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Originally Posted by Charlatan
Elphaba, the press is still free to write what they wish, there is no censorship per se. That said, I can agree that with media consolidation there has been a lessening of the diversity of voice in the "mainstream" media.
However, I think it is safe to say that the media was never "objective" as such. The news sections were (and to a large extent still are) relatively objective in their reporting (the bias has always come through in what they choose to write about). The editorial sections have always been biased, that's their raison d'etre.
The big difference is that with increasing media consolidation, you end up with fewer points of view. With the shift from the written word to the moving image, we have gone from indepth coverage to surface reading.
All of that said, the onus is still on the citizen to do their legwork. To spend time researching their candidates. This means finding more than one source of information. And in this day and age, even with media consolidation, there are many, many alternative sources of information. There is no excuse, other than a lack of interest, for not doing your research.
The onus is on the citizen.
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I don't see where we are in any disagreement except perhaps the extent to which it appears that you are blaming the voter. Better minds than ours have insisted that a well informed citizenry is critical to a thriving democracy. I ask you to what extent is it reasonable for the average citizen to cull through the tsunami of information (good and bad) that currently exists, and somehow come up with an informed decision? Very few people are willing to make that investment in time and we are fortunate to find a few of them in this forum. In contrast, we also have a lack of interest in anything that intrudes upon one's worldview.
I am far more critical of our electorate than you might think. It is not only lack of interest in educating oneself in important issues, but a profound laziness of thought that is fed by our current entertainment based media. Which brings us back into agreement, once again.
