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TechnoratiThe Future of Media Doesn't Belong to Murdoch; It Belongs to Us
The following are my opening remarks from the National Conference for Media Reform in Minneapolis, which I delivered this morning.
Good morning. My name is Josh Silver. On behalf of the Free Press staff and board of directors, I'm honored and proud to welcome all of you to the fourth National Conference for Media Reform.
I can't tell you how exciting it is to look out at so many faces, and know that this conference and this movement for better media is growing to a level we never could have imagined.
Look around you! Here in Minneapolis and across the country, we have created a national movement for media reform!
You know, I never thought I'd open the conference with a quote from Scott McClellan.
The man who spoke for the Bush White House during the Iraq war now admits that, quote "[T]he national press corps was probably too deferential to the White House and to the administration in regard to the most important decision facing the nation.... the choice over whether to go to war in Iraq."
That's putting it mildly. Later, McClellen said that the news media were quote "complicit enablers" in the White House's "carefully orchestrated campaign to shape and manipulate sources of public approval."
More and more reporters, including major tv correspondents like Jessica Yellin and Chris Matthews have recently admitted that their bosses were pro-war and that it slanted their coverage.
These Johnny-come-lately confessions confirm what's been obvious to everyone in this room for years: The corporate media is not a watchdog protecting us from the powerful, it is a lapdog begging for scraps.
But for us here today, being right is no consolation in the face of the damage done by the media's love affair with the White House.
Government and corporate propaganda have laid waste to journalistic integrity.
We now know that the Bush Pentagon poured millions of dollars into a secret propaganda campaign to sell the Iraq war to the American people who sacrificed their blood and the goodwill of other nations.
And the media handed over the megaphone. Allowing the Pentagon to invade our airwaves and newspaper stands with an army of retired generals. These so-called "message force multipliers" appeared or were cited more than four thousand five hundred times on major television news outlets, and even NPR.
We now know that the media rolled over for the Bush administration - not just about the war, but about nearly every major decision facing this country. From message multipliers, to pre-packaged and undisclosed propaganda on our local nightly news, to pundits-for-hire like Armstrong Williams.
We now know that our leaders preyed on our fears with a cynical pr campaign that raised the Homeland Security warning to Orwellian orange or red to distract from the administration's latest embarrassing or illegal act.
We now know that each time, the corporate media - the source of news for over 90 percent of Americans -- acted as their willing mouthpiece.
For too long, the American people have been made afraid. We have been left in the dark -- not just by our government, but by the media that is supposed to keep us informed.
Eighty-eight years ago, journalist Walter Lippmann said quote:
All that the sharpest critics of democracy have alleged is true, if there is no steady supply of trustworthy and relevant news. Incompetence and aimlessness, corruption and disloyalty, panic and ultimate disaster, must come to any people which is denied an assured access to the facts.
Without the facts, we followed the flag into a disastrous war in Iraq.
Without the facts, our economy crumbles and 37 million Americans live in poverty.
Without the facts, our nation's infrastructure is in tatters, and victims of Hurricane Katrina have been abandoned.
Without the facts, our climate crisis may have moved beyond repair.
Without the facts. Without a critical, accountable, fearless media system, we've arrived at one of the darkest moments in our nation's history.
But this media problem isn't really about the journalists. It's not about the TV show bookers, or even the Scott McClellans -- although many of them are complicit.
This is about the people at the top. This is about the Big Media owners who decided it's in their best interests to join hands with the Bush administration and global corporations at the expense of all Americans and democracy itself.
Our consolidated, broken media system gives moguls like Rupert Murdoch the omnipotent power to decide what's news and what isn't; which lives are important and which aren't. Which myth the American people will see, and which reality they won't. Friends, we are living in the Matrix, and Big Media is writing the script.
For these owners, it's good business to deliver bad media. After all, big-dollar-advertisers don't want gruesome images from Iraq to follow ads for Happy Meals and Humvees. Hard-hitting journalism is expensive and jeopardizes Big Media's closed-door clout with politicians.
