Hard Power and Soft Power

[Randy Daytona]

Now throw in empty campaign promises and a vast disinformation network and it's no wonder these people are voting against their own interests.

Ezra Klein has a long article today in the NYT discussing how information, disinformation and control of information has changed in the digital age. Not just from the right, but also from the left.

Opinion | A Theory of Media That Explains 15 Years of Politics

Martin Gurri discusses how social media and the internet have fundamentally changed the public’s relationship to institutions and power.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Spekkio]

Ezra Klein has a long article today in the NYT discussing how information, disinformation and control of information has changed in the digital age. Not just from the right, but also from the left.

Opinion | A Theory of Media That Explains 15 Years of Politics

Martin Gurri discusses how social media and the internet have fundamentally changed the public’s relationship to institutions and power.

www.nytimes.com

I can't find the article (fuck Google's indexing), but last time I looked the breakdown for getting news by generation between TV (MSM) and online was:

Boomer and older: 80 / 20
Gen X: 60 / 40
Millenial: 40 / 60

The online influence is overblown. People weren't bleaching produce because of Chinese bots, they learned that from American television.

Jon Stewart wouldn't have had a career if MSM were honest. And also, Anchorman.

 

[Duc'-guy25]

I can't find the article (fuck Google's indexing), but last time I looked the breakdown for getting news by generation between TV (MSM) and online was:

Boomer and older: 80 / 20
Gen X: 60 / 40
Millenial: 40 / 60

The online influence is overblown. People weren't bleaching produce because of Chinese bots, they learned that from American television.

Jon Stewart wouldn't have had a career if MSM were honest. And also, Anchorman.

I know exactly zero millennials that get their news from TV. Nightly news and the 24 hour “news” outlets are the most boomer thing ever.

 

[Spekkio]

I know exactly zero millennials that get their news from TV. Nightly news and the 24 hour “news” outlets are the most boomer thing ever.

My wife watches Good Morning America. That's how she gets most of her info.

It's not just watching CNN / Fox News on loop. A better way to interpret the data is that 60% of millenials don't give a shit to search for news on the internet, and only pay attention when something comes across the TV air waves.

 

[CommodoreMid]

I watch CNN while drinking my morning coffee but that’s it. Everything else is primarily through reading WSJ/NYT online.

 

[Faded Float Coat]

The online influence is overblown. People weren't bleaching produce because of Chinese bots, they learned that from American television.

Quick anecdote. I never watched Modern Family, dont know why, just never did. However, over the last year or so various social media algorithms concluded that I would enjoy seeing Modern Family reels. I'm now nearly through season three of the show (thanks Hulu). Julie Bowen is my agreed upon "hall pass"

Something may come (or have come) over legacy media, but how is it boosted and fed to the "modern" consumer? Via TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and other SM platforms. The online influence is not overblown, particularly if you consider that every time a Boomer or elderly voter dies, they're replaced by a digital native.

 

[Yardstick]

https://www.opindia.com/2025/02/indias-first-transgender-clinic-shuts-down-due-to-usaid-fund-freeze/

Why was the US funding this?

 

[sevenhelmet]

I watch CNN while drinking my morning coffee but that’s it. Everything else is primarily through reading WSJ/NYT online.

I hate talking heads. Viscerally. We cut the cable over 10 years ago now.

After falling for a couple of well-written bot traps, I now largely use an app called “Ground News”. It was started by a former NASA engineer who wanted to make it easier for people to correlate information and bias across the spectrum of news, efficiently. It seems to work well- I often see stories that matter and aren't being reported on in US MSM outlets. (All the MSM stories are on there too.) On the one occasion I have seen an error in their summaries (on an aviation story- a key detail was misunderstood), I got a quick professional response, and they corrected the issue.

IIRC, I pay $65 a year, and never see a paywall. It’s the only news service I pay for, and I think it’s well worth it.

 

[taxi1]

https://www.opindia.com/2025/02/indias-first-transgender-clinic-shuts-down-due-to-usaid-fund-freeze/

Why was the US funding this?

Primarily to fight AIDS, but also basic human rights.

 

[Mos]

I'm not well versed in everything USAID was funding, but I remember back in 2003 doing a research project on HIV/AIDS in the African continent and was overwhelmed by the extent of it. I'm concerned about the consequences of defunding/dismantling the programs intended to address that problem. Understand that we have plenty of problems here in the U.S. but Africa falling further into its pit of despair seems like something that will have second and third order effects on us down the road.

 

[robav8r]

You know, maybe USAID (and scores of other NGOs) should have been a bit more transparent with their expenditures. Also, this . . . .

 

[Griz882]

I'm not well versed in everything USAID was funding, but I remember back in 2003 doing a research project on HIV/AIDS in the African continent and was overwhelmed by the extent of it. I'm concerned about the consequences of defunding/dismantling the programs intended to address that problem. Understand that we have plenty of problems here in the U.S. but Africa falling further into its pit of despair seems like something that will have second and third order effects on us down the road.

From my limited deployments to Africa I’d have to agree. I’d like to see certain grants restored through the State Department - but we’ll have to wait and see.

 

[sevenhelmet]

You know, maybe USAID (and scores of other NGOs) should have been a bit more transparent with their expenditures. Also, this . . . .

Was it that they were not transparent, or was it that nobody particularly cared before now? I am not trying to sound snarky- I honestly don't know the answer.

 

[robav8r]

Was it that they were not transparent, or was it that nobody particularly cared before now? I am not trying to sound snarky- I honestly don't know the answer.

Both are bad . . . .

 

[sevenhelmet]

Both are bad . . . .

Sure. But it would be disingenuous to castigate USAID for not being transparent if it was simply that nobody was paying attention until the selective outrage roulette wheel came up with their number.