Why Corporate TV Can’t Give us All the Important News we Need

[Time for change]

“Project Censored” is a project whose purpose it is to bring the American people important news stories that have apparently been censored by our corporate news media. Cynthia McKinney explains why we need organizations like that in the preface to Project Censored’s latest book, “Censored 2009 – The Top 25 Censored Stories of 2007-08”:

I welcome a real discussion of all the issues that face our country today and the real public policy options that exist to resolve them. For many Americans, this important discussion has been too vague or completely non-existent. Now is the time to talk about the concrete measures that will move our country forward…

You would not have read about these issues if you had relied solely on television news for your information… The media in this country obviously do not want the people to be informed about the truths presented by Project Censored…

In the first chapter of their book, Project Censored explains perhaps the main reason why our corporate media censor so many important stories:

The uncovered news stories in Censored 2009 reveal an increasingly desperate demand on the part of US corporations for conquest of international resources, as well as the increased reliance on military means to silence and eliminate dissent and achieve compliance. Our list this year shows more clearly than ever that the People’s Will is the main enemy to be violently reckoned with by corporate America. The term “terrorism” is quickly expanding to include even thoughts that run contrary to US agenda of conquest.

But wait! Our corporate news media claims that they have been unfairly criticized for “censoring” news stories. We need to understand that news professionals have hard and legitimate choices to make about what news to cover. It isn’t that they censor news. It’s just that there is not enough time and space to cover all the important news stories.

To assess that claim, Project Censored did an analysis of corporate TV news coverage. They identified ten “junk” news stories and then looked to see whether important news went uncovered on the days of the junk news stories, or whether our corporate news media just had to present junk news on those days because nothing much else was happening.

I’ll briefly note just 5 of those junk TV news stories in this post, and then list what else was happening on those days that TV news couldn’t cover because they didn’t have enough time.


Some examples of junk TV news stories

All of these stories received a great amount of TV coverage:

Britney Spears’ custody troubles, massively covered during the first week of October, 2007.

On December 18, 2007, Jamie Lynn Spears, Britney’s younger sister, announced her pregnancy. Following that announcement, Lynn Spears, Britney’s and Jamie Lynn’s mother, announced an indefinite delay in her book on parenting.

Paris Hilton turned herself in for drunk driving on June 3, 2007, to begin serving a short jail sentence.

On May 26, 2007, Lindsay Lohan crashed her car and was found by the police to be in possession of cocaine. In the following months, detailed coverage was provided of her rehab and relapses, and psychological experts discussed the causes of celebrity substance abuse.

On March 5, 2007, a judge ruled that Anna Nicole Smith’s child, Dannielynn, was the sole heir to her estate. This was following by much speculation on TV “news” as to who was the father of Dannielynn.


TV NEWS THAT WASN’T COVERED DUE TO THE ABOVE NOTED STORIES

Here are some events that could have appeared on TV, but never did, which occurred on the same dates as the above noted stories. These then are the stories that our corporate news media didn’t have time to cover because of the urgency of covering the above noted stories:


The Iraq War and Occupation

Our corporate news media led us into war in Iraq by failing to counter and even actively supporting obviously phony Bush administration excuses for war. Now that we’re there, they are none too eager to give us the bad news. These are the stories that were not covered by TV news in 2007, during the same days that the above noted “junk” news stories were aired:

GOP Rivals Embrace Unproven Iraq/9-11 Tie
Failing to report this story served two purposes simultaneously. It avoided reminding the American people of the lies that got us into the war, and simultaneously it avoided making the Republican presidential candidates sound like the idiots that they are:

In defending the Iraq war, leading Republican presidential contenders are increasingly echoing words and phrases used by President Bush in the run-up to the war that reinforce the misleading impression that Iraq was responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Intel Agencies Warned of Post-War Risks
The American people don’t need to be reminded that the war is making us less safe, rather than more safe:

Two major studies prepared by the U.S. intelligence community and distributed to senior officials in every relevant agency two months before Washington's invasion of Iraq warned of many of the problems that have turned the U.S. occupation there into the worst foreign policy crisis since at least the Vietnam War.

