon Stewart took a look on Wednesday’s show at You Didn’t Build That-Gate, and how Romney and Fox News have milked Obama’s phrasing for all its tea-party-rousing worth.
Clearly, in his Virginia speech, President Obama was making a point about the way infrastructure supports business and the interconnectedness of the economy and government with personal success and hard work. But, you see, he accidentally said "that" at one point when he meant "those." So release the hounds.
Jon Stewart doesn’t cotton to that, though: "Making a big deal out of a misstatement is a great way to win a news cycle… But this ain’t a gaffe and Mitt Romney’s not having a little fun with it. This deliberate misstating and misrepresentation of Obama’s position is now the centerpiece of Romney’s campaign."
