Citizens of the world deserve true freedom of the press

[Octafish]

An excellent reminder "Why?" on World Press Freedom Day:



Citizens of the world deserve true freedom of the press

BY CAROLINE LITTLE
Special to The News TribuneMay 3, 2014

EXCERPT...

It was a very sobering time for the newspaper industry and it is a battle we must fight each and every day. It is why on Saturday, May 3, we commemorate World Press Freedom Day. We recognize that the media directly contributes to the well-being of every citizen and country.

SNIP...

In totality, the assault on global press freedom is frightening. From war zones and struggling governments to traditionally stable democracies such as our own, leaders have demonstrated that they do not prioritize the public’s right to know.

This is wrong. A free press gives the people power.

It allows journalists to go behind-the-scenes of governments, businesses, institutions and even prominent leaders, exposing corruption and checking their power when necessary. It gives the public the responsibility to understand what is going on and the power to shape their community and country accordingly.

This outright assault on media protections must stop. It directly affects the reporters and sources who risk careers and even lives for the truth. It also affects every citizen of every country where truth is threatened and they are stripped of the power and responsibility to fight for what they believe in.

CONTINUED...

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2014/05/03/3175307/citizens-of-the-world-deserve.html?sp=/99/447/

[gopiscrap]

1. Yes

and not a corporate whore press either!

[Octafish]

3. How the Press got that way: The Powell Memorandum

The Lewis Powell Memo - Corporate Blueprint to Dominate Democracy

Greenpeace has the full text of the Lewis Powell Memo available for review, as well as analyses of how Lewis Powell's suggestions have impacted the realms of politics, judicial law, communications and education.

Blogpost by Charlie Cray - August 23, 2011 at 11:20
Greenpeace.org

Forty years ago today, on August 23, 1971, Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr., an attorney from Richmond, Virginia, drafted a confidential memorandum for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that describes a strategy for the corporate takeover of the dominant public institutions of American society.

Powell and his friend Eugene Sydnor, then-chairman of the Chamber’s education committee, believed the Chamber had to transform itself from a passive business group into a powerful political force capable of taking on what Powell described as a major ongoing “attack on the American free enterprise system.”

An astute observer of the business community and broader social trends, Powell was a former president of the American Bar Association and a board member of tobacco giant Philip Morris and other companies. In his memo, he detailed a series of possible “avenues of action” that the Chamber and the broader business community should take in response to fierce criticism in the media, campus-based protests, and new consumer and environmental laws.

SNIP...

The overall tone of Powell’s memo reflected a widespread sense of crisis among elites in the business and political communities. “No thoughtful person can question that the American economic system is under broad attack,” he suggested, adding that the attacks were not coming just from a few “extremists of the left,” but also – and most alarmingly -- from “perfectly respectable elements of society,” including leading intellectuals, the media, and politicians.

To meet the challenge, business leaders would have to first recognize the severity of the crisis, and begin marshalling their resources to influence prominent institutions of public opinion and political power -- especially the universities, the media and the courts. The memo emphasized the importance of education, values, and movement-building. Corporations had to reshape the political debate, organize speakers’ bureaus and keep television programs under “constant surveillance.” Most importantly, business needed to recognize that political power must be “assiduously cultivated; and that when necessary, it must be used aggressively and with determination – without embarrassment and without the reluctance which has been so characteristic of American business.”

CONTINUED...

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/news-and-blogs/campaign-blog/the-lewis-powell-memo-corporate-blueprint-to-/blog/36466/

[gopiscrap]

4. Thanks for posting this!

[L0oniX]

2. Corporations will always capitalize on free shit.

[Octafish]

5. The Constitution mentions just one business by name.

And its "owners" figured out how to privatize and monetize and ration out its utility: Truth.

(Ben Bagdikian, author of "The Media Monopoly&quot sums up with a look at what the media monopoly has done to the supposed foundations of our country. In politics, he points out, it is television commercials which win races. The average man on the street who runs for office, supposedly the hallmark of the democratic system, has no chance of winning without expensive advertising to build name recognition. And without advertising, magazines, newspapers and television news shows will not acknowledge the average-guy candidate at all. Bagdikian’s final caution is this: by creating a narrow monopoly of media owners we have also create a narrow realm of coverage.

SOURCE: http://www.is.wayne.edu/MNISSANI/MEDIA/Bagdirev.htm

And, as their numbers shrank and they became an effective monopoly, Corporate McPravda worked extra diligently to limit Truth's dissemination and, thus, increased its value; especially in election years.

[rhett o rick]

6. k&r thanks for posting. nm