Survey Shows Iraq War Strain Leads Troops to Abuse Civilians
What would happen if more Americans knew about what we’re doing to the Iraqis – and to our troops? :

One in 10 of the US soldiers in Iraq mistreats civilians or damages their property, according to a survey published by the Pentagon last night. The report said the mental health of soldiers and marines deteriorated significantly as a result of extended or multiple deployments.

Iraq: “Bad” Women Raped and Killed
Or how would Americans feel about this? :

Several women victims were accused of being "bad" before they were abducted, residents say. Most abducted women are later found dead. The bodies of several were found in garbage dumps, showing signs of rape and torture. Several bodies had a note attached saying the woman was "bad"…

Iraqi liberals are deeply frustrated by the lack of personal freedom. "We are so disappointed with the loss of what there was of Iraqi women's achievements… "The Americans promised they would make Iraq a symbol of liberty and prosperity. Now it has neither."

Abu Ghraib Prisoners Accuse US Companies of Torture
Or This? :

Two US Army subcontractors accused of torturing prisoners at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib jail go to court Wednesday in a case that highlights the murky legal status of private US companies in Iraq.

Iraq, Afghanistan War Costs Tops Vietnam
Reminding Americans that it is our military, not our social programs that are bankrupting our country, would not help to advance the Neocon agenda:

Congress' approval Wednesday of $70 billion more for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan mean the twin conflicts are now more costly to American taxpayers than the war in Vietnam.

According to a study by the Washington-based Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, Congress has now approved nearly $700 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

US Can Forget about Winning in Iraq: Top Retired General
Nor would it serve their purpose to let the American people know that staying in Iraq is accomplishing no useful purpose.

The man who commanded US-led coalition forces during the first year of the Iraq war says the United States can forget about winning the war…. "I am absolutely convinced that America has a crisis in leadership at this time," Sanchez told AFP after a recent speech…

Malfeasance of the Bush administration

Former CIA Analyst Says Evidence Abounds for Impeachment
This was the issue that was so important to keep off the table that they tried to make us feel that it was “unpatriotic” to talk about it:

The evidence for impeachment of the president and vice president is overwhelming, former CIA analyst and daily presidential briefer Ray McGovern told a room full of people.

Gorbachev Criticizes U.S. “Empire”
How would Americans feel about learning that the man who helped the Soviet Empire break apart, to end the Cold War, now points to the obvious fact that the United States is an empire? Americans want to believe that their country is a freedom loving democracy, not an empire. Mikhail Gorbachev was quoted as saying:

We lost 15 years after the end of the Cold War, but the West I think and particularly the United States, our American friends, were dizzy with their success, with the success of their game that they were playing, a new empire…

"I don't understand why you, the British, did not tell them, 'Don't think about empire, we know about empires, we know that all empires break up in the end, so why start again to create a new mess.'"

Venezuela Defends Iran, Blasts Hypocritical US Policy on Terror
Let’s not help expose the blatant hypocrisy of our so-called “War on Terror”. That would remove one of our major excuses for war:

(Venezuelan Foreign Minister) Maduro also denounced Washington's "hypocritical" policy of combating terrorism while at the same time protecting "one of the most dangerous terrorists," Cuban anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles… a former US Central Intelligence Agency operative wanted by Havana and Caracas in connection with the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people.

Rove Prepped Justice Dept. Official for Testimony
Using the U.S. Justice Department to punish one’s enemies, protect one’s friends, and sabotage U.S. elections is undoubtedly one of the worst crimes against democracy ever perpetrated against the American people. This is clearly something that our corporate news media doesn’t want to remind us of:

Questions about whether Rove had a hand in the firings have figured in a separate probe, being conducted by the Office of Special Counsel, into whether he and other administration personnel violated civil statutes by focusing on electoral politics at Cabinet agency meetings.

Destruction of our environment

Project Censored notes that in the same week as all the brouhaha over Paris Hilton going to jail:

A consensus of studies revealed that global warming is progressing at a rate three times faster than earlier predicted… Arctic ice caps are melting three times as fast and ocean waters are rising twice as fast…This exceeds the worst case scenario outlined in the 2007 reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

News stories of destruction of our environment are anathema to our corporate news media because citizen concern over the environment leads to demands to control the corporate activity responsible for the environmental destruction. Stories like these, which all took place simultaneously with the celebrity news stories noted above, but which never were important enough to appear as TV news:

Melting Ice, Snow to Hit Livelihoods Worldwide

Global warming that is melting ice and snow will affect hundreds of millions of people around the globe by disrupting rivers in Asia, thawing Arctic ice and raising ocean levels, a U.N. report said on Monday.

