Why Big Media Needs Propaganda to Survive
The mainstream media are as likely to report on Pentagon propaganda — and thus, themselves — as President Bush is likely to cede that “mission accomplished” was poor phrasing. That is, it ain’t ever gonna happen.
The mainstream media have instituted a news blackout on the New York Times exposé, casting a dark cloak over the story with the wave of a magician’s wand. Perhaps with this media sleight-of-hand, we’ll soon forget that that this story ever existed.
To avoid being duped, we need to understand not just why the mainstream media are mum on this scandal, but how they created the scandal in the first place. Just how does propaganda creep unnoticed into everyday reporting?
If you haven’t heard already, just six corporations control most of what we read, watch and listen to every day. These corporate giants are motivated entirely by profit, not public service. So as Big Media get bigger, gobbling up more newspapers, radio stations and TV networks through consolidation, our media system actually gets smaller. Corporate execs have gutted newsrooms, shuttered foreign bureaus and slashed spending on investigative reporting.
Staff-strapped media outlets rely increasingly on packaged punditry to fill the void left by investigative reporting and informed debate about the nation’s most important issues.
The “C” in consolidation also stands for “cookie-cutter” journalism, with most reporters falling in line to deliver the official view of the news. Getting a diversity of voices in our news is hardly even a putative goal these days. C also stands for “cheap”: Real reporting is expensive compared to staged shouting matches.
Corporate owners have a vested interest in keeping courageous and intelligent reporting a journalism-school dream, especially when it comes to the Iraq war. After all, General Electric doesn’t want its reporters at MSNBC to question the war while it’s busy churning out Apache helicopters. It turns out that everyone — from the military analysts espousing Pentagon rhetoric to the corporate news owners to the government itself — have shared interests in leading the American people to war.
To consolidate their control, Big Media owners like Rupert Murdoch have cozied up to Washington, deploying legions of lobbyists and lawyers to craft U.S. communications policy, while doling out millions of dollars in campaign contributions to squelch any challenge from elected officials.
Hence, propaganda, misinformation and government spin become the daily news norm — so normal, in fact, that many in the news punditocracy are having trouble understanding what all the hoopla over propaganda is about. Isn’t this the way news is “made”?
There are still many hard-working, well-meaning journalists in the mainstream media producing quality journalism. Unfortunately, the corporate leash let’s very few reporters stray so far. It’s becoming increasingly difficult for most to do their jobs.
Weak and lightheaded, the junk news we now call journalism is now entirely incapable of fulfilling its mission to hold government and corporate actors accountable, to report in the public’s interest, and to critique itself for wrongdoing.
There’s already a concerted effort from activists and the blogosphere to urge Congress to investigate the Pentagon’s propaganda scheme, and Congress has responded.
But the problems run much deeper. Right now, there’s a “resolution of disapproval” before Congress that, if passed, would take a first step toward stopping the media consolidation that has lead American journalism down the propaganda path.
The resolution would overturn an earlier decision by the Federal Communications Commission to relax the longstanding limits on how much media one company can own in a single town. These limits preserve diverse and local perspectives in a news world where consolidated media increasingly speaks with one official voice.
Yes, we need to hold the government accountable for the crime of propaganda. But we also need to roll back consolidation so that new voices can counter the propaganda that has seeped into the newsrooms of the mainstream press.
Megan Tady is a campaign coordinator with Free Press (www.freepress.net), the national, nonpartisan media reform group.
The answer, at least for broadcast journalism, is to abolish the FCC and its charade of maintaining the “public” airwaves. No more broadcast licenses sold to the highest bidder. Let a thousand pirate radio stations bloom, covering the diversity in their own communities.
The answer is for the American people to wake up. They are living in a rapidly declining empire and don’t even know it. They think their government is trying to make America more secure when what it’s really doing is trying to increase its empire building. The American government cares more about General Electric’s wants and needs than it does about its own citizens.
