The Left’s Media Is Going Down, Folks
Starting with the Washington Post
An Axios AM Good Tuesday morning! Smart Brevity™ featured story is: Scoop: Top editors stiff the Washington Post. But I already knew that (thanks to Facebook… or X? I don’t remember).
But their Smart Brevity™ is way too wordy, so let me put this ‘news’ in some context (neither MSM nor social media will do so — go ahead, punk, give me one example, prove me wrong again).
The Washington Post tried to go all old-school unbiased and neglected to endorse Harris Inc. for President of the U.S. of Americans. So those few who still read print media (mostly over 60) unsubscribed in droves and no top editors want the job of trying to keep this boat afloat (print media is going down, somebody has to be first, and in the 21st century, Captains in the know are the first to jump ship).
The context is we live in M.K. Hubbert’s “monetary culture” and top editors and media owners (e.g. Jeff Bezos, who should have bought the Washington Times) follow the money like dump/landfill dogs follow the next garbage truck.
To confess my bias, back in the day when I was eligible for the Vietnam War draft, I got my news using a shortwave radio (BBC, but Radio Netherlands had a sense of humor). I used to listen to NPR (USA, National Public Radio). The last time was 2011 when I heard the story the world population (of humans) had reached 7 billion. The coverage was so facepalming that I realized I had had enough and couldn’t take it anymore (misinformation > information).
I remember as a child watching TV when there were still journalists on it. They would occasional pause and explain to Americans what journalists were supposed to do when ever increasing numbers weren’t (an “I’m doing what I was taught to do — inform citizens, so maybe the popularity of local infotainment pundits shouldn’t be reason enough to change channels, folks” plea — but the channels changed somehow anyway). I recall the last time I heard any TV news. I took my wife to the ER and while waiting, they had a TV going on about a guy who wanted to be the Democrat nominee for President, name of Sanders or something like that.
But I do keep up on current events and common knowledge. I recall once when someone mentioned “God” and I said, “God? God who? What’s his last name?” Okay, there are people I associate with who expect me to know some things, so for maybe a minute a day I glance over a custom web page on IG Home of headlines. I can’t recall the last time I clicked on any links to an article offered by: BBC, Google News, Slashdot, Washington Times, CBC British Columbia, Ars Technica, but sometimes I do. The Washington Post and Associated Press (AP) widgets no longer work (fewer are providing RSS feeds), and as almost everyone I know is left-leaning biased, I added the Washington Times as it is right-leaning biased (my information feng shui is improved).
Apart from current events headlines, I don’t view any mainstream media as a source other than of details I then have to check into. If a current event is of interest, I start with the AP offering as they are paid by all the other “news” services for the “just the facts, ma’am” everybody else needs so they can interpret (spin) the latest buzz (tell me what’s a-happening) that modern humans need (i.e. to put information in a political context) so they can, as political animals, make sense of it (be ‘for’ or ‘against’).
I’m a mammal. I want to know about the last 225 million years of the glorious conquest of my form of animal over all other animals on the planet (despite setbacks until the late Cretaceous). The “news” almost never tells me what I want to know.
So this morning, before my morning cup of reality (I walk through a temperate rainforest down to “the” creek and back, surrounded by slime molds and tardigrades I never see (I almost never see any mammals either), I read the Axios story (I also get their Smart Brevity™ email as a news offering) and noted a half dozen or so other mainstream media mentioned, and I can never keep their bias in mind, so for context, I looked up each on Media Bias/Fact Check (one of several bias checkers — use them all).
Okay, Washington Times leans right, so no surprise the Washington Post leans left, nor that (given Axios’ left-leaning bias) that all the other sources are left-leaning.
But there are other mainstream media sources, so I googled “major print news media” to add to those mentioned. For future reference (after a couple of hours of image processing) I can offer:
Obviously WaPo readers expected a Harris endorsement and pro-left stories on every frontpage. So they were mad as hell and some felt (deeply of course) they had to unsubscribe and maybe get their fix from the “Brand X” NYT.
Conspiracy Spectrum
Media Bias has a Conspiracy spectrum for the “not even wrong”. The first I happened upon is Geopolitical Economy Report, not yet up to the ‘Tin Foil Hat’ level yet:
Description
Independent news and in-depth analysis of the changing world. Geopolitical Economy Report is edited and managed by Ben Norton.