World Food Stocks Dwindling Rapidly, UN Warns

In an "unforeseen and unprecedented" shift, the world food supply is dwindling rapidly and food prices are soaring to historic levels, the top food and agriculture official of the United Nations warned Monday…. The changes created "a very serious risk that fewer people will be able to get food," particularly in the developing world…. blamed a confluence of recent supply and demand factors for the crisis…. These include the early effects of global warming, which has decreased crop yields in some crucial places…

Greenpeace Posts Leaked US Objection to G8 Climate Statement
No point in calling attention to the fact that the Bush administration posed the primary obstacle in the world to combating global warming:

The treatment of climate change runs counter to our overall position and crosses multiple 'red lines' in terms of what we simply cannot agree to," according to the undated US document released by Greenpeace.

THE PURPOSE OF OUR CORPORATE NEWS MEDIA

Here are two more stories that were buried in 2007 during a massive bombardment of celebrity junk news:

American Dream Sours as Housing Market Collapses

FCC Votes for Monopoly, Congress Must Vote for Democracy

The first of these stories could have helped the American people to prepare a little better and a little earlier for one of the biggest economic crises ever to hit them, had it received widespread attention at the time. But in May 2007 there was hardly any news coverage of this story.

The second story represents one of the gravest threats to our democracy that we continue to face. The last paragraph of that article sums up the problem:

Now, New York's Hillary Clinton, Illinois' Barack Obama, Connecticut's Chris Dodd and Delaware's Joe Biden need to put the issue of media monopoly front and center in Iowa and New Hampshire… If they are not talking about the fundamental threat to diversity of media ownership in American communities and the country as a whole, they will be failing to use the most powerful bully pulpit in the fight against the monopoly on communication that represents the single greatest threat to the battered democratic discourse of a country where the public's right to know cannot take this hit and survive.

Democracy cannot exist without a free and independent press. The press that we currently have puts celebrity junk news above war, the heinous crimes of our government, and the destruction of our planet. Those are not the actions of a free and independent press. Bill Moyers has put the problem in perspective:

What would happen, however, if the contending giants of big government and big publishing and broadcasting ever joined hands, ever saw eye to eye in putting the public's need for news second to free-market economics? That's exactly what's happening now under the ideological banner of "deregulation". Giant media conglomerates that our founders could not possibly have envisioned are finding common cause with an imperial state in a betrothal certain to produce not the sons and daughters of liberty but the very kind of bastards that issued from the old arranged marriage of church and state.

Consider the situation. Never has there been an administration so disciplined in secrecy, so precisely in lockstep in keeping information from the people at large and -- in defiance of the Constitution -- from their representatives in Congress. Never has the powerful media oligopoly ... been so unabashed in reaching like Caesar for still more wealth and power. Never have hand and glove fitted together so comfortably to manipulate free political debate, sow contempt for the idea of government itself, and trivialize the peoples' need to know.

[spin]

1. I've often wondered when some stupid story got...

wall to wall 24/7 coverage by all the cable news channels, what stories were being covered up.

One cable news channel could make a killing in the ratings if it just decided to only mention the BIG STORY and went on to cover all the other stories.

A lot of news junkies could give a shit about Britney Spears or Paris Hilton.

[bbgrunt]

2. it is abundantly clear to most members

of DU that the major media has failed us and is no more than a propaganda machine--but it is very important to document this and constantly remind everyone how insidious it is.

This quote says it all:

"Our list this year shows more clearly than ever that the People’s Will is the main enemy to be violently reckoned with by corporate America. The term “terrorism” is quickly expanding to include even thoughts that run contrary to US agenda of conquest."

[Telly Savalas]

3. Yet so many DUers fail to take the most obvious immediate response to this.

Stop watching the shit.

[Jkid]

4. Only problem...

What to watch then?

Hard mode: Don't mention any internet sources for news, video or text.
Very Hard mode: Don't mention any cable sources for news, video or text.

