Mission Possible = Media (Circus) Literacy

Newsletter + On This Day

Confession: I gave up reading and watching the news daily around 2016. I check in a few times a week, but paying too much attention to the headlines tends to break my heart…and my mind.

Based on my limited media diet, usually filtered through social media and/or YouTube, what passes for “journalism” these days truly disgusts me. So I (mostly) opt out.

The truth is, legacy media outlets are struggling to survive around the world. What was once a (mostly) trusted profession, bound by principles like fairness, accuracy, and accountability, now seems increasingly influenced by clicks, sensationalism, and political agendas. I know that’s an over-generalization, but spreading lies and stoking discord has ever been easier. Or more common.

It’s disheartening but also not surprising. Anyone with an internet connection can be an “independent journalist” these days. Most of us at least curate our own newsfeed. Or ask Google News to do it for us. Replacing countless “old-school” journalists and news reporters. Remember those? Simpler, if not more fact-based, times for sure.

So we’re all part of the problem.
In my opinion, we’re all also part of the solution.

Time after time, broadcasters and publishers—big and small—have shown they’re more concerned with their bottom line than reporting the facts. I fully understand news is (big) business. No longer funded by the classified pages, some legacy and new media companies have pivoted away from reporting the “news” to spreading misinformation and propaganda…for the highest bidder:

• TWO RT EMPLOYEES INDICTED FOR COVERTLY FUNDING AND DIRECTING U.S. COMPANY THAT PUBLISHED THOUSANDS OF VIDEOS IN FURTHERANCE OF RUSSIAN INTERESTS (DOJ)

• HOW RUSSIAN OPERATIVES COVERTLY HIRED U.S. INFLUENCERS TO CREATE VIRAL VIDEOS (NPR)

• WHAT RIGHT-WING INFLUENCERS ACTUALLY SAID IN THOSE TENET MEDIA VIDEOS (Wired)

While I’m no fan of Tim Pool or the gaggle of grifters that make up Tenet Media, they are far from the only group of willful/willing idiots doing their best to pass "hot takes” off as “news.” The struggle against misinformation is real.

Whatever the story, depending on what you read or watch, you’ll see a different version of it. This, in my opinion, isn’t due to actual reporting…it’s due to each outlet vying for attention and allegiance. So many headlines are pure clickbait. More and more articles and “news” reports feel more like propaganda than reliable reporting.

It’s a mess—one that leaves viewers either 1) confused, 2) more entrenched in their existing beliefs, or 3) tuning out. It’s like too few have heard of the Dunning-Kruger effect. Or if they have they don’t seem to understand that it applies to everyone.

My recommendation: Let’s all check ourselves (and fact-check our sources) before we wreck ourselves (and our world).

What’s desperately needed is better media literacy and education to help people recognize the signs of propaganda. Whether you call it manipulation or marketing, it’s important to understand how mass media narratives are designed to provoke division and reaction…and in the name of “engagement.”

Being able to critically assess what we see—rather than accepting it at face value—can help us navigate this chaos. By questioning, investigating, and cross-referencing stories, we’re in a better position to make informed decisions rather than fall prey to carefully-crafted corporate and political messages.

To me, navigating the 24/7 media circus is like stepping into a hall of (un)funhouse mirrors, where every reflection is distorted and warped.

What you see is not what you get at these media circus. So I choose my trips very, very carefully. And I do do my best to remember most of the show is just smoke and mirrors, intended to keep the audiences entertained and entranced so much they can’t/won’t go outside and see what’s really going on for themselves.

Thanks for reading!
Clint

”CLOWNS ARE THE PEGS ON WHICH THE CIRCUS IS HUNG.” P. T. BARNUM

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ON YOUTUBE = FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

While I don’t watch the “news,” I do watch a lot of videos by commentary creators. One of my favorites is D’Angelo Wallace. His sassy-smart opinions and style may not be for everyone, but he’s one of my favorites. (Main Channel + Side Channel)

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ON THIS DAY = SEPTEMBER 7

BIRTHDAYS

• GRANDMA MOSES (1860)
  Artist

• ELIA KAZAN (1909)
  Director + Writer + Actor

• BUDDY HOLLY (1936)
  Singer-Songwriter

• CHRISSIE HYNDE (1951)
  Singer-Songwriter

• EAZY-E (1964)
  Rapper

• RUDY GALINDO (1969)

  Figure Skater

• LESLIE JONES (1967)
  Comedian + Actress

EVENTS

• Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles marry. (1943)
  Note: The couple divorice in 1947.

• At the 32nd Primetime Emmy Awards, Taxi, Lou Grant, Ed Asner, and Barbara Bel Geddes win. The event is notable for proceeding despite 51 of the 52 nominated performers boycotting the event due to the Screen Actors Guild strike. (1980)

• Larry Kramer and two friends put up a banner at the Fire Island dock that read “Give to Gay Cancer.” They raised only $124. Kramer is an American playwright, author, public health advocate, and LGBT rights activist. He began his career rewriting scripts while working for Columbia Pictures, which led him to London where he worked with United Artists. There he wrote the screenplay for the 1969 film Women in Love and earned an Academy Award nomination for his work. Kramer introduced a controversial and confrontational style in his novel Faggots which earned mixed reviews and emphatic denunciations from some in the gay community for Kramer’s one-sided portrayal of shallow, promiscuous gay relationships in the 1970s. Kramer witnessed the spread of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) among his friends in 1980. He co-founded the Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) which has become the world’s largest private organization assisting people living with AIDS. Kramer grew frustrated with bureaucratic paralysis and the apathy of gay men to the AIDS crisis and wished to engage in further action than the social services GMHC provided. He expressed his frustration by writing a play titled The Normal Heart, produced at The Public Theater in New York City in 1985. His political activism continued with the founding of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) in 1987, an influential direct action protest organization with the aim of gaining more public action to fight the AIDS crisis.

• Bad, Michael Jackson’s seventh solo studio album, is released. (1987)

• Tupac Shakur is shot multiple times in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas and dies 6 days later. (1996)

• The world’s first 24-hour LGBT TV network called PrideVision TV is launched in Canada. It is now called OutTV. Owned by Headline Media Group, it was Canada’s first 24-hour cable television channel targeted at LGBT audiences. It was also the second LGBT-focused channel to be established in the world after the Gay Cable Network in the U.S. which shut down in 2001. (2001)

• True Blood premieres on HBO. (2008)

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ON SUBSTACK = NEW + FEATURED

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