Hoa binh
I have read about the media analysts being fronts for the Pentagon, but I am curious to read an article that analyzes the specific talking points that the Pentagon wants the public to believe. Such an article would highlight the substance of what we are to expect in the military and foreign policy arenas and not just inform us that government and big business are corrupt.
We need to organize and teach people in positions of power and those on their way to positions of power (ie., students) that moral responsibility is a better measure of success than monetary gain. Until the culture and beliefs that have gotten us into this mess change, it will only get worse.
C also stands for Charade . . . or maybe Crap or Charlatans. I have a suggestion for you Charlatans of the MSM: To save you money (which is your only god and all you’re interested in anyway) simply print or broadcast the same thing every day, 24/7 . . . “EVERYTHING’S GREAT!” Just that. Most of the American people won’t know the difference anyway. And the constant repetition will be reassuring to a population gradually slipping into destitution and not realizing it, like a lobster in a slowly boiling pot of water.
I am frankly getting sick of all the mainstream media. I get much of my news off the internet, from sites such as Common Dreams and many others. I used to love Brian Williams, but no more, and I can’t stand the others.
I still cannot understand why progressives are so upset that the mainstream corporate media clowns refuse to illuminate evidence of their own dishonest use of propaganda. The dishonest use of propaganda is what the corporate media clowns do, as that comprises the great majority of the mainstream corporate “news” programming, and it is much less effective and attracts fewer viewers when the viewers are aware of that. Why would a thief want to talk about how he got caught picking pockets when he is trying to get others to trust him so he can pick their pockets? I don’t get it.
The first lesson in political awareness in the USA should be that the corporate media is primarily a source of disinformation, with the purpose of shaping the opinions of the unaware to serve the interests of the corporotocracy.
It is exactly this sort of behavior that has the corporate media audience drying up as more of the populace become aware of the fact that “objective journalism” on a media outlet owned by a conglomerate is a contradiction in terms. If anything, the maxim of “consider the source” applies not only to alternative outlets on the Internet, but to the corporate media who still cling to the old company line of being “real news.” It is actually quite amusing to see corporate news models poo-poo alternate news sources as they see their audience shrinks and ages. What is not amusing is there is still a large enough audience that believes these corporate news outlets that they still wield power.
RE: “Lord Trigo”
Abolition of the FCC is an attractive idea at first glance. On reflection, it’s a lousy idea.
It makes as much sense as the abolition of traffic lights. Those who hate to stop at red lights, should contemplate how free they would be to move about if all the traffic lights went out. I found this out first-hand during two NYC blackouts: as a resident in 1967 and as a visitor in 1974.
If “a thousand pirate radio stations” were to “bloom,” none would be heard. Instead there would be a cacaphony of overlapping frequencies.
That’s why the FCC was established in 1934, at the request of the broadcast industry: “traffic control.”
There is much about the FCC worthy of complaint: in general, as with most regulatory agencies under GOP control (notably the EPA), control of the regulators by the corporate regulatees, with “the public interest” counting not at all.
But that is cause for reform, not abolition.
They (the media) are also a lazy bunch of PR prostitutes whose services are available to the highest bidder–just like both houses of Congress who are also planning to investigate this matter. What a laugh!
Who cares what the mainstream media is doing? Abandon any hope of their changing. I’m much more angry at US! We need to get off our butts and DO things that are uncomfortable. We need to organize & support alternative media resources, disseminate our own news through pamphleteering, e-mail friends & family the stories they need from alternative medias, support progressive culture, organize & promote boycotts of all mainstream media, STOP consuming their garbage! We have got to stop thinking that others are going to do this for us, as unfair as it is, we have to do these things for ourselves. We can become the media we want!
The really pathetic part is that so many Americans are willing to strap on the knee pads and “work” for the Big Corp Media scum, no matter the cost to their country and souls, for nothing more than cash.
Pacifica Radio with its Democracy Now and other programming is the only real alternative right now. Get behind them and help expand their network of stations. For the rest, its going to take a huge revolution to take down Corporate Media.
I agree with the article. Media is controlled. It is all too easy to see.
