“Daringly do the vile incendiaries keep up in Bache’s paper the most wicked and base, violent and calumniating abuse,” wrote Abigail Adams to her sister in the spring of 1898. Benjamin Bache’s Philadelphia Aurora had been criticizing Abigail Adams’s husband, John Adams, the president. She didn’t like it. Her husband represented not himself alone but the country as a whole; criticism of the administration was criticism of the country. “It insults the majesty of the sovereign people.” Congress had debated the issue but done little more. “Nothing will have an effect until Congress pass a sedition bill.”
Maybe Adams didn’t get away with this because we never went to war with France. All of your other examples, except the Patriot Act, happened in time a time of war. Even the Patriot Act had a more compelling argument. If the French had killed 3,000 Americans on American soil in a single day I think we would have seen the outpouring of rage and Patriotic fervor that we Americans do so well.
Charles- you need to distinguish between talk shows versus news broadcasts, IMO.
CNN is mostly a news broadcast entity with a few talking head shows.
FOX and MSNBC are mostly talking head shows to be sure. MSNBC never has hidden their liberal bias, whereas FOX tries to say they are "fair and balanced' which is clearly not true.
But at issue is- Even with the actual liberal bias - is MSNBC talking heads actually presenting FACTS which can be corroborated ? I think they do. Rachel Maddow among others, do STRINGENT research on the topics which they discuss.
But FOX puts out information by their talking heads which is blatant lies - as evidence by the whole Dominion lawsuit being settled, by the fact that when contronted with presenting blatant lies the defense from the FOX talking heads was that they were entertainers,not journalists. FOX talk show people have perpetuated lies about the election, about the Jan6 attack on the capital and more.
To equally equate FOX and MSNBC (other than both being talking head networks) is to present a "both sides-ism" unfairly.
Good article. I just finished The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams by Stacy Schiff . One takeaway, in my opinion, was that Adams was the first purveyor of misinformation- at times the Fox News of his day. He had no problem outright fabricating, much less embellishing, occurances and events of the day. It was his embellishiments which led the shooting to become the "massacre." in the minds of New Englanders.
And sadly, yes, Americans have become inured to bad behavior and policies by our government officials.
Dennis Murphy writes "Adams was the first purveyor of misinformation- at times the Fox News of his day." I watch all the news programs and I feel MSNBC is just as bad. I enjoy watching Morning Joe with my morning joe, but at times it's more in the nature of a cheering section for the Biden re-election campaign. CNN is more balanced.
Maybe Adams didn’t get away with this because we never went to war with France. All of your other examples, except the Patriot Act, happened in time a time of war. Even the Patriot Act had a more compelling argument. If the French had killed 3,000 Americans on American soil in a single day I think we would have seen the outpouring of rage and Patriotic fervor that we Americans do so well.
Actually there was an undeclared naval war with France, sometimes called the Quasi-War. Not a lot of casualties, though.
boohoo nobody cares
Charles- you need to distinguish between talk shows versus news broadcasts, IMO.
CNN is mostly a news broadcast entity with a few talking head shows.
FOX and MSNBC are mostly talking head shows to be sure. MSNBC never has hidden their liberal bias, whereas FOX tries to say they are "fair and balanced' which is clearly not true.
But at issue is- Even with the actual liberal bias - is MSNBC talking heads actually presenting FACTS which can be corroborated ? I think they do. Rachel Maddow among others, do STRINGENT research on the topics which they discuss.
But FOX puts out information by their talking heads which is blatant lies - as evidence by the whole Dominion lawsuit being settled, by the fact that when contronted with presenting blatant lies the defense from the FOX talking heads was that they were entertainers,not journalists. FOX talk show people have perpetuated lies about the election, about the Jan6 attack on the capital and more.
To equally equate FOX and MSNBC (other than both being talking head networks) is to present a "both sides-ism" unfairly.
This was a time when America elected men who were knowledgeable and ethical as Presidents.
Good article. I just finished The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams by Stacy Schiff . One takeaway, in my opinion, was that Adams was the first purveyor of misinformation- at times the Fox News of his day. He had no problem outright fabricating, much less embellishing, occurances and events of the day. It was his embellishiments which led the shooting to become the "massacre." in the minds of New Englanders.
And sadly, yes, Americans have become inured to bad behavior and policies by our government officials.
Dennis Murphy writes "Adams was the first purveyor of misinformation- at times the Fox News of his day." I watch all the news programs and I feel MSNBC is just as bad. I enjoy watching Morning Joe with my morning joe, but at times it's more in the nature of a cheering section for the Biden re-election campaign. CNN is more balanced.