We must ask ourselves,
What kind of country has a media system that helps military leaders trick the public into fighting an unnecessary war?
What kind of country has a media system more concerned about Paris Hilton than genocide in Africa?
What kind of country has a media system that covers elections by scandal-mongering, ignoring any pretense of exploring real issues?
What has happened to our democracy?
I'll tell you exactly what happened. Big Media forced it off the road, into a ditch, let it burn, and cried alligator tears all the way to the bank.
And our corrupt, money-driven political system let it happen.
When you have an entire media-industrial complex against you, it's easy to feel defeated and even hopeless.
Sometimes, it takes a transformative moment to realize that you can actually do something about it.
I had that moment thirteen years ago traveling in the Peruvian rain-forest with my friend Patchen Miller. At 26-years old, we were longtime travel companions and fellow adventurers. By the time we decided to float the headwaters of the Amazon, Patchen had already spent most of his short life doing community service. I had dabbled in public service, but had yet to figure out my own path.
On the third night, we were ambushed. Patchen was shot and killed at close range.
I was shot in the leg, and narrowly escaped. It took a week to make it back to Lima, where they removed seven pieces of birdshot from my leg.
At the hospital the surgeon kept shaking his head, looking at how close the lead had come to the artery. He kept saying, "mucho suerte hombre....mucho suerte..." You are very lucky, young man, very, very lucky.
I came back from that trip a changed person. At the age of 26, I was suddenly aware of my own mortality-- several years before most people realize that their time on earth is short.
From that day forward, I felt that I was living life for both Patchen and for myself. That my experiences and successes were both of ours.
And I knew -- in my bones -- that this short life -- that luck or fate had granted me would be committed to making the world a better place.
Now I'm not suggesting that you have to get shot in the leg to focus your life on changing the world.
But I am suggesting that every one of us has the potential to be a powerful agent for change. You, me, the person sitting next to you.
There are extraordinary people in this room. Look around. People who have fought this fight for years. People who are new to the issues of media reform and ready to get to work. People with the talent, the passion and the will to win a better life for this country. People who have brought this media reform movement to a level previously unimagined.
Who could imagine the victories we've had since this conference last gathered in Memphis?
Just last month, together, we got the United States Senate to overwhelmingly reject the FCC's latest outrageous attempt to let Big Media get even bigger.
Together, we stopped the White House and Congress from abolishing Net Neutrality and turning the Internet into a private fiefdom for the largest cable and phone companies.
Together, we are pushing Congress to award thousands of new low power FM radio station licenses to cities and towns that sorely need more independent voices.
Together we are challenging unfair postal rate hikes that threaten to shut down independent publications that are the lifeblood of our democracy.
Together, we have created a movement made of thousands of people who are committed to creating the media system we so desperately need.
And for the first time ever, we have presidential candidates debating an open Internet and media consolidation.
Right now, we are at a crossroads. Right now, we stand at the brink of the greatest opportunity in generations to break the corporate media's stranglehold on our democracy.
In a few years, nearly all of our media - television, radio, newspapers, phones, movies -- will all be delivered through a high speed Internet connection. At this critical juncture, we cannot ignore history....we must learn from it.
In the past, each time a new technology emerged with the power to give a voice to the voiceless, there was a great moment of hope. We saw it when radio was invented in the 1920s. With television in the 1950s. With cable in the 1970s.
Each time, media moguls sent their hired guns to Washington to co-opt and monetize these technologies before they even got off the ground.
Each time, the best and greatest chance for everyday people to reclaim the media was sacrificed to corporate power. Each time, the public had no idea laws were being passed in their name that were killing the dream.
The ruinous state of media we see today is the result of those disastrous policies.
But this time is different. This time, we stand at a moment of opportunity with the Internet. This time, we have a tool that not only speaks truth to power, it can organize truth against power. This time, we can use the Internet to save the Internet.
We know that the future of the Internet will go down one of two paths. The first is the righteous path of openness. A new media world that treats all content equally. No slow lanes for us, and fast lanes for them. An Internet where anyone with a good idea can make it big and make a difference. An Internet that is fast, affordable and accessible to everyone; rich and poor; urban and rural.
