Much political commentary is highly misleading. Though media evaluation of policy agendas and the conduct of politicians tends to be better, analysis of policy effects and the role of parties is very poor, even in the ‘quality’ press. When assessing policy records, commentators tend to mistake noise for the effects of policy interventions, research
Enjoyed this, Thomas. I've written several times on the topic of Journalism. As a former journalist (in my younger days) I've seen the profession morph into something unrecognizable. There are reasons for the devolving of the profession. I'm guessing at least some of the corporatization/activism of the media has drifted across the ocean. Public trust of the media here has dropped to an all-time low, and I know the same has happened with the BBC and your major newspapers.
Anyway, I enjoyed your viewpoint ... anytime I learn something new, or gain a different perspective, I know it was time well spent. Thanks for sharing yours. -- Jim Geschke
Jun 26, 2022·edited Jun 26, 2022Liked by Thomas Prosser
Matt Taibi, an American journo & writer, covers a lot of the same ground in his recent tome “Hate Inc.” It’s worth a look - he’s an entertaining stylist, solid researcher and takes no prisoners - for anyone looking for perspective on the current media landscape on this side of the pond. But he does drive to a different destination. Your bits about the utility of ignorance in terms of public awareness of actual policy are points well taken. Let’s face it: the enduring rationale for democracy is simple. If our venal leadership cohort becomes perfectly intolerable we can throw the bums out. The value is real and precious primarily as a safeguard against outright tyranny. But after the electoral message is delivered we’re pretty likely to end up with bums of a different stripe. They’re not, after all, that much different than the rest of us. They just crave the ego-gratification more intensely. Thank gawd we’ve got a mechanism for the containment of...baby kissers.
That’s an interesting counter-intuitive notion, that ignorance may help keep the ship afloat. It reminds me of Nietzsche’s warning about a dead God, which turned out to be prescient.
I think there’s a growing rump of people who do know that the influence of parties & politicians on their lives is oversold. These people (I’m kind of one of them) see certain types of soft power or influence wielded from a tier above all that and don’t much like it.
Enjoyed this, Thomas. I've written several times on the topic of Journalism. As a former journalist (in my younger days) I've seen the profession morph into something unrecognizable. There are reasons for the devolving of the profession. I'm guessing at least some of the corporatization/activism of the media has drifted across the ocean. Public trust of the media here has dropped to an all-time low, and I know the same has happened with the BBC and your major newspapers.
I wrote about ours here ...
https://jimgeschke.substack.com/p/autopsy-what-killed-the-news
Anyway, I enjoyed your viewpoint ... anytime I learn something new, or gain a different perspective, I know it was time well spent. Thanks for sharing yours. -- Jim Geschke
Matt Taibi, an American journo & writer, covers a lot of the same ground in his recent tome “Hate Inc.” It’s worth a look - he’s an entertaining stylist, solid researcher and takes no prisoners - for anyone looking for perspective on the current media landscape on this side of the pond. But he does drive to a different destination. Your bits about the utility of ignorance in terms of public awareness of actual policy are points well taken. Let’s face it: the enduring rationale for democracy is simple. If our venal leadership cohort becomes perfectly intolerable we can throw the bums out. The value is real and precious primarily as a safeguard against outright tyranny. But after the electoral message is delivered we’re pretty likely to end up with bums of a different stripe. They’re not, after all, that much different than the rest of us. They just crave the ego-gratification more intensely. Thank gawd we’ve got a mechanism for the containment of...baby kissers.
That’s an interesting counter-intuitive notion, that ignorance may help keep the ship afloat. It reminds me of Nietzsche’s warning about a dead God, which turned out to be prescient.
I think there’s a growing rump of people who do know that the influence of parties & politicians on their lives is oversold. These people (I’m kind of one of them) see certain types of soft power or influence wielded from a tier above all that and don’t much like it.