Originally posted by dcolton:
Because it is a tactic of liberals, to dismiss and attack those with dissenting opinions...in this case, to attack a media outlet that doesn't follow the norm.
Wrong. It is a tactic of people who have difficulty with independent thought and a broader perspective to dismiss and attack those with dissenting opinions. Every day in here, some people from the left post attacks on Fox News (some valid, some not), while some people from the right launch attacks on CBS, CNN or whatever "liberal" media outlet said something they don't agree with that day (again, some valid, some not). And yet you and others like you consistently argue that only liberals do this. All it takes is a quick scanning of political lounge posts to prove this 100% incorrect.
I completely agree with your original point - there is a serious problem when most of the issues that the media focuses on are what most people in the electorate would consider to be trivial and irrelevant to the job we're elecing a president for. However, you've taken a very valid point of discussion (what is the nature of this bias towards the trivial) and ruined it with useless "my side is better" cheerleading. This debate doesn't need a left/right angle.
My personal theory is that the problem lies with the complexity of the issues involved. It's been shown time and time again that most voters really don't fully understand or enjoy dealing with many of the major issues that face the country in a major election, and so when something comes along that they DO understand and can be broken down into simpler terms, like negative campaigning, or "character" issues, they gravitate towards that. I don't think this is necessarily caused by lack of intelligence or even education, I believe it is merely a matter of self-interest - if people don't believe something affects them, then they can safely tune it out. Many people don't make the connection between politics and their own daily lives.
I believe "the media" (it's hard to generalize about such a diverse group, but let's do so for the sake of argument) knows this fact, and pre-determines stories that they think will appeal to the public's interests. Many times, they get it wrong - there are countless stories of media saying "people are talking about this", when in fact, it's the media and beltway insiders talking about it and no one else.
I don't believe that we Americans differ significantly from other people on the planet in this behavior, but I do believe that the KINDS of trivial things that Americans pay attention to are different from the kinds of trivial crap that Europeans, or Asians, or people in the Middle East, pay attention to.
But honestly, I'm not sure what can be done about it. Aside from a massive re-education of the typical voter in a democracy, you cannot force somebody to care about something, even if you could somehow "force" the media to completely avoid all discussions about trivial matters and only focus on issues. Who would determine what these "issues" are? The government? Obviously, they would be different based on the bias of the "decider". And you're right back in the same boat again - somebody is going to complain of "bias", and dismiss all reporting that doesn't agree with the issues they think are important as useless...
In other words, while I think the media is part of the problem, they are definitely not the solution.
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