The Reason Media Lie

[Octafish]

Their income depends on it.

The members of Corporate McPravda are paid by advertisers.
Or, as I prefer to call them, agents of propaganda.

In doing their primary mission --
informing the public of what is happening in the world truthfully --
they could care less.



They just lie and get rich off of the warmongering,
the welfare for Wall Street,
accelerating authoritarianism,
and otherwise ignoring the true situation that imperils America.



No problem.

Part of the way Big Media make their quarterly nut
is by getting people to pay attention to the sideshow.
For instance, this evening, listening to the WaPo columnist
on Countdown with notKeithOlberman
made me realize just how little connection with the plight of the common person
our prognistacators experience.
They are sheltered, making the big bucks that separate the professionals from the proles.

Anyway, this guy, Clarence Page, believed that the public actually could give a fig
that the press corpse members’ feelings were hurt
because Obama was with his family rather than attending the Grid Iron Dinner.

Wow. Americans are losing their jobs, healthcare, life savings
and this guy is miffed Obama spent a weekend with his family.
Glad we didn’t bug him about the two wars.



China. Now THEY know how to throw a celebration.
When will America experience a media cleansing?
Lord knows Democracy depends on it.

[lonestarnot]

1. And we all know Anderson Pooper is a Vanderbilt richie.

:puke:

[Octafish]

2. He's passed the ultimate test.

Deception and Deceit: Media Coverage of JFK

He's rewarded for keeping his wug shut.

[lonestarnot]

3. Promotion of class warfare by MSM is so obvious, it is disgusting.

Do you think people really believe their crap?

[Octafish]

5. War Party

"In World War the devil has surpassed himself" - Dennis Wheatley

Enough plausibility exists in the system to allow them to create doubt and perpetuate profits.
War. It's the biggest business there is. And NAZI types know who's on top.

[Gabi Hayes]

4. ''Rich Media, Poor Democracy:''

Robert McChesney argues that the media, far from providing a bedrock for freedom and democracy, have become a significant antidemocratic force in the United States and, to varying degrees, worldwide.

Rich Media, Poor Democracy addresses the corporate media explosion and the corresponding implosion of public life that characterizes our times. Challenging the assumption that a society drenched in commercial information "choices" is ipso facto a democratic one, McChesney argues that the major beneficiaries of the so-called Information Age are wealthy investors, advertisers, and a handful of enormous media, computer, and telecommunications corporations. This concentrated corporate control, McChesney maintains, is disastrous for any notion of participatory democracy.
Combining unprecedented detail on current events with historical sweep, McChesney chronicles the waves of media mergers and acquisitions in the late 1990s. He reviews the corrupt and secretive enactment of public policies surrounding the Internet, digital television, and public broadcasting. He also addresses the gradual and ominous adaptation of the First Amendment ("freedom of the press") as a means of shielding corporate media power and the wealthy.

Rich Media, Poor Democracy exposes several myths about the media—in particular, that the market compels media firms to "give the people what they want"— that limit the ability of citizens to grasp the real nature and logic of the media system. If we value our democracy, McChesney warns, we must organize politically to restructure the media in order to affirm their connection to democracy.

Robert McChesney, a research associate professor in the Institute of Communications Research and the Graduate School of Information and Library Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is the author of Telecommunications, Mass Media, and Democracy: The Battle for the Control of U.A. Broadcasting, 1928-35 and other books on media.

[Octafish]

6. McChesney is tops.

Thank you for the info, Gabi Hayes! McChesney is spot-on. He's had a good teacher, Ben Bagdikian, who warned us in 1983 about the Media Monopoly:

Understanding the Modern Mass Media

When the first edition of The Media Monopoly was published in 1983, critics called Ben Bagdikian's warnings about the chilling effects of corporate ownership and mass advertising on the nation's news "alarmist." Since then, the number of corporations controlling most of America's daily newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations, book publishers, and movie companies has dwindled from fifty to ten to five.

"Ben Bagdikian has written the first great media book of the twenty-first century. The New Media Monopoly will provide a roadmap to understanding how we got here and where we need to go to make matters better."
-Robert McChesney, author of Rich Media, Poor Democracy

"No book on the media has proved as influential to our understanding of the dangers of corporate consolidation to democracy and the marketplace of ideas; this new edition builds on those works and surpasses them."
-Eric Alterman, author of What Liberal Media?

SOURCE:

Busted Link: http://www.benbagdikian.com/Docs/comment.htm

Bonus sideshow on two greats:

http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:E_q7P7TCNlsJ:www.ibiblio.org/pub/electronic-publications/stay-free/ml/bagdikian.pdf+mcchesney+bagdikian&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

We live in interesting times, news or no news. We'll make our own history, eh, my Friend?

[Supersedeas]

15. thanks for the McChesney reference -- I'll definitely have a look

[LibertyorDeath]

7. Their is Brilliance in your succinctness

(The Reason Media Lie
Their income depends on it.)

as their is in all of your posts.

Keep telling it as it is!

Cheers to you Octafish

[EFerrari]

8. The latest Public Editor at the NYTs doesn't even bother to answer his mail.

I wonder what he does all day. Count money? :)

[formercia]

11. He fills a slot that might otherwise go to someone with an open mind.

A paid obstructionist.

[bridgit]

9. rec5...

[leftstreet]

10. K&R

[opihimoimoi]

12. K&R

Soon, they will be the target of Pitchforks and Torches...

[MagickMuffin]

13. Do you remember the lead up to the 2nd Iraqi War?.?.?

These "advertisers" were ALL over cable news programs during the lead up to the invasion.

Boeing: Gee I sure could use some of their Military aircraft, Munitions, Space systems.

In 2001 along with a new advertising campaign to promote the company's new motto, "Forever New Frontiers"

************************************************************

Lockheed Martin: Ohhhh, I need to purchase an F16 or any Fighter aircraft, or maybe even a few ATC systems, Ballistic missiles, Munitions, NMD elements, Transport aircraft, Radar, Satellite, Atlas launch vehicles, NASA's Orion spacecraft.

***********************************************************

Northrop Grumman: I WANT to consume any or ALL of these "products", I know where I can get me some Aircraft carriers, Military aircraft, Military vessels, Missile defense systems, Satellites, Information Technology, Advanced electronic sensors and systems.

***********************************************************

Then there was Conoco, ExxonMobil, etc.


Yes, the Media and their advertisers are leading us on. However, I did feel as though Clarence was trying to be funny, with his our feelings were hurt routine, but I bet there were some "journalists" who did indeed have "feelings hurt" even though they knew two weeks ago that the President wasn't going to be there.


I don't watch 1600 Ave. very often but I saw a segment and saw that Schultz was hosting. So, I figured Shuster was going to be in for Keith. You know Keith had to rest up from his week long stint in LA, jet lag I guess. God, I hope MSNBC doesn't give Schultz a full time gig. I think he is awful.

[MinM]

14. Extraordinary riches require extraordinary efforts to divert attention from extreme inequality...

Iraq, Iran, & the Vanishing Context in American News

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x350111#350122">How PR Sold the War in the Persian Gulf



:kick: & R
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x350111
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x137514