FNBT or Fake News Before Trump

In 1999, Earl Wysong and I wrote: "The everyday routine functioning of mainstream institutions like local newspapers...and TV programs does, for the most part, serve to distract non-privileged groups from class issues, diffuse class tensions, and legitimate class inequalities." (The New Class Society, 1999).

In 2009, Carolyn Perrucci and I wrote: "How can we account for the low regard that Americans have for newspapers and TV news. We think that the big reasons for the negative opinions of newspapers is because of their failure to inform the American people about the big economic changes that were transforming the lives of most Americans (America at Risk, 2009).

The real scandal is that most of the long-standing media critics have failed to continue their critical analysis of media because they fear that they will be associated with Trump's criticisms.

Poll Data

The main thing to keep in mind when you hear the results of the latest public poll is the following: Did the pollster stick a microphone in the face of a citizen and asked the question: "What is your opinion on the performance of X in his/her current position." Or did the pollster ask the citizen "Please indicate your level of support for X by checking a box on this form and placing it in this box." The difference is that many people are reluctant to express their views in a public poll unless their opinions are protected and private. Always be suspicious of poll data unless you know how the questions were asked and the answers obtained.

Media power?

It is obvious to us that the mainstream media have become an important player in the game of national politics. Their consistent attacks on President Trump indicate that they play a key role in supporting or discrediting political players. Originally we thought that the media's new role as a powerful actor was in part a reflection of their ties to the Democrat party, because of lost elections.
We now are considering the possibility that the mainstream media may have a more ambitious agenda.

This new line of speculation was encouraged by an article in The Economist discussing how the Chinese and Russian governments view media beyond the confines of their borders. A Russian media leader commented on the similarity between Russia and China as victims of "information terrorism" by the Western media. The media specialist commented further that Russia and China must help each other because "we alone stand up to the mighty army of Western mainstream journalism."

This sounds like an updated version of George Orwell's 1984, where information control is not in the hands of a central government, but in the hands of independent media organizations. Maybe the new "warmongers" and "cold warriors" in the US are not the weapons profiteers, but the media barons.

Who would have ever thought that the morning newspaper and the TV news were the new forces seeking domination.  

Immigration Policy

As we head into the national debate about restricting US immigration policy, keep in mind who are the major supporters of a less restrictive/open policy. They are the US Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the US Catholic Church. Please keep in mind that the focus of the debate should be on US jobs and workers, not compassion.

Trump and Jobs

Although we are not among Trump's "deplorables," we had high hopes for his pro-worker promises to stop sending jobs offshore and to reduce corporate influence in Washington. Unfortunately, the July issue of Public Citizen reports that companies, like General Electric, that offshore jobs are still getting new federal contracts. We expected more from the new President and we need to keep up the pressure to make sure that firms that continue to offshore are not rewarded with government contracts.

Why the Dems really hate Trump?

Today I listened to one of Trump's "deplorables" on the radio. He was discussing the Trump family in very positive terms, pointing out how attractive and accomplished the women and men were in their personal and professional pursuits. While listening to him, it appeared to me that what he was saying about the Trump family could serve to replace the special standing of the Kennedy family in the thinking of most Americans.  Due mainly to the efforts of the media, the Kennedy's hold a special place in memories of many Americans. Will the Trump family and its attractive men and women finally drive a stake into the heart of Camelot and the medias love affair with the Kennedy family. Could this be one of the reasons for the continued effort to run down the Trump brand?

UPDATE:
On Sunday, 3/18/18 CNN had a one hour show on the Kennedys. I guess that the head of CNN felt it was time to remind everyone about our Royal Family. The show will be continued next Sunday. In the glorification of the Royal family, here are some of the things that I didn't learn.

1) Where did Joe Kennedy's money really come from? The Royal Family special made it sound like he was just a smart trader on the stock market. But I remember something about Joe Kennedy's involvement with illegal alcohol during prohibition.

2)  After Jack defeated Nixon in the Presidential election (the show did mention something about questionable votes by dead people in Chicago, but the reference was brief) Jack and his brother Bobby go on to make America Great Again (where have I heard that before).

3) I look forward to next week's show and hope that it will tell me that our involvement in Vietnam was started by President Jack Kennedy, NOT President Lyndon Johnson.

4) Do you think that the CNN special will tell us that Teddy was the first Harvey Weinstein. Maybe CNN should have done a special on Mary Jo Kopecne, (sp.?) the intern, and Teddy the man with the power.

It is difficult to tell the truth about a Royal Family, but maybe CNN will try.

College for the Underserved

In a 2014 article entitled The Good Society we wrote the following: "There should be an institutional basis for embedding achievement values in local primary and secondary schools. This could be achieved by establishing partnerships between public and private universities in each state and the primary and secondary schools that have weak performance records for their students. The purpose of these partnerships is to instill high achievement values in the student population as well as provide stronger curriculum and instructional resources to enable more students to be eligible for tuition awards for postsecondary education." The recent decisions by the President of Purdue University are two big steps in the right direction. The first was the creation of the Purdue Polytechnic High School in Indianapolis and the second was the acquisition of Kaplan University. While we question the process which took place without faculty input, those are the ways for universities to reach out to underrepresented and underserved students.