Conversation | 05/02/2008 12:00 am

Marlo Thomas: The Media Steals Our Chances of a Fair Election

With Joan Juliet Buck, Lily Tomlin, Marlo Thomas and Mary Wells

JOAN: Does the deliberate dumbing down of the news have the same effect as censorship, by cutting the public off from information that we need to make our decisions?

MARY: I say this as an old advertising pro: The news is for sale. The news is just a factor, like entertainment. The ultimate person who is responsible for whether the news is good, bad or indifferent is the viewer, because if the news is not good, fewer and fewer people will watch it.

LILY: People didn’t used to try to make money on the news. We lived through an era when the networks prided themselves on their news department.

MARY: Yes. That may be true.

LILY: Not because it was a money maker.

MARY: The news around this election has been particularly obnoxious, idiotic. But you’re getting the news that is essentially what most of the people are willing to pay for, or what they want. I know that sounds vastly oversimplified. But it is a fact.

LILY: Look how many good people they have destroyed just by petty humiliations. There’s nothing worse in this culture than being discounted or laughed at. They destroyed Gore. They destroyed Kerry as any kind of viable candidate, just by making fun of him windsurfing.

MARLO: Look what they did to Hillary, from the very beginning. With her headband, and her not wanting to bake cookies. My God, you would have thought this woman had robbed a bank.

JOAN: There was this great op-ed piece by Elizabeth Edwards where she wrote that what we’re getting, “what is left, is the Cliffs Notes of the news, or what I call strobe-light journalism.” As intelligent women, when you turn on the American news, do you desperately watch to try and find something? Or do you go on the Internet instead?

MARLO: I always think that if I read enough stuff, possibly somewhere in the middle I’ll find the truth. But the Joe Klein article in Time was so interesting. And he said we get this low-level information and use it as news. You know — what Barack’s bowling score is. All this foolish stuff — what Hillary was wearing and what Bill Clinton said to a guy on the street. But nothing about the issues, nothing about what’s happening to this country, nothing about the war. The war is now on page 18. Iraq is, I think, now on the back of the paper. And we’re not interested in it. And today Bush is all excited about his $600 rebate. A $600 rebate is going to make up, he says, for the gas prices. How far will $600 take you?

JOAN: About 20 miles.

MARLO: And people buy it.

JOAN: Do you think there’s a will behind this deliberate stupidity of information that we’re being given?

MARY: That it’s manipulative?

JOAN: Not only treating the public with contempt but actually —

MARLO: Withholding. Yes, I think they’re withholding.

JOAN: As in, “If we tell them all about Barack’s score – bowling score – they won’t pay attention to anything else.”

MARY: Why don’t we do something about it? I mean, it is possible to do something about it, if we’re really that interested. Why don’t we band together and simply stop it? After the last election, which was certainly questionable, we just accepted — I mean, we are an accepting country.

MARLO: I asked Bill Clinton, at a dinner party, why he and the first George Bush didn’t go to Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, and ask them to come up with a foolproof way that our elections would be fair and honest.

JOAN: Brilliant.

272 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Suzanne, I understand about radio. Too much noise and too many commercials. I don’t think you read my other post questioning the study that I posted earlier today. If the definition of a conservative is one that doesn’t question and just follows what is fed to them by their media choices, then I would have to say that the majority of people here are conservatives, including you. Until some of the conservative women started speaking up, most of the women on here dittoed each other. I would read a thread that would be running hot and wild about something, and everyone agreed with each other for the most part. They didn’t question each other’s ideas that much. I am not saying that is wrong or that they shouldn’t do it, I just think that therefore, by the definition you gave, it is a reasonable evaluation on my part to conclude that you and many others here are conservative. You question the republicans, but you don’t question yourselves that much, or the information that validates your belief system. I have to admit, that many things on this wowowow make me think, but I am not really sure how much I question because the topics here are very forefront in my concerns for my country, and they are many things we know already, it is just that we have the opportunity to speak to other women about it. The republicans do the same - they question the democrats, and the democrat’s perception of issues. I believe we are starting to get somewhere, but it is just beginning. We don’t hear from Peggy Noonan very much and she is really intelligent. So it is not real balanced, but I figure the women that will venture here and can take it will make the difference. Suzanne, I love your flair and your fun, but darlin’ I think you are a conservative. Maybe that is where all these labels are going. I wish we could leave them behind. I will look up that study and see what it can teach me.

