Take the Mainstream Media Accountability Survey!


The Republicans have put out an online poll to find out what you think of the media coverage of the Trump administration. It’s a trap! Watch what you say on it, because it’s trying to put you in a bind: you either think the mainstream media sucks and is biased against Trump, or you think it’s doing a wonderful job. There is no provision for “Mainstream media sucks because they’ve been far too kind and wishy-washy about the Asshole-In-Chief”. Go ahead and take it though, and let one factor decide how you answer: will it make Donald Trump unhappy, and go against the result the poll is engineered to generate?

Comments

  1. Saad says

    There’s an option at the end to make a recurring contribution to his vacation budget.

    Imagine the type of people who are doing that… *shudders*

  2. slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem)) says

    SHIT!
    The redflag at the top of the page was a dead give away the poll is for bias. [(45)/Pence]
    yuk
    I dove in anyway to be the rebel.
    Tried to give negatives in proper places with a few “fill in the extra” with strong opinions anti-45
    The question about fact-checking was impossible to answer fully. impossible to throw in that the fact checking is only after first leading with the lie, which gives the lie some semblence of truth and the fact check as simply denial.
    anger results from the conclusion of the poll asking for a donation. I’ll assume refusing to donate means my results get shredded into ether.
    dammitall
    fukkin45pen(is)

  3. says

    Okay, I took it. Wasn’t pleased about the long list of shit under “rethugs aren’t represented well in” with no option for none of the above, so I left it blank.

  4. congenital cynic says

    I filled it out but found some of the questions were formed in a way that didn’t allow for a reasonable answer. But when I got to the end I bailed. Not giving that lot any info about me, and on top of that, I don’t have a zip code as I don’t live in the US.

  5. stwriley says

    Some of the questions can’t be answered very well, but many have an “Other, please specify” option that lets you write as much as you want, often giving you the chance to really stick it to the pollsters’ skewed questions and get in an accurate answer. I don’t have a problem with giving up that info either, as it will not avail them anything and (if they have any kind of opposition research at all) it’s not like they don’t know that I’m an enemy already.

  6. Petal to the Medal says

    It’s a ploy to collect personal information for mailing list, which will probably be sold to God knows what right-wing wacko charlatans.

  7. rpjohnston says

    Ohhhh, they have “other – please specify for some questions.

    In order:

    on 9 I wrote: “MSM credulously regurgitates Republican duplicity in the name of “balance” rather than take the hard job of fact-checking and calling your lies, lies.”

    On 10: “For instance: I’ve made polls before. This poll is such a sneeringly biased push poll that it’s almost physically painful, yet it’s reported on as if you’re innocently looking for opinion data rather than dishonestly pushing your viewpoint. A 5 year old can see through this shameful propaganda.”

    On 11: “Do you believe Republican’s support for Christian terrorists in anti-American?”

    12: “Are you aware that a majority of Americans can see through this patronizing garbage?”

    13: “Yes, political correctness lets us bandy about “radical Islamic terrorism” freely while we can’t say “radical Christian terrorism”.”

    14. “Almost everybody is employed by companies, not CEO’s. Cutting CEO’s taxes doesn’t make them take a pay cut so the company can hire more workers. But of course the media, worth billions, doesn’t say this.”

    15. “Yes, and also by Republicans, who insist on calling them “radical islamic terrorist” because “sand-n*****” is uprintable.”

    16. “Listen to yourself. “gun violence is wrongly attributed to guns!””

    17. “Yes, they credulously regurgitate the falsehoods you spin of your movement.”

    18. “You mean like “death panels”, “libtard”, “sand- I mean, radical islamic terrorist”, “demon-possessed fa*****” and “welfare queen”?”

    19. “You control the Presidency, both houses of Congress, and nearly enough states to pass Constitutional amendments on fascist lines, and you’re crying that Democrats exist at all? What are you, 8 years old?”

    20. “”waaaaaaa they’re not doing what uh told theeeeeem!””

    21. “Do they ever make ANY conclusions? seriously this is getting so pathetic.”

    I’m going to copy 22 in its entirety:

    22. Do you believe that if Republicans were obstructing Obama like Democrats are doing to President Trump, the mainstream media would attack Republicans?

    “Look at yourself in the mirror while you read that. What do you see? Everybody else sees that, too. This is not “being an adult”. We know what it looks like when someone is an adult. Trust me, we know.”

    23. “Trust me, we all see what you’re doing, giving questions to kooks who worship you because you’re too weak to handle normal questions.”