Links
Website geopoliticaleconomy.com
Newsletter geopoliticaleconomy.report
Patreon patreon.com/GeopoliticalEconomy
More info
www.youtube.com/@GeopoliticalEconomyReport
United States
Joined Dec 27, 2012
570K subscribers
536 videos
58,767,359 views
Okay, "Geopolitical Economy Report is edited and managed by Ben Norton."
Who is Ben Norton? (looking for a source other than his website...)
Benjamin Norton is the founder and editor of the independent news website Geopolitical Economy Report, where he does original reporting in both English and Spanish. Benjamin has reported from numerous countries, including Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Ecuador, Honduras, Colombia, and more. His journalistic work has been published in dozens of media outlets, and he has done interviews on a wide range of relevant news outlets.
Source of above: The International Manifesto Group began discussing the evolving political and geopolitical economy of the world order and its national and regional components at the beginning of the pandemic. It has members around the world, from North America to Japan. It meets fortnightly. Parts of its meeting, consisting of Panels and Presentations are public and we publish them here.
From his personal website: "Ben Norton is a journalist and analyst whose work focuses primarily on geopolitics, international political economy, and US foreign policy. He lived in and reported from Latin America for several years, and is now based in Beijing, China."
Now based in Beijing, and per his headlines, he is a supporter of China's/BRICS' world view (anti-western).
As viewed by western media:
Bias Rating: LEFT CONSPIRACY (-6.5)
Factual Reporting: MIXED (5.5)
Country: USA (originally)
MBFC’s Country Freedom Rating: MOSTLY FREE
Media Type: Website
Traffic/Popularity: Minimal Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: LOW CREDIBILITY
History
The Geopolitical Economy Report is an independent news outlet focusing on investigative journalism and original analysis to provide insights into the changing global landscape. The outlet aims to offer in-depth coverage of various geopolitical and economic issues worldwide. It also has a Spanish counterpart, Geopolítica Económica, expanding its reach to a broader audience.
Read our profile on the United States media and government.
Funded by / Ownership
The Geopolitical Economy Report is led by its Editor-in-Chief/founder, Ben Norton, and the editorial board includes Radhika Desai, Elias Khalil Jabbour, Carlos Martinez, and Rania Khalek. You can find a complete list of the editorial board members by scrolling down their About page. The outlet operates without any institutional support or large donors and relies solely on contributions from supporters. They gather financial support primarily through Patreon, PayPal, and Substack.
Analysis / Bias
The Geopolitical Economy Report’s content demonstrates a clear editorial perspective, particularly in negatively portraying Western nations and their foreign policies. The outlet often presents a critical view of the United States and its allies, emphasizing perceived contradictions and failures in upholding democratic values and human rights. For example, one article titled “West votes against democracy, human rights, cultural diversity at U.N.; promotes mercenaries, sanctions” focuses on criticizing Western nations, particularly the United States and its allies, for their voting patterns in the United Nations General Assembly on resolutions related to democracy, human rights, and cultural diversity, as well as their support for mercenaries and sanctions.
The article argues that these actions demonstrate a hypocrisy in Western commitments to human rights and democracy. The Geopolitical Economy Report cites the U.N. Press Release GASHC4398 as its source, validating its reference to U.N. resolutions on key issues such as mercenaries and unilateral coercive measures approved by the Third Committee.
In the article “China deepens ties with Venezuela, challenging U.S.’ Hegemonic Mindset,'” the relationship between these two countries is portrayed as challenging Western dominance, highlighting China’s condemnation of U.S. sanctions and support for Venezuela’s sovereignty.
These examples reflect a tendency in the Geopolitical Economy Report’s reporting to critique Western actions, particularly those of the United States, while portraying countries that oppose Western hegemony in a positive light, indicating an editorial bias that leans towards a critical view of Western geopolitical strategies and a more favorable perspective of certain non-Western states and their actions. The articles reviewed are well-sourced; however, we found examples of the Geopolitical Economy Report drawing conclusions that are not supported by evidence (See Below).
Unsubstantiated Claims / Failed Fact Checks
One example is the article titled Pakistan’s Imran Khan compares his ouster to CIA coup in Iran, criticizes Western colonialism in which the author supports Imran Khan’s unproven claim that the CIA and US Government orchestrated a coup to remove him. While Khan’s claim may or may not be true, there is no evidence to support it, rendering it a conspiracy theory.
In another story, Peru coup: CIA agent turned US ambassador met with defense minister day before president overthrown, suggests that this meeting and the ambassador’s background imply US involvement or support for the coup. However, it does not provide direct evidence linking the US ambassador’s actions to the coup, nor does it offer concrete proof that the meeting was anything more than a routine diplomatic engagement. There are no other credible sources making this claim, although a nearly identical article appeared on the Conspiracy website Global Research, rendering it a conspiracy theory.
