Nice article.
I don't know if get LinkTV or Free Speech TV but look for GritTV
hosted by Laura Flanders & DemocracyNOW! hosted by Amy Goodman.
They are all over this Pentagon censorship. Read Blackwater by Jeremy
Scahill, The Complex by Nick Turse & Assassin's Gate by George
Packer.
Let me tell you a little story re Noam Chomsky.
Do you remember MSNBC's little foray into the world of "fair and balanced" ala Faux News called The Donohue Show?
At the time that he was "canceled" Phil had better ratings than
Matthews yellfest "Hardball" despite only being on for about 6 months.
The reason, which was leaked through a private memo that went ballistic
on the net, was...MSNBC did not want to appear as the only network that
was not being a lapdog for the Bush Pro-War Agenda. Since Donohue did
not support the war and presented guests who supported his position AND
the Other Side who did, the fact that he DID present both sides, as a
licensed media network is ethically required to do, was too much for
MSNBC to gamble on so they dumped him.
Further, Jeff Cohen, creator of the media watchdog organization,
that I subscribe to, FAIR, was Phil's producer!!He was told by the
network honchos that for every so-called "liberal" guest he had to have
at least 2 conservatives on to appease the Republican Noise Machine
that forever howl about "liberal bias"! Now, facetiously, Jeff posited
how many conservatives he would have to book IF he dared to have
Chomsky on the show--a whole ROOMFUL!!!!!
This is what passes as balanced coverage of the issues in our MSM
as it currently maintains. This despite the fact that the US Citizenry
OWN the airwaves!
Now think of this, the networks charge millions for candidates to
advertise on our airwaves, then THEY decide who the winners and losers
are by analyzing scripted debates that are then either disparaged as
boring, insignificant or not even BROADCAST! (Cokie Roberts, whose
father was a Mississippi Democrat, probably rolling in his grave right
now, was once asked about just who in the Democratic Party was
supporting an issue. Her reply? "None that matter." This is
journalism?)
I believe the MOST crucial issue that must be addressed in this
country is MEDIA REFORM. Specifically, the conglomerates must be broken
up. The reason that we don't get any good information is that the
networks require a profit margin of 25-35%! What does that do to the
journalist workforce? This:
1. Foreign offices are shutdown, so no coverage.
2. More celebritydumb is passed off as news. The US House actually
took time off to pass a special resolution honoring Michael Jackson
after his death!
3. VNR's (Video News Releases)are bought from news outlets and
circulated, ad nauseum, to all the networks. This is the reason that
you see the same video coverage on all the networks re a certain news
image. Remember the statue of Saddam Hussein being pulled down by a
throng of "patriots"? That was bogus from the word go. That whole scene
was cropped and orchestrated by "imported" demonstrators who were paid
to carry out the charade. But US viewers were led to believe that this
was the penultimate demonstration of a new "democracy" being embraced
by the sovereign nation of Iraq! This was picked up by the neo-cons who
were given ample airtime on all the networks when there was any
question about the legitimacy of the war in the first place. Show me
the liberal bias here!
These techniques are duplicitous and designed to take away from our
democratic process which is washed daily in a river of corrosion. Since
there is more profit to be gained by less democracy than more,
corporate media jettisons true coverage and replaces it with
profiteering and cheerleading for the status quo which pleases the
network heads and placates a complicitous population of shareholders.
A corrupt media leaves our so-called freedoms wrapped in a pretty package but inside is nothing but a hollowed out shell.
I want more for our country & it's going to be a fight to the
death to get it. Hopefully, there will be a little role reversal and
the media, as it now exists, will slowly deteriorate at the hands of
the victimized populace, starving for real democracy aka The American
Dream!
As I view it Sherwood, you are definitely in this fight, congratulations. We are among millions. Nice to know isn't it?
Sincerely,
David T. Gray
Claremont, NH
