Is the media crippling the US government?

Question

Seems like no matter what anyone does, the media will attack the people in power in full force. Now my question is,

would this country have been founded back in 1776 if todays media had been there? Or would the dirt they dug up to try and crush George Washington and Thomas Jefferson prompt most of the colonies to not follow them?

This question has nothing to do with todays government, just todays media.

Answer 1

It's more likely that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson would be appaled at the intrusion government has made in the private lives of ciizens. They were all for limited government control, and it wasn't until FDR added tremendous numbers of government agencies that it exploded in size. I'm nto saying this is a bad thing, just that Geo. Wash and Tj would have seen it as such.

They also would view the tremendous power fo political parties as a detriment. Geo. Wash advocated for a government *by the people,* not "for the people by the party." However, as issues have grown increasingly complex, parties serve as convenient ways to identify with issues and your feelings on them.

The Media is interested in full disclosure about the policies and actions of the party in power. They push for transparency and accountability in government, and Geo. Wash would have liked that. What we would disagree with is the way government tries to hide their actions, with 50, 100, or 150 year classifications of important documents. Surely some stuff needs to be classified, but 27 million documents in a year? That seems excessive.

Answer 2

Read your history, Thomas Paine and so forth...the media's important, it's a public chronicle of what goes on, for the most part, but the media is NOT in and of itself 'the government' as much as some writers might like to think it could be...

The REAL government of our country, at least on paper, is The People, of the 'We, The People' reference. UN-fortunately, THAT 'branch' of government doesn't seem to want to participate, and so the oil companies etc. tend to run things instead. Nonetheless, if enough people start writing,calling, speaking, it'll have a better impression on things, long-term.
These issues we face today will get voted on, one way or another, dropping your 2 cents' worth in the jar is the best way to make sure that something resembling 'the right thing' comes out of all of this...

Answer 3

Well, in this crazy 24 hour-a-day world in which we live, the media has got to have something to fill up all the extra air time after they finish the 15 minutes a day of actual news. Thus we get all this nonsense about peeping into people's private lives and the conspiracy theorists abound. I'm not saying the government is perfect, because it is made up of people who inherently are not perfect and make mistakes, but do we really need to air our dirty laundry for the world to see like we do?

Also why can't we every now and then have a little good news? I can't remember the last time the news reported on something positive the government did or anyone else for that matter. Its all about government conspiracies and rapes and murders and bank robberies...Its appalling and ridiculous. Good things happen everyday too.

Answer 4

Did you know that the only industry sepcifically mentioned in the Constitution is the Press? There is a reason for this. The Media is given protection so that they can do their jobs, which is to inform the people of the truth of what's going on in the world. The press is supposed to be a sort of fourth branch of the government, protecting us from corruption and lies in government.

The truth of the matter is that the Press isn't doing enough. They have been manipulated and bought out by the very people that they are supposed to be watching. Conservatives like to talk about the "liberal media", which like every other word out of their mounths is a lie. 97% of all media in the US is now owned by 5 corporations. The owners of all 5 conglomerates are not only registered Republicans and actively support the Republican Party, but are among the largest financial supporters of it. Do you really believe that people who give so much time, money, and effort supporting the conservative party would then turn around and, against their own interests, run a "liberal media" to work against the party that they support?

The media has supported Bush every step of the way, and each time the Bush administration has been caught red-handed doing something wrong (like violating Geneva conventions, lying to the American Public, outing CIA covert operatives and whole CIA fronts that were investigating WMD, etc.), most of the media has either not reported it at all, or did small segments on the 17th page, or 10 second segments on the news...always followed by unfounded and uninvestigates praises for the administration. When Clinton was president, the fact that the guy got a ******* was all over the news day and night...and there was an incredible amount of reporting on the Whitewater scandal, which amounted to a financial loss on a land deal for the Clintons...no crime committed, no money gained for anyone, nothing! But when Bush flat out LIES (not parsing words...straight up lying!) about the reason for war...LIES to get the American people to allow him to murder over 120,000 innocent civilians in another country, they don't even talk about it!

A strong, unbiased press is the only thing that can protect democracy from corruption, and we need to get that back. They should be digging up all the dirt they can that actually matters...like Bush's DUI records, bankruptcies of every business he has ever run, etc...and not going into people's personal lives, like who they slept with (unless there was rape or child molestation involved).

Thus far, and especially over the last 20 years or so, conservatives have been toiling day and night to destroy democracy in any way possible...buying out the media, installing voting machines with no paper trail made by people that have guranteed them (in public) the election, turning people away from the polls in every way possible, overthrowing burgeoning democracies around the world (Haiti, for example, as well as attempts on Venezuela, and now Lebanon), and having the Supreme Court (the majority of which were appointed by Bush Sr) appoint the president instead of the voters (they ruled in Bush v. Gore that Americans do not have the right to vote, but the privilige that can be revoked or ignored at any time).

Time to bring democracy to America! We need a truly free press to do so.

Answer 5

The media has its uses, such as questioning the actions of our government. However, it is quite biased becuase it is in the business of ratings, and what gets peoples attention is death and destruction, or so thats the idea the Media has had.

Answer 6

i believe, the US government is so strong that it really ignores any kind of media reports which are against the govt.

Answer 7

So you don't want anyone questioning the leadership and follow blindly?