Remember how quiet and cool the skies were for the few days air traffic was suspended after 9/11? The same thing would happen to everyone’s minds if the big media stopped the drumbeat of propaganda and general crap-blare. The status quo needs this continual media assault to convince and re-convince us moment by moment that it, the status quo, is what is happening. Propaganda is not just content, it is the relentless visual, auditory and “cultural” wash which keeps most of us within a narrow band of reality. Step outside that band and you get special attention. Complain about that arrangement, work is hard to find. Mess with it very much, join the vast liberal lonely.
Read Paul Hawken’s book “Blessed Unrest”, for a little sunlight.
What’s really tragic about this is that INTELLIGENT PEOPLE are often clueless. I have friends who are attorneys and heads of businesses and when I see them and we have lunch together and I start going down the checklist of WHAT’S GOING ON they think I am speaking in deluded hyperboles. The LIES have so saturated so many arteries of the MSM that people have TAKEN them to be true. Many do not have the time or inclination to seek our alternative media.
My best female friend refuses to read the majority of commondreams articles I forward her. Others have also asked me to stop! There is an aspect to the “New Age” spirituality camp that makes existence into a merely personal matter, as if each person has the OPTION to choose their “reality,” and which perceptions they intend to focus upon. A woman I otherwise admired asked me to PLEASE NOT SPEAK of these things (newsworthy events), and for Iraq blithely dismissed the agony of its citizens as “just some karma playing out.” This idea that we are FREE to enjoy OUR lives and OWN no responsibiity to others is a dangerous extension of an advertising/PR concept that has managed to sell to the lowest common denominator: the single digit consumer. How to re-weave the WEB of humanity will become the great challenge. However, communities that have been hit by dangerous weather events often DO work together. It may take hits of this and other nature to rouse the necessary compassion to rebuild the body politic, one far more HUMANE.
Tired of all thier lies, want to know some pure and real truths provided by Men and heros that lived through some real propaganda lies. Men that were told ,no “ordered to keep quiet or else”. Much like what is being done to all of us right now. Men who are for a second time stepping up and standing for truths. Watch and learn…. I haven’t been surprized by one single thing Washington has done, because it is just business as usual , just as it has been since I was a little one in DC back in the early 50″s. Obama is just another of thier stogges, but I would rather him , than Hillary who sold out and won out long ago…Or McCain who has been brain washed …ever watch the “Macurian canidate ? ” He is a perfect example.
Please watch and learn and understand who will benefit and win the next new war…. and it sure won’t be America.
“Loss of Liberty ”
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/18.html
Poet: that is exactly why I call the MSM, the whore media!
The Buddhists have the Four Noble Truths; we “Americans” need to understand the Four Inconvenient Truths.
1. The US is not a democracy. It has all the trappings; however, in reality, it is a Plutocracy and Oligarchy.
2. Our Press is not “free”. Every year when journalists are surveyed, they consistently rate the US about 38th in the world in terms of “freedom of the press.” At best, we get one side of the story; at worst, we get unadulterated government and corporate propaganda.
3. Our so-called “representatives” do not represent us. That is unless you contribute large sums of money to their party, or the campaign of a particular candidate.
4. Our elections are not fair. As one observer noted…touch screen voting and centralized vote tabulation by computer has made our voting systems, “eminently hackable and completely untrackable.”
Once you understand these Four Inconvenient Truths, you are on the path to enlightenment - still politically powerless, but no longer among the ranks of the clueless.
One final thought, propaganda is to a democracy what a club is to a dictator. If we ever get enough people to see through the illusion, the clubs will come out.
Everyone with a trace of brain wave activity and an open mind sees the problems. Yet they still keep coming back to solutions where those who created the problems are expected to solve the problems. Congress passed the laws that allowed the consolidation of media to it’s current levels, knowing full well where it would lead, and knowing who would benefit. This is explained by GTC’s Four Inconvenient Truths.
