Here Are Some Key Ways the Mainstream Media Distorts the Truth

[SVPete]

Here Are Some Key Ways the Mainstream Media Distorts the Truth
Dennis Prager
August 23, 2017

... understanding how The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and NPR covered my story leads to an almost perfect understanding of how the media cover every story where the left has a vested interest.

When it comes to straight news stories—say, an earthquake in Central America—the news media often do their job responsibly. But when a story has a left-wing interest, the media abandon straight news reporting and take on the role of advocates.

Lesson No. 1: When the mainstream media write or say that a conservative “suggested” something that sounds outrageous, it usually means the conservative never actually said it.

After all, why write “suggested” and not “said” or “wrote”? Be suspicious whenever anything attributed to a conservative has no quotation marks and no source.
...
Lesson No. 2: When used by the mainstream media, the words “divisive” or “contentious” simply mean “leftists disagree with.”
...

But the only reason my views are “divisive” and “contentious” is The New York Times differs with them.

During the eight-year presidency of Barack Obama, did The New York Times once describe anything he did or said as “divisive” or “contentious” (including his pre-2012 opposition to the legalization of same-sex marriage)?
...
Lesson No. 3: Contrary evidence is omitted.

Despite all the Santa Monica musicians who supported my conducting; despite the musicians from other orchestras—including the Los Angeles Philharmonic—who asked to play when I conducted; and despite the orchestra’s conductor and board members who have followed my work for decades, not one quote in the entire article described me in a positive light.
...
Lesson No. 4: Subjects are covered in line with left-wing ideology.

As Prager states up front, the event he is analyzing was of minor importance in and of itself. He had been invited by a local orchestra to conduct a Haydn symphony, something with which he has experience. A few orchestra members decided to play SJW and make a fuss. After Prager's online response went viral, the NYT, LAT (the only local source of these 3) and NPR felt a need to wade in.

Prager used the NYT's smear to elucidate how the MSM misrepresent and spin political events and topics to fit their partisan-ideological narratives. Well worth reading!

[Fourwinds]

It's a good read and a clear case as to why alternative sites like Breitbart are flourishing. They never did anything special, they just told the other side of the story.  Frankly, the MSM has gone to Pravda style heights over the past 8 or 9 years to the point they don't even pretend to have journalistic integrity anymore.

[SVPete]

It's a good read and a clear case as to why alternative sites like Breitbart are flourishing. They never did anything special, they just told the other side of the story.  Frankly, the MSM has gone to Pravda style heights over the past 8 or 9 years to the point they don't even pretend to have journalistic integrity anymore.

It's been a downward spiral since the 1964 election and Vietnam War. With the Nixon Presidency the partisan focus sharpened. But the descent into lunacy was probably triggered ( ) when they a man they considered an idiot defeat AlGore. And then handle 9/11, Afghanistan, and Iraq decisively and, largely, well. Overcoming DanBlather's hit and defeating the Ketchup Senator poured salt in that wound.

What particularly rang true for me was: "When the mainstream media write or say that a conservative “suggested” something that sounds outrageous, it usually means the conservative never actually said it." Back in November or December of 2015 the things the MSM attributed to Candidate Trump got so crazy, that I found the transcripts or relevant video clips of several speeches the MSM called out by location and date. I read or listened to what Trump said. It was clear that the MSM, in every case, either chose the most outrageous and least plausible interpretation of what Trump had said, or simply lied. It only took 3 or 4 such instances for me to realize the MSM had gone full partisan, and would systematically lie about anything Trump said or did.