[IP] Let's play "Deconstruct the media!" -- America's new subprime shanty-towns

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

________________________________________
From: Michael Gurstein [gurstein@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2008 5:44 AM
To: bmeeks@cox.net; David Farber
Subject: RE: [IP] Let's play "Deconstruct the media!" -- America's new subprime  shanty-towns

And its clear that the US media have taken Brock's lessons to heart and are
only dealing with issues where the possibility of "deconstruction" is
reduced to a figure approaching zero and where, rather than make "news out
of nothing", the overwehelming intention is in fact to make nothing into
news.

Google: CNN + Britney = 650,000
Google: CNN + homeless = 619,000

Google: ABC + Britney = 761,000
Google: ABC + homeless = 492,000

Google: CBS + Britney = 689,000
Google" CBS + homeless = 352,000

Google: NBC + Britney = 671,000
Google: NBC + homeless = 344,000

Google: "USA Today" + Britney = 514,00
Google: "USA Today" + homeless = 211,000

Google: "NY Times" + Britney = 176,000
Google" "NY Times" + Britney = 229,000

Thank god for a "clueful" media

Mike Gurstein

-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Daul [mailto:bdaul@pacbell.net]
Sent: March 19, 2008 2:14 AM
To: bmeeks@cox.net; gurstein@gmail.com
Subject: Fwd: [IP] Let's play "Deconstruct the media!" -- America's new
subprime shanty-towns

>
>From: David Farber <dave@farber.net>
>To: "ip" <ip@v2.listbox.com>
>
>
>________________________________________
>From: Brock N. Meeks [bmeeks@cox.net]
>Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2008 12:52 AM
>To: David Farber
>Subject: Re: [IP] America's new subprime shanty-towns
>
>Someone below wonders why he "found out about this [story] from the BCC
>and not US media?"  Here's one possible answer:  it's a ginned up
>report by a clueless BBC reporter, trying to make news from nothing.
>
>Let's play "Deconstruct the media!"
>
>First, the title, below it says, "America's new sub-prime shanty-towns"
>as in plural.  But the piece referenced only shows one "shanty-town"
>and makes no reference, whatsoever, to others.  On the YouTube clip it
>says "Tent Cities," and of course, as mentioned, only one "tent city"
>is shown.
>
>This is incredibly sloppy and just plain lazy journalism.  This is like
>quoting one expert in a story and writing, "expertS claim..."  Bah.
>
>Next, a number is tossed out--ohhhh, we like numbers!--"in the last
>month some 60,000 houses were repossessed."  And then the reporter
>says, "...now they shower in a local church and get by on handouts..."
>To this I say, "That must be a damn big church to handle 60,000
>households wanting to shower, just think of the lines!"  Specious, of
>course.  The reporter makes it sound like all 60,000 households are now
>homeless and living in the tent city.  B.S. -- again, incredibly sloppy
>journalism.
>
>Next, the first woman interviewed talks about how she hopes to get a
>full time job instead of her one-day a week job... she wants to save up to
buy a
>car to get to work easier.   Sheesh, were to start?!
>
>First, are we to assume she's a victim of the sub-prime meltdown?  I
>guess, because there's absolutely no clue that she is.  She has a
>one-day a week job, umm.... perhaps her job status is the reason for
>her homelessness? Perhaps she lost a good paying job and couldn't make
>the mortgage payments, could happen, DOES happen, every day.  But
>falling victim to a LOUSY LABOR MARKET has no connection to the
>sub-prime fiasco.
>
>Second interview, an older couple, now living in an RV, forced from
>their home when they could no longer make the payments.  It's a tragic
>story, a sad story and I'm not making light of ANYONE'S plight here,
>remember, it's the shabby  journalism I'm poking a sharp stick at.
>
>In the same breath that we learn this couple have lost their house, we
>learn
>why:  the husband fell ill and they couldn't make the payments on the
house.
>I'll repeat it, the husband FELL ILL and the mortgage couldn't be paid.
>Again, NOTHING to do with the sub-prime crisis, this is a health related
>tragic story.  And again, it happens hundreds or thousands of times a day.
>And the story there, perhaps, is the lack of affordable health care or...
>??? But not "this poor couple was forced to live in this RV because of the
>sub-prime crisis."
>
>The last interview is with a guy that says he sold his house "for a lot
>less than I paid for it."  But he didn't take a bath on it, or so it
>seems, because he tells the reporter that after the sale, "I settled
>all my bills and now I'm homeless."  You don't "settle all your bills"
>if don't have equity in the house.
>
>And we can do some arm chair financial planning here and question his
>choices.  Um... pay off my bills and become homeless or take that
>money, rent a miserably small apartment, thus giving me a valid address
>which is critical when applying for a job, for pubic assistance, etc.,
>etc.  And then while living in the crappy apartment (but infinitely
>better than living in a tent city) he could pay minimums on his
>remaining bills with what money he has left or try and work out some
>lower payments with the creditors -- a standard procedure now happening
>more and more.
>
>But no, this guy chooses Option A and goes homeless.  Again, tragic
>story and again, we are left to assume this guy is a victim of the
>sub-prime mess, were as, I'm thinking, doesn't he have a job??  Why
>would he be homeless if he had a job?  Oh... I see, he lost his job,
>which probably means he couldn't pay his mortgage.  Ah, see, a victim
>of the LABOR MARKET, not the sub-prime crisis.
>
>I'm just saying...
>
>
>
>On 3/18/08 1:14 PM, "David Farber" <dave@farber.net> wrote:
>  ________________________________________
>  > From: Michael Gurstein [gurstein@gmail.com]
>>  Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2008 12:20 PM
>>  To: David Farber
>>  Subject: FW: [Futurework] America's new subprime shanty-towns
>>
>>  Might be of interest to IP...
>>
>>  MG
>>
>>
>>  -----Original Message-----
>>  From: futurework-bounces@fesmail.uwaterloo.ca
>>  [mailto:futurework-bounces@fesmail.uwaterloo.ca] On Behalf Of
>> M.Blackmore
>>  Sent: March 18, 2008 7:50 AM
>>  To: futurework@fesmail.uwaterloo.ca
>>  Subject: [Futurework] America's new subprime shanty-towns
>>
>>
>>  America's new subprime shanty-towns
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnnOOo6tRs8
>>
>>  Posted by Cory Doctorow, March 17, 2008 9:07 PM | permalink  In this
>> chilling BBC clip, a newsteam ventures to one of LA's new
>> shantytowns made up of people who've lost their homes in the subprime
>> meltdown and now live in tents, improvised shacks or RVs on abandoned
>> land.  It's the contemporary Hooverville, and, as the Subliterate
>> Cinephile notes,  I wonder why I found out about this from the BBC
>> and not US media. Link (via  The Subliterate Cinephile
>
>
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