Voting for Obama or Hillary will not give you change. The system needs to be changed, but change will not be from within the system. On July 4, 1776, our founding fathers voted for change, and delivered. They could do so in part because they saw clearly what was being done to them. Today, peoples minds are the product of expermental vaccines and drugs, public education dedicated to brainwashing children and turning them into obedient citizens, MSM propaganda, and a working class enslaved through debt peonage and the necessity of employer provided HC insurance. So a vote for change is unlikely.
Your vote in November will just mean more of the same old same old, only instead of being beaten down by a WASP male, you can chose to be beaten down by a WASP of the female persuasion, representing 28 years of the Bush-Clinton Dynasty, and giving it 4-8 more years of rule, or a man of color holding racial hatred within (read Dreams from my Father), who is half white, half black, choses to call himself black, and worships his polygamous father who abondoned him and his white mother. He publicly rejects out of hand the words of his pastor who speaks the truth, instead of using it as an opportunity to discuss some of our historical mistakes that are being repeated today, and his foreign policy guru is Zbig Brzezinski who has the hots for a war with Russia, and perhaps China.
The sad thing, is our corruption of Democracy is being spread throughout the world. Other governments justify their actions by using America as an example. Hopefully those people will not be deceived.
I hope everyone is showing the Pentagon story REPEATEDLY on MSM web sites. IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO SIMPLY be an “alternative ” site. It is not an alternative unless you are PERSISTENTLY DELELGITIMIZING THE FALSE PUBLIC SPHERE of Corporate media.
Otherwise, they will still be the common denominator, even if their net numbers are dropping, they will still be the common denominator and the opposition infinitely web-splintered without a common denominator or critical mass. This is why EVEN WITH THE INTERNET , WE ARE CURRENTLY WITNESSING THE MOST RIGTWING CAMAPIGN EVER,,, yes I say the most rightward ever, not messured in terms of the overt fascism of the Republicans who have toned it down necessarily ,but in terms of the unbelievable tepidness of the Bendovercrats false-oppostie “message” whatever it is? It is nothing more than a de-facto ratification of Bushs Right wing extremism. The Corporate Bandovercrats– paid to lose– have now turned this rightwing radicalism mainstream.
“I still cannot understand why progressives are so upset that the mainstream corporate media clowns refuse to illuminate evidence of their own dishonest use of propaganda.”
I agree, kivals. It’s like asking why organized crime has to resort to crime. Well, see…
‘Propaganda’ is necessary now, because 9/11 changed everything. We need a strong Leader to protect the Homeland, and people don’t know enough about all those confusing foreign countries to be able to make the right decisions. Our Leader has thousands of Experts carefully figuring out the Right things to do, to protect you and your family (and also, God tells him hints in his dreams).
He Saved you from Saddam, who was only two days away from Nuking your loved ones. And Our Leader will save you from Iran, where different Evildoers have admitted that they want nuclear weapons to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth. We must nuke all 70 million people there if they don’t listen to reason.
You can sleep soundly, knowing that Our Leader is keeping you safe. What some ‘internal enemies’ call Propaganda, is just an evil Communist word that means ‘plain talk explaining the Enemy that wants to kill you Next’.
It’s not just the mind that is persuaded by the propaganda of the news. After all, the important stuff goes missing from print media most of the time. If you can hold onto contrary ideas and facts, a ghost town of disconnected people still awaits you.
TV represents the ultimate disconnection. Different TV stations run the same stories about stranded pets, car chases and natural disasters - just in a different order. The content has little bearing on your life, and you watch it as if it does - or to escape. The TV is always there.
Much of U.S. propaganda is designed to establish an emotional connection. Big media depict an orgiastic world of consumption and celebrity. Happy people appear on the TV screen, self-assured and concerned with their own interests (why not you?). Consequences become detached from actions. You’re too busy enjoying an imaginary life of luxury to contemplate war, poverty and the tacit cruelty of global capitalism.
And who wants to? Ultimately, rebellion comes when you care, but it’s a long tough haul.
Lemme see - signs of fascism anywhere?
This nothing new for the media to be the propaganda machine of government.
