The Media Is Ignoring the Most Important Issue of Our Time

If you feel like you haven't seen much, or any news, about Bernie Sanders and the democratic primary race, it's not just in your head.

Over the weekend, the Tyndall Report revealed that mainstream nightly news shows, through the entirety of this year of 2015, have spent only 10 minutes of total coverage on Bernie Sanders, as opposed to 234 minutes of total coverage of Donald Trump.

The weird thing is, that polls show Bernie Sanders easily beats every Republican candidate in a general election, and by more than Hillary Clinton would.

But the media refuses to cover Senator Sanders, and even Hillary Clinton has largely dropped out of the headlines since the Benghazi emails were put to rest.

It could be because Bernie wants to raise the taxes of millionaire network executives, or because Bernie is raising questions about how well we're being served by media consolidation and the rise of "infotainment" and the death of real "news".

At least that's what it's starting to look like. Even over at the "progressive bastion" of the mainstream media, MSNBC, Jose Diaz-Balart pushed a very recent NBC News poll that found terrorism to be the most important issue to Americans.

In fact, some in the defense-contractor-funded media like NPR are actually rationalizing not covering Bernie Sanders by lying and saying that Bernie isn't talking about ISIL, which the corporate media has deemed the most important issue to Americans.

Earlier today, David Greene spoke to Scott Horsley on NPR's Morning Edition about Clinton's strategy towards ISIL, and they took about two sentences to dismiss Bernie Sanders.

But they're wrong on both counts.

First, Bernie Sanders does have a plan, a detailed plan involving pulling together a coalition of Middle Eastern states to combat ISIS.

In fact, he laid it out during a campaign rally just YESTERDAY, one day BEFORE Hillary Clinton announced her plan, a pesky fact that Greene and Horsley completely left out.

And second, this is very much a self-fulfilling prophecy, the media loves terror porn; keeping people afraid is profitable.

However, both common sense, and simple analysis, show that what really keeps most Americans up at night is money, or the lack of it.

For the first time in the lifetime of many Americans, the Middle Class now makes up less than half of the US population.

At the same time, working people are working longer and longer hours, because for 35 years Reaganomics has transferred their wealth to the richest Americans.

We're losing an average of 14 factories, and all of their jobs, EVERY DAY thanks to our insane trade policies.

All those factories closing down has led to an increase in crime and drug abuse across former industrial centers like Detroit and Baltimore, and across huge swaths of the Deep South, Appalachia, and beyond.

As Bernie Sanders reveals, the real rate of YOUTH unemployment alone in the United States is at depression levels.

That's right, more than half of black youth and over a third of both Hispanic and white youths in America were unemployed over the past year.

So it really shouldn't come as any surprise that nearly one out of every four American families has no net worth. Or, worse, they're buried in debt. And, more than half of all Americans are one serious illness or job-loss away from disaster and homelessness.

Those are alarming statistics. But what's really problematic, is that the corporate media won't talk about it.

Which is a giant gift to the Republican Party - the corporate party.

It's time that the media start LISTENING to what people actually care about: the American middle class being eaten alive by the top 1 percent.

And then the media needs to ask the candidates what they plan to do about it.

Not just because it's the issue in the Democrats' wheelhouse, but because it's the real crisis that's tearing up America.

Comments

awkword-o's picture
awkword-o 7 years 14 weeks ago
#1

"Which is a giant gift to the Republican Party - the corporate party." Except for literally a handful of democrats such as Elizabeth Warren, the entire Democratic Party has been bought and paid for just like Republicans. It's time we face this fact.

Gerald Rusk's picture
Gerald Rusk 7 years 14 weeks ago
#2

Thom, The media won't give Bernie any attention ! They want him to go away. The only way Bernie will get recognition is if he wins some primaries or at least comes close.

The media will do everything they can to dismiss Bernie. He is to dangerous to the Big Corporations running America. If Bernie becomes a real threat to win, the Greedy Corporations could lose control of our government. Vote For Bernie !

Also.......The NRA in Russia ! Not really a surprise,they are there to weaken gun control laws so people will buy more guns.And gun manufacturers can make more profit. That is all that matters, it's not important that more people will die, people are not as important as corporate profit. The NRA has showed us that.

2950-10K's picture
2950-10K 7 years 14 weeks ago
#3

You'll never hear the corpse media mention the simple fact that our future President, Bernie Sanders, also has more total supporters than Trumpet, which echos the fact Thom already pointed out, that Bernie beats all of the Fascist Party candidates in the general election.