By Frannie Em on 05/04/2008 1:24 am

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Frannie Em….Well I am definitely “conservative” about the environment…about the Constitution, etc, about all people’s rights, about the economy….about a lot of things….if conservative means good stewartship for the common good. Bush Inc and their supporters have earned, and have it by every measure, the loathing of the world….they were amply warned about what they were doing and did it anyway, reckless, immoral, illegal, the biggest debacle in US history. Civilization should advance and intelligent people learn from history. I am not going to apologize for my extreme displeasure at what got us where we are, the people, their inhuman monstrous “Shock and Awe” the entire shebang. You’re right, my contempt is pretty open. That is not going to change. What they collectively did is organized mass murder. Anyone who assents to that has blood on their hands. Don’t tell me they didn’t know it was wrong. They did and don’t care. Every culture in history that I admire was progressive….there is an absolute blueprint for Golden Ages….they were all alike….there is also a recipe for what we have today. http://oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm If you want to support it, be my guest. Just include me out. I hope to see Bush Inc sitting on the docket at The Hague….or at the minimum that Karma comes a knockin’ at THEIR doors. They are despicable…it has nothing to do with politics but reason, laws, real morality, and the rights of every individual, and our rights collectively including to expect the BASIC. Bush has a duty to protect and abide by the Constitution. “”I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” That’s pretty clear what his job is. He refers to the Constitution as that “Goddamn piece of paper.” He’s damned lucky the Founding Fathers aren’t alive…or he and Cheney would have been dealt with long ago. “Bush on the Constitution: ‘It’s just a goddamned piece of paper’ By DOUG THOMPSON Last month, Republican Congressional leaders filed into the Oval Office to meet with President George W. Bush and talk about renewing the controversial USA Patriot Act. Several provisions of the act, passed in the shell shocked period immediately following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, caused enough anger that liberal groups like the American Civil Liberties Union had joined forces with prominent conservatives like Phyllis Schlafly and Bob Barr to oppose renewal. GOP leaders told Bush that his hardcore push to renew the more onerous provisions of the act could further alienate conservatives still mad at the President from his botched attempt to nominate White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. “I don’t give a goddamn,” Bush retorted. “I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way.” “Mr. President,” one aide in the meeting said. “There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution.” “Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,” Bush screamed back. “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!” I’ve talked to three people present for the meeting that day and they all confirm that the President of the United States called the Constitution “a goddamned piece of paper.” And, to the Bush Administration, the Constitution of the United States is little more than toilet paper stained from all the shit that this group of power-mad despots have dumped on the freedoms that “goddamned piece of paper” used to guarantee. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, while still White House counsel, wrote that the “Constitution is an outdated document.” Put aside, for a moment, political affiliation or personal beliefs. It doesn’t matter if you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent. It doesn’t matter if you support the invasion or Iraq or not. Despite our differences, the Constitution has stood for two centuries as the defining document of our government, the final source to determine “in the end ” if something is legal or right. Every federal official - including the President - who takes an oath of office swears to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia says he cringes when someone calls the Constitution a “living document.” “Oh, how I hate the phrase we have “a ‘living document,” Scalia says. “We now have a Constitution that means whatever we want it to mean. The Constitution is not a living organism, for Pete’s sake.” As a judge, Scalia says, “I don’t have to prove that the Constitution is perfect; I just have to prove that it’s better than anything else.” President Bush has proposed seven amendments to the Constitution over the last five years, including a controversial amendment to define marriage as a “union between a man and woman.” Members of Congress have proposed some 11,000 amendments over the last decade, ranging from repeal of the right to bear arms to a Constitutional ban on abortion. Scalia says the danger of tinkering with the Constitution comes from a loss of rights. “We can take away rights just as we can grant new ones,” Scalia warns. “Don’t think that it’s a one-way street.” And don’t buy the White House hype that the USA Patriot Act is a necessary tool to fight terrorism. It is a dangerous law that infringes on the rights of every American citizen and, as one brave aide told President Bush, something that undermines the Constitution of the United States. But why should Bush care? After all, the Constitution is just “a goddamned piece of paper.” © Copyright 2006 by Capitol Hill Blue Dr. Robert Bowman flew over 1,000 sorties in Vietnam, he’s a Catholic Priest, he held high level positions in the Reagan administration, here’s what he says, “As a pilot who flew 101 combat missions in Vietnam, I can tell you that the best thing our government can do for its combat veterans is to quit making more of them. Peace is patriotic; a preemptive war is immoral, illegal, unconstitutional, a war crime, and TREASON.” http://www.baltimorechronicle.com/041704reTreason.shtml Donald Trump Bush is the worst president ever http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-HJvS35Dkg&feature=related George Bush is evil. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncBPB5odB8A Oh, look, The Associated Press did a poll for the worst villain was it Satan? Saddam? King Jong II? OSB? No—-by a HUGE margin it was President Lunkhead. http://movies.crooksandliars.com/Scarborough-AP-Villain.mov

