Fox News and other political circuses

On the other hand, Fox spends more time telling people WHAT to think than giving them facts and teaching them HOW to think. That seriously troubles me.

I think part of your difficulty may be that you think that Fox isn't aware that they are doing this. On a more local note, the Australian media definitely isn't

Relevent example for those who have any interest (in order):
1- http://www.penguin.com.au/products/9781921844065/sideshow-dumbing-down-democracy
2- http://theconversation.edu.au/dumbing-down-the-media-or-shooting-the-messenger-lindsay-tanners-sideshow-1010 (I had read an article by Mr Tanner himself describing the book somewhere but I couldn't find it)
3- http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s3211909.htm

Our media isn't as outright partisan as those in America or Britain but they are equally as incompetent. The result is all of the boredom with none of the insanity, a malaise of meaningless hodgepodge interesting only to nationalist baby boomers and their ilk. Politically, nobody can make any strong or meaningful claims and reasonable people and discussion are ignored, ultimately meaning the country as a whole is getting dragged to the right along with the rest of the world by sensationalism (so maybe Ambient_Malice shouldn't be too worried ). I find this particularly frustrating because at the moment conditions are ripe for Australia to prosper and instead I get to watch it devolve into WHY THREATEN OUR JOBS WHY THREATEN OUR JOBS WHY THREATEN OUR JOBS WHY THREATEN OUR JOBS WHY THREATEN OUR JOBS

 

The whole mess reminds me of the old novel, "In His Steps", where the Newspaper Editor has an epiphany after a man who has lost his job and life staggers into Church and dies soon afterwards.

The editor resolves to stop printing sensationalism, starting by not covering a prize-fight. Because he's wealthy, he's able to cover the costs when the public stop buying the paper.

But soon people start reading again because his paper prints actual news, constructive editorials, and so on and so forth.

 

I think part of your difficulty may be that you think that Fox isn't aware that they are doing this.

Leave it to DoubleThink to point out the Orwellian angle.

In all seriousness, FOX is crazy. but CNN and the likes of which can't be expected to be much better. No, not because they're the so-called "liberal equivalent," but because they're corporate controlled, just the same as FOX. So no matter what, they're going to be giving news in a way that advances corporate interests.

 

In other news, I've just discovered that all three seasons of Frontline are on YouTube

 

In other news, I've just discovered that all three seasons of Frontline are on YouTube

Threadstopper.