Vav's blog

Study: News media bias can net mistakes at the ballot box

A recently released news article from the UIUC shows that our news media bias does have an impact at the ballot box.  Some interesting quotes are below.

     "...even though voters typically take the spin into account rather than following blindly and that the media only slant news rather than falsifying it, selective reporting can still factor into mistakes at the polls...

     "One of the authors is quoted as saying "Biased media suppresses information that is unfavorable to ‘their’ candidate, and even smart voters cannot completely recover the truth from their reports"

     "Media bias could play an even bigger role in this year’s presidential race because Obama is still a relative unknown whose positions and past will be selectively reported as they surface during the campaign"

     "The problem is to avoid making mistakes you’re asking voters to work harder, and it’s not necessarily in their self-interest to do that,” Bernhardt said. “So there’s this paradox. Becoming better informed could potentially help everybody else because we would vote better and wouldn’t make mistakes. But people don’t internalize the consequences for everybody else, they only internalize their own. So they under invest in information. Most do.”

From the UIUC News Bureau:  Poll: Most still undecided about constitutional convention for Illinois

"Support is lagging for Illinois’ first constitutional convention in four decades, but could get a boost from growing unrest over political in-fighting that many citizens fear has paralyzed state government, according to a new University of Illinois poll.  Nearly 40 percent of respondents in the Institute of Government and Public Affairs survey support a convention to draft a new state constitution, well short of the majority needed when the question goes to voters in the Nov. 4 election.  But with 43 percent still undecided – coupled with strong support for reforms such as a California-style recall for top state officials – there’s plenty of room to swing the balance..."

“Given how little discussion we’ve had in the media and in general, it’s no big surprise that most people don’t know if they want a convention,” Gaines said. “But I think if someone tries to build a case for a convention, there’s a fairly receptive public. People don’t seem to think our current constitution is working great.”

“In the end, there has to be a Pat Quinn figure who’s pretty good at whipping up a crowd who seizes on the idea, using issues like recall and term limits and telling people this is how to get them,” Gaines said.   “If nobody has touched it by August, I think it will be too late,” he said. “There’s no way that you can get people to think about it and make a decision that quickly when there’s a presidential election, a war and possibly a recession overshadowing it.”

No better way to get the conversation ignited...

If the number and severity of potholes has you distressed this winter, jut wait until next year – it will be worse.  That shouldn’t be a surprise.  As long as we continue to under-fund the rehabilitation of our transportation network, it is exactly what rational people would expect.

Roads are typically forever.  Once we put them down, that’s where they stay – and keeping them in good shape becomes a government agency’s never-ending challenge.  New pavements may last 20 or more years before needing rehabilitation.  At that time new asphalt surfaces are typically placed to smooth the surface.  In spite of these new surfaces, the underlying pavement continues to disintegrate and the road will need to be rehabilitated again in 10-15 years.  This is the never-ending cycle.

As the asphalt surface ages, moisture seeps into the cracks and seams.  When the temperature drops, the water freezes, expands, and disrupts the bond between the asphalt surface and the pavement below.  Traffic dislodges the material and a pothole is born.

As long as we build roads, potholes will be a fact of winter.  However this year’s bumper crop is much worse than normal for a reason.  Most agencies’ budgets haven’t allowed them to keep up with the deterioration.  Streets that should have been resurfaced have not been touched.  There are more cracks and seams than ever and potholes are flourishing.

This winter’s potholes are merely the tip of the iceberg.  Fortunately, we are not on the Titanic and we have numerous warning signs for what lies ahead.  Let’s hope we find a way to chart a different course, or conditions will only get worse.