Dumb or smart, the point is that the official editorial policy of any media outlet is known by all those who work for it. And whatever the outlet, the simple rule is always the same: fit in or f*** off.
To conclude: I really don't think incompetence can explain why MSM is 99% aligned in the positions it advocates.
There's a herd mentality to Western newsies that I frankly didn't believe until I saw it up close and personal on an issue I know a little bit about.
"Original research" is a small village somewhere in rural China as far as most Danish news coverage is concerned. The cycle for at least two thirds of the news [1] goes something like this:
[1] And that's not even counting the cars and sports supplements which might as well be written directly by advertisers...
[2] Of course, the political figure does this only in an interview to a friendly newsie and/or a press release of his own, which can branch off an entire news cycle of its own.
- Jake If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.
Never had the experience of having stuff become an issue, but I've seen it happen or heard about it from journalists who used to hang out at the same clubs in my partying days.
The phenomenon is stronger these days simply because cut and pasting is so easy. Back then, you had to OCR someone else's print copy or rewrite. (Journalist typing speeds were faster then) You can't be me, I'm taken