The second path is the closed Internet. An Internet that looks like radio, TV and cable. An Internet where giant phone and cable companies decide what's on, how much it costs and how fast it downloads. An Internet that is no longer a vibrant town square for all, but a cash cow for a few. Where free speech is censored and status quo is king.
In this high-stakes debate over the future of the Internet -- the future of virtually all media -- it's either open or closed. It's all or nothing. It is a clash between democracy and plutocracy that will be fought on every street corner from Main Street to Pennsylvania Avenue.
On the eve of his 1936 re-election, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt -- the architect of the New Deal -- spoke words as true today as they were 72 years ago.
We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace - business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering. They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.
FDR passed the new deal because he took the fight to his opposition and never backed down. And neither will we.
We dedicate ourselves here today to the proposition that our fight for a democratic, open Internet will end the historic pattern of monopoly that suffocates freedom, dissent and creativity.
Because the future of our media does not belong to Rupert Murdoch.
It does not belong to Comcast or AT&T.
The future of our media does not belong to Clear Channel, Verizon or the Tribune Company.
The future of our media belongs to us. All of us in this room and every person across this country.
We are here in Minneapolis this weekend to fight for it. And mark my words, we will not stop until we win.
Thank you, and welcome.
Josh Silver is the Executive Director of Free Press a national, nonpartisan organization that he co-founded with Robert McChesney and John Nichols in 2002 to engage citizens in media policy debates and create a more democratic and diverse media system.
Copyright © 2008 HuffingtonPost.com, Inc
30 Comments so far
Show AllThe media including print, is out of control this election has shown us just how far it has gone to dumb-down the public. The recent move by ABC to remove candidates from the debates was outrageous. They are trying to determine the fate of the country and the world being mouthpiece for special interests and the government and to silence dissent.
Media censure is unheard, the FCC should rule for the public but like the EPA its teeth are continually drawn. The media has no right to exclude any politician who is running for office as happened recently with the ABC debate. The only exclusion under the rules used by ABC should apply to a candidate not sitting in public office. The license of ABC would be lifted if the rules were changed but the congress, with the exception of a few pushes for more media conglomeration supported by special interests. I hope that someone picks up on this thought. We have seen the obsession by FOX and CNN, particularly in the form of Wolf Blitzer, and the FOX rabid journalists constantly referring to the Rev. Wright controversy recently to obscure so many important issues.
Blitzer's bias is clear. He is quick to use every possible negative he can against Obama from the Flag Pin to anything else he could get his mouth around. His support for Clinton became clear and inappropriate, for CNN to call itself a "fair and balanced" news network. It has become the medias roll to try to change public perception through obfuscation and misquotes.
The Bill O, Reilly no nonsense is another example of media present day rubbish. I quote recent statement by Mr. Nichols:
" The media pretense of being a fly on the wall has often been preposterous. In the real world of politics — where power brokers and manipulators proceed with the cynical axiom that perception is reality — the fly on the wall is the wall. The political press corps is not observing reality as much as redefining it while obstructing outlooks and constraining public perceptions."
As usual, few are able to see the stampede of the public sheep created by media. I support the change that Obama represents! He is intelligent and wants America once again to be looked upon as a great nation that it could still be and once was.
The media including the newspapers carry their continued assault against progressive ideas and those, who would in any way, attempt to bring different thinking to bear on the so called "American Dream" which has become the world's nightmare.
The media must begin to understand its roll as an objective commentator to the necessary changes that must be made to the USA and the world if humanity is to survive. It above all must also be changed to once again give exposure to ideas that facilitate understanding of complex thought on complex issues. A departure from the simplistic superficial treatment ad-nauseam we witness which passes for news.
Media censure is unheard, the FCC should rule for the public but like the EPA its teeth are continually drawn. The media has no right to exclude any politician who is running for office as happened recently with the ABC debate. The ABC's license would be lifted if the rules were changed but the congress, with the exception of a few push for more media conglomeration supported by special interests. I hope that someone picks up on this thought.
