i'd actually say "disconnect" might be the understatement of the century!
the media are good at writing and reporting fiction. not just tabloids. but mainstream media. you cannot trust what comes from their mouths; if you want to know you must dig around for what's real information. they'll take a little snippet of truth, twist it around, beat it, bash it, until it's unrecognizable but totally believable by the general public, and whore it out there under the name "true story". yeah, it's true that it's a story...nothing more.
and now, because of the conerts, they are either sinking or swimming. they can't exactly say what they used to say, but then again they are too proud to say they were lying or exploiting or whatever. they're trying to keep their heads out of the water to save their necks. USED to be popular? a has been? HA! one look at the sales and the demand, and it is obvious a large portion of the public does not believe that one bit (although admittedly they succeeded in winning over quite a bit of the public...many of which are actually coming back). it is obvious the media lie. they are taking their foot out of their mouth long enough to stick the other one in! HA! they're off in their own little fictional world. well, they can have it.