The whole idea of the “American way” was nothing then an ad campaign dreamed of by NAM (National Association of Manufractures),back in the 1930’s to counter FDR’s New Deal. The members of the NAM saw FDR’s plan as threat to capitalism and a threat to their power.
The only democratic right in their minds the stupid masses should have,is the right to choose among commodities..
As Micheal Moore as said ” the top one percent of the population as two political parties representing them and the bottom 99% have no one representing their interests.. Yet the bottom 99% ran around shouting we are free,we are free, we live in a democracy!”
Propaganda works!
Follow the link for more on this:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19868.htm
Every single thing that’s wrong with America can be blamed on one thing: the fact that we don’t enforce anti-trust laws. As long as we continue to let corporations get bigger and bigger, without any form of checks and/or balances, they will feed on us like a pack of hyenas chowing down on a dead zebra.
Lord Trigo [May 9th, 2008 1:02 pm] that sounds like a good idea, but Ernest Partridge [May 9th, 2008 4:30 pm] is right: There must be some means of allotting the frequencies or else you’ll have several pirate stations trying to broadcast on the same one and the listener or viewer will get nothing but chaotic screech and growl. I’d add this idea: Why don’t we elect FCC Commissioners for two-year terms just as we elect our congressional representatives, limit them to three terms, and make the FCC a separate part of government? Elect a nine-member board that doesn’t have to be ‘balanced’ by political party — we might even get some independents or third party folks on such a panel. It certainly couldn’t do any worse than the partisan shop we have now. Also, commissioners would be restricted for ten years following their term on the board from working for any company that had business with the FCC, and they cannot have ever been employed as major media executives.
since1492 [May 9th, 2008 1:08 pm] wrote: “The answer is for the American people to wake up.”
That’s true, but the free press is supposed to be the alarm clock and it’s been broken for years. For three days running, starting last Wednesday, MSNBC has been obsessed with a large sinkhole in Texas, burning up valuable chunks of airtime as they ‘ooh’ and ‘aw’ that it’s the ’size of two football fields!’ Sweet Lord — this is almost as bad as the network newschoppers taking shots of police dogs running around a field in Wisconsin several years ago, and the endless, breathless media speculation as to what clues to the disappearance of a missing white girl the dogs might uncover — “Let’s ask our expert: Could this be a big break in the case?” “Oh, yes, when they bring in the dogs that means they’ve got a good reason and it seems the canine squad is definitely after something here.” It took our solons in the Big Media several hours before they figured out the cops were just taking the pooches out for some exercise. It’s an apt analogy for the Big Media in general — let’s focus on the giant sinkhole and dogs cavorting because there’s nothing else more important going on in the world!
At one time, Chicago had four major daily newspapers — the Tribune, the Sun-Times, the Daily News and the American — that were owned by four different companies and represented four different points of view. The Trib was always the conservative Republican paper; the Sun-Times the blue-collar, pro-union tabloid; the Daily News the progressive-Democrat broadsheet; the American a generally conservative but more populist-leaning Hearst-owned paper. Each paper had different editorial policies and covered stories from different angles.
Today there are only two major papers left, the Trib and the Sun-Times, and their editorial policies and the stories they cover, and the way they cover them, are nearly identical — basically propaganda touting the conservative and pro-corporate view — albeit the Sun-Times tends to the screaming-headline New York Post style and the Trib is a little more NY Times reserved.
Although there is a sprinkling of liberal columnists and op/eds in each paper, that doesn’t rub off on the corporate conservatism of the other 90 percent of the content, and the ‘news’ is mostly news service reprints or rewrites. That said, they occasionally do excel at uncovering local political or business corruption but, what with the Trib owned by the vast Tribune Media Group, which owns national TV, radio and other media, as well as sports teams; and the Sun-Times going through various corporate owners from Rupert Murdoch to Conrad Black, even the good reporters know exactly on which side their bread is buttered and avoid those stories that might affect the business or political interests of the publisher or the parent corporation. They are prima facie evidence of the truth of George Orwell’s quote on the Big Media: “Circus dogs jump when the trainer cracks his whip, but the really well-trained dog is the one that turns his somersault when there is no whip.” And, as George Seldes said, referring to the atmosphere of the typical newsroom: “We scent the air of the office; we realize that certain things are wanted, certain things unwanted.”
