Thursday, June 18, 2009

Media Spin

Dean Baker keeps his eagle eye on the mdeia to call them offside when necessary. He is a very busy man. Here's a blog entry that caught my eye:
Does the Public See Obama as "Ineffective on the Economy?"

That's what the headline of an NYT article told readers. The poll that is the basis of the article asked the question: "So far, do you think President Obama's have made the economy better, made the economy worse, or haven't his policies had any effect on the economy yet?"

The NYT reports that 48 percent answered that his policies have not had any effect yet. That is very far from describing Obama as "ineffective on the economy." It is hard to have very much effect on a downward plunging economy in after 5 months in office. It has been less than four months since President Obama's stimulus was signed into law.

Apparently most of the poll's respondents understand enough about how the economy works to realize that it unreasonable to expect policies to have much effect in such a short period of time. Interestingly, of those who did think the policies already had an effect, more than twice as many (32 percent versus 15 percent) thought the effect was positive rather than negative.

It requires some very creative reporting to turn this poll result into a headline asserting the public sees Obama as ineffective on the economy.
That skewers the media through the heart. But the media is like a zombie. Blink twice and they are on their feet and again shuffling forwards muttering "brains, brains".

Sadly, the media have feasted on the brains of Americans and left behind a zeroed out population unable to think for themselves. All that is left is a nation of sheep that feed on whatever the media deigns to pass out as "news".

Sadly somebody like Dean Baker labours tirelessly. He is like a little Dutch boy manning the dyke with a tin cup. As the water sloshes over the top he feverishly scoops it up and returns it to the sea. But the sea is endless. Nothing can stop its mindless swill from being cast before Americans for them to slurp up. Sad.

No comments: