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The imminent conservative takeover of local news

I admit ignorance, I didn't know about this for decades.

Just because you're aware of it now doesn't mean it's any different than it was for the past 20 years.
Waving and flailing about in search of an instant solution just because you've finally become aware of something that's been going on for years isn't going to accomplish much.


If you did, what are some of the solutions that you came up with?

I didn't claim to have any.
The point is, though, that many people were "ignorant" and "didn't know about this" for decades when stuff could have been done easier, and that's why we're in the situation we are now.
 

zethren

Banned
Honestly I'm pretty grateful that the bullshit over the last year has made more and more people pay attention to what's happening. Many of my friends who haven't paid any attention to politics now do, and care, and vote. That's a win, and I'm hoping this is a trend around the country.
 

RinsFury

Member
Have to continue to keep their voter base ignorant and uneducated if Trump is going to stand a chance at getting re-elected. I pray that he will be in jail before it comes to that.
 
Just because you're aware of it now doesn't mean it's any different than it was for the past 20 years.
Waving and flailing about in search of an instant solution just because you've finally become aware of something that's been going on for years isn't going to accomplish much.

I didn't claim to have any.
The point is, though, that many people were "ignorant" and "didn't know about this" for decades when stuff could have been done easier, and that's why we're in the situation we are now.

Okay, cool story. But you have been aware of this for decades. I'll own my ignorance, but you seem to have very little to say about the subject for being so aware it outside scolding those who are clearly now aware and freaked out about it.
 
Okay, cool story. But you have been aware of this for decades. I'll own my ignorance, but you seem to have very little to say about the subject for being so aware it outside scolding those who are clearly now aware and freaked out about it.

Yes, I am admonishing people for being unaware of stuff that affects their lives for decades.
Television, Radio, Internet/Net Neutrality, etc. - none of the issues with these are new. These things have been building for decades. And it's amusing and tiring to see people getting so worked up over them now, as if they just popped out of the woodwork when the people finally became aware of them.

It's the figurative "closing the barn door after the horses have already gotten out."
Would have been far easier if you had closed the door before they left - but people weren't paying attention then. So, yeah, you can now go and try to get all of the horses - good luck.
 
Yes, I am admonishing people for being unaware of stuff that affects their lives for decades.
Television, Radio, Internet/Net Neutrality, etc. - none of the issues with these are new. These things have been building for decades. And it's amusing and tiring to see people getting so worked up over them now.

It's the figurative "closing the barn door after the horses have already gotten out."
Would have been far easier if you had closed the door before they left - but people weren't paying attention then. So, yeah, you can now go and try to get all of the horses - good luck.

Okay, so you're just talking shit. Cool.
 
Yes, I am admonishing people for being unaware of stuff that affects their lives for decades.
Television, Radio, Internet/Net Neutrality, etc. - none of the issues with these are new. These things have been building for decades. And it's amusing and tiring to see people getting so worked up over them now, as if they just popped out of the woodwork when the people finally became aware of them.

It's the figurative "closing the barn door after the horses have already gotten out."
Would have been far easier if you had closed the door before they left - but people weren't paying attention then. So, yeah, you can now go and try to get all of the horses - good luck.

Decades ago, many people on this forum were in elementary school, in diapers, or not even conceived yet.
 

rrs

Member
The only Sinclair station here is a no budget mst3k fodder channel, and even when the company owned a major network all the local news was done by another company
 
If that's how you want to look at it, sure.
Try to be more aware of what's going on in your world.

It's not the way it looks, it's the way it is. I don't know, man, point me to your time machine, and I'll back in time and become more aware of this. Fucking sorry? I mean, you're the one who is pumping your chest about how you were in the know about this years before it was cool. If all you have for that lengthy knowledge is to look down and those who weren't aware, I don't see it being worth much more than what you're scolding.

So, I'm all ears, what's some ideas from the man who has been atop the world for two decades now?
 

Ahasverus

Member
Be careful when fighting monsters etc.

I won't have any of your hostile propaganda thank you very much, no matter how high minded your ideals are.
A benevolent monster is better than, well, a fucking lunatic monster. The time for moral victories are over. We had many, and we're left with nothing.
 
Yep not surprised. The only thing good about this is that local news is being largely watched by 60+ years these days thanks to the internet. Sadly those people are also the likeliest to vote.
 

akira28

Member
Sinclair isn't relatively unknown. they've been eating Fox news crumbs for at least 20 years and they're pretty well known as a second rate conservative network.

