The news media everywhere covered a survey released this week by Indiana University that shows that a majority of Americans believe the lies—excuse me, myths— about health care reform that have been polluting the airwaves, virtual space, blogosphere, print pages and other public forums for months. These myths, all false, include: The federal government will […]
NPR gave us a wonderful example of an aspirational kind of ideological subtext this morning in a story about an Iranian-American student at Columbia University and his long-distance relationship with friends in the homeland during these turbulent times. Near the beginning, the earnest young man reminisces about hearing his father talk about current events happening […]
Michael Lynch, a so-called energy consultant who used to be involved in energy research at MIT’s Center for International Studies, has a silly little piece of specious reasoning in today’s New York Times. The point of Lynch’s article is that the widespread belief in the “peak oil” theory is leading to wasting money investing in […]
They’re still doing it! Corporations are still saying no comment, or worse yet, not being available for comment. I just did a Google news search for both “no comment” and “not available for comment” and found pages of recent examples of both. No-commenters included the TNA Wrestling Association, the German Economic Ministry, New York Police […]
I suspect I agree with Bob Herbert more than any other mainstream print columnist I read, but I disagree with his assessment that the now likely health care reform will be a bad thing. First Herbert’s description of probable health care reform from today’s column: “If the oldest and sickest are on Medicare, and the […]
Why are so many of the bedrock principles of the rural-suburban right wing based on misinformation, distortions or bald-faced lies? Consider these following cornerstones of current conservative thought: That global warming does not exist and that what warming is occurring does not result from human actions That private sector solutions are always better […]
The description of “The Marriage of Figaro” in the Pittsburgh Opera’s season ticket solicitation marks a new low in dumbing down the arts. Here it is: “What is this thing called love? Imagine protecting your fiancée from a lecherous rival, finding your long-lost son, and healing an ailing marriage – all in one day! Most […]
The New York Times has another great example of ideological subtext in a story on the front page of the August 7, 2009 business section titled “Trickle-Down Costs” and again it had to do with the selection of photos. The story concerned the pressures on state governments to cut Medicaid costs and focused on Medicaid […]
One of the things I want to do in this blog is to share my analysis of ideological subtext in the news media. Ideological subtext consists of the messages that a journalist and media outlet make in developing story details, e.g., who or what to feature as the case history example, what comments are selected […]
Two recent news stories in Pennsylvania demonstrate how very difficult it is for an organization to impose its version of reality on the public and the news media if it runs against the common sense reality of the situation. As reported in today’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Mylan Inc., a generic drug maker, and its chief executive […]