a_unique_person
Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning
Cover up or just incompetence through lack of resources? My guess is the latter. News organisations are mere shadows of their former selves.
George Santos charged with defrauding campaign donors
- Thread starter seayakin
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I beg to differ. I reject the notion that "the media", as if that's a singular entity, worked in concert to suppress damning Santos news. There's a section on this forum for that sort of twaddle.
Moreover, the news about Santos' truly extraordinary level of BS that was supposedly suppressed would almost certainly have drawn more readers/viewers than the horse race.
Suddenly
No Punting
This guy's some piece of work. What are the chances he may just say, "I can't do this," and resign?
When you are halfway up the ramp about to jump over flaming wreckage it isn't wise to hit the brakes.
His only way out is forward, and, sadly, his being in the future willing to resign would be a plea bargaining chip.
pgwenthold
Penultimate Amazing
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That's not necessarily true. As much as I hate the word, it's basically that Trump has normalized excessive lying, to the point where it is clear that too many people don't care.
You even see that with Santos - it gets dismissed as just, "All politicians lie." It's not news. He's got an R next to his name, so who cares what else is true?
wareyin
Penultimate Amazing
Eh, I doubt that "the media" works to suppress damning news (except of course for right wing media), but there certainly is a long and proven track record of mainstream media "both-siding" political reporting. thaiboxerken brought up the Trump/Hillary example where Trump's many scandals would not be reported on without a counterbalancing mention of Clinton's emails, for instance.
I think you're wrong for at least two reasons:
1. The extent and nature of Santos' BS is special, and loaded with human interest.
2. The horse race for 1 measly seat out of 435 wouldn't have drawn national attention.
bruto
Penultimate Amazing
I'm not convinced it's twaddle, except the part where it is assumed the media wanted a closer race but not a Republican victory. I can think of numerous examples of the press giving more weight to trivial faults of Democratic candidates than the serious faults of their opponents. Of course we see what we want when we're biased, but I think a case could be made there. But what I'm not convinced of is that the press wants it any other way. They may not go all out to promote bad government, and one can always point to the desire for fairness and impartiality in reporting as an excuse, but when the worse leaders win and the worse government ensues, it's better copy.
seayakin
Graduate Poster
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pgwenthold
Penultimate Amazing
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While I don't necessarily argue with #2, I think you are wrong about #1. You would think it would be special and unique, but, as I said, dishonesty is so normalized that it gets dismissed. Do you not agree that there have been many who have tried to excuse it with the old "all politicians lie" dodge?
Hercules56
Banned
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Every day that goes by, another expose about fraud and campaign finance crimes. And every day the GOP remains silent.
Guess the GOP literally does not care about honesty, integrity, the truth.
Guess the GOP literally does not care about honesty, integrity, the truth.
dudalb
Penultimate Amazing
The GOP in Nassau county, Santos home district, just called for him to resign.
As much as I hate what much of the GOP has become, but I think "Everybody in the GOP Is evil" is pretty extreme.
Stacyhs
Penultimate Amazing
I agree. It's the GOP leadership and extremists that are the problem.
wareyin
Penultimate Amazing
Hercules56
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Let me know when the state and national party calls for him to step down.
As for right now, they prefer power over integrity.
Skeptic Ginger
Nasty Woman
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It is "twaddle" that the news media acts with some sort of CT motivation. Think about it, do they have secret meetings? Pass out talking points memos (a real thing at Faux News) so everyone is on the same page? 
Santos' competitor said what the problem was and I linked to it above. His campaign could not get any national news interest because so much else during the run-up to the 2022 election drowned out stories like Santos' pathological lying (differs considerably from the usual political candidate and legislator lying). Losing local media is a serious problem the Santos election identifies.
How does the news media work? They sell a commodity and that commodity is not information. The business model is and has been for a very long time (always has been to varying degrees) is that sensation, scandal and controversy sells.
Good reporting, especially investigative reporting does sell sometimes but apparently not enough for news rooms to hire many investigative reporters. It takes too long to actually investigate some stories.
I also fault the Democrats who have yet to figure out basic marketing skills. They might have gotten more media interest in Santos had they approached it using the mentally disturbed aspect. I'd bet 10 to 1 they simply pointed out X or Y etc wasn't true. They might have looked more carefully into the guy's background and campaign finances. I'd also bet the DNC didn't give the district's candidate much financial help because they falsely assumed it was a safe seat.
Santos' competitor said what the problem was and I linked to it above. His campaign could not get any national news interest because so much else during the run-up to the 2022 election drowned out stories like Santos' pathological lying (differs considerably from the usual political candidate and legislator lying). Losing local media is a serious problem the Santos election identifies.
How does the news media work? They sell a commodity and that commodity is not information. The business model is and has been for a very long time (always has been to varying degrees) is that sensation, scandal and controversy sells.
Good reporting, especially investigative reporting does sell sometimes but apparently not enough for news rooms to hire many investigative reporters. It takes too long to actually investigate some stories.
I also fault the Democrats who have yet to figure out basic marketing skills. They might have gotten more media interest in Santos had they approached it using the mentally disturbed aspect. I'd bet 10 to 1 they simply pointed out X or Y etc wasn't true. They might have looked more carefully into the guy's background and campaign finances. I'd also bet the DNC didn't give the district's candidate much financial help because they falsely assumed it was a safe seat.
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Yes, dishonesty has been normalized. And yes, I often hear people foist the "all politicians lie" excuse.
Notwithstanding, the unrelenting coverage Santos has received over the past few weeks pretty much proves my point.
Expanding here...
* The horse race did not gain national attention.
* The scandal has been unrelenting for weeks.
This clearly proves out my point with a high level of certitude.
timhau
NWO Litter Technician
It's also as if we've lost sight of the fact that all lies and other missteps are not equal. "I only had two beers" is a lie when I actually had four, and so is "I didn't spend the night snorting coke and banging underage hookers" when I actually did. I've been guilty of the former, but I still think that leaves me as a better person than someone who is guilty of the latter.
Parsman
Muse
I do think in general themedia want to make the electoral contest seem close to peak interest among their customer base. In the USA this is probably exacerbated by the 2 Party system where it seems about 40-45% of the population will always vote either Republican or Democrat. We have similar here in the UK for Labour and Conservatives, although we do have a 3rd party of varying electoral strengths in the Lib Dems and strong regional parties like the SNP or the Northern Irish parties. We even have a Green MP at Westminster and that is despite an electoral system that strongly favours a bi-polar political system, which means when it comes to national elections all the focus is on Lab/Con contest.
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Mike!
Official Ponylandistanian National Treasure. Re
I'm wondering if he wears glasses just to keep from getting punched in the face.