Jimmy Dore and Why Everyone Hates the Media | Useful Idiots
Published on Sep 5, 2019
Comedian and podcaster Jimmy Dore joins Matt and Katie to discuss his show and media bias. Matt and Katie break down the fact-checking controversy involving The Washington Post and Bernie Sanders.
Because of these flaws, although the show is over an hour long, Taibbi and Katie waste almost one half in a meandering and not very helpful discussion about how shabby the Washingto Post is in its treatment of Bernie Sanders, something that could have been dealt with in a zillion more illuminating ways, like discussing the class-based control of US media owned by billionaires and huge corporations; the fusion of privately owned media with the state (de facto corporatism) while still pretending to independence; how "journalists" are vetted and acculturated and bribed so they will always put career above duty to inform till they become full-fledged propaganda assets for the status quo—or else be fired. Instead, in typical "insider" liberaloid fashion, the discussion remains superficial and even gossipy, boringly detailed like an elaborate tapestry, telling us how Sanders is being sabotaged by these overpaid journos, but not stating clearly why that's the tack embraced by the plutocracy and its consiglieri at this point.
Too bad. A media discussion can be a rich and engaging experience, a journey into the culture and the political economic system that produces it. Media discussions needn't be only about "journalism", or "the press." Indeed they can range far and wide, looking at the cinema, the arts as a whole, what the comedians are saying (and not saying) and so on. In sum, IMV the program only earns its keep when Jimmy Dore comes on board. His statements are fierce, clear and profound, always naturally aiming for the underlying structures —the roots—that have created and sustain this regime of criminal totalitarian mendacity, 24/7. His eloquent debunking of the journos pretensions to "professionalism" and "independence" is damn worth watching. Don't miss it.
—PG
This post is part of our Orphaned Truths series with leading cultural and political analysts.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
All image captions, pull quotes, appendices, etc. by the editors not the authors.