Media Wonders Why Trust is Low, After Decades of Manufacturing Consent
Gallup reports only 28% of Americans trust mass media to accurately report the news. One might ponder if this dip correlates with, say, the near-unanimous cheerleading for the Iraq War based on WMDs that never materialized. Or perhaps the dutiful repetition of 'surgical strikes' in Gaza while the death toll of women and children skyrockets. Remember when CNN and MSNBC amplified every government
claim, dismissing dissenting voices as 'fringe'? That wasn't 'reporting'; it was embedding. This isn't a new phenomenon. It's a textbook case of manufacturing consent, perfected over decades. When figures like Rep. Steny Hoyer, having received over $1.6 million from pro-Israel groups (according to OpenSecrets.org), appear on major networks to defend every Israeli action, unchallenged, it's not a
journalistic discussion. It's a press release with better lighting. The 'news' is telling you what to think, not how to think. And now they're surprised we've noticed?