How the Press Aids the Trump Agenda, and how to fix it

George Lakoff strikes again, to the heart of a media crisis that threatens to aid and abet the overthrow of what used to be American democracy. Here's a link to his article in today's Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...ation-language

The article ought to be read by all media publishers and editors. Here are some of the changes Lakoff recommends:

First, journalists must understand how propaganda works on the brain and grasp the cognitive science that marketers of propaganda have implicitly mastered: frames, metaphors, narratives and brain basics.

Second, keep a steely focus on the fact that American democracy is under attack by a foreign power, possibly with collusion from the sitting president’s campaign. This is a crisis. Certain rules don’t apply in a crisis, especially the rule that the press must amplify the president’s words, whatever they are.

Third, stop letting Trump control the news cycle. Newsgathering should be a serious affair controlled by editors whose power rivals any politician’s. Stop chasing his tweets and elevating every sideshow. Start every story with truth and the context of what’s really important to citizens in a democracy. More BBC, less TMZ.

Fourth, don’t spread lies. Don’t privilege Trump’s lies by putting their specific language in the headlines, the leads or the hashtags. Don’t repeat the lies assuming people will automatically know they’re lies. People need to know the president is lying, but be careful about repeating the lies because “a lie repeated often enough becomes the truth”. Repetition of lies spreads them.
The job of the free press is to seek the truth and report the truth, especially the morally important truths and their consequences. If the press fails to do this job, not only does it lose its freedom, but we all do.

Boy oh boy. That article is a tickler. The very same thing that article states can be said about, Obama, Hillary, Bill and George. To quote Yoda himself,,, “The force is strong with those who have Trump Derangement Syndrome!”

I am sure Russia's meddling pales in comparison to the (albeit gradual) corporate takeover of our democratic processes.

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Posted in reply to the post by Karl Frederick:

George Lakoff strikes again, to the heart of a media crisis that threatens to aid and abet the overthrow of what used to be American democracy. ...

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