Let's be clear about who really won tonite.

[jillan]

The msm.

From day one they pushed Trump on everyone, they played every minute of every speech. It was Trump 24/7.
Republicans are going to bed tonite not knowing a dang thing about Kasich - or even Rubio, the 2 somewhat normal people on their side. The media ignored them, never introduced them to the public & all people really know about them is what they saw during the debates - if they even watched. But they know everything about Trump.

And on our side, it was Hillary. Totally ignoring Bernie. They never really introduced him to the public.
Democrats are going to bed tonite not knowing much about Bernie. The only thing they know about him is what they saw at the debates, if they even watched. But they know everything about Hillary, especially the Msnbc viewers.

I really believe the majority of people that showed up at Bernie's rallies got out and voted. But 10K at one rally, 20k at another does not equal the number of voters in a state. And the others - they didn't vote for Bernie because they still have unanswered questions about this democratic socialist from the tiny state of Vermont.

So congratulations to the media. They were the big winners tonite. They made this about a horse race instead of about issues. They even bet on the horses they thought would win, and continue to cheer them on to the finish line, barely even noticing the other horses that are in the race.

The Fourth Estate, so important to a functioning democracy no longer exists.

Bernie has been mentioning the failure of the media a lot more in his speeches, and at townhalls. His concerns have been mostly about the lack of coverage of climate change, free trade, & money in politics.... Bernie is more right than I think he even realizes.

[geomon666]

1. The Status Quo won

I agree with everything you said. It's just that to me, this kind of thing has been going on pretty much my entire life. It's the same old story. Those that media promote the most are those that will benefit the most from that exposure.

[Cassiopeia]

2. The fairness doctrine.

Removing it was critical to the rise of the current oligarchy.

Thanks Ronnie. You did the moneyed interests a real favor.

http://www.factcheck.org/2009/03/the-fairness-doctrine/

[Snotcicles]

13. Also, The Telecommunications Act of 1996 allowed corporate media to consolidate and monopolize.

Noam Chomsky tried to warn us.

[BernieforPres2016]

22. The Telecommunications Act of 1996

Another Bill Clinton accomplishment. Bill was basically Reagan on steroids.

[Snotcicles]

37. Indeed. nt

[KPN]

25. Yup. But the Fairness Doctrine isn't coming back

so long as we keep nominating 3rd Wayers! 3rd Wayers ignore the basic problem of capitalism -- greed. It corrupts everything in the end. They see greed as human natuer, whereas some of us see it as the result of insufficient regulation.

[Cassiopeia]

33. It's not a bug, it's a feature.

[RobertEarl]

3. He gets it. We get it, you get it

The people haven't been getting it. Because like you say, the filth from the Fourth estate makes sure the people don't get Bernie. All they get is garbage. Since Bernie has no garbage the press ignores him. That and the press hates Bernie because he is a real threat to their continuing to dish out filth.

Time after time I would read the headlines on any news site and it was 75% Trump, 20% other republicans, 4% Hillary and 1% Bernie.

We need to figure a way around this.

[Lucky Luciano]

4. These people won:

[Shadowflash]

28. Pretty much.

nt

[ladyVet]

5. Maybe it's just the optimist in me...

(and brother, wouldn't my ex laugh his ass off on that one), but I see things with a little brighter light.

I mean, Bernie wasn't supposed to still be in this race. Shouldn't have ever started. Remember this time last year? HRH was the presumptive winner of everything, just one breath away from the crown.

Now, she's having to fight for this election. She's having to go back to the money trough, to lie and cheat, to change positions more often than she changes underwear. Bill is climbing out of his coffin, tottering around and disrupting the voting process, Chelsea is stumping lamely for Hilliary.

And yet, there's Bernie. Getting the word out, using the internet and social media to reach the young people, the disenfranchised, the people who'd given up on the democratic process. He's running good races and getting far more votes than he should be getting, considering he's barely getting any MSM coverage.

The worse is over now. If we keep fighting with him, we still win. Never give up. Never surrender. The future of this country -- and through us the entire world -- depends on us.

[JDPriestly]

11. Great post. Thanks so much.

[KPN]

26. Kudos ladyvet!

Berners, stay the course! We shall prevail -- maybe not in 2016, but we shall. Bernie has reignited the Occupy movement. We just gotta keep it lit.

[Lorien]

6. And yet EVERY TIME I suggest a letter writing campaign to the media outlets...crickets

For decades now we've been *complaining* about the media, but doing next to nothing about them. Repugs are the ones who write hard copy letters. Repugs are the ones who call stations. Dems don't do either; maybe because they don't think it will make a difference, maybe because they think that someone else will do it for them, but as a result, repugs are the only ones whose opinions matter. I have friends who are journalists and one who is a news room director. They have told me that repugs contact them 20:1, and that one hard copy letter has the same weight to a newsroom director as 100 emails. If we want them to feel that SOMEONE other than a repug has noticed and SOMEONE other then a repug cares and is fed up and expects different behavior from them, then WE-EACH OF US- MUST TAKE ACTION! Stop complaining, START ACTING!!

