#271
Post
by Fox3WheresMyBanana » Sat Nov 12, 2022 5:55 pm
I don't think the media matters any more.
I don't think the opinion of government matters any more.
I don't think the average person thinks anything much of someone's statements just because of their job or post nominals any more.
Of course, all of them have a vested interest in insisting that they do matter, but even every opinion poll shows that the trust in all of them has been declining steadily for decades.
And the opinion of those who have nothing to do with opinion polls is obvious.
I think the US survey showed that only nurses, the military, and their kid's teachers (NOT teachers in general) still had a believability above 50%.
None of the audience figures published for the media are worth anything. In Canada, large numbers of media reporters are now government-sponsored, disguised as some kind of job scheme.
The simple fact is that very few feel their product is worth paying for.
It's not the bias, or even how they put their articles together.
It's simply that they are wrong.
They frequently fail to mention stuff that becomes very important, and their predictions are wrong.
It really doesn't matter why.
So, functionally, they are worse than useless.
Locally, people present arguments based on three sources.
1. Their own Observations and Reasoning, including historical.
2. The O&R of someone in a position to know, whom they trust.
3. Inference from what is clearly NOT happening, and should be.
I haven't heard anyone mention any media or government analysis for more than two years now.
Fortunately, it being a small place, one can often work out what's going on in government
"My cousin's sister-in-law works in the Premier's office, and she saw...."
So, we have free speech because no one in government or the media knows what we are saying.
I have no inclination to have what I think broadcast to a wider audience.
I'm only back here because people asked me to come back.
If members of the public can't work out for themselves that they need to look for other sources of information, then there's not much chance they'll listen to someone with a contrary view to the mainstream.
But people here DO strike up conversations on important issues with people they've just met.
And the most common one I get is "I can't bring myself to read the media any more" ;)