Saturday, June 04, 2016

248.6 - Footnote: media ignore poverty in debates

Footnote: media ignore poverty in debates

Just in case you were indulging in the fantasy that the media would act as a counterbalance to the party establishment's thumb on the scales, let me disabuse you of that foolish notion.

The media watchdog group FAIR did an analysis of all nine democratic debates over the past seven months. They found that 30 questions were asked about ISIS or terrorism, even though since 2001 - this is quite literally true - Americans are as likely to be killed by having unstable furniture fall on them as by Islamic terrorists. They found 11 questions were asked Russia. Ten questions were asked about socialism or communism, all of which were directed at Bernie Sanders.

But in nine debates, there was not one single question about poverty. The candidates themselves did bring it up; Clinton did so five times, Sanders, 12 times. But not one question addressed it.

According to the 2014 census, 14.5 percent of Americans, or over 45 million people, live in poverty, up from 11.3 percent in 2000. But to the gatekeepers of our national political debate, it wasn't worth asking about.

An estimated 16 million Americans under the age of 18 live below the poverty line. But it wasn't worth asking about.

A 2011 study attributed 133,000 deaths a year to poverty-related illnesses. Poverty has been linked to diminished IQ in children in the US and has been shown to impact economic gains, overall health and quality of life. But it wasn't worth asking about.

Americans are literally a million times more likely to live in poverty than to have been killed by “jihadi terror” since 9/11. But the masters of our mainstream media decided it wasn't worth asking about.

I have said I don't know how many times that we are uninformed, misinformed, and malinformed by our major media. And the beat goes on.

These people are not on your side. Never forget it for a moment.

Sources cited in links:
http://fair.org/
http://fair.org/home/in-nine-democratic-debates-not-a-single-question-about-poverty/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2015/11/23/youre-more-likely-to-be-fatally-crushed-by-furniture-than-killed-by-a-terrorist/

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