PLAYER57832 wrote:patches70 wrote:Symmetry wrote:Is it so different? Or just the cover? The contents seem to be pretty Syria orientated. To be fair, I don't really bother with Time magazine that much anyway.
Well, the cover has inside what is called the "cover story", it's the main article in the magazine. Indeed, the US cover story is not the same as the other three international cover stories. However, the international cover story is included in the US edition, but buried deeper in the magazine.
Time does this all the time, as documented thusly-
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/11/2 ... E-Magazine
The most important world events given prominence in the international editions, but in the US those stories are put on the back burner and in their place of prominence is fluff.
Once the US media was separate, a check on the government often times and informing the US public of events of the world at large. Not so much any more as US media has become another arm of US propaganda.
How often have we seen people from other nationalities saying "you Americans, you only think about yourselves and know nothing of the rest of the world" and similar arguments along with the standard "travel beyond your borders some and learn more about the world".
Well, to those who say/think that, I give you the US media, so that one may understand the US centric thinking of so many US citizens. They are willfully kept in the dark as determined by US policy which the media is so willing to be a partner of peddling the propaganda and keeping the US public "on message" (or off message, depending on the circumstance) instead of actually giving a bigger picture. And then the public tricked into the Liberal vs Conservative/ Repoblian vs Demorat false dichotomy as "bias against my side" as every side can say that.
The truth is that there is bias in the media, obviously, and that bias is to keep America on the proper narrative. Truth is secondary and being informative is not needed unless it's part of whatever narrative is being peddled at the time.
But true enough, Time magazine is a rag, but Time Inc is a media conglomerate empire and that gives them a lot of control over information and how that information is disseminated.
And it's getting worse as recent Senate activities regarding setting conditions on what constitutes a journalist/news disseminator. The government will decide who is a journalist if they get their way and who is and isn't protected under freedom of the press. A very troubling thing indeed as a free press is very important to freedom, liberty and a just nation.
hmm...
The thing is that most people don't get their news from what you call "the US media", not really. There was a time when they did, and, ironically enough, the news was a bit less biased (note I did NOT say "unbiased"). Now we have multiple opinions in various news sources, but most of what people read is just entertainment.. or opinion. When its opinion, its opinion that mostly agrees with what they already thing, rather than other people's opinions or truly resourced and researched facts.
Part of the problem is that people think that bias is a bad thing. It's neither good nor bad in itself. Unbiased reporting is an unreachable goal, movement toward it and encouragement of it as an ideal is fine with me. I'm still ok with the idea of a journalist pursuing something he or she is passionate about. Better that than a robot.