Because not everyone has Dish network, cable, or broadband internet.

[Djinn]

5. don't need to watch anything

I can't watch any internet news sources because my craptop is powered by a mouse on a wheel and Australia's internet speeds are a complete joke.

However I've never found getting accurate non corporate information all that hard, even in the long lost days before internet - I read.

Admittedly I (currently sort of) live in Melbourne and have access to decent non corporate book shops but you can go to a public internet cafe/library and go LOOKING for information, it wont be spoon fed to you but it sure aint hard to find if you want to take the blindfold off.

I know hundreds of people who don't have ANY internet connection, many of whom have a mid high school education and they're still better informed than the docile masses tuning into corporate media.

[Telly Savalas]

38. Why hard mode?

If you're on DU, then you have access to the internet and can obtain news that way.

[omega minimo]

6. So what's yer point?

:yourock: K/R

[Time for change]

29. My point

Thank God for the Internet:



http://people-press.org/report/479/internet-overtakes-newspapers-as-news-source

:)

[RandomThoughts]

7. There is an alternative to not watching it.

Learn from it. Don't learn by what they say, learn by what they don't say, how they say it, and increase your ability to deduce and see the tricks that can be used.

Even 'throw away stories' can teach you things, how are they treating people, are certain groups or classes elevated, is their a lack of dignity or a desire to humiliate in the tone of some comments, what is the level of character or empathy in the individual reporters. Many of these things can not be faked. (Also remember nobodies perfect so try not to over judge on one or two comments look for patterns of behavior)

Do they like to make points or ask questions just to look smart, are they repeating along with other channels, do they look frustrated at some comments. Is the telepromter reader intelligent, or are they up front because they don't know they are reading spin or distortion in some cases.

If you are capable of possibly ignoring what is said, you can still gain information from any source. And there may be a day that skill will be useful in revealing the credibility of a source you were believing, or to learn about a reporter or personality you can believe.

[rucognizant]

15. Very True!

Not EVEn mentioned in this article is the propaganda around "OUR SUPERIOR" medical professions corporations........Too many people are still swallowing the koolade when it comes to this subject. Yet MSM 's CONSTABT STEADY STREAM OF PROPAGANDA on this subject is VERY LOUD!
I haven't heard ONE SINGLE TV medical pundit mention dilated pupils as a symptom of concussion & brain hemorage! My RN Mother taught me to look for that when I was about 12 years old! ( I was baby sitting my very active, reckless, baby brother, quite a bit!)
In fact Sonje Gupta is trying to make a case against Canadian socialized medicine, ( to prove how superior WE are!) ( If they had medivac helicopters she N R, wouldn't have died!) Thank GOD he wasn't made Dir. of HHS after all, we dodged a real bullet there.

The fertilizer/pesticide people wrote Michele Obama a letter telling her she was misguided for not using "conventional farming" practices: that it would bring a higher yield for less money.) Uh.....she only spent $200. on the garden and BTW wasn't organic ( natural ) gardening the conventional method before Monsanto & Miracle Grow???? I Seem to remember that the Primative farmers discovered composting, companion planting etc........................

[Kitty Herder]

8. Great post. Ya know...

I always wonder why the corporate media think we all give a tinker's damn about Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, etc. They're just dysfunctional people. There are plenty of those in my own family. They're not particularly interesting, either the famous ones, or the relatives.

But I suppose going on an on about them does serve the purpose of filling airtime with something besides the actual news. We can't have an informed citizenry. That could lead to all sorts of horrors. :sarcasm:

[Time for change]

11. Thank you -- I think that they're much more interested in controlling the world view of

the American people than they are with their ratings. They're willing to sacrifice their ratings in order to make the American people into a bunch of sheeple, thereby maintaining the status quo, and preserving their ill-gottne wealth, status and power.

[Karenina]

9. As long as Americans allow the media to conduct

Bidness as usual, the control of the elites and decline of the masses will continue their trajectories.

[Time for change]

33. The good news is that less Americans are now using TV as a source of news, and more are using

the Internet.

[2 Much Tribulation]

10. I've heard of the "Stage Coach" theory -- all the news that fits the stage coah coach (only)

The rest- the stuff that