Media
The 1st Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, among other rights, grants freedom of the press. It specifically states: "... Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of the press ..." As with the rest of the Constitution, a brilliant political principle without question. With its brilliance though, it does not regulate the quality of the free press and throughout our history we have seen both outstanding journalism and pitiful examples of a free press. In the second decade of the 21st century, there are two strong political ideologies (left & right) controlling the political dialogue in this country. During the 2012 Presidential Election, spin from the left and right are presented as mainstream information and what was formerly mainstream, balanced & unbiased information sources have changed or evolved their format to the point that unbiased reporting is unavailable. In the 2016 Presidential Election, there was no effort at all to cover up the biased reporting of the mainstream media. Today's news sources are targeting specific messages to gain specific ideological audiences, thereby presenting bias. This bias is most times unidentifiable, not completely truthfully nor presented with perspective and context that the reader/viewer/listener requires and expects. Shockingly, sometimes this bias is purposely (NBC) camouflaged (NY Times - 4th paragraph down) from the reader/viewer/listener. In our polarized society, these strong messages on both sides overpower the ability of people with limited time to evaluate issues to find a center, compromise, reasonable or mainstream position. Especially when each side is also saying they offer the center, compromise, reasonable and mainstream position, whether they do or not. There are media watchdog organizations out there, but they also represent an ideological left and right. Much of this website is dedicated to shedding light on the bias in current American journalism. While we long for that great post-WWII journalistic era, where we were served by responsible, professional and largely unbiased journalism, unfortunately, we are no longer so served. That makes it difficult for American citizens to find the truth among the hype, agenda peddling and biased reporting. If you look at the bottom of this page and all pages on this website, you will find major (and some not so major) news organizations listed based on their political leanings, Left or Right. You will immediately notice there are none listed in the center. While there may be the occasional article in any of these news sources which could be a center, balanced and truthful report, by and large the reporting from that news source is defined by its L-R political leanings. The Gray Area is attempting to help its readers by so identifying the biases of the news source from which a report originates to help you identify the spin within the news piece you are reading or watching. We will include an article in the center if we believe it represents the center, a thoughtful, balanced and honest perspective. That way, presented with facts and recognizing the source, you can make up your own mind. In this 'media' section, we comment on the egregiousness of some reporting so that you may see the best and worst of what we must today use as our sources of information. From an analysis of all the sources, THE GRAY AREA HAS CREATED ITS OWN SPECTRUM OF MEDIA BIAS.
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Control the language, control the issue

3/17/24
from The Gray Area:
3/17/24:
Political & media narratives are so sophisticated now, it is hard to separate fact from fiction. Here is one example that displays a false narrative in a contradictory and misleading representation. These are the opening statements in a Washington Post article about a controversial Air Force colonel who is aggressively pushing DEI in the military: Once upon a time in another America, many considered diversity, equity and inclusion fundamental national values, at least nominally. Now those notions are so reviled in much of America that one senator is threatening the promotion of a highly qualified and praised Air Force officer. WaPo states that DEI is a long time national value. That is not true. The truth is that 'diversity' is a long time national value, not 'DEI'. DEI IS a fundamental value among the media and the Democrat party. It is not a fundamental value across the country. As a matter of fact, WaPo makes that statement about DEI 'being reviled in much of America', which is true. How can DEI be a 'fundamental national value' and 'reviled' at the same time? Let me explain the media slight of hand here.
  • First, WaPo redefines 'diversity' as DEI. Stating one thing, diversity, yet defining it as another, DEI. What does that mean? Diversity, has been a value throughout the country for years. Aggressively trying to add diverse populations to under-served industries, companies and jobs has been true for a long time involving both race and women.
  • Then, they place DEI as the long time 'fundamental national value', which is false. What WaPo is doing here is trying to equate ‘diversity’ with DEI, ‘diversity, equity & inclusion’. DEI is a completely different concept. It is about creating outcomes (equity), abolishing merit (equity), establishing systemic racism (inclusion) as an accepted problem and 'fundamental value' in America.
  • At the same time, they include a true statement about DEI being 'reviled'.  Diversity is not 'reviled'.
  • Simultaneously, the colonel in question is described as 'courageous', 'highly qualified and praised'.  That is because he supports the DEI political narrative.  Thus, the media and political left want to provide support for him in extended support for the broader DEI narrative.  They take a shot at anyone, in this case Senator, who disagrees with the colonel about the DEI narrative and his actions within the Air Force.  In this makeover, they subconsciously insert the concept of 'merit' ('highly qualified'), without using the term.
This contradiction, redefinition, mixing of true and false statements and media makeover is done on purpose in an attempt to make the reader believe that something foundational exists and is being attacked by a 'republican' senator. This is a complicated political narrative slight of hand about DEI. DEI is NOT the same as our value for diversity. If you control the language, you control the issue. More From The Washington Post: More From Daily Signal: O


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