Major Rule for Informed Citizens

I have been delighted to hear commentators mention an axiom that I used to teach my communication students about the influence of the media on society. Always pay attention to the news that is not being covered.

At first my students responded with, “How can you know what you don’t know?”

The answer is when the media obsesses over trivial “human interest” stories, important events, decisions, actions, or unflattering information are not getting covered, often purposefully. The latest non-story that keeps on going long after everything has been said at least three times is about Rush Limbaugh. It has effectively deflected reaction to the abysmal stock market (read wealth of the country) decline and the president’s abysmal lack of understanding about it. To prove my point, yesterday The Politico revealed that the whole brouhaha was part of a defined strategy by Rahm Emmanuel, James Carville, and Paul Begala.

Then think back to the space and time committed to the Octo-Mom story while colossal spending bills were being passed without study or debate even though the bills also included wording that changes our governing style, to say the least. As you remember the events and the media coverage during the last few years, you will find multitudinous examples of this same distressing phenomenon.