    24. “Oddly that’s something I’d be able to justify in a President…if you have the vocabulary and intelligence to deliver a coherent message and not whatever juvenile, non-understanding bull comes to mind. I can’t get your message because you’ve got none to deliver!”

    Oh and it wants my full name. Go ahead, Donald, take it. I, an ordinary schmuck, can take you, you pathetic, insecure, weak little man-child.

  8. Sakura No Seirei, Knight of the Order of the Glittry Hoo Ha says

    Gotta love an ‘Other’ box in a survey:

    Questions 9 – 24

    “Yes. They have excelled at pointing out both the Republican Party and Administrations incompetence, bigotry, hatred, and, of course, the willingness of Republicans to fully harbor traitors in their midst, and squash any attempts to find out just how far the rot has gone within the Republican Party and Administrations.

    No. They have excelled at their due diligence requirements when pointing out both the Republican Party and Administrations incompetence, bigotry, hatred, and, of course, the willingness of Republicans to fully harbor traitors in their midst, and squash any attempts to find out just how far the rot has gone within the Republican Party and Administrations.

    No. They have excelled at pointing out both the Republican Party and Administrations willingness to take blatantly unconstitutional actions, as well as engage in incompetence, bigotry, hatred, and, of course, the willingness of Republicans to fully harbor traitors in their midst, and squash any attempts to find out just how far the rot has gone within the Republican Party and Administrations.

    “In an article released for publication on the evening of 11 November, Goebbels ascribed the events of Kristallnacht to the “healthy instincts” of the German people. He went on to explain: “The German people is anti-Semitic. It has no desire to have its rights restricted or to be provoked in the future by parasites of the Jewish race.”[47] Less than 24 hours after the Kristallnacht Adolf Hitler made a one hour long speech in front of a group of journalists where he managed to completely ignore the recent events on everyone’s mind. According to Eugene Davidson the reason for this was that Hitler wished to avoid being directly connected to an event that he was aware that many of those present condemned, regardless of Goebbels’s unconvincing explanation that Kristallnacht was caused by popular wrath” – Responses to Kristallnacht (Wikipedia). The historical parallels between then, and the current 45’s and Administration’s actions and words are utmost in their near completeness.

    No. “Political Correctness” is term used by nazis when they complain that they get called out on their hatred and bigotry. Why are you using the term?

    I believe that completing a basic education should be the requirement of any question setter for a survey. If the question setter had managed a basic education they would have avoided the obvious grammatical and syntax problems present in this question. If the question setter had also bothered to read any Adam Smith, they also have realised the folly of attempting to link two non-direct, non-causal economic factors. However, props for taking lessons from Goebbels on how to attempt to push a propaganda effort.

    I find the Republican Party’s obsession with getting as many guns as possible into the hands of as many white, Christian and/or neo-nazi terrorists to be truly frightening. I believe the media should be even more ruthless in examining this link.

    I find that almost all the false stories being spread by certain segments of the media (almost all nazi sympathetic publications, or ones espousing the views of white, Christian terrorists) to have first been promulgated by 45 and 45’s Administration.

    Impossible to say, given the flurry of slurs spewing forth from 45’s Twitter account, and from 45’s apparatchik propoganda machine . Maybe when those slow to a trickle we might be able to see if there’s any problems with the major news organisations. Actually, having checked the reporting from the major news organisations I can only see facts being used. Not their fault that thin-skinned-orange 45 can’t cope with that.

    No. The media is merely reporting on the extended Night of Blunt Knives that the Republican Party is going through.

    No. So many real feuds going on the media doesn’t have time to create false ones. And why bother, the real ones are ghastly enough to keep the viewing public fully engaged with the major news organisations.

    “Rumored stories”. You mean the verified leaks? Sorry, those aren’t rumored stories. Those are verified leaks. Suck it up, buttercup.

    What do you mean, “if the Republicans were obstructing Obama…”? McConnell is on record as boasting about doing that very thing. Makes the rest of the question completely moot. Deal the lie at the beginning of the question first.

    45 isn’t breaking with tradition. 45 doesn’t know what he’s doing. Completely different thing.

    You mean the out-of-control circus-and-monkeys, “45’s going to be gone in under a year” strategy? Oh yeah, that’s cutting through loud and clear. What, you don’t monitor the major news outlets? Very obvious answer to stupid question.”

    Hope they have fun attempting to mail ohyouknowwhere@somewhere.c0m.

  9. Denverly says

    I used my throwaway online identity. This was a poorly written poll even by Republican standards.