We have seen the obsession by FOX and CNN, and others in the form of Wolf Blitzer, and the FOX rabid journalists constantly referring to the Rev. Wright controversy. A flight from entrenched American politics is necessary . . .it has ruined this country and made greed the single value of importance. The young people once again embrace hope as a result of the Obama campaign.
Mr. Gore Vidal, has pointedly criticized mainstream media as one of the major problems, and what is wrong with the USA. The corporate media conglomerates control the message and that message is perversely distorted and panders to its advertising portfolio! Wolf Blitzer one of the glaring examples of this criticism and shows clearly those distorted ideas with his reporting, which is nothing more than partially factual opinion dictated by his bosses.
Blitzer, CNN and the mainstream media have no right to shape public opinion far from being the "fly on the wall" they and the fashion club of female journalists espouses to be they are opinionated lacking in depth. We must remember flies morph from media maggots that the media advertising dollars bloat. These so-called journalists display ignorance as a virtue for the entire world to see, an example of what is considered, by many in America to be news reporting.
If Blitzer and his bunch were billed as a CNN commentator, at least the public would not be hoodwinked to believe their reporting to be the truth, while in fact its lack of concern for accuracy, rectitude and fairness is to surface be considered to be news rather than opinion.
The people of the USA have been so ill informed as to what a change would really do and mean to this country and the change in leadership that is necessary, they have forgotten how to really form an opinion based on fact. A flight from entrenched American politics is necessary . . . it has ruined this country and made greed the single value of importance but no such discussion is ever enjoined in this media. Israel has dropped CNN in favor of Al Jazerza this is the state of American media. The BBC takes on the American structure of reporting where most anchors belong in the sea.
The future leaders, Obama or McCain, should discuss the problems America and the world faces. The problem of public ignorance of the issues caused by the media is serious. In the heat of elections the media panders to voter ignorance in fact creates voter ignorance to promote the wishes of its corporate masters.
Rupert Murdoch, GE, Ted Turner and his self-satisfied belief in truth!
The emphasis, as we see on nightly, so-called news, is constant repetition of candidate's miscues. The result of the media sensationalism becomes, the wrong problem and the wrong message at a crucial time in world history. The emphasis on having the politicians address a credible platform of ideas based on an American and global interaction in the world is critical but this is not the direction US media takes.
There is not enough time left for civilization to focus on rubbish. The energy and environmental issues for example or food and health care are the problems the media should be focusing upon. But to use the Rev, Wright issue for one week, to try and hurt the candidacy of Obama is a travesty. This shows journalism to be what it is as Rather and Bill Moyers understand.
The issues most pressing are once again avoided in present news reporting, those really important issues that must be put before the public who chooses the congress; issues of environment, continued funding of Iraq, energy issues, education, health care, food, global toxicity and so many others not dealt with, all impacting upon the economy and human survival and its state of being, is the failure of public dialog as a result of the current media. . .it is outrageous!
The issue of this election will impact on the environment, economy and the future of the USA as no others. Still, if more than 50% of eligible voters cast their votes it will be a miracle, as a result of regressive US election laws and media obfuscation. It is compulsory for everyone to vote as in Australia it should be so in the USA as well. Few of the candidates are really talking about the major points, even those who are the most erudite, because of the media rules that should be changed in congress, but again it's the special interests that control the rules.
The environment in association with the economy or health care and elections reform, to name some, are kept out of public dialog as a result of the nonsense punditry hours on end which is supposed to bring the issues before the public. Donna Brazil is whom we have to rely on to tell us if the world is on the precipice to extinction. The world looks at America and its "star struck reality" in wonder.
The "American Dream" has caused endless abuses to its population, with the false promise of fame and riches that are legend, supported by the Hollywood myth and media indoctrination.
The claim that anyone can be president is manifold. However by some fluke of chance and hard work a man has come along that somehow defied conventional wisdom and possibility. He has made the inroads into populist thinking. However the media does not question him on the environment or the lack of depth of his chosen economist.