Fox is getting hit hard, so of course they think its their time to shine.

fucked up they pretty much rule the UHF stations that kids like me gravitated to in the old air broadcast days. RIP Channel 54 Space Corps.
 
Yes, I am admonishing people for being unaware of stuff that affects their lives for decades.
Television, Radio, Internet/Net Neutrality, etc. - none of the issues with these are new. These things have been building for decades. And it's amusing and tiring to see people getting so worked up over them now, as if they just popped out of the woodwork when the people finally became aware of them.

It's the figurative "closing the barn door after the horses have already gotten out."
Would have been far easier if you had closed the door before they left - but people weren't paying attention then. So, yeah, you can now go and try to get all of the horses - good luck.

Okay but at least people are trying to get the horses hopefully and not just ignoring the problem. What does it matter anymore when people paid attention to the issues as long as they are right now and taking steps to fix mistakes?

A benevolent monster is better than, well, a fucking lunatic monster. The time for moral victories are over. We had many, and we're left with nothing.

And let's be clear: The monstrous part isn't simply that this takeover and propaganda saturation is happening but that the people behind it are in fact lying to the most vulnerable American people to use, abuse and kill them through policy. If that same machine can be used to actually make life better for not simply the top 1% of the population but every American, then I'm willing to be monstrous.
 
Okay but at least people are trying to get the horses hopefully and not just ignoring the problem. What does it matter anymore when people paid attention to the issues as long as they are right now and taking steps to fix mistakes?

What steps are they taking, though?
 

zethren

Banned
It's not the way it looks, it's the way it is. I don't know, man, point me to your time machine, and I'll back in time and become more aware of this. Fucking sorry? I mean, you're the one who is pumping your chest about how you were in the know about this years before it was cool. If all you have for that lengthy knowledge is to look down and those who weren't aware, I don't see it being worth much more than what you're scolding.

So, I'm all ears, what's some ideas from the man who has been atop the world for two decades now?

Hey man, I'd just say you should keep paying attention and getting involved however you can. Better now than never, and in my eyes it's a good thing you and more people are paying attention now. It's not an easy situation, and solutions obviously don't pop up over night. Just stay involved however you can and that's what's important.
 
P.S. My issue is really more with regards to Net Neutrality/Internet issues, where you still have people actively welcoming practises which are antithetical to what they're decrying. The radio/television news is more just an offshoot - and with regards to the article in the OP labelling Sinclair as a "relatively unknown company."
 

ahoyhoy

Unconfirmed Member
A benevolent monster is better than, well, a fucking lunatic monster. The time for moral victories are over. We had many, and we're left with nothing.

You find me a benevolent ruler worth our trust and faith and I'll be the first to call them "Imperator".

In the meantime I'd rather hold on to those morals and ethics so important to me and continue to struggle to find more legitimate solutions to our problems.
 

Ahasverus

Member
You find me a benevolent ruler worth our trust and faith and I'll be the first to call them "Imperator".

In the meantime I'd rather hold on to those morals and ethics so important to me and continue to struggle to find more legitimate solutions to our problems.
Then keep dreaming, meanwhile the others are achieving.
 
What steps are they taking, though?

Actually becoming seriously involved in politics. Supporting and prompting the truth in all levels of media. Engaging with family and friends about politics rather than stopping at "never talk politics with family" as an excuse to keep bigoted and ignorant members of the family in their bubble. Openly supporting pro choice, LGBTQ+ and immigrant rights organizations that previously only dreamed of the influx of allies they have now. Actually learning and teaching peers about the nittygritty of bill/law creation. Supporting long ignored major nonprofit organizations dedicated to preserving and gaining civil rights for Americans of all stripes.

I mean look at recent town halls. Months ago, let alone years, too many people wouldn't have even expected a packed full building with thousands of constituents prepped to holdthe feet of their representatives to the fire.
 
Sorry, I forget that sometimes.
Thanks for making me feel old.

lol well even people into their 40s currently likely had little chance of changing much. 20-30 years ago they would have been in the middle of college on the older end or in middle/high school on the younger end. While there was the possibility of some awareness, it likely was slim. Let alone having any real influence politically at the time.

