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Josh Levs-They Stand Corrected's avatar

Thanks for publishing this, The Contrarian. The obsession with "fame" is like mental poison in journalism AND politics. As a nation, we desperately need the media to do better. https://theystandcorrected.substack.com/p/the-white-house-correspondents-association

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Wendy horgan's avatar

Great article.

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Josh Levs-They Stand Corrected's avatar

Thanks!

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Joanne J Henry's avatar

I watch PBS Newshour because they truly seem the only serious news program. You get a full hour of depth, fact checking, and serious newscasters and guests. I don't want to hear another celebrity's name in connection with our government. It's going to take the most experienced people in how government for the people is run to correct this chaos going on now. Why do you think these crooks want them off the air?

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Josh Levs-They Stand Corrected's avatar

"I don't want to hear another celebrity's name in connection with our government. It's going to take the most experienced people in how government for the people is run to correct this chaos." Agreed! As for PBS, unfortunately they fail to fact check a bunch of things too. Listeners have sent me clips from their programming, and I've fact checked some on They Stand Corrected. The problem is the system. No major news agency has committed to only reporting and platforming truth. :(

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Joanne J Henry's avatar

I will check out Stand Corrected from now on. I was going to say that PBS isn’t perfect but forgot as I was writing. Thank you for replying.

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Arkansas Blue's avatar

That's exactly what I have been pointing out about the billionaire media during the four years of the Biden administration.

Every single day of those four years there were many more pictures and articles about the mob boss and his antics than there were about the Biden administration, his policies, his cabinet members or anything else to do with the actual running of this country and the very many great things Biden and his people did for this country.

It was inexcusable, but in hindsight, it is very clear that the billionaire media was preparing the grounds to get the mob boss reelected.

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Josh Levs-They Stand Corrected's avatar

This problem is definitely being pushed by oligarchy. And the celebrity obsession can help oligarchs, because they get someone elected based entirely on image, and then they pull the strings behind the scenes.

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Alesia's avatar

Thank you Josh Levs. Excellent article!! Now who in the media universe will be the first to redirect their focus to what really matters?

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Bob's avatar

News sites increasingly feature "infotainment" stories to drive clicks to ads, distracting subscribers from the stories that matter. For example, the NY Times runs a fashion analysis and import of the coat Melania Trump wore to the White House Easter Egg Hunt next to the story of how corporations have taken over what was once a benign kids' event.

Celebrities are featured who "spill", "reveal", criticize or tear down another.

As for potential political candidates, remember the endless speculation about Matthew McConnaughey running for Senate or President? Acting and car ads for Lincoln were the impressive credentials.

Circling back to Trump, what took his celebrity to another level was his ability to play on fears and to stoke anger.

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Mike's avatar

Well said!

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Pat Jones Garcia's avatar

So true, unfortunately. When President Biden was in office, I was so disappointed that our local newspaper and televised news kept focusing on the sickening Trump instead of the work President Biden was doing for us.

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