Media Control

NRA sees surge in membership after Connecticut school shooting

The National Rifle Association, while staying mostly quiet in the immediate aftermath of the mass shooting in Connecticut, has registered an average of 8,000 new members a day since the tragedy, an NRA source told Fox News.

Gun Control? How About Media Control?

By Matthew Sheffield | December 18, 2012 | 09:56  36  82 Reddit0  4

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Since the Connecticut school shooting happened, leftists in and out of the media are calling for more restrictions on guns. But guns are not the only cause for mass shootings. Untreated mental illnesses can be one. The American news environment could, potentially be another.

In a column for The Week, Matt Lewis takes on the question of “media control” in light of the fact that the press gives massive amounts of coverage and fame to people who clearly are seeking it. “I’m not suggesting we completely abolish the media,” he asks satirically, “But perhaps we should curtail it. Isn’t it time for some common sense media control?”

And when it comes time for moralizing, the media predictably assumes that the availability of guns is the problem, without considering how journalists themselves might be contributing to the coarsening of our already-violent society. 
The entertainment-media complex promotes and glamorizes violence — for profit — in film and on TV. Meanwhile, the news media ensures that killers get the attention and fame they so desperately crave. [...]
The founding fathers never envisioned the damage that could be done by a 24-hour news cycle. The media incentivizes killers by giving them attention, and they put innocent people in danger. Clearly, we cannot sit by and hope this situation will improve. How many more deaths will it take before someone does something?
I know what you're thinking: Free societies are inherently messy. And what about the First Amendment? 
I'm not suggesting we completely abolish the media. But perhaps we should curtail it. Isn't it time for some common sense media control?

The question is asked entirely in jest, of course, but on the other hand, it is illustrative that no one is out there seriously suggesting that we curtail First Amendment freedoms in the name of expediency yet there are scores of people suggesting doing the same to the Second Amendment’s protections. Isn’t it about the children? If we could protect even one child’s life...

About the Author

Matthew Sheffield is the creator of NewsBusters and president of Dialog New Media, an internet marketing and design firm. Click here to follow Matthew Sheffield on Twitter.

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matthew-sheffield/2012/12/18/gun-control-how-about-media-control#ixzz2FYEzq5oB

Five Reasons The Networks Have No Business Covering Business (Or the Economy)

By: Julia A. Seymour | December 19, 2012 | 14:22

For many Americans, ABC, NBC and CBS are the major source of news on business and the economy. Unfortunately, this is like depending on the middle school student newspaper for information about important local school board deliberations.

Network reporters are either ill-prepared to discuss complex issues of economics, finance and business or choose to be advocates for viewpoints rather than objective reporters who strive for balance. Liberal preferences for government solutions and interventionism as well as hostility toward wealth and profit dominate network coverage.

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/#ixzz2FYG36csC

New York Magazine Reports Fox News Gun-Control Blackout....Without Watching Fox News!

By: Tim Graham | December 19, 2012 | 06:36

Gabriel Sherman of New York magazine is a media writer with a flaw. He wrote about Fox News without seeming to think he had to watch it. On Monday night, he wrote an article hotly claiming that Fox News hosts were ordered not to talk about gun control after the Newtown shooting (except for  Fox News Sunday).

Jeff Poor at The Daily Caller unloaded a painful box of facts on Sherman about all the examples of gun-control talk over the weekend. Sherman’s report was anonymously sourced and loose on the facts:

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/#ixzz2FYGzVbVe