The political discussion rests on the complete lack of talking points in isolation. The candidates for the US presidency rarely talk about the complete interrelated package of the issues combined. Obama, alludes to this deficiency in the media and public issues. When he asks for this to occur it lands on deaf ears because the media and special interests do not want this to occur.
Welcome to American politics and their values as represented by the useless thinking of the American media. Between Russet's baseball questions and Blitzer's right wing empty questions, we begin to understand some of the reasons why the American public is considered empty by Europeans standards.
The media, including print media in many cases reduces the public debate to its most simplistic level with pundits arguing about one inconsequential issue or another rather than the truly important issues of our time. The American people are kept from hearing and understanding the relationship of the entire package of issues, which a true leader must address and deal with for the very survival of America in the world within a global economy.
The costs for the war would pay for every single need from health care to American infrastructure repair and education, as well as the alleviation of world hunger and energy research this is what is what is at stake. The media however, deals with Rev. Wright and American Flag lapel pins instead.
A major revaluation of human ethics and goals, in terms of the capitalist ethic and globalization are necessary. The system has gone out of balance we need only look at climate change, one of its prime examples, to know that human survival and the further development of the species is in jeopardy as a result of an economic system out of control. However the media obsessed with Wall Street and their own 401Ks is not interested with the problems of the system that is in opposition to the values of the media boardrooms who support the system in lock-step!
The media keeps the public dumbed down for obvious reasons they represent the moneyed people. As a result the public becomes unable to talk about moving radically toward change and the related issues affecting their very lives and the future. The issues of climate change, energy issues and the global economy not only American economy is the part of the mortgage crisis created by the "free market" system. All the other issues like people losing their homes as a result of Wall Street manipulation are tied to these fundamental problems. These are the first and major issues, which affects all other issues and is completely related to the economic changes, which must take place.
The media board rooms instruct their so-called journalists (news/opinion readers) to stay clear of those subjects that would attack advertising, consumption, tied together in the media collusion with special interests to maintain the consumer system killing the world. Media in collusion with government does not want the changes that would result in the decline of there hundreds of millions of dollars in profits.
All environmental problems are in one way or another associated with the Western world's consumption based lifestyle led by the USA. These issues are affected by consumer advertising much of it coming from the millions spent on advertising of irrelevant product and campaign advertising. The media should be dealing with true American and global issues in this campaign affecting the very basis of the so-called American Dream, fast becoming the global nightmare. This is what the next president of the USA must address
"The Future of Media Doesn't Belong to Murdoch; It Belongs to Us"
Yeah, sure it does
How long before the US powers that be start pulling a China on the internet? It will not come directly from the political sector but the corporate. It's already begun
willybill:
that was as soon as I saw who was in the final race, the 3 stooges as some called them I stopped giving the USA any hope of a REAL CHANGE. Yes some things will change a few crumbs to keep the cows happy and quiet. I would like to see whom ever wins to shake up the world some and point America in the right direction again. It has the ability to be the greatest nation in the world, a leader in peace and food to the world. OR am I just standing out in the sun to much.
You find what you look for DoomNGloom, all around you. What we expect gets accepted. In chaotic times like these we all look around at each other for points of reference. The best resolution of all this requires our demand that our highest and best expectations be set out as what is acceptable, and this requires faith that the best dreams and efforts by all of us is being contributed. So get some friend to rub a little lanolin onto the severe chafing induced by so much time on the pity-pot, dare to have a dream, and insist on it's accomplishment. Many hands make light work, and many dreams will collectively add up. You can't put your shoulder to the wheel if your butt is caught in a crack.
It all starts with a reversal of the ruling by the supreme court legislating money is speech. until that ruling is reversed those with the money will control the speech heard over the airways. thank God for the Internet, it has been the saving grace from the propaganda machine of the corporate media. Having said that work must be done to reverse that ridiculous ruling. Speech is speech, and money is money, stop messing with the English language.
Quite right & well said. Presently we again hear the drumbeat of war to come against Iran, & it is a no-brainer to guess that war, if we cannot stop, it will come just before the Nov 4th US Presidential contest.
And then?
