Are majority of Americans blinded by their media on what's actually going on around the world?

Question

No offence to any Americans. I would just like to know your view on this.

Answer 1

I´m not American, so I can´t give an answer to that question and I suspect very few people can answer a question like that because it would be hard to know who has all the pertinent information available. But as most non Americans, I have access to at least two different press coverage, the one in my own country and the American media, that has global reach.

I do not know if the coverage here (Brazil) of global events (or US domestic events) is superior to that of the American media I read/view, but it is different for sure. This was especially evident during the Iraq invasion. While CNN showed very little or nothing at all of the colateral damage and focussed mainly on footage of reporters riding on Hummies and marines shooting far away constructions, Globo News (a local equivalent) showed images of shopping malls where civilians were seeking shelter being hit and killing hundreds, for example. The coverage of this week's collapse of the WTO talks were also very different. The local leading newspaper credited most of the fault on US's refusal to address the estimated USD 20 billion per year given as subsidy to American farmers, quoting Pascal Lamy (who is biased, I'll agree) and Brazil's and India's foreign secretaries. The New York Times, on the other hand, hardly makes reference to it and only to say that the US refused to do so while the EU bettered it's offer. At least in this second case, the bias and possible conspiracy, are not as clear as in the Iraq war or the current Israel bombing of Lebanon.

Clearly, CNN and The New York Times have quality and deapth beyond the news that the average American watches or reads. So, if you consider FoxNews or USA Today, for example, I would have to agree with you. One question that should also should be asked is "Who owns all of these media companies? To whom are they connected? What is there background? Do they have anything to gain?" Anothe issue, is the corporate business side of these companies. Several are publically traded company and suffer from the same problems as other publicly owned companies: meet the short range quarterly targets. To do so, the American news companies have become infotainment at best, but then again, so are many others around the globe.

Answer 2

The "media" is not just what is on American tv. Believe it or not, some of us Americans can find the BBC, al-Jareeza ( more worthless than American media ) and other news outlets. And guess what else? We can speak more than two languages as well. Anyway, take your shots at Americans - when you are number one, you get used to the rest of the jealous world thowing up cheap and immature stupid statements and questions. The media in the USA is no better and no worse than the rest of the world, especially ANY media in Europe. You guys think you are exempt from your own media's shortcomings and lack of objectivity?

Answer 3

If you've had the opp. to check out the different tv networks available to Americans, you can see that certain among them are propaganda arms of the curent administration, FOX being the obvious example. Americans are no dumber than the rest of us and a great many of them see through the propaganda and disinformation served to them by the media. The majority? Yes, I'd say the vast majority.

Answer 4

Yes, we are extremely blinded by the media. The government controls the media, the media controls us. End of story. Thats why I dont read the news all too often. I spend too much time wondering about the other side of the argument or other issues that are more important than our president falling off his bike.

Answer 5

I think so. It seems that there are plenty of sources for news on what's going on in the world, but much of this is controlled by a few people and corporations . Rupert Murdoch owns Fox Network and I don't know how many newspapers, TV and radio stations. Clear Channel owns close to 50% of the radio stations in the U.S.

With that going on, they can't help but have some control over what gets reported. It's up to us to seek other voices and make up our minds on whatever. With the internet, we still have some choices...

Answer 6

I would totaly agree! It seems the media can tell people something is great ( a movie for instance) and even if it sucks people will talk about how great it was. The media seems to be directing a lot of their energy toward the part of the population that are followers and that is what sells. A friend of mine has a great saying. People like what they know, not what they like.

Answer 7

My opinion is that most Americans are blinded by the slack, lazy media they've grown to trust and depend on.

My experience is that the current crop of media outlets are fat pigs at a trough without any desire to do anything to anyone else's benefit. They've an agenda to get the people to follow their lead in the moronic, misguided, and seriously sickened directions they have chosen.

Answer 8

People are not blinded, but they often lack the desire to investigate the depth of any story. No newscast can cover the depth of any issue and therefore must summarize. By summarizing the story, often the news is just a bunch of headlines and topic sentences run together. Details truly make the story, but it is up to the individual to find them.

Answer 9

Media is controlled by people with money ;most of them or their parents came to America from Europe to escape jewish persecution and hence consider it their duty to protect Israel, even when Israel is wrong.

They also control congress so no congressman or for that matter Govt official will ever criticize Israel. He/she will be labelled an ant-semite and end up losing his/her job. That is why we give 6 billion every year to Israel. That is nothing to sneaze at. I think we should use future allocations to rebuild Lebanon.(the Paris of Middle East)

It is very unfortunate that Israel is doing to Arabs what the Germans did to their parents in Germany.

Answer 10

So... you're saying you know?If we're so blinded Why do our enemies watch CNN news while fighting against us. Do you remember when we bombed Iraq. Iraq and Muslim media said they shot down loads of American planes and that we were no where near the capitol city while we watched it on TV.

We get more truth than any other nation. That's truth