Jacksonville Small Businesses & Unemployed Get Lost In GOP's National Agenda

Oh good god...all over the country people are starving for information on what Congress is doing about jobs. You would think the newly elected 112th Congress would be all over it. Instead we get enablers from the mainstream corporate media villagers. This Sunday on Meet The Press was sure an eye opener on cognitive dissonance from not only the villagers but our elected officials on both sides of the aisle. With the new GOP House masters of the universe not only in control of one house of Congress but driving the MSM meme this is what we heard courtesy of The Washington Monthly's Steve Benin:

During the hour-long episode of "Meet the Press" yesterday [Sunday, Feb. 20th], there was exactly one reference to the U.S. unemployment rate, uttered by former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D). The word "spending" was used 40 times. [My emphasis]

The very first sentence of the broadcast was host David Gregory telling viewers, "The battle to rein in government is shaping up to be the major fight not only of this year, but of the 2012 campaign."

There was no discussion of how, exactly, this became "the major fight," only that the political establishment has decreed it to be. If you thought economic growth and job creation was at the center of the policy discussion in Washington, I'm afraid your attitudes are so 2010.

I bring this up because this sounds so familiar here locally. At the Jacksonville Mayor & City Council District 1 candidate forum this past Thursday I heard one candidate mention the flight of small businesses not just leaving but running out of the Arlington area mentiond ONCE the entire evening. What was driving the converstation of the candidates? City deficit spending. Sound familiar? Its like this guy is driving the agenda for the whole country. So here is my memo to Audrey Moran: Party DOES matter at the national, state, and local levels.

Two reasons why the newspaper industry is in decline

I know the reasons for the newspaper industry's troubles have been discussed over the past year by any number of so called experts. Atrios points to the poor business model they used along with Athenae's rant about unchecked corporate corruption. As a former member of the industry itself for over 15 years I have my own explanation. Yes, I agree whole heartedly with both Atrios and Athena but only as it pertains to piling on to the real reason . And that real reason is simple enough: they stopped being journalist and began morphing into dictation machines. No matter who was sourced and/or quoted they were done so without question. It didn't matter what happened in the past or what was said. It only mattered for that moment. This journalistic "whiteout" whereas professional ethics and standards were thrown out the window was done so at the expense of accountability ensuring they were percieved to be "fair and balanced." No matter how ludicrous one side sounded regarding any issue it was treated with equal footing when contrasted with an opposing view. Eventually this practice of acting like cheerleaders for the local, state and the federal government without question comes at a huge expense: your credibility. Now journalist are seen to be no better than used car salespeople for their trouble. What a surprise.

Even now they don't get it. The MSM is still clueless why they are perceived as such. But make no bones about it. It is the reason they are dying. Why listen or read it if it isn't credible? (Like printing rants about weapons of mass destruction without calling them on it for proof or why it is a variable in the equation historically). Add to that the lousy business model as Atrios points out and you have an industry in deep trouble.

I think newspapers are a community necessity. Local government without a watchdog leads to corruption and bad policy. Once that voice and watchful eye is gone the bad times aren't just here to stay, they'll get worse.