By zut alors on 05/04/2008 4:10 am

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Suzanne, at least we agree you are a conservative. (hee hee) No. Hey listen - I ‘don’t put my faith in princes’. Nor do I care about labels, those can change so easily. Bush is going to be gone soon, and we will be on to the new. The whole “neo-con’ thing is going to be a thing of the past. Even if McCain gets elected. He couldn’t stand those guys. Like I said - chaos theory to the extreme. Anyway - there is so much that my son has told me about Iraq that I cannot talk about, that is one of the reasons I took down my last name, even though it is my maiden name. I do not have any problem with your perception of the world or your world view. I love your respect for the constitution. It is an amazing document, and a miracle it ever got passed with so much political controversy surrounding it. Humans are messy, that is why we need principles to maintain, and that to me is why the constitution is so beautiful. It is not my job to defend anyone in politics, Lord knows they hire enough people to coach them on that. They are just humans, and the body politic is chaotically becoming more alive. We the People just have to keep at it, because the politicians will never on their own clean up what is in Washington. You don’t have to convince me on the horrors of war. My son and his company rescued people from an AQI torture chamber. Ugh, you can’t imagine. The teenagers in Iraq want to join the army - not the Iraqi army but the US Army. I only tell you these things to add just a little more focus to a very broad picture of what else is out there. Since 9/11, life has changed for me dramatically. It would not be what I would have chosen for my life or for my son. He was California State Science Scholar Award Recipient. He took the SAT cold once and almost aced it. He was in college when he took his delayed entry, and when the army sent his tests and records into the system, we got letters from West Point recruiting him in on a special program reserved for those who stand out. He didn’t want to do it. Didn’t want to be in the army that long. I am going on too long. Need rest - a new day tomorrow, with a new perspective.

By Frannie Em on 05/05/2008 1:42 am

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Frannie Em—You are so right!! It is about money. Left wing radio shows can’t generate revenue because they can’t get listeners. (Who wants to listen to angry liberals Bush-bash 24/7?) It’s a “Catch22”, if you don’t have listeners, who wants to advertise and who wants to fund a venture with a proven failure record? Hey Princess, You misrepresented that Pew poll. It did NOT say right wing radio show listeners were “the least informed”. The Rush Limbaugh listeners were in the same group as Stewart—highly informed—50% vs 54%. Futhermore, that SAME poll reported that Limbaugh’s audience was the most educated.

By eleanor roche on 05/03/2008 4:17 pm

Frannie Em, You make another excellent point I forgot to address. The internet is mainly the outlet for liberals, while talk radio is for conservatives. All the liberals want to control radio (ie.Fairness Doctrine), but have a fit when there is any mention of same control on the internet. Interesting?? That’s liberals, fair and balanced! Pew also did a survey that found that conservatives are happier than liberals. While 34% of all Americans call themselves very happy, only 28% of liberal democrats do, compared with 47% of conservative republicans. That explains a lot!