The future of the media belongs to us?
There is no "us"...
Just a mob of competing "identity groups."
sorry too busy going to that new movie,i know i have Entertainment Complex Disraction Syndrome…ECDS for short, but now i can go to my doctor and get this new pill called ENTNOT that will save me from this life threatening dis-ease, i asked her about the side effects, she said expect difficulty with bowel movements, or sever diarrhea, only when taken with massive amounts of popcorn and sugar candies. She said expect some loss of REM sleep as well, during the first two months on the regimin that is to be expected. Also dry mouth and liver/kidney failure are possible. The drug companies in their kindness offer to co-pay on it, the drug is only $95 a pop then, what a great deal! I have been taking it for two weeks now and its already working! I have had no impulse to go see any movies or watch tv! Thanks Glaxo Wellcome-SmithKline Beecham!
As for murdoch endorsing Obama that is just him throwing shit into the pot.He does not want Obama in also when Obama talked to lieberman,because he backed him in 06,he was letting him know he was going after him politically when he gets into the whitehouse.Tony
1960's style idealism is no longer an option.
"Incompetence and aimlessness, corruption and disloyalty, panic and ultimate disaster, must come to any people which is denied an assured access to the facts."
Wow....talk about corruption - check out this indictment!
http://cio.com/article/384563/Broadcom_Co_Founder_Drugged_Drinks_Indictment_Says
Hollow point June 7th, 2008 5:25 am ...No doubt there was a Bilderberg meeting. AND, the circumstances surrounding HilLIARy and O's meeting are very questionable, especially with Feinstein involved. BUT, no one has actually reported seeing O at that meeting. I would not put it past him and I am not an Obama supporter, but we need something a bit more substantial. One thing for sure is that the MSM was thrown off the track. Why go through that trouble to keep the MSM away from a meeting between O and HilLIARy unless there was something more involved SUCH AS a clandestine meeting with Bilderberg?
Josh Silver, thank you. This is exactly the sort of thing that needs to be happening, and to all the people who are making it happen, thank you all too.
There are still a ways to go, and I don't think that this media war will ever be over. One should never, ever assume it will be, for that is one of the dangers that opens up the comfort of complacency, and dulls the edge of attention that must always be alert and vigilant to corporate and fascist control.
Doom n' Gloom, I think you're right also. But the triumphs gained by independent media are incredibly important to acknowledge, to enjoy, to continue to build upon.
Silverman's article and speech give me great hope for America. Over the last few years I have taken no pleasure in beating on American sensibilities, I assure you, none at all. But I think it had to be done, and that each has had to endure their share of such a beating because the complacency became the comfort that leads to disbelief and ultimately disempowerment of a people who can do so much better.
The relationships between all of the media companies and government everywhere need to be very thoroughly examined, and better business models established that do not allow for such control in the hands of a few.
Kulu, involving youth in community media is an excellent idea, I think that should be done through educational institutions too, starting early rather than late.
The headline of this article is just one of the best I've read in a long, long time. The power of the internet is the power of the people today, and I truly see this as providing great hope for all of humanity and not just America.
Keep the pressure up, don't let the complacency creep.
The daze of bait-and-switch and bullshit are over. This is the 21st Century. Apple pie will kill you.
Rupert Murdock and large corporations like GE, in fact do control the media and there is nothing we can do about it other than to turn it off, and tune it out. No paper or program is of any effect if it is turned off. When we go to health clubs, teachers, or employee lounges, why do we sit there with FOX blaring. Ask who is watching this shit and turn it to something else. When you go into a store or restaurant and see FOX blaring, it tells you a whole lot about the intelligence of the proprietor. Shop someplace else.
from the article: "Together, we are pushing Congress to award thousands of new low power FM radio station licenses to cities and towns that sorely need more independent voices." So let's all lobby Congress! And...
Let's all start community radio stations, and invite the youth of our community to participate. "None but ourselves can free our minds."
willybill....
Sorry for the delay was not on line last night. Yes I read 2 stories on infowars.net Obamas press were not told where they were going till locked on the plane going down the runway for lift off.
