[Nettime-bold] FW: What's the 'Mobocracy'?

["Steve McAlexander" <invictus@sbcglobal.net>]

How media's obsession with polling
twists the news, alters elections

The media are lying to you and they're using "public opinion" to keep
you misinformed. Welcome to the world of "Mobocracy" -- a place where
opinion polls, wielded by a cynical, ideologically driven press, distort
the news and change opinion. It's a place where the fleeting whims of a
largely ignorant populace are used to supplant thoughtful, reasonable
debate, and where, all too often, pollsters and the art they practice
are shrouded behind a cloudy curtain of clever wording, data
manipulation, and hidden agendas.

This is "Mobocracy."

Never before in the history of our nation have public opinion polls
played such a central role in the way policy is conceived, molded, and
enacted. And at no time has there been a more dangerous and misleading
abuse of public opinion than now. In "Mobocracy", Matthew Robinson
uncovers how the media's obsession with polling drives public policy,
subverts elections, and decides what we see on the evening news. He
reveals how our country's electoral process has been corrupted by the
mob rule of an ill-informed electorate whose opinions are trumpeted at
the expense of thoughtful reporting.

Through meticulous research and insightful interviews, this book exposes
how the questionable science of polls can be manipulated, how
poll-driven news leads to shallow coverage, and how many of our elected
officials have come to serve poll results more than they serve their
constituents. You will discover the underhanded ways that polls -- not
the Constitution or the law -- drove the Clinton impeachment process,
the 2000 presidential election, the confirmation hearings of government
officials, and other critical events. You will find how coverage of many
of the most divisive issues, such as abortion, gun control, and health
care, is manipulated by polling that too often seeks to further an
agenda, not measure opinion. And you will learn how to see through these
ruses in the future.

http://www.shopnetdaily.com/store/item.asp?ITEM_ID=374





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