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Edited on Tue Jan-30-07 01:15 AM by mike_c
I've given up believing in an unaligned press. The CORPORATE press is working very hard to marginalize liberal democrats like Kucinich and to advance the candidacy of mainstream dems like HRC who will polarize voters and give their bloviators lots to talk about. And generate lots of media hype, attention, and profits. That's not unlike the way the media conspired to help push America into an unnecessary war with Iraq. Or the way it deep sixed Howard Dean's candidacy in 2004.
I also think that there is a large group of people who are not particularly well informed about national or international issues who end up providing fodder for those poll numbers. I think accomplished pollsters know this. If the Washington Post says "get me numbers on the democratic party candidates, and wouldn't it be delicious if HRC is the eventual dem nominee," good pollsters know where to obtain those results without there being OBVIOUS bias-- but it's there nonetheless. Call the folks who are getting all their information from the MSM and who are not particularly politically aware and they will likely answer "yeah, well, I hear about Hillary all the time and that's who I think I'll vote for."
If you asked those same people to name the democratic candidates, I'd bet most could not name more than a couple, if that.
Finally, note that the MSM has crossed the line from objective journalism, to the extent that that ever really existed anyway, into real propaganda. It's propaganda in the sense that it's meant to create a specific outcome in the electorate. It's manipulation, whether for political reasons or for economic ones.
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