  10. rpjohnston says

    Oh, I know that my response is probably just going to get shredded. That’s why I’m going to copy this post to Twitter and Facebook =)

  11. slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem)) says

    re @10:
    I think so also.
    45 will do anything underhanded to make his numbers look big (yuge). Like using raw number of participants to inflate the popularity of his site without reading the responses, just the raw quantity; which he’ll inflate beyond the actual quantity. 45 has no ability to speak anything outside his dementia.
    ugh
    I want to keep ranting about, denigrating 45, BUT I guess I’ll pause a bit..
    *deep breath*.
    ?

  12. Gregory Greenwood says

    Well, I filled the thing out, and took the opportunity to give the idiots that run this thing a piece of my mind about the Orange Hued Nit-Wit in chief on some of the questions. When it came to the end, I entered fake information. The zip code I gave was 11111, even though I don’t live in the US. The name I gave was George Washington, since I was damned if I was going to give them my real name even though I live in the UK, though looking back I probably should have gone with someone like Martin Luther King to really wind up the racists who doubtless run this thing. As for the email address, I went with ‘doyouthinkiwasbornyesterday?@dreamon.com’, and the site accepted it no problem, so it seems you can game the site if you wisely don’t want to give these fascist tools your real details.

  13. slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem)) says

    inspired by @11:

    let me share a few of my “OTHER” responses (unnumbered but the question can probably be inferred]

    – Raising taxes KILLS jobs

    – Misuse of 2nd Amendment

    – Religious given too much leeway.

    “22. Do you believe that if Republicans were obstructing Obama like Democrats are doing to President Trump, the mainstream media would attack Republicans?”
    – false similarity [NO OPINION is only a shrug, a simple NO gives Rethugs a pass, YES fails to describe why the Dems oppose 45, my answer is lame but headed in the correct direction, that this question is a bogosity]
    ———————
    sheesh, I should have screencapped my answers so I could share them here.
    rats
    ?

  14. rietpluim says

    Wow. This must be the worst online poll I’ve seen in decades. This administration is so fucking’ incompetent, it cannot even formulate questions properly.

  15. says

    1. Do you believe that the mainstream media has reported unfairly on our movement?
    No

    2. Do you trust MSNBC to report fairly on Trump’s presidency?
    3. Do you trust CNN to report fairly on Trump’s presidency?
    I said “no opinion”, but the honest answer is no, I don’t.

    Why? Because I expect the media to give them a pass.

    4. Do you trust Fox News to report fairly on Trump’s presidency?
    No.

    They are definitely going to give them a pass.

    5. On which issues does the mainstream media do the worst job of representing Republicans? (Select as many that apply.)
    I just left this blank because…

    6. Which television source do you primarily get your news from?
    I said “local news”, because I don’t watch CNN, MSNBC, or Fox.

    7. Do you use a source not listed above?
    Democracy Now, This Week in Blackness Prime

    8. Which online source do you use the most?
    Alternet, Freethought Blogs, Raw Story, DailyKos

    And here’s where “Other: please specify” comes in…

    9. Do you trust the mainstream media to tell the truth about the Republican Party’s positions and actions?
    No, I expect them to be wishy-washy and give y’all a pass to continue lying, cheating, and stealing from the country while destroying lives.

    10. Do you believe that the mainstream media does not do their due diligence fact-checking before publishing stories on the Trump administration?
    They need to do more, because they’ve let a lot of your lies go unchecked.

    11. Do you believe that the media unfairly reported on President Trump’s executive order temporarily restricting people entering our country from nations compromised by radical Islamic terrorism?
    Honestly, they could have done a better job of calling out the Islamophobia it was.

    12. Were you aware that a poll was released revealing that a majority of Americans actually supported President Trump’s temporary restriction executive order?
    No there wasn’t.

    (And if there was, I didn’t see it and it’s probably biased…)

    13. Do you believe that political correctness has created biased news coverage on both illegal immigration and radical Islamic terrorism?
    I believe we need MORE political correctness.

    14. Do you believe that contrary to what the media says, raising taxes does not create jobs?
    No.

    15. Do you believe that people of faith have been unfairly characterized by the media?
    I believe that Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Buddhists, Hindus, Wiccans, Pagans, and Atheists have been unfairly characterized by the media. But Christians have been lauded, held up, and basically run it, so…

    16. Do you believe that the media wrongly attributes gun violence to Second Amendment rights?
    I think they don’t go far enough in calling for a repeal for the second amendment.

