User:Valjean/My media diet#Trump's effect on the Overton window of media coverage

{{nutshell|In this personal essay, I share my media diet and some thoughts about good and bad sources.}}

My media diet is quite varied, combining serious and popular sources with easy to find and more obscure sources. I am a progressive/liberal, registered Independent, and I use lots of sources, unlike most right-wing/conservatives, who typically use only a few sources, primarily Fox News.{{cite web | last=Mitchell | first=Amy | last2=Gottfried | first2=Jeffrey | last3=Kiley | first3=Jocelyn | last4=Matsa | first4=Katerina Eva | title=Political Polarization & Media Habits | website=Pew Research Center | date=October 21, 2014 | url=https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2014/10/21/political-polarization-media-habits/ | access-date=June 21, 2024}} I do not live in an information bubble like they do. I also will change my POV if the evidence suggests I'm wrong. I follow the evidence.

I depend on myriad reliable sources to form my own points of view, while also checking many very unreliable sources to stay abreast of what kinds of BS are out there. I get it from both/all sides, and am thus able to usually recognize the media diets of others by what they say and the ideas they push and defend. GIGO applies. Some people are unable to vet sources for reliablity, so lack the competence needed to edit American political subjects. They should stick to gnomish edits and non-controversial topics. People's actions tell us who they are.

How I find sources

= Email, newsletters, and Google Alerts =

Besides what I listen to, watch, read, and learn from more experienced editors here, I also use notifications and free email subscriptions to all major (and many fringe) news sources, magazines, podcasts, science and medical journals, and research. I also subscribe to newsletters from myriad sources, both good and bad. I also have hundreds of Google Alerts for keywords, phrases, names, and topics, and I also use Facebook and Twitter/X.

This all has a downside; I get a huge number of emails in different email accounts every day (200-300) and lots of spam and phishing attempts. I have to delete 100-150 emails every single day. I also get 40-60 Google Alerts every day. I have to be careful. It takes time and effort to stay well-informed and not be fooled. Fortunately, I am retired!

= Radio =

I really like listening to National Public Radio (NPR), especially Fresh Air,[https://www.youtube.com/@thisisfreshair NPR's Fresh Air podcast on YouTube] Science Friday, All Things Considered, TED Radio Hour, and A Prairie Home Companion.[https://www.youtube.com/@garrisonkeillor1093 Garrison Keillor's YouTube account] I often do this while driving.

= Television =

{{seealso|List of daily evening American network TV news programs}}

For television, we watch Jeopardy!, 20/20, 60 Minutes, Frontline, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Rachel Maddow Show, Dateline NBC, The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper, Anderson Cooper Full Circle, Scientific American Frontiers, and MythBusters.

Also ABC World News Tonight, NBC Nightly News, CBS Evening News, PBS News Hour, BBC World News America, Erin Burnett OutFront, The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, The Source with Kaitlan Collins, Anderson Cooper 360°, Laura Coates Live, Meet the Press, The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell

I also check Fox News to see how they are reporting, or deliberately not reporting, what's happening. The spin is enormous because they are not a real news channel, but a propaganda machine controlled by Rupert Murdoch, that deliberately puts out fake and false news and Russian propaganda all the time. Their latest big push, which they still do, even though it has cost them $787.5 million (and counting, as there are more lawsuits in the works), is pushing Trump's Big Lie of a stolen election. The Dominion Voting Systems v. Fox News Network lawsuit proved they know they are lying, yet keep doing it. They even admitted they did it so they wouldn't lose viewers to even more radical far-right sources like OAN and Newsmax. They cannot be trusted for politics and science.

= YouTube =

I subscribe to many of the same news sources mentioned above on YouTube, where I can watch videos of the news, rather than watch it on TV. There is a lot of content created only for YouTube, and it's a valuable resource. There will often be a "transcript" feature one can turn on. That's really handy for quoting. Their "Premium subscription" is well worth the price, and it covers the whole family. No advertisements!

[https://www.youtube.com/@jeopardy Jeopardy!], YouTube account
[https://www.youtube.com/@garrisonkeillor1093 Garrison Keillor], A Prairie Home Companion, YouTube account
[https://www.youtube.com/@thisisfreshair NPR's Fresh Air podcast], YouTube account

Good and bad sources

Trump's effect on the Overton window of media coverage

{{seealso|Culture war#2001–2012: Post-9/11 era|Culture war#2012–present: Broadening of the culture war}}

{{seealso|Donald Trump#Relationship with the press|Presidency of Donald Trump#Relationship with the news media}}

Before Trump, there were the culture wars of the 2001–2012 era and 2012–present. They shook up the media landscape, and fringe right-wing internet media websites had a growing footprint in creating public opinion, pushing conspiracy theories, and denying scientific facts, all primarily affecting Republicans, Evangelical Christians, and the right-wing. The Gamergate harassment campaign, and other controversies and means of conflict, were used to indoctrinate and expose young people to the alt-right, alt-lite, Neo-Nazi movements and other radical right-wing ideas, with Republican political strategist Steve Bannon publicizing pop-culture conflicts during the 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump, encouraging a young audience to "come in through Gamergate or whatever and then get turned onto politics and Trump".

