Media Thread - what is the MSM ?

[The Feral Slasher]

Figured I'd start a thread based on discussion from the election thread - so what is the Main Stream Media ? Where do people get their news ? I'll post some stuff later, curious what others think.

https://www.journalism.org/2016/07/07/pathways-to-news/

• As of early 2016, just two-in-ten U.S. adults often get news from print newspapers. This has fallen from 27% in 2013.
• This decrease occurred across all age groups, though the age differences are still stark: Only 5% of 18- to 29-year-olds often get news from a print newspaper, whereas about half (48%) of those 65 and older do.
• Compared with print, nearly twice as many adults (38%) often get news online, either from news websites/apps (28%), on social media (18%) or both. (81% of adults ever get news on these online platforms.)
• Still, TV continues to be the most widely used news platform; 57% of U.S. adults often get TV-based news, either from local TV (46%), cable (31%), network (30%) or some combination of the three. This same pattern emerges when people are asked which platform they prefer – TV sits at the top, followed by the web, with radio and print trailing behind.
• But demographics speak to the fragility behind those TV numbers. While solid majorities of both those ages 50-64 (72%) and those 65+ (85%) often get news on TV, far smaller shares of younger adults do so (45% of those 30-49 and 27% of those 18-29). Alternatively, the two younger groups of adults are much more likely than older adults to turn to online platforms for news – 50% of 18- to 29-year-olds and 49% of those ages 30-49 often do so.

[Sour Masher]

FS, the numbers you post I think speak to my conception of what MSM now is. To me, MSM means large media platforms and/or voices that are heard by a significant number of people. Sure, that still includes ABC, NBC, CBS, local news, but it also includes, for me, MSNBC, CNN, and Fox (Fox pundits often seem to contrast themselves as not MSM, to differentiate themselves, even though many reach millions through a network watched by significant portion of our voting population). I also, by my definition, include popular radio personalities--a medium almost complete dominated by conservative voices, which is why I bristle at MSM being a synonym of liberal media. People like Limbaugh and Hannity and Hewitt and Savage all talk about themselves in contrast to MSM, or "lame stream media" which they decry as liberal when they reach just as large or larger an audience to the networks and print journalism like the NYT, WAPO, etc.

As far as sources for my news, I listed some of them in the other thread. There are more, of course, and I also am old so sometimes use the MSN main page and click on stuff from there. I try to step out of my bubble sometimes by listening to voices and read things I disagree with from traditionally conservative sources (some I'd label as extremely conservative and sometimes offensive to me), but probably not as much as I should.

ETA: The one type of outlet I'm completely out of the loop on, but these days is probably mainstream in the sense of ubiquity and reach, is Facebook and other Social Media platforms, aside from YouTube. I honestly don't know how exactly news gets pushed/filtered to people on FB. My very limited use of the platform is just posting pics of my kids for family and looking at posts from immediate family, and that only a few times a year.

[The Feral Slasher]

I saw a stat of the median age for msnbc and fox (i think) and it was over 60. So there is certainly an age aspect as also shown in the stats in my earlier post. Personally i cant stand tv because i have to listen to what they want to promote as opposed to online where i can choose what to consume more easily

[swampdragon]

Do you know if web sites for print newspapers are counted as print still or something different in these polls?

I also wonder what tracking of twitter feeds from different news outlets count as?

Manu Raju CNN reporter - twitter
Maggie Haberman - NYT reporter - twitter
Slate - twitter
Super 70s sports - OK - nearly everyone here should get this twitter feed
MSNBC - twitter

[The Feral Slasher]

Do you know if web sites for print newspapers are counted as print still or something different in these polls?

I also wonder what tracking of twitter feeds from different news outlets count as?

Manu Raju CNN reporter - twitter
Maggie Haberman - NYT reporter - twitter
Slate - twitter
Super 70s sports - OK - nearly everyone here should get this twitter feed
MSNBC - twitter

I dont really know anything about the data....just posted one of the first things i googled to start the conversation

[DMT]

Personally i cant stand tv because i have to listen to what they want to promote as opposed to online where i can choose what to consume more easily

Exactly.

[madducks]

Personally i cant stand tv because i have to listen to what they want to promote as opposed to online where i can choose what to consume more easily

This.

edit: DMT beat me to it.

[B-Fly]

The only time I watch TV news is when there's live coverage of one big story, like an election or a major natural disaster or mass rioting or the launch of a war. As for daily news events, I've actually reduced my daily intake/review of websites. I'll read Chalkbeat's NYC education story summaries and click through to a few of them. I'll scan the NY Times, NY Post and NY Daily News online, check in with CNN.com maybe once a day, and for certain stories compare coverage/hot takes on FoxNews, Vox, HuffPo, Daily Wire, The Root, and 538. I'll also check RealClearPolitics, mostly for the polls, but I'll occasionally be drawn in by a few of their compiled story links. I also get steered to news stories by my Facebook friends. And I read The Atlantic pretty much cover-to-cover each month.

[Steve 2.0]

I think for most folks MSM means any media carrying stories they disagree with.

[Sour Masher]

I think for most folks MSM means any media carrying stories they disagree with.

Ha, well put. It is an interesting thing to me that so many want to identify themselves as thinking outside the mainstream. I guess most folks think most folks are wrong and that they are not part of the larger herd.

[The Feral Slasher]

Clearly not part of the mainstream media, but it appears Julian Assange is likely being extradited to the U.S. to face charges

[B-Fly]

So to what extent do y'all view Assange and WikiLeaks as part of "the media" or "the press"? Historically, the First Amendment has allowed media to shield anonymous sources, including "leakers", but WikiLeaks generally, at least to my knowledge, hasn't engaged in investigative journalism, but rather has just dumped out whatever confidential records and communications it can acquire through leaks or hacks. Is my understanding off? If it's basically correct, is that protected by the First Amendment broadly, and then what legal limits, if any, can or should protect against the release of information that is classified/confidential under other laws and regulations?

[ironfist]

So to what extent do y'all view Assange and WikiLeaks as part of "the media" or "the press"? Historically, the First Amendment has allowed media to shield anonymous sources, including "leakers", but WikiLeaks generally, at least to my knowledge, hasn't engaged in investigative journalism, but rather has just dumped out whatever confidential records and communications it can acquire through leaks or hacks. Is my understanding off? If it's basically correct, is that protected by the First Amendment broadly, and then what legal limits, if any, can or should protect against the release of information that is classified/confidential under other laws and regulations?

I don't think the first amendment's protection of the press protects the press' right to commit illegal acts in order to obtain a story. If he's hacking into government property or encouraging leaking of classified info, then he probably should face punishment.

[Judge Jude]

that is the distinction. they can probably publish pretty much whatever they want.
the question is, how did they obtain the info?

even The Washington Post criminally hack into a system and then get away with publishing the results.

now, I don't exactly where WikiLeaks falls there, but it's not THAT complicated.

[DMT]

Yea let's punish the guy who exposes US war crimes rather than those committing them.