{"id":176,"date":"2006-09-11T09:52:15","date_gmt":"2006-09-11T14:52:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2006\/09\/11\/how-the-us-media-helps-subvert-us-democracy\/"},"modified":"2006-09-11T10:18:44","modified_gmt":"2006-09-11T15:18:44","slug":"how-the-us-media-helps-subvert-us-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2006\/09\/11\/how-the-us-media-helps-subvert-us-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"How the U.S. Media Helps Subvert U.S. Democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Globalist<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

U.S. DEMOCRACY\u00a0& THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA<\/strong><\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

by James Bovard\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 August 10, 2006\u00a0<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

U.S. policies have received a lot of criticism in recent years \u2014 not just at home, but also around the world. According to Jim Bovard, author of “Attention Deficit Democracy,” one of the key reasons is that the Washington press corps has too cozy a relationship with government. The focus of the U.S. media on the “Big Picture” effectively \u2014 and conveniently \u2014 shields the government against criticism.<\/em> <\/font><\/p>\n

Why is it that in the United States, the vast majority of government abuses and failures either never show up on the\u00a0<\/span><\/font> intellectual radar screen, or are merely one or two blips \u2014 and then forever gone?\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One reason is that many intellectuals have long disdained the specific details of government policies.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>The more coercive government becomes, the more tactless it is to admit that government coerces. Looking at the actual details of government policy is left to the auditors and accountants, the congressional staffers \u2014 or perhaps the interns.<\/span>The big picture<\/span> <\/span>The politically correct attitude looks beyond the government\u2019s past failings and current botches \u2014 and focuses instead on the idea of government.<\/span> <\/span>The incarnation of this attitude is the Big Picture. The Big Picture is a type of abstraction \u2014 or pseudo-abstraction \u2014 that might be more appropriate in theology than in politics.<\/p>\n

A vicious cycle<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Big Picture helps Washington<\/p>\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
There is almost never any liability for a journalist who peddles false information from the government \u2014 but they risk their careers if their criticisms of government turn out to be unsubstantiated.<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

intellectuals define issues in ways that buffer the federal government from any damage it inflicts.<\/p>\n

Much of the Washington establishment is devoted to maintaining the prestige of government as the single most important fount of their own personal prestige.<\/p>\n

The intelligentsia is perhaps the ultimate partner in power \u2014 given all the government consulting contracts, all the tenured gigs at government-subsidized universities (including private universities that depend on federal research grants and subsidized loans to students).<\/p>\n

A lack of curiosity<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Washington media circles, too, there is a surprising lack of curiosity about government. There is passionate interest about the latest budget proposals for government agencies, passing new laws \u2014 or creating new programs.<\/p>\n

But the actual operation of government, the details of what specific government programs achieve or inflict, is considered mundane. By the same token, the less a journalist understands an agency\u2019s policies, the more gullible he is for its propaganda.<\/p>\n

Pack journalism<\/strong><\/p>\n

Washington journalists\u2019 reality is largely defined by government press<\/p>\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
“We end up the day usually having some version of what the White House… has suggested as a story.\u201d<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

releases. That is probably why the Washington press corps has long been derided as \u201cstenographers with amnesia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Actually, this epithet is going out of fashion, in part because fewer people know the meaning of stenographer.<\/p>\n

The media rarely looks beyond the government\u2019s proclaimed purpose for a program or policy. \u201cPack journalism\u201d predominates \u2014 and the pack rarely strays from the government reservation.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Never any liability<\/h4>\n

When they do stray, it is often in a group \u2014 after something has occurred or some pronouncement has been made signaling that it is okay to temporarily deviate from the official line.<\/p>\n

There is almost never any liability for a Washington journalist who peddles false information received from the government, but they risk their careers if their criticisms of government turn out to be unsubstantiated.<\/p>\n

Stamping the seal of approval<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sam Donaldson, the legendary ABC White House correspondent, observed of the Washington media: \u201cAs a rule, we are, if not handmaidens of the establishment, at least blood brothers to the establishment. We end up the day usually having some version of what the White House… has suggested as a story.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The Washington press corps has long been derided as \u201cstenographers with amnesia.\u201d<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

By the same standard, most of the news media would be guilty of conspiring with the federal government to deceive the American people. The media effectively stamps its seal of approval on the vast majority of government assertions and presidential proclamations it delivers to the American people.<\/p>\n

The fact that prominent media personalities profit massively from their coziness with government doesn\u2019t annul their responsibility. As long as government power expands \u2014 as long as government and political leaders are glorified \u2014 it really doesn\u2019t matter whether government programs succeed or fail.<\/p>\n

Deceiving the public<\/h4>\n

Or, more accurately, the programs are a success because their advocates and defenders and champions are well-compensated and often treated regally. Those who invoke the Big Picture often have a vested interest in discouraging people from looking at grisly details.<\/p>\n

The Big Picture becomes the enabler of the Big Lie. The studied avoidance of the details of government policy makes it far easier for politicians to manipulate and deceive the public.<\/p>\n

Attention Deficit Democracy<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Big Picture allows governments to do as they please, confident that few people will<\/p>\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The fact that prominent media personalities profit massively from their coziness with government doesn\u2019t annul their responsibility.<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

pay attention to the details.<\/p>\n

The Big Picture ensures that people learn little or nothing from the past \u2014 and ignore the problems of the present. Ultimately, worshipping the Big Picture is the higher truth \u2014 and everything else is mere ephemera.<\/p>\n

As a result, Attention Deficit Democracy creates a vacuous atmosphere in which Big Picture advocates can dominate political discussions regardless of the illogic or imbecility of their doctrines.<\/p>\n

Adapted from the book “Attention Deficit Democracy” by James Bovard, copyright \u00a9 2006. Published by arrangement with Palgrave Macmillan.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Globalist U.S. DEMOCRACY\u00a0& THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA by James Bovard\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 August 10, 2006\u00a0 U.S. policies have received a lot of criticism in recent years \u2014 not just at home, but also around the world. According to Jim Bovard, author of “Attention Deficit Democracy,” one of the key reasons is that the Washington press […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[659,22,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-176","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"tag-attention-deficit-democracy","9":"tag-bovard"},"yoast_head":"\nHow the U.S. Media Helps Subvert U.S. Democracy - James Bovard<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2006\/09\/11\/how-the-us-media-helps-subvert-us-democracy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How the U.S. Media Helps Subvert U.S. Democracy - James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Globalist U.S. DEMOCRACY\u00a0& THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA by James Bovard\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 August 10, 2006\u00a0 U.S. policies have received a lot of criticism in recent years \u2014 not just at home, but also around the world. 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The Wall Street Journal called Bovard \"the roving inspector general of the modern state\" and Washington Post columnist George Will called him a \"one-man truth squad.\" His 1994 book, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, received the Free Press Association\u2019s Mencken Award as Book of the Year. His Terrorism & Tyranny won the Lysander Spooner \"Best Book on Liberty in 2003\" award. He received the Thomas Szasz Award for Civil Liberties work, awarded by the Center for Independent Thought and the Freedom Fund Award from the Firearms Civil Rights Defense Fund of the National Rifle Association. Bovard\u2019s writings have been publicly denounced by FBI director Louis Freeh, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Postmaster General, and the chiefs of the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as by many congressmen and other malcontents.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.jimbovard.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard","https:\/\/x.com\/jimbovard"],"url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}