I think the only answer is to split up national media organizations into smaller groups with a specific purpose: a corporation can own a television station, a radio station, or a newspaper in a particular market, but not any two or all three. The corporation would be required, as part of its TV or radio license, to cover a certain amount of local news every day — say 50 percent of overall daily news content — using staff who live in the area, and they will be required to provide news as 25 percent of their daily content. TV and radio stations could still use nationally-syndicated programs, but that should be limited to no more than 25 percent of their daily content. I’d also restore the Fairness Doctrine that Reagan dumped, requiring TV and radio stations, and broadcast networks, to feature opposing political and social viewpoints, giving all equal time. While this will affect Air America Radio, it will also change the way Clear Channel does business — if you want to have three hours of Rush Limbaugh, you must counterbalance it with three hours of Randi Rhodes. Cable TV and Internet radio is a different story, but the broadcast media would be a good start.
Of course, I don’t expect any of this to happen anytime soon but, what with the faltering economy, the shrinking reputation of the Big Media, and competition from the Internet, the news consumer may start demanding it.
Siouxrose [May 9th, 2008 6:13 pm], good post and it reminds me of some of the people I know. One friend who is an otherwise intelligent progressive just doesn’t want to read anything that says the Ohio vote was stolen in 2004. He just does not want to believe it — it tampers with his view of the country too much. Besides, if he admitted it happened, then I think he would feel guilty if he didn’t do something to try and change it, which seems to be the root problem of those who want to keep their heads in the Big Media sand. Out of deference to his request, I don’t email him articles on that subject, but I also don’t know how else to get him to pay attention to this important matter. Maybe he’ll ‘take a hit’ that will open him to this information; maybe I should try sending him a CD on the subject. I just really don’t know.
GTC [May 9th, 2008 7:17 pm], good points and I’d only add that, what with everything so obviously falling apart in this country, we are quickly reaching the point that the citizens of the former-USSR reached a half-century ago where the average American doesn’t believe a word the Big Media reports — then things will start to change. (They are already.) We just have to make sure we don’t end up with a Yankee Doodle Putin running the country.
Siouxrose-Complacancy is the root of all evil.
The lesson for humanity is that we are one. MSM is still perpetuating the “individualistic” myth. Your friends have the same disease as many other westerners-”I am OK” (why worry about others.)
As you have said, the disasters are what teaches us to be human. That is why we as humanity will be facing more disasters-so we can learn to be human. Our crisis is a spriritual one, playing out thru the economic and political fields.
Don’t despair-help is at hand. Check out:
www.shareintl.org
This is why I read wonderful publications like Common Dreams and Counterpunch. I remember when Bush began his genocidal invasion of Iraq, the lamestream media acted so shamelessly as lapdogs for the Pentagon. One of those media sluts (Katie Couric?) fawned all over the Navy Seals. “Navy Seals Rock!” We also have Barbara Starr of CNN who thinks that she’s the Pentagon’s spokeswomen. Even Dan Rather said that the Bush war made him “feel good to be an American” (or words to that effect. God Blessd Common Dreams. I don’t know what I what do without you!!
Who does “Big Media” NOT want to be President? Who is MSNBC trying to push out of the race, and who’s star are they polishing?
Who does MSNBC think will be best for General Electric’s Apache helicopter sales?
build the internet as a forum for substantive communication. and shoot your tv.
ticonderoga May 10th, 2008 8:44 am
“Every single thing that’s wrong with America can be blamed on one thing: the fact that we don’t enforce anti-trust laws. As long as we continue to let corporations get bigger and bigger, without any form of checks and/or balances, they will feed on us like a pack of hyenas chowing down on a dead zebra.”