2950-10K's picture
2950-10K 7 years 14 weeks ago
#4

The media is once again distracting the general public with the ongoing threats of religious terror, with the exception of home grown Christian extremists shooting up clinics etc.

However the real threat to the general welfare of this country are the Fascist Party candidates, the very individuals the media is having a screaming orgasm for. You won't hear Fox talk about the economic platforms these maniacs want to impose on the backs of working class citizens. They're all anti union, anti minimum wage, anti single payer, anti Social Security, anti job creation, anti Medicare, anti green energy, etc. They're for free slave trade, pro carbon pollution, pro unlimited profit Health Insurance, pro unaffordable education, more tax breaks for the super rich, and unlimited military industrial spy complex spending....no problem running up the debt there....the Fascists who are trying to put them in the White House stand to gain multi billions off only millions invested to purchase and strangle our liberty. Be afraid of that!...it's the real terror the media won't talk about.

Kilosqrd's picture
Kilosqrd 7 years 14 weeks ago
#5

"But the media refuses to cover Senator Sanders, and even Hillary Clinton has largely dropped out of the headlines since the Benghazi emails were put to rest." TH

The media isn't "refusing" to cover Bernie. The media isn't refusing to cover anyone. It's that Trump is so, so much better at the media game than all the other candidates combined. Look at the proof. JEB has spent nearly $40 million so far this campaign and has got nothing to show for it. Trump has spent less than $250K. Yet Thom and many others cannot see the obvious.

Hillary, on the other hand, is purposely staying out of the media, save for the occasional appearance, because everytime she shows up on TV, her poll numbers drop. Saturday night debates? Nobody is watching, and it's by design. She is a terrible campaigner. This is something she will not be able to avoid when she becomes the Democrat nominee. Her record as SoS and Sen will be destroyed by the eventual Republican nominee. And, heaven forbid, another Islamic terrorist attack in this country before the Presidential election in 2016 will doom her chances and just about all other Dems.

One more thing. If Donald Trump wins the Republican nomination, noone on the Dem side, meaning Hillary or Bernie, will be able to debate Trump on economic matters in any serious or meaningful manner. But it will be entertaining to watch.

drron's picture
drron 7 years 14 weeks ago
#6

It is easy to agree that media consolidation has been detrimental to democracy. The hard part is figuring out how we can spread alternatives, other than just sharing links on Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Who, if anyone, has been trying to affect media in public spaces? Has anyone tried to change the channel on one of those millions of flat screens in bars, testaurants and laundromats? Has anyone tried to use a tool like Chromecast to let people send media from their phone to a flat screen in a public place?

How can we organize groups of progressives to bring alternative media into public spaces, where others can be exposed to something other than corporate media?

John Roberts from UK's picture
John Roberts from UK 7 years 14 weeks ago
#7

The media is nothing more than a platform for advertising, business and military-intelligence propaganda, it's bottom line being profit. Anything that is perceived as hostile to the interests of its core constituency is either ignored or attacked.
Bernie Sanders as a progressive (one who wishes to ameliorate capitalism but in no way seriously challenge it) at least on the surface appears hostile to some of its interests and thus receives scant attention from the media whores whose job it is to support the status quo.
Let's not forget that other progressive though, Barak Obama, and what he did (or rather, didn't do) when in power. Will Bernie be the same?

NMSUNDANCE's picture
NMSUNDANCE 7 years 14 weeks ago
#8

Please stop adding to theconfusion! Medicaid is not Medicare We can Nationalize edicaid only Medicare

Dr PeterPalms's picture
Dr PeterPalms 7 years 14 weeks ago
#9

I am for Bernie but it doesn't make any difference. Because when you have a monopoly on a currency as the global reserve currency. You can afford the cost of defeating any opponent with access to an unlimited budget and credit. You cannot keeep democracy from being extinguished by extreme capitalism. corruption has exceeded the ,Linmit for intervention. It will probably enable totalitarianism and modern feudalism to prevail. But not absolutely since we are still able to perceive what is happening and refuse to continue to go along with it. That is going to be a nasty ending.Like The Roman Empire, The Russian Revolution, The French Revolution, The Indonesian revolutionb, The American revolution and the uneding resistance of humanity to opression and wealth misucse through law abuse.

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