Congressman Dennis Kucinich (Ohio, Democratic Party Candidate for President) argued fairly successfully on the Voice of America (VOA) program , Press Conference USA of VOA News Now, this past weekend (Nov. 17, 2007) that the American media is biased against him and its campaign.
This, he claims, is why he is not running at least 3rd or 4th in Democrat election polls already.
When called on the claim by a commentator, Kucinich pointed out quickly that he was the only serious presidential candidate who had not been invited recently to NBC’s Meet the Press.
Earlier Kucinich had noted that this great media bias against his campaign was reflected by the obvious fact that a major defense contractor, who (of course) profits from war, owns a major news network, NBC.
Dennis Kucinich is the only major presidential candidate who was in Congress or Senate in 2003 and voted against the war in Iraq and all the financing for it.
Kucinich also voted against the US Patriot Act and is against the emphasis on labeling millions of peoples illegals “as though they are lesser humans”.
NAFTAKucinich suggests that NAFTA and other trade deals have not only worsened the job situation of Americans but, in fact, led to a massive migration northward in lands where labor unions and labor rights enforcement are weaker than in the USA.
In short, Kucinich claimed that many of these “illegal migrants” were forced to flee their homeland due collapse of job market and increase in inflation related to NAFTA’s inception.
This is why he has severe reservations about keeping NAFTA and other trade agreements, i.e. if labor is not protected in the USA and abroad better.
WAR—NOT AS PRIMARY POLICY INSTRUMENTKucinich also made clear that besides having maintained a record of voting against non-democratic actions of the current White House, he has stood soundly for cooperation with other states to fight rogue elements around the world.
However, he added that this did not involve invading and taking over whole states who had not attacked America.
Kucinich said this in clarification to the insinuation made by one of the VOA interviewers that he didn’t want America to fight if attacked.
“No”, Kucinich explained, he felt it was very important to take out al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan but not necessarily to take over whole uninvolved regions and peoples, such as the rump of Afghanistan and all of Iraq—which definitely had no Al-Qaida elements in 2003.
MEDIA OWNERSHIP According to a 2004 review, “Viacom, the owner of CBS, is the second-largest media company in the country. Disney, the owner of ABC, is the fourth. NBC (as a division of G.E.) is the fifth.However, MSNBC, has an even wider audience as a major internet news service provider. It was General Electric which Kucinich was referring to—but not by name—on Press Conference USA . General Electric is not only involved in shipbuilding but in many facets of arms development and the development of technologies to manage them.
Kucinich was reminding radio listeners and the VOA that access to these media powers determines the messages people receive from their news broadcasters---including the viewers’ and listeners’ access to good information on presidential candidates in a fair way. NOTESDennis Kucinich for President, http://www.dennis4president.com/
Network TV Ownership, http://www.stateofthenewsmedia.org/narrative_networktv_ownership.asp?cat=5&media=4