I agree with you on principle, however, what happens when most of those who are in a position to enforce anti-trust laws are beholden to the corporations who the laws would be enforced against? It’s a neat little Catch-22 they’ve devised, isn’t it?
Damn, every which way we turn we just can’t get away from the fact that it’s up to us, the people, to enforce the laws - our laws. It was done over 200 years ago - it can be done again!
Kloro,
Building the internet is a great start but what about when millions of people spend all day at myspace, ebay, and yahoo, and only thousands are at commondreams or counterpunch?
Children have to learn, when they are young media literacy skills but also develop habits of consumption and internalize civic values that lead them to spend more of their time on politically useful, to them, sites.
There is nothing stopping millions of Americans from participating in a mouse pad rebellion except that they’re diverted to trivial and entertainment pursuits.
Forextrader [May 10th, 2008 10:55 am] wrote: “This is why I read wonderful publications like Common Dreams and Counterpunch. I remember when Bush began his genocidal invasion of Iraq, the lamestream media acted so shamelessly as lapdogs for the Pentagon. One of those media sluts (Katie Couric?) fawned all over the Navy Seals. “Navy Seals Rock!” We also have Barbara Starr of CNN who thinks that she’s the Pentagon’s spokeswomen. Even Dan Rather said that the Bush war made him “feel good to be an American” (or words to that effect. God Blessd Common Dreams. I don’t know what I what do without you!!”
I agree with your sentiments, Forextrader. I remember having a Twilight Zone moment watching MSNBC and CNN on the day of Bush’s infamous ‘Mission Accomplished’ stunt when Chris Matthews gushed all over Bush in a flight suit like a teenage girl over Justin Timberlake, and allowed Ann Coulter to spew pure nonsense like Bush would have been a hero in Vietnam if only the Dems hadn’t stopped the war. Over on CNN it was just as bad; Kyra Phillips was ready to fellate every pilot on the Abraham Lincoln because they gave her a ride in an F/A-18, and Wolf Blitzer was wetting his pants celebrating the end of the Iraq War as being practically bloodless and painless, just as Bush predicted. Soon we would find Saddam and the WMD and show the world! Wave the flag — we’re a mighty empire, just like Rome! It’s was truly embarrassing to watch and it showed anyone with half a brain that the pretense of a free press in this country had gone straight down the drain.
Bob K. [May 10th, 2008 3:12 pm] wrote: “Who does “Big Media” NOT want to be President? Who is MSNBC trying to push out of the race, and who’s star are they polishing?”
The answers are Obama and Hillary, Hillary, and McCain.
“Who does MSNBC think will be best for General Electric’s Apache helicopter sales?”
McCain.
The answers are obvious. General Electric’s propaganda division, MSNBC, does NOT want Hillary to be President. They are doing everything they can to Swiftboat her and force her out of the race. They have been polishing Obama’s star for months. When General Electric and other corporate media spins for their favorite candidate, every thinking person should be concerned.
The answers are obvious to you, Bob, since you’re deeply in the tank for Hillary. Check out the kid-glove treatment MSNBC, and especially Chris Matthews, has used on McCain since New Hampshire.
Of course they favor McCain. That doesn’t negate what I said above.
Why are so many interesting articles found in the pages of the Liberal choir song book? Let me answer my own question with this fact. In spite of all efforts by the government to continue making the military industrial complex richer from the illegal war in Vietnam, they were stopped by those darn front line news people. Americans saw soldiers and blood on the evening news. They saw flag covered caskets arriving at Dover AFB. So when Georges dad wanted to start Gulf war one, you can bet they made sure major media was on board. So guess what the lazy Americans got to watch on the evening news? A cool Hollywood stage, lots of maps, and a real general with a swagger stick, pointing out places we were taking. Then some cool old WW-2 type shots of planes and bombs and noise and fire and stuff. But for sure ZERO blood or guts.
Kloro, it is happening.
Hey, I like that . . . indeed, knowingly propagating anything less than the whole truth is intrinsically criminal.
tgsam