By eleanor roche on 05/03/2008 4:36 pm

Hey Princess, you forgot to mention that O’Rielly watchers were also in the “highly informed” group with 51%. I didn’t see Keith Olbermann on the list—hmm, I guess that puts his viewers below Fox. You are right about one thing, extremist propaganda is dangerous—ie. dailykos, moveon.org, huffingtonpost—but, I think freedom of speech is still allowed in this country, so let them speak.

By eleanor roche on 05/03/2008 4:49 pm

“While 34% of all Americans call themselves very happy, only 28% of liberal democrats do, compared with 47% of conservative republicans. That explains a lot!” IT EXPLAINS THAT IGNORANCE AND BELIEF IN YOUR OWN MYTHS IS BLISS: Liberals are concerned with saving the planet and in justice for all people. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Heku9oTLysg The NeoCons that have hijacked the party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt (before he became an Independent) and Eisenhower and are concerned with grabbing everything they can for themselves. They’re the happy campers speeding down the street in their Hummers, cutting off old ladies to park closest to the entrance at the grocery store, brushing by the homeless Vet while they go into the restaurant for the pricey meal they don’t need, voting to cut home heating programs in the NE for poor people, while to giving enormous tax breaks to the super rich. As Arianna Huffington entitled her book “Pigs at the Trough.” Here are the EVIL oil co execs, getting rich on the phony, illegal Halliburton oil war, getting $18 BILLION in tax breaks on over $100 Billion in profits, justifying a $400M retirement CEO payout when workers in this country are unable to both eat AND put gas in their car to get to work, le alone buy prescriptions that they need. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8gBBEKkbKc Exxon especially has the Republican party in its pocket to protect ITS interests not the peoples interest, not environmental interests, not US energy policy interests. http://www.exxposeexxon.com/ExxonMobil_politics.html There are SOME good Republicans but not among the NeoCons who belong at The Hague. GO Ron Paul! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ_Z_XG0L2c GO Chuck Hagel! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIVqyrPrikw&feature=related And there are plenty of Demos I’d like to see thrown out of office. Our government’s business should be what JFK called his, The Business of Mankind. We should be, as Robert Kennedy said in his famous speech, more concerned about humanity instead of the GNP: Whttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e51JnJPPY0E What JFK/RFK DIDN’T say was that the US economy has always PERFORMED BETTER under Democratic administrations. THE PARTY WITH THE BEST RECORD OF SERVING REPUBLICAN ECONOMIC VALUES IS THE DEMOCRATS, AND IT ISN’T EVEN CLOSE!” -Michael Kingsley- 1). FEDERAL SPENDING: since 1960 Republicans increased Federal Spending by 71% more than have Democrats 2). FEDERAL DEBT: since 1960 Republicans have increased the National debt by 100% more PER YEAR than have Democrats. 3). GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT: since 1921, adjusted for inflation, Democrats outproduced Republicans by 43% . Starting in 1940 the Democratic advantage is 23% better. 4). REAL PER CAPITA INCOME: since 1960 Democrats have outperformed Republicans by 30%. 5). INFLATION: since 1960, Democrats outperform Republicans 3.13% to 3.89% 6). UNEMPLOYMENT: since 1960 it decreases in an average Democratic year by 0.3% to 5.33%, and increases in average Republican year by 1.1% to 6.38%. 7). JOB CREATION: from 1945 to 2003, Democrats produced 174,200 jobs per month, Republicans have only produced 60,600 per month. Every time a Democrat succeeds a Republican, job creation soars. EVERY TIME a Republican succeeds a Democrat job creation plummets. 