Geopolitical Economy Report has also made several misleading or unsubstantiated claims regarding Ukraine, such as routinely claiming the pro-Russian narrative that Nazis dominate the Ukrainian government and military and that Western governments are supporting the Nazis.
Although far-right extremists are present in Ukraine, according to factcheck.org, their political influence is minimal; however, Russian propaganda and Geopolitical Economy Report significantly overstates their impact, falsely depicting these minor groups as a major political force, a claim that misleadingly magnifies a minor issue.
In general, the Geopolitical Economy Report holds Left-Libertarian anti-war and anti-imperialism perspectives. They also sometimes rely on unsubstantiated conspiracy theories and propaganda to advance their agenda.
Overall, we rate the Geopolitical Economy Report as a left-biased conspiracy website based on the promotion of anti-west propaganda and the advancement of unproven or misleading claims that support a one-sided narrative. (M. Huitsing 11/30/2023) Updated (11/30/2024)
Source: geopoliticaleconomy.com
Last Updated on November 30, 2024 by Media Bias Fact Check
Media Fact Checker
Media Fact Checker now has multiple Media Categories, including websites, recognition of which is a big step forward. Listed are 438 pseudoscience news sources. Educate yourself about what’s out there.
Is the media (and education systems) liberal/left leaning overall? Above: 24 Left, 9 Right. The Buzz, as in “what’s the buzz, tell me what’s a happening” is overall biased, as are the schooling systems serving Modern Techno-Industrial global monetary culture since the 1890s (which is now a changing).
The first two and last two are not considered mainstream (yet), but they are out there. But for truly far out you have to go beyond print (which costs money) into internet Freelandia paid for by the products somebody buys. If there are enough people out there to pay for the truth in print so they can keep it on a shelf to read by candlelight if need be, then you can be sure there are even smaller and more far out groups to hopelessly idiosyncratic groups of one like me.
Actually, of the above, there is only one example of left-leaning media, The Grayzone. All the others are right-leaning.
Okay, I’m wrong again. There is actually only one right-leaning media example above, Stone Cold Truth. All the rest are leftist prattle pundits.
There are no political solutions.
But the numbers above and below “least biased” don’t add up. Eight right leaning and 22 left leaning. Note that most journalists are literate (if not numerate and none are ecolate) and have gone to college (are products of a higher education system that, since the 1930s, has skewed heavily left — on the rise, Progressive Era 1890s–1920s, Great (global) Depression 1929 was a tipping point) and most who read books, et al. (e.g. newspapers, magazines) after high school have skewed left too.
For last 60 years the dominate domain of public discourse, the consensus elite-serving narrate, has been the left-leaning overclass. Everyone who thinks they are or have been educated is mistaken. They have been schooled to serve the economy, to help grow the economy and maintain national sovereignty.
The White, Black, Latino and Other underclass in the West, and most of the non-Western everywhere else, the global “flyover people” who have not been properly schooled by the righteous Left, are as mad as hell and are putting the anti-left/anti-education (other than to just grow the economy) in power to re-educate the miseducated and grow, baby, grow the economy to make whatever socioeconomic-political system they identify with great again.
The collective Prattleverse we People of the Screen are swimming in, we who have been sentenced to doing screen time — to serve by attending to the words, words, words of the Leptonic Ones, is a vast sea of mis-information. Adding internet sources, social media (first BBS 1978 — as I recall from the early 1980, the dynamic was the same as today’s echo chambers, just magnified by about an order of magnitude), and electron guzzling AI output pilled high and deep is expanding our Prattleverse, but then what?
Remedial education: Nature, the nature of things, is the only source of information about what works to persist on the planet (i.e. the source of anything worth knowing) long term. If your conceptual model, your concept forming mind, shapes behavior to accord with what Mother tells you, then again getting right with Mother becomes a possible future, but only for those who endeavor to listen.
Consider the entire content of the Prattleverse to be void, empty at best. Believe nothing, stating with any belief in belief. All belief-based claims are in the “not even wrong” domain of discourse. All ideological prattle is a lethal cognitive pathology.
I have existential concerns for the biosphere (and posterity). Having intercourse with slim molds and tardigrades is necessary, but not sufficient. I still deign to do screen time — for posterity’s sake, perhaps, by way of destroying metastatic modernity one mind at a time.