Laissez-faire

The election thus far has convinced me just how significant and disturbing a role the media play in determining who we elect as President. A majority of Americans still rely almost exclusively on the mainstream media outlets for their information. Whether or not it’s intentional, the media push for the status quo and end up convincing people to support the major establishment candidates, while suppressing alternate viewpoints.

This weekend Nevada held their caucus. Entrance polls predicted Ron Paul would place second, which eventually did. This was a huge success for Paul. He exceeded his poll numbers by nearly 100 percent. It doesn’t matter how well he does, the media refuse to acknowledge his progress.

I was listening to WWJ before the results had come in. They were discussing the entrance polls in which Ron Paul was second. The reporter mentioned that Romney was likely going to place first and McCain third. There was no mention of Ron Paul at all.

The NY Times published a table of primary election results as of yesterday before the South Carolina results had been announced. Ron Paul was not included despite his being more viable than Giuliani or Thompson who were both included.

Then the “fair and balanced” Fox News failed to include Ron Paul in their graphic depicting the current standings in Nevada.

At first this media manipulation was just frustrating; now I’m getting a little frightened. It is absolutely crucial that the internet remains free from any type of government regulation. If this can be accomplished, in the coming years, as the media giants lose their relevancy to the limitless sources on the internet, I believe we will see a dramatic shift in this country.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 20th, 2008 at 2:05 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.