8). DOW JONES AVERAGE: since 1921 the DOW has increased by 52% more under Democratic administrations 9). THE BOND MARKET: since 1940 the value of 10 year Treasury bonds rose 1.2% under Democrats and fell 0.5% under Republicans SOURCES-Bureau of Labor Statistics, Economic Policy Institute, Christian Science Monitor, “The Los Angles Times -Michael Kingsley- Listed below is the average job growth increase for all terms served: Democratic Record: Truman +86,500 Kennedy +122,000 Johnson +206,000 Carter +218,000 Clinton +238,500 ——————————— +174,200 Republican Record: Eisenhower +36,000 Nixon +117,000 Reagan +166,000 G. H. Bush +52,000 G. W. Bush -69,000 ————————- +60,400 Chart of US Debt since Roosevelt and the presidents responsible for loading it on our backs as they and their friends profit BUSH-REAGAN-BUSH. http://www.cedarcomm.com/~stevelm1/usdebt.htm FORBES MAGAZINE STUDIED TEN POST-WAR PRESIDENCIES AND NAMED THE BEST ECONOMIC PERFORMANCES; JFK, JOHNSON, CLINTON—ALL DEMOCRATS. THE WORST ALL REPUBLICANS; http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0927-03.htm FORBES CHART RANKING WHERE #1 is best: JFK/JOHNSON/CLINTON—MOST PROSPEROUS US TIMES, BEST ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE: http://www.forbes.com/2004/07/20/cx_da_0720presidents.html Princeton Economist Paul Krugman’s charts of administration’s economic growth: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/28/why-doesnt-bush-get-economic… Dramatic chart of US deficit/surplus since LBJ: http://www.maravot.com/CBO.deficit.gif Celine Dion got it right on Larry King. What happened in New Orleans was, and is still, a disgrace. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0T58tp0ZVU&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxETg1WcTrQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwhM1stKKyE&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6GLSi4BJCk&feature=related The suffering and loss in Katrina worsened because 40% of US National Guard off in Iraq fighting Hallibuton/Exxon’s phony/illegal oil war. CONSERVATIVE NEWSPAPER EDITORIAL BLASTS BUSH KATRINA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf1D0A4JZNU&feature=related Under Bush US Image in the world sucks, and MOST nations consider the US’s occupation of Iraq the greatest threat to world peace. Pew Global Attitudes report: http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?ReportID=252 Pew Global Attitude Report; #1 Factor in unfavorable world view of US is Bush. http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?PageID=801 Here’s the results of a world poll on MSNBC Joe Scarbourough; When asked to choose THE WORST between Bin Laden, Kim Jong II, Satan, George Bush……24% chose Bush. 1% chose Satan. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVC1QqKTIXQ COMPARING POLL AFTER POLL RANKING US PRESIDENTS GWB THE WORST….BILL CLINTON HIGH APPROVAL RATINGS…JFK 84% APPROVAL RATING. THE WORLD AND AMERICA STILL LOVES JFK, AND OVERWHELMING APPROVES OF CLINTON’S JOB AS PRESIDENT. THE WORLD OVERWHELMING HATES BUSH—US HISTORIANS PICK BUSH AS THE WORST PRESIDENT IN US HISTORY. http://www.pollingreport.com/wh-hstry.htm http://harpers.org/archive/2008/04/hbc-90002804 Dick Cheney is the #1 stockholder and has outsourced our military to Halliburton/KBR making tens of millions himself in the process: Halliburton Watch: http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/ Give it Up Cheney. Website on Cheney’s war profittering: http://www.giveitupcheney.org/ SOLDIERS speaking out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg74xX9e1Pg&feature=related WHEN ROBERT GREENWALD TESTIFIED IN CONGRESS, RUPUBLICANS BLOCKED THIS VID BEING PLAYED; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cJlJudDtVE 4 MILLION HAVE SEEN THIS VIDEO HAVE YOU? EXXON PAYS TO PUMP BAD SCIENCE OUT TO CONFESS PEOPLE ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING JUST AS THE TOBACCO COMPANIES DID ABOUT SMOKING. BUT HERE’S A DECISION MAKING MODEL THAT WILL BLOW YOU AWAY….YOU KNOW AS IN LOGIC THAT THEY DON’T USE ON FOX NEWS; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDsIFspVzfI&feature=related BUSH reading My Pet Goat—upside down KNOWING two planes have hit the WTC 911; http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/d/d7/290px-Bushreadi… Yeah, that’s what a Commander in Chief out to do. BUSH during Katrina:http://www.apfn.org/images/katrina_splash.jpg http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/mccain-bush-cake.jpg pretending to play the guitar and smiling over cake. Bush being presidential: http://z.about.com/d/politicalhumor/1/0/w/b/bush_finger_flip.jpg http://www.yopyop.com/citizens/images/uploads/bushfinger.jpg And the GOP spent $82M to impeach Clinton over a BJ and approved only $3M to investigate the mass murder of 3,000 US citizens on 911.