I think now, yeah, it falls on people especially in that age group and older to stand up to stuff like this, but I'm not really seeing that. I do see a lot of blaming Millenials - the generation that like I said before was in diapers as this stuff began to take root and set foundations to what we have today.
 

BriGuy

Member
In the meantime I'd rather hold on to those morals and ethics so important to me and continue to struggle to find more legitimate solutions to our problems.
And you'll clutch onto those while the world around you burns. The time is fast approaching where there will be no "legitimate solutions" because the deck is too stacked against them to ever come to fruition. At this point, I'm all for fighting fire with fire.
 

Pyrokai

Member
How we can we combat this? How did it even come to this? I'm not going to lie.... I just can't take this constant stream of losses anymore. It makes me want to give up on my career, life, future prospects.....what the hell can we do?
 
How we can we combat this? How did it even come to this? I'm not going to lie.... I just can't take this constant stream of losses anymore. It makes me want to give up on my career, life, future prospects.....what the hell can we do?

Starts solely with yourself, your friends and family and your local government and media. From intimate relationships to town to county to state and on. Without conglomerates to buy up airspace to beam the progressive message on a nationwide scale, we need to immunize as many people as we can with reality. Will it work 100%? No clue. But sitting around, head in hands as people watch their humanity get trampled by the rich, unemphatic and power hungry is no kind of solution.
 
How we can we combat this? How did it even come to this? I'm not going to lie.... I just can't take this constant stream of losses anymore. It makes me want to give up on my career, life, future prospects.....what the hell can we do?

Innovation, creativity & technology
 

Vyer

Member
Uhhhh, Sinclair is one of the biggest TV owners in the country. Everyone in the business knows Sinclair. I'm not a fan of theirs but just this part alone makes me think there's a lot of hyperbole in this article.


P.S. My issue is really more with regards to Net Neutrality/Internet issues, where you still have people actively welcoming practises which are antithetical to what they're decrying. The radio/television news is more just an offshoot - and with regards to the article in the OP labelling Sinclair as a "relatively unknown company."

'Relatively unknown' is not referring to people 'in the business'. That should be obvious.

And it's in the news now because of they buyout that has the potential to significantly increase their reach
 
This is why I can't take people seriously when they complain that liberals just need to reach out to conservatives.

We're living in the late stages of a 30 year assault on the very concept of truth which has created an entire conservative media and economy to shelter and radicalize the right in this and other western nations. It is a purposeful propaganda operation and the idea that it could be countered if liberals were less "smug" and "reached out" is nonsense.

These people have essentially figured out how to use money to hack political psychology and turn the country against itself. But, no, John Oliver and Steven Colbert are definitely the reason conservatives are so alienated...

How do you even begin to counter this shit? We're so late to recognizing the reach and efficacy of this campaign that it seems like we've already lost. So now we're just going to have propaganda pumped directly into every media market in the country in the guise of traditionally non-partisan local news.

Fuck.

Hyperbole much mate? There's like one conservative tv news channel, one newspaper, and AM talk radio. And now this group might own a local news channel in most markets, but every market has 4-6 local news networks for people to choose between. The left still has literally everything else in the media.
 
We just saw a fox affiliate running the Seth Rich story a few weeks ago. Slowly at first, but you are going to see more and more of that going forward.
 

ahoyhoy

Unconfirmed Member
Then keep dreaming, meanwhile the others are achieving.

And you'll clutch onto those while the world around you burns. The time is fast approaching where there will be no "legitimate solutions" because the deck is too stacked against them to ever come to fruition. At this point, I'm all for fighting fire with fire.

So ya'll just ready to start willing yourself into believing blatant lies so long as it helps defeat conservatism?
 

Vyer

Member
Hyperbole much mate? There's like one conservative tv news channel, one newspaper, and AM talk radio. And now this group might own a local news channel in most markets, but every market has 4-6 local news networks for people to choose between. The left still has literally everything else in the media.

Hyperbole much indeed
 

cdyhybrid

Member
Their numbers will shrink when the Boomers die off. They won't disappear, though, so we need to keep things from getting too far gone for the future elections to be winnable. Gotta keep pushing for education and fighting shit like gerrymandering.
 
