sunday's new york times has a "special section" titled "in case you missed it"...twenty three pages of articles the times finds it imperative i read/remember with the the twenty-fourth as a self-published paean to the times as the seeker and defender of the "truth" in these troubled, trumpist times..which is where we begin to have doubts...i have said ( and still maintain ) that media outlets are corporate interests with editorial boards, boards of directors, and shareholders , all in search of profit and all of which is bound to distort the way the present the news and render none of them objective...they are appealing to a core audience and pandering to that audience's world view...more than that though they are influencing that world view with an editorial line that runs through all the edited reporting ( one would like to see the pre-edited copy once in a while as an index of objectivity )...reinforcing viewpoints to a purpose...and while that purpose clearly includes profit i am inclined to think it moves beyond money and into the realm of power...already in possession of influence, they use that to maintain a separation among the general public into camps divided by opinion on a wealth of subjects from abortion and gun control to which cola tastes better...in essence i don't think the times or fox news or cnbc much cares what i think...as long as it is something different than what my neighbor thinks...as long as he and i are bickering over whether this is "the bear's year" or not we aren't thinking about why it is so difficult for working people to make ends meet and if we really need that new flat screen tv and who, in the end, is actually benefiting from all this divisiveness and consumerism...it isn't the "man in the street"...it's the factions in congress and their owners and the times doesn't want me to ponder that too closely...oh they want me to support the faction in congress they share ownership in with some other individuals and interest groups...but they aren't especially interested in me delving into the reasons why i am thinking the way i am...let them worry about the whys...we'll all be better off that way, right? and a lot of what appears in the times seems to trickle into the evening news and into the local paper throughout the week...one wonders about that...is the times that influential as "the paper of record" or is it that the media as a group are simply acting in their own interests and they way those interests coincide give the appearance of collusion? either way the public are misled and flat out lied to through distortions that serve to benefit a minority rather than inform a majority...the times says it is not an elitist newspaper...it advertising and editorializing put the lie to that..."objectivity in reporting" is an astounding oxymoron wherever you look in media..the times is an invaluable resource...always good to have a look at what the other side is thinking...they certainly loathe don trump...i am of the same opinion...our reasons for that would seem to be very different...i am aligned with the times on that...the reason why are radically different.
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