By zut alors on 05/03/2008 10:06 pm

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Eleanor, that’s right. The internet has a definite liberal edge. Almost all the blogs are liberal, and they live here. Good Point about the fairness doctrine.

By Frannie Em on 05/05/2008 10:43 pm

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PEW RESEARCH POLL IN TOTAL; SCROLL DOWN RIGHT SIDE RATINGS OF WHICH AUDIENCES BETTER INFORMED. JON STEWART TOP OF LIST LIMBAUGH/FOX AT THE BOTTOM: http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=319

By zut alors on 05/03/2008 6:11 pm

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CORRECTION—I MEANT TO TYPE STEWART/COLBERT AT TOP OF ALL CATEGORIES….LIMBAUGH ETC BELOW THEM AND FOX AT THE BOTTOM. ANYWAY—THERE IT IS IN TOTAL AND PEW IS UNIMPEACHABLE SOURCE…..

By zut alors on 05/03/2008 6:19 pm

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Look, Princess, I realize that you are not a highly, trained scientist such as myself, and you don’t know how to interpret data, but just read how THEY interpret the results. They lump the 50-54%—Daily/Colbert, newspaper websites, Jim Leher, O’Reilly, NPR, and Limbaugh in the same category—well informed. Read on down and you will find where it says Limbaugh’s audiences are the “most educated”. That’s gotta bite, huh? Limbaugh might be below Stewart/Colbert in the same category, but that’s not how they interpret the data. They have to make room for margin of error, that is why they have 3 categories. I’ll agree, Fox watchers came up in the “less informed” group, but I don’t see MSNBC anywhere, do you?

By eleanor roche on 05/03/2008 6:57 pm

Eleanor, I agree, especially when we are at war. I tried Air America once and they just kept yelling and telling people how stupid PTA mother’s were and that they were going to take away your freedom over something. The problem was, they were screaming. Now, I am sure not all of their shows were like that, but that one was, and so I turned it off - and never turned back. I will check out the Pew Poll. Thanks for the info.

By Frannie Em on 05/04/2008 1:31 am

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Wow Susanne! You seem sooooo very informed and articulate!!! Haave you met Tom Hartmann? the Air America personality. He would be an equally interesting participant here. And that vitiolic Randi Rhoades could shake it up here as well! Thanks for the referrals and your two cents makes sense to me!

By immoddesta godessa on 05/03/2008 2:47 am

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Suzanne w)rocks. She’s at the vanguard of “media with a mouse.” The fact that she takes the time to track and cite things we are discussing PLUS this completely new option of Showing It on You-Tube (an incontrovertible buzz-killer for inaccurate reportage) has far-reaching potential for change. Clay Shirky, NY prof and author of Here Comes Everybody points out that time spent on web comes from the Cognitive Surplus TV has been masking for years. * Wikipedia currently represents about 100 million hours of human thought. * Television is watched for 200 billion hours, in US alone, every year. * That’s the equivalent of 2000 Wikipedias each year, spent watching TV. * People in the US spend 100 million hours each weekend watching TV commercials. So an entire Wikipedia could be replicated in a weekend if we did that during the commercials - except our brains wouldn’t be in the best position to do so. * If 1% less TV was watched in the US, 10,000 Wikipedias could be created each year. And Suzanne, you are helping to carve out this participatory, (not passive) collective resource and I owe you thanks for your commitment.

By Emcye Edwards on 05/03/2008 4:09 pm

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Emcye, I agree with you that Suzanne’s sources are invaluable, but the problem with YouTube for me can be things taken out of context. Of course it isn’t always, but it is possible and it is possible to screw with things. Like when it was reported that Michelle Obama said “This is the first time I am proud of my country.” I heard a listener call into a radio talk show and asked the host to pull the video up and it showed that the recording that was playing had been screwed with. The guy was there at the speech and she had said “really proud” and they had just deleted the “really”. Which speaks to content. I like Youtube but don’t always have time to watch the lengthy issues.

By Frannie Em on 05/04/2008 1:44 am