The title is hyperbolic, and it's not an imminent threat because most local news is produced in cities that tend to be more liberal than the states that surround them, and they take an either more balanced or more city-focused, liberal perspective. Plus, there are some areas where the opposite has happened... For instance, Boston has long been the home to 'Fox 25,' the local Fox affiliate, but the news segment (which has always been independent and separate from Fox News), has broken off from the Fox 25 branding, and instead calls themselves 'Boston 25' because of the negative connotation for their viewers with Fox News.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/busines...wscast-name/dZMe0bP446w6iMGR5wcK4J/story.html

Fox News, powered by its strong conservative bent, is the most popular national cable news network. But in liberal Greater Boston, the brand has become a liability for the local Fox affiliate.

WFXT (Channel 25) said Thursday it is changing the name of its local ”Fox 25 News" newscast to ”Boston 25 News."

The station will still broadcast Fox shows and refer to itself as Fox 25 in most cases, including on its building signs and on-screen visuals during non-news broadcasts. But ”Fox" will come out of the name of the newscast, which is locally produced and independent from the cable network, starting April 24.

The change comes amid lagging ratings and after station research dating back more than two years found that 41 percent of Boston-area news consumers believed the local Fox 25 newscast leaned conservative.

(article continues, but that's the gist of it)

THe influence that local TV news has on the viewing public is, also, waning, and has been for a generation. If Sinclair or any other national media group goes onto purchase and change the perspective of a majority of local news stations across the country, the influence won't be as significant as it would have been, say, 20 years ago.

Get the vote out in 2018 and find a charismatic youngish dude who can win in 2020.

That should at the very least help dial down the hyperbole.

Not just 2018, but 2017. Your city and state likely has an election in 22 weeks, and the future leaders that you want to vote for for president are running for City Council, Treasurer, Attorney General, and every other position that's up for grabs.
 
The title is hyperbolic, and it's not an imminent threat because most local news is produced in cities that tend to be more liberal than the states that surround them, and they take an either more balanced or more city-focused, liberal perspective. Plus, there are some areas where the opposite has happened... For instance, Boston has long been the home to 'Fox 25,' the local Fox affiliate, but the news segment (which has always been independent and separate from Fox News), has broken off from the Fox 25 branding, and instead calls themselves 'Boston 25' because of the negative connotation for their viewers with Fox News.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/busines...wscast-name/dZMe0bP446w6iMGR5wcK4J/story.html



(article continues, but that's the gist of it)

THe influence that local TV news has on the viewing public is, also, waning, and has been for a generation. If Sinclair or any other national media group goes onto purchase and change the perspective of a majority of local news stations across the country, the influence won't be as significant as it would have been, say, 20 years ago.



Not just 2018, but 2017. Your city and state likely has an election in 22 weeks, and the future leaders that you want to vote for for president are running for City Council, Treasurer, Attorney General, and every other position that's up for grabs.

Thanks for post this, it does make me feel better, even if I'm still worried. I still wish somewhere there was a concise strategy to combat this type of thing for people on the ground
 

Vyer

Member
The title is hyperbolic, and it's not an imminent threat because most local news is produced in cities that tend to be more liberal than the states that surround them, and they take an either more balanced or more city-focused, liberal perspective. Plus, there are some areas where the opposite has happened... For instance, Boston has long been the home to 'Fox 25,' the local Fox affiliate, but the news segment (which has always been independent and separate from Fox News), has broken off from the Fox 25 branding, and instead calls themselves 'Boston 25' because of the negative connotation for their viewers with Fox News.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/busines...wscast-name/dZMe0bP446w6iMGR5wcK4J/story.html



(article continues, but that's the gist of it)

THe influence that local TV news has on the viewing public is, also, waning, and has been for a generation. If Sinclair or any other national media group goes onto purchase and change the perspective of a majority of local news stations across the country, the influence won't be as significant as it would have been, say, 20 years ago.



Not just 2018, but 2017. Your city and state likely has an election in 22 weeks, and the future leaders that you want to vote for for president are running for City Council, Treasurer, Attorney General, and every other position that's up for grabs.

It's a nice thought, and hopefully pans out, but I imagine that getting a larger foothold in those cities is part of the point, and I don't think it's guaranteed the strategy fails.

In addition I don't have as much faith as I once did in the old 'age/demographics' theory. Really hope it works out that way though.
 

BriGuy

Member
So ya'll just ready to start willing yourself into believing blatant lies so long as it helps defeat conservatism?
I don't have to believe it to make it work for me. I mean, that's the entire conservative playbook in a nutshell isn't it?
 
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