[Lorien]

7. The "Flush Rush" campaign ruined Limbaugh. We can do the same to shows

with wall to wall Trump and Hillary coverage. Hell, let's band together with non-Trump voting repugs if need be, but the media MUST be held accountable!!

[hopemountain]

8. msm's days are numbered

they will fade like wisps of smoke over the next 5 years - perhaps even sooner - with the advent of subscriber live stream "television". campaigns will be challenged to find alternate ways to reach voters.

[Lorien]

9. No they won't. Not without action on our parts

but I guess everyone here would rather post on DU than spend a fraction of as much time trying to change it.

[hopemountain]

10. you do know who owns the msm, right?

it is pointless to try to change their m.o.: greed and sensationalism because it sells. writing letters will do nothing with this corporate mindset. they need to burn to the ground. it is cleaner and you won't feel like you're bashing your head against a wall. i suggest using the paper, stamp and envelope money to support and subscribe to linktv.org, democracy now, the young turks, etc., and other such independent programs.

[TrueDemVA]

18. Hit the corporations and MSM where it hurts

In addition to contributing to real news outlets and writing campaigns, cut cable. I haven't had cable in about 3 yrs. It is tough at first, but I have enjoyed having the extra money. You really can get everything you need from the net.
Start hitting these basterds in their wallets. Don't visit their websites, try to find who owns these channels and start looking for alternatives to the other products and services they sell.

[KPN]

29. You are right.

We gotta put our money where our mouth is. But my wife would kill me if I took away her favorite TV shows which she basically just uses to escape and detox from stressful workdays.

[jillan]

23. I've asked for the same thing and got no response. I've asked people, esp Berners to turn off

msnbc since Comcast's CEO fundraises for Hillary. But people still watch.

About contacting them tho - 1000s contacted WaPo about Capehart's swiftboating attack on Bernie. He still has a job, and I believe he is still appears on msnbc.
So that really helped.

I don't know what they answer is.
I was so happy to hear Bernie start going after the msm. Dangit - we need him.

[LiberalArkie]

34. The NY Times taught us something about the new media verses the print media.

They have no problem changing history i.e. the glowing report on Bernie to a hit piece on Bernie overnight. They could not do that with a piece of paper.

It is hard to imagine that way over 3/4 of U.S. voters (R & D) in the past few weeks said "Hell Yea" to a government of and by and for the 1%.

[KPN]

27. Yes, we should do that.

Write letters and ACT. But we've got to do more. We've got to inspire effective activism amongst ourselves. How many of us really know what it takes to be effective and how best to go about it?

Whatever we do, we need to keep the movement inspired by Bernie going. We can't let it peter out like the Occupy movement. How do we best do that? In m y mind, it can't be just another web-based organization like Move On, Democracy for America, etc. Anyone got any answers?

[Betty Karlson]

12. Let me K&R this - hopefully to the front page

[Scruffy1]

14. The MSM Victory was appalling.

It's like Hillary and Donald Trump are working together with the MSM to screw us again. Her real campaign slogan will be "at least I'm not Trump". So we proles can go eat shit. The Democratic Party is now a wholly owned subsidiary of the oligarchy. My precinct in a working class neighborhood brought in 84% for Bernie, but the low information voters, aka as TV watchers will pull the Party line and vote in another neocon warmonger. I've never heard a Hillary supporter talk about policy yet. The hate for her across the United States comes from both the left and the right. It will mean more of the same in a dysfunctional Congress controlled by Pukes and massive polarization. I think it's the end of the Democratic Party, or maybe it's been dead a long time. The hillary supporters are sometimes worse than the Trumpies, and sometimes just nice people who are dazzled by the idea of a woman President. Just like we were dazzled by a well spoken African american. Next we'll probably get a gay neocon.
I've lived a long time and watched the country I grew up in, worked in, raised a family in fall to pieces little by little. Our inner cities are a disaster, our roads and bridges are obsolete, our mass transit is pathetic, and we face the biggest threat in the history of the human race in global warming, which she never even mentions. And so the voters will approve a continued foreign policy of
"if we don't like we will bomb it". and all the of us proles are supposed to shut the fuck up and wave the fucking flag while our chocolate rations are "increased".
Yes I know the left has always been a minority in the Democratic Party, but it has been an important part that makes the phone calls, goes canvassing and sways voters. The mass exodus after this media and part run debacle will be the end. Many are already gone and the media myth of the "independents" being in the middle will continue. As for me I've had enough. Putting up a for sale sign and leaving the USA.

[OrwellwasRight]

15. The thing is we are not a minority of the Democratic Party.

Look at the House of Representatives: The Progressive Caucus and the Labor and Working Families Caucus are the largest Democratic Caucuses. All but 28 Dems opposed Fast Track. We are the majority, but we can't and don't win the beauty contest, horse race, presidential nomination.

[KPN]

30. So where are you going?

I was going to say this needs to be posted as a new thread -- until I read the last statement.

I understand your feelings, but where today will it be any better for you and you can actually emigrate there?

