Because Plato's Cave is not fiction

As SG has this posted public, I'm linking here so you can read the thread.

https://www.facebook.com/walkerfire/posts/10209781067268411?comment_id=10209782369700971&reply_comment_id=10209784370790997&notif_t=feed_comment_reply&notif_id=1464024057007694

Jeeeeeeez. Fair warning, I entered this writing already quite irked, annoyed and in a general (and rare these days) ill mood.

"...news being turned into a for profit venture..."

What is the purpose of a media outlet?

Why do cantservative ventures sponsor shows? Because that's where the money is. Pay attention. Why does Rush Limbo have huge ratings? Because people listen. Liaberal shows simply do not have the audience draw.

How is this possible? People decide what to listen to. You may shoot the messenger (having survived an assassination attempt, I know what I am talking about), but that does not change matters. People consume the media they want. If funding an Al Franken radio show brought in the same viewership at Rush Limbo, then it would be supported.

If there's money to be made, someone will do it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_America_(radio_network)

"Air America (formerly Air America Radio and Air America Media) was an American radio network specializing in liberal talk radio. It was on the air from March 2004 to January 2010."

Was. Why? http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/business/media/22radio.html?_r=0

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nathan-harden/the-death-of-air-america_b_433208.html

"That was right around the time their star host Al Franken’s $360,749 paycheck bounced. (Wouldn’t you hate to have been Franken’s bank teller that day?)"

Bounced. Bounced. Bounced. Boing. Boing. Boing.

Money makes the world go 'round. If liarberals wanted liberal media outlets, they would support those outlets with their dollars and those advertisers. 

Empirical evidence says liarberals would rather spend money on something else.

As for media bias, 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/how-biased-is-the-media-really/2012/04/27/gIQA9jYLmT_story.html

http://ajrarchive.org/Article.asp?id=4516

http://www.ajr.org.uk/index.cfm/section.journal/issue.Jul02/article=487

http://www.cjr.org/feature/rethinking_objectivity.php

http://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/journalism_should_own_its_libe.php

http://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/bias_study_falls_437_percent_s.php

Don't my my sources? Show me your own. Do not hand me anecdotal information unless you can back it with logs, study and empirical evidence, say 6 months worth of reviewing every word in a single media outlet.

About that political affiliation - http://www.journalism.org/2006/10/06/the-american-journalist/

http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2014/05/survey-7-percent-of-reporters-identify-as-republican-188053

"Name all the different publication, networks, newspapers or radio stations you want. The sad truth is that only 6 people own them all." Nope. Nope. Nope.

Asbsolutes annoy me m'kay?

http://www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-in-america-2012-6

Don't see any newspaper ownership. May be some. Did not see any.

A more complete list. 

http://www.cjr.org/resources/?c=comcast

newspapers - http://www.stateofthemedia.org/media-ownership/newspapers/

http://web.stanford.edu/group/ruralwest/cgi-bin/drupal/content/rural-newspapers

"In the United States, some 7,500 community newspapers--papers with under 30,000 in circulation--still hit the streets, front porches, and mailboxes at least once a week."

You may say no one reads newspapers. You are wrong. Major daily newspapers are in trouble. Small community papers are by and large doing fine.

Further, if people do not read newspapers, to get long form journalism about their community, then the fault rests with those people. If people wish to be stupid, that is their right. If they wish to educate themselves, that too is their right. The information is available.

You can lead a person to reason, but you can't make 'em think.

As for the Gallup polls of the media, a mirage looks like water.

As a full time journalist, I strive for parity and fairness. When I get yelled at by both sides, I know I split it perfectly down the middle.

When I get yelled at by one side, I go look at my reporting. I find 98 percent of the time, the side doing the yelling won't speak on the record OR insists their opinion should be presented as fact. The other two percent? Yes, proudly guilty! I'm going to make my sports stories make the local athletes look as good as I can. Yes, my editorials are slanted BECAUSE THEY ARE EDITORIALS! It's supposed to have an opinion. 

Because Plato’s Cave is not fiction.

Now, I'm done. Sheesh.