Deadspin
3 HN recommenders · recommended in 16 months, 2020–2025
1:39 · 2.1M views · Apr 2, 2018
A Deadspin compilation of local news anchors at Sinclair-owned stations reading the same scripted message about irresponsible one-sided news. It was assembled by Timothy Burke.
HN cites it as a vivid example of media consolidation and coordinated messaging.
20 comments from Hacker News
It’s more than facebook. It’s CAPITALISM. People have to always preface any criticism of it by saying “there is nothing at all wrong with capitalism, but...” But no, the actual ECONOMIC SYSTEM and the incentives and constraints it exerts on institutions and organizations is responsible for what is happening. It selects for the current types of organizations and outcomes by its very nature. You see, both our news and our social networks are driven by a profit motive and face market competition . Thus they are forced to adapt to changing circumstancss in certain ways: Act 1. Journalism was disrupted by the Internet, and survived by adopting the FOX News model of locking in an audience and being biased, showing one part of the story. MSNBC explicitly did it, while CNN jumped the shark after the Malaysian Airlines flight, realizing it can lock in audience. One sided clickbait outrage articles are the norm. There is some attempt to have journalistic integrity and policy focus at Vox and NowThis, but then you also have MotherJones, OccupyDemocrats, DailyKos and more on the left. You have all kinds of independent podcasts like TYT network, Kyle Kulinski, David Pakman, Majority Report, etc. And similarly for the conservatives, libertarians, etc. We are divided also because giant corporations like Sinclair Television bought up all the local stations and outlets, resulting in this: this video No really, watch it. It’s black mirror level, and you can see the capitalism at work here. Top do
> In one small consolation, in both cases Americans had more trust in local news. This trust in "local" news is often misplaced given how many local news outlets - television stations or newspapers - have been subsumed by larger interests. For anyone who hasn't seen it, the Deadspin video of dozens of local news anchors reading the same editorial content handed down by Sinclair Broadcast Group is striking: this video [LINK] There is an awful lot of really, really good stuff put out by local newspapers and TV stations but people ought to be thoughtful about their use of any media.
It doesn't need to be a secret. If you have a megaphone that everyone hears all the time, you will simply have more influence than people who whisper quietly. 6 companies dominate the media [1] which together make up at least 90% of all media [2]. Note that this isn't limited to just news. [1] [LINK] [2] [LINK] Also, you might find this video either amusing or alarming this video
Voting - First-pass-the-post fails mathematically once two majority parties come to power, no third party can win, and if both parties are subverted (into one hidden party with a hidden agenda) democracy then fails. We are seeing a perfect example of this with regards to Harris/Trump. Trump closely aligns with Fascism, Harris policies closely align with Marxism/Communism. You only have a choice between the two, is that even a choice? Protest - Has always relied on the inherent threat of violence and leaders being responsive to the groups involved. It has been shown in the last 20 years that the threat of violence no longer works, and leaders have learned to be no longer responsive at all once they have been elected so long as they don't commit any crimes or scandals that would force removal of them from their positions. Additionally, when protests occur, surveillance of any protest guarantees government retaliation moving forward for all individuals involved. Surveillance is never by itself, there is always government harassment associated with it that are often impossible to prove. Any protester has likely seen the telltale signs of this, and it never ends. (i.e. mail goes missing, both sending and receiving, communications/cell phone calls become unreliable in ways ou can't know a message was sent, internet services may throw weird errors on a continual basis, email/submissions dropped silently (i.e. job applications/resumes, or other high importance items like taxes). Crim
I think that most systems are flawed and, given enough time, will be corrupted and ruined. That has happened with (to my knowledge) every communist nation out there, from USSR to Cuba. Similarly, that has already happened with the capitalist US: corporate interests over those of people, and the interests of the rich over everyone else; at times, it's something like the plot right out of a Deus Ex game: this video . Honestly, the same is also probably happening with the more socialist leaning EU, at least based on how many stories about corruption and bribes one hears on the news in my country, not even thinking about the same on a grander scale. I don't really have any solutions to offer or ideologies to push and i'm not sure whether individuals being politically active is (always) even that effective, just look at Russia and how many people there are in prisons, or how polarized everything is in US with identity politics. All i can say for sure is that humans and human nature are the common denominator in every single one of those systems, in which the reality eventually differs from the theory behind them.