    17. Do you believe that the media has been far too quick to spread false stories about our movement?
    What false stories? Everything I’ve seen has been true so far…

    18. Do you believe that the media uses slurs rather than facts to attack conservative stances on issues like border control, religious liberties, and ObamaCare?
    Nope, in fact, I wish they’d go stronger and use more.

    19. Do you believe that the media purposely tries to divide Republicans against each other in order to help elect Democrats?
    Actually, the mainstream media helped you win, Trump.

    20. Do you believe that the media creates false feuds within our Party in order to make us seem divided?
    No

    21. Do you believe that the mainstream media has been too eager to jump to conclusions about rumored stories?
    No

    22. Do you believe that if Republicans were obstructing Obama like Democrats are doing to President Trump, the mainstream media would attack Republicans?
    Democrats aren’t obstructing y’all, assholes. You have a fucking supermajority. Grow up.

    23. Do you agree with the President’s decision to break with tradition by giving lesser known reporters and bloggers the chance to ask the White House Press Secretary questions?
    Oh please. You’re just censoring people you don’t like.

    24. Do you agree with President Trump’s media strategy to cut through the media’s noise and deliver our message straight to the people?
    Ah hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    25. Do you believe that our Party should spend more time and resources holding the mainstream media accountable?
    No

    I gave them my info because… come at me, bro.

  16. slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem)) says

    re Nathan@19 wrote:

    23. Do you agree with the President’s decision to break with tradition by giving lesser known reporters and bloggers the chance to ask the White House Press Secretary questions?
    Oh please. You’re just censoring people you don’t like.

    24. Do you agree with President Trump’s media strategy to cut through the media’s noise and deliver our message straight to the people?
    Ah hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    25. Do you believe that our Party should spend more time and resources holding the mainstream media accountable?

    your answer for 23 is what I tried to say but couldn’t formulate, so just went [NO] Wanted to convey he is only going to the lesser known in order to ignore the more reputable and avoid serious questions in order to look for “softballs”.
    24 I left blank, wanted to say Tweeting unfiltered is inappropriate for a President to convey a message. Filters are useful and not just blockage. Tweeting wildly in the wee hours allows unfiltered thoughts to supplant meaningful thought.
    25 you seem to have also left unanswered as I did. Failing to note that the question is a veiled request for permission to shutdown the 1st amendment guarantee allowing the press to monitor the actions of the government without government interference.
    my new hashtag
    #45GTFO

  17. says

    Petal to the Metal @ 9:

    It’s a ploy to collect personal information for mailing list, which will probably be sold to God knows what right-wing wacko charlatans.

    Oh for FFS. Throwaway email addresses, ever hear of them? As for zip codes, pick a state in the U.S., such as ‘North Dakota zip code’, place in your search engine of choice and you’ll get all the fucking zip codes your heart could desire to enter into the propaganda poll.

  18. slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem)) says

    correction@21:
    25 you seem to have also left unanswered as I did. Failing to note…. => We both failed to note….

  19. What a Maroon, living up to the 'nym says

    00000 also works as a zip code.

    But they don’t even let you see the current results after you submit your answers. Amazingly, they’ve constructed a dishonest poll even by internet standards. They’re not interested in the results; they’re only interested in getting the base frothing mad so that they will send money.

  20. Saad says

    Caine, #22

    Oh for FFS. Throwaway email addresses, ever hear of them? As for zip codes, pick a state in the U.S., such as ‘North Dakota zip code’, place in your search engine of choice and you’ll get all the fucking zip codes your heart could desire to enter into the propaganda poll.

    I don’t think it even needs to be a real email address. I made one up and entered some 5 digit number for zip code and it let me submit the survey.

  21. slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem)) says

    I wonder what happens to it when one fails to donate? Changing [other] to $0 nothing happened the page remained until I killed it directly, so I doubt my responses were actually recorded. whoknows
    ?

  22. says

    I’ve done it twice so far. Like most other Trumpian efforts, it is incompetently conceived and poorly executed. On my desktop all of the questions are numbered “1.”, and it accepts any phony name, email addy and random zip code. But it won’t accept a negative number for a donation amount.

  23. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    But it won’t accept a negative number for a donation amount.

    Too bad we don’t have a billionaire’s credit card number for the donation. Preferably Trump’s. Except he may not actually qualify. I won’t take his word for it, given his penchant for lying.

  24. zetopan says

    “This administration is so fucking’ incompetent, it cannot even formulate questions properly.”