The election of Obama brought racists and xenophobes out of hiding and made them much more active and vocal as they found Trump backed them, listened to them, gave them a national voice, and even repeated their violent memes in a favorable manner. Right-wing people and sources that were formerly closer to center moved further to the right, and the far-right became much more visible, organized, and influential. Conspiracy theorists targeted them and multiplied. Then Trump, allied with Russia, came along and pushed them all toward the far-right. He didn't stop there. Trump used his platform and influence to openly declare war on all media sources that didn't repeat his "alternative facts" lies. He proceeded to push more conspiracy theories and isolate his MAGA supporters from all reliable sources. He kept his supporters supplied with a flood of falsehoods and anti-American, pro-Russian, propaganda as he secretly, then openly, cooperated with the Russian election interference that helped him win

As Trump's alliance with Putin and repetition of Russian intelligence disinformation became more apparent, most right-wing sources, including those sources that were formerly closer to the center, very quickly allied themselves with Trump and Russian disinformation, abandoned all sense of honest reporting, and moved to the far-right. This was an unprecedented and sudden shift in the Overton window of political discourse and attitudes that left few right-wing sources near the center. MAGA followed this move and abandoned all connections with reliable sources.

At the same time, most left-wing sources hardly moved at all, even as a gap opened between them and most right-wing sources. The public was left with a radicalized right-wing that was divorced from facts and reality. (Right-wingers mistakenly assumed that the left had suddenly become radical communists!) Left-wing sources continued to document the flood of disinformation and lies from Trump, thus increasing the impression of a left-wing dominance of the mainstream media and sources used by Wikipedia. Right-wing sources removed themselves from consideration as reliable sources. They did this to themselves!

This situation forced Wikipedia to revise its stance on the reliability of several right-wing sources that were formerly usable. Now there are few right-wing sources we can trust, and this creates the appearance of a left-wing bias at Wikipedia. In fact, Wikipedia still has the same standards for reliability and factuality, but the right-wing coverage of facts is minimal because the right-wing has "abandoned the field" to anyone left who will tell the truth, and left-wing and centrist sources still do that. Fact-checkers consistently rate left-wing sources as more accurate than right-wing sources, and the fact-checkers are pretty much neutral people who don't play favorites.

Ever since Trump took over effective control and dominance of that far-right media bubble, Some "Strong right", and all "Hyper-Partisan Right", sources share unfiltered Russian disinformation, and Fox News has been caught regurgitating undiluted Russian fake news.{{cite web | last=Holt | first=Jared | title=How Russian Disinformation Goes From the Kremlin to QAnon to Fox News | website=The Daily Beast | date=March 21, 2022 | url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-russian-disinformation-goes-from-the-kremlin-to-qanon-to-fox-news | access-date=June 21, 2024}}

In harmony with his misuse of the term, Trump labels all "Generally good" sources as "fake news". He does this to cast doubt upon all credible news he doesn't like and isolate his MAGA supporters from such news. They are now often completely ignorant of common knowledge, scientific facts, and about Trump's lies, scandals, and errors. Throughout his campaign and presidency, Trump has misused the term numerous times, using it to describe any negative press coverage of himself he personally dislikes rather than actual false news.{{cite web |last=Lind |first=Dara |title=Trump finally admits that "fake news" just means news he doesn't like |website=Vox |date=May 9, 2018 |url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/5/9/17335306/trump-tweet-twitter-latest-fake-news-credentials | access-date=May 10, 2018}}{{cite web|url=http://libraryguides.vu.edu.au/c.php?g=460840&p=5330649|title=Library guides: Evaluating information: Fake news in the 2016 US Elections|last=Murphy|first=Jennifer| website=libraryguides.vu.edu.au| access-date=August 12, 2018}}{{cite journal|url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/cognitive-ability-and-vulnerability-to-fake-news/|last1 = Hambrick | first1 = David Z.|last2 = Marquardt | first2 = Madeline | title = Cognitive ability and vulnerability to fake news | journal = Scientific American |date=February 6, 2018}}{{cite web|url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/01/18/donald-trumps-fake-news-mistake-216480|title=Donald Trump's fake news mistake|website=Politico|date=January 18, 2018 |access-date=April 24, 2018}}

Great thinkers

There are reasons why some people are great leaders, thinkers, and inventors. It doesn't come by chance. They aren't perfect, but one can learn so much from informed, smart, and wise people. I try to learn from people like Carl Sagan, Richard Dawkins, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Bill Nye, etc.

Questionable people

Anyone who defends bad sources, believes conspiracy theories, or is favorable to Trump or Fox News cannot be trusted. They don't know how to vet sources for reliability. Some of the following used to be good, but now use their influence to push Russian/Trump disinformation, conspiracy theories, propaganda, lies, etc. It's really sad. Beware of Julian Assange, Max Blumenthal, Alan Dershowitz, Glenn Greenwald, Aaron Maté, Elon Musk, John Solomon, and Matt Taibbi.

References

External links

{{cite web | title=Political Polarization & Media Habits | publisher=Pew Research Center | date=October 21, 2014 | url=https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2014/10/21/political-polarization-media-habits/ }}