[Depaysement]

16. The MSM is in the bag for Hillary

They didn't ignore Bernie. They went negative against him.

[LittleGirl]

17. See, here in Europe

we get better news and you can bank that the Democratics Abroad will bring Bernie a victory next week.

[RoccoR5955]

20. This is true...

I am sure that they will.

[RoccoR5955]

19. Don't forget DWS

who had done a good job at hindering Bernie's progress.

[GreatGazoo]

21. the influence of the MSM decreases every day

their audience gets smaller, trust in what they say continues its long slide into oblivion.

One of the founding fathers remarked "Freedom of the Press lies strictly with those who own one" and we don't own the MSM. The idea that the media is ever going to "do its job" is naive. Its job is to manage our expectations (lower them) and sell us the next war, and the looting of Social Security. And it is doing that job pretty well. We aren't the customer for the MSM -- we are what is being sold (audiences for advertising). US asking the media to "do its job" is a bit like chickens asking KFC to do its job.

There have been attempts to create a better media network for the Left. One that rejects the frames and false dichotomies of the mainstream but those attempts have thus far failed. Part of that failure is because people on the Left are not dissatisfied enough with the current media. Statistically, Democrats are TWICE as satisfied with the media we have as Repubs are.



http://www.gallup.com/poll/176042/trust-mass-media-returns-time-low.aspx

With lower costs and easier access to audiences it should, in theory, be easy to create a media network that starts to take audience away from the MSM and gives a voice to the issues we want addressed. But it seems the majority of the Left is too easily pacified and perhaps too addicted to being angry about what Fox News just said or what Morning Joe said today. TDS, when Stewart was host, was obsessed with Fox News. Better than nothing but it was all defense and no offense. After Beck had his rally urging idiots to become ever more politically active, Colbert and Stewart had a rally where they didn't ask the crowd to do anything but laugh and go home.

Yes the media won this round but we must continue to chip away. We must not be satisfied to just curse the media while accepting its yoke.

[jillan]

24. For millennials - yes. But I think people 40+ watch the news, still pick up the newspaper.

And if you think about it - those are the voters Bernie struggles with, those over 45.

[KPN]

31. Good post.

So what can we do as individuals to help make this happen? It is so urgent that we do everything we can -- our system is so totally fucked as is it may soon implode ... and maybe sooner rather than later. For example, Trump could conceivably beat Hillary in the GE at which point we'll most certainly careen over the precipice.

[GreatGazoo]

35. Good question.

Wish I had a good answer... Some version of it have been tried. Al Gore tried to get an alternative news network going a decade ago. Some of the commentator/journalists who have been dumped by MSNBC might be a good place for this kind of thing to start because they have at least a small base to build on. I'm thinking of TYT which I usually like but better would be just a 30-minute 'Headline news' kind of thing that gets updated twice a day and hits all the major issues of the day.

Something that keeps a more even tone, more facts, less ranting and opinion stuff.

There are alternative news sources emerging (eg "Vice&quot , hopefully one of them will emerge as a more respected news source.

I think we are seeing more polarization as people just pick news sources that they agree with and find echo chambers of agreement on FaceBook. So perhaps a news source that simply covers the uncovered (by the MSM) stories is a place to start. Like if a news source in the USA would cover TPP -- just cover it. Not from a left wing or RW point of view, just shine the light. That alone could change the national conversation.

[xloadiex]

32. This past Monday

Was suppose to be a blackout day for MSNBC but they held the townhall with Bernie and Hillary so all bets were off.

My mom is 88 years old, a Bernie supporter only because of the information I've been able to provide her. She watches MSNBC and CNN from morning until night. The amount of information she didn't know about Bernie is astounding. She also had no idea about much of the baggage Hillary carries, yet she knows every move Trump makes.

While Bernie's rally's are great, they exclude a big part of the votes he needs, the 60+ generation. Most cannot wait in line or at a venue 6 to 8 hours to hear him speak. I think he needs a better way of reaching out to those voters, possibly more on the ground surrogates.

[jillan]

38. ^^^^ THIS ^^^^^ proves my point. How would anyone know anything about Bernie if they are

not actively involved on Dem leaning political sites?

[felix_numinous]

36. The left has had elections stolen from us

many of us remember our leaders shot, and what happened in 2000 and 2004 has left a deep wound. This movement to regain our democracy is not a simple election. It is against the biggest consolidation of money in US history, the banks, MIC, AND the corporations which OWN the media.

We are still voting with hackable black box machines, which can be beat in landslide elections (like with Barack Obama) but the closer elections are easier to tweak. We know this. And before anyone thinks I'm accusing Hillary, remember Trump is in the running and who knows how he is being supported.

The M$M is not a free press, nor are black box voting machines a free election. Once these are regained to reflect the voice of the people, the wounds of the past can begin to heal.

[jillan]

39. It still is astounding that nothing has done about our voting systems. I don't know why I was

thinking that something would be done during the Obama administration? That said, it is probably more of a states issue and since DWS has been the head of the DNC we have lost one state after another.