    Your obvious mistake was assuming that they wanted to take a valid survey, rather than to collect the specific answers that they wanted. Several years ago I received a pet food “survey” that asked the following question: “Did you notice your pet eagerly eating our pet food product?” If you answered yes then your pet liked the product. And if you answered no you were obviously not observant and they could discard you answer. That is a trivial example of a win – win “survey”.

  25. blf says

    Some snarking in the Grauniad, 10 questions that were left off Trump’s mainstream media accountability survey:

    For example: ‘Don’t you think it would be cool if the mainstream media looked the other way every once in a while?’

    […]

    ● Isn’t it very brave of President Trump to speak out about how unfair the media is being towards his administration?
     ○ YES, it is brave and in no way seems like he’s anxiously searching for a scapegoat to blame for his inadequacy as a leader.
     ○ NO, I would say he’s being more “valiant” than brave.

    ● Do you believe that the mainstream media has been unfair to President Trump?
     ○ As a true American patriot I say yes, they have been unfair.
     ○ I have been paid by Democratic operatives to go against what I know in my heart to be true and answer that I do not believe the media has been unfair in their reporting.

    […]

    ● Out of sheer curiosity and for no other reason, if evidence that President Trump is a Russian puppet came to light, would you find that he allowed himself to be recruited by the Russians in order to undermine their intelligence apparatus from within a plausible explanation?
     ○ YES, I would immediately accept that explanation and applaud the President’s cunning.
     ○ NO, I would demand that the President be removed from office should any such evidence come to light.
       If you checked NO, please provide your social security number and access codes to any security systems installed in your residence: _________________

    […]

  26. says

    Filled it out to. Burner Emai, a googled zip code and most importantly a proxy that came out in the same area the zip code was from, because with out that they would just throw it out.
    The only other i filled out was the one about Dems blocking the reps:
    “In the last six years the GOP brought the entire US Government to a standstill, blocked a SCOTUS nomination and blocked the Dems where they could. The Mainstream Media let it slide.””

  27. says

    I had fun with a couple of questions:
    7. Yes: Eight English-language, two German-language, and one Farsi-language daily, plus a bunch of others regularly but not every day. And none of them think you’re telling the truth…

    10. I do not think the Administration does any fact-checking before making public statements… meaning that the media is necessarily being dragged along with your lies, because they have to report what you said first before commenting upon it (with or without approval).

    13. Ask the ghost of Fred Korematsu… if you know who that is.

    22. Democrats are not (yet) obstructing the Administration: There have been no candidates for confirmable office actually blocked by Democrats (the withdrawals were at the behest of YOUR OWN PARTY’S COMMITTEE CHAIRS), no bill introduced has been blocked, and no judicial nominees are sitting waiting months for a hearing.

    — Berzilius Windrup, buzz1936@gmail.com … from the zip code of the Indiana Governor’s mansion (full nine digits)

    * * *

    Mr Lawson (35), I have to disagree with you and avclub. Answering this “poll” with the disdain that it deserves MIGHT increase the value of this “mailing list” this time… but the value of a mailing list is also highly dependent upon the proportion of invalid information it contains, and that will lower the value of future mailing lists. Either way, it’s not a yuuuuuge deal.

  28. anchor says

    @37Jaws : Well done! I had much the same fun. Dang it, if I did not think to record my terse retorts in those comment boxes…but I rather expected along the way that those who will sift through them will toss the lot of responses from anyone who contradicts their idiotic and constant brat-like bleat that “The Mainstream Media” is to blame for the very very smelly shit being thrown their way.

    They are, truly, the scum of America, and they ought to be reminded, as often as possible, that not all Americans are as breathtakingly stupid as they assume. They ought not to be able to get away so easily and freely with presuming such a slander.

  29. Menyambal says

    It reminded me of an NRA/2nd-Amendment poll, with its obviously biased questions. I say that to say that this kind of shite has been going on for onks – it must work on some level.

    I took it once, and didn’t bother to type much. For the name, I put in the Indonesian for “too expensive” just because I had already been told it was a fundraiser – “bitter vomit” almost went in. My browser offered me a fake e-mail – I must have trolled something else before.

  30. rietpluim says

    zetopan @32 – Oh no, I’m not that naive! But at least they could have tried. Sometimes I couldn’t even tell what answer would piss off Trump the most!

  31. DanDare says

    So they think the media is there to relay their message and isn’t doing its job properly when it is critical of the message. Fuck fuckity fuck these guys know nothing about civilisation.