- and after we take the media, the government cannot be far behind - but then the trolls get all upset and try a regime change - and then we kick their ass - it's all here at Green Island http://www.rudemacedon.ca/greenisland.html
The dynamics today are vastly different from the past. Silver makes no attempt to incorporate the speed of change, or the fact that the entire world is changing at the same time for the first time in history. He does mention the internet but not the critical point, the decentralized nature of the net where each person is a publisher. The reality is that the media is way behind the people. The talking heads delve about an inch deep into issues and then repeat it for the next fifty weeks. Media heads spew government propaganda as if it were the truth, then when challenged blame someone else.
Thoughtful people know we are losing our Democracy to Fascism. They know too that a well orchestrated plan has been loosed upon us by the Fascists. Despite the strength of the internet, not enough people participate to bring about positive change in a rapidly changing world. The target changes and people resist change and therefore lose. Chaos is not welcomed and challenged but instead it is ignored and therefore supposed to disappear. Yea right! People today are reactive not proactive. They are sinking ever deeper into that psycho-biological condition that Toffler called future shock. They are frozen in ignorance and fear. I question whether those who are adapting to change and developing the new lifeways are doing so in sufficient numbers to challenge the totalitarian right. I work for and hope for the best but do not yet see it. What I see is the triumph of evil.
If Murdoch likes O'Bama, that's a great reason to write in third party progressives.
So Obama, like Bush, is a pawn of the Jewish lobby, eh. That's great news especially with Israel today threatening to nuke Iran. Is he also a pawn of the media? What about the Fundamentalist Churches, do they exert control?
Who is running America? See my blog for some answers.
www.dangerouscreation.com
An interesting article... particularly the latest "desired" relationship between the internet user and corporate profit.
The problem with the first 2/3'rds of the article is it didn't reference Chomsky and his theoretical framework of filters which is a much more subtle arguement about corporate and advertising influence determining the poor quality of filtered journalism on TV and in newspapers. I would also reference McLuhan and other media theorists who analyzed the medium's massage of the brain.
Hollow point June 6th, 2008 8:25 pm ...Do you have evidence of that meeting?
subscribe to adbusters to get the real skinny on Murdock. They rip him just about every issue, and it is so right on!
OK how about the meeting between Obama and Hilary at the only by invitation Bilderberg meeting in Virginia? Not a word on the media ? Talk about controlling the future pres and VP of America?
The US of A is screwed so bad. Iran in 60 to 90 days. oil to over 200 to 250 a barrel.
Murdoch is also an ardent Obama supporter. Kind of explains Obamas good press.
Great cause, but how does one unburden a man like Sumner Redstone of his control of about 1/5 of our media? And he's just one of 5 people who control about 90%.
It doesn't belong to us unless we play it smart. The first thing coup leaders do is gain control of the radio and tv stations. In America, this has already happened. the slugs who control American corporations, in league with Zionists have bought control of the media. Hence, the burning of Christian bibles in the streets of Tel Aviv is not reported. It wil take hard work and clear thinking to return our country to to the principles on which it was founded. The American peasant is dedicated to that end.
HAIL Helen Thomas!!!!
It is no surprise that those of the younger demographic are fleeing "traditional media" in droves. The overabundant anarchy of gold and crap, and everything in between, available on the Internet has made the end user the filter, not the networks with an agenda of their own that comes into what they put on the air. This future rightly terrifies the old media guard, as their leverage from being content gatekeepers and originators is being eroded exponentially. This is deserved as they forgot a basic lesson of the market: if you don't give your customers what they want, they will leave you once they find something else they prefer. Expect ever more ads on "traditional media" aimed at a greying and shrinking demographic. Good riddance!
"These Johnny-come-lately confessions confirm what's been obvious to everyone in this room for years."
Most of us at CD can say "I told you so" about the war, the media, the spying, etc but it's little consolation. We are "telling you so" about Iran too, but little that will help.
The "you" in "telling you so" should be everybody you know or meet. Telling them to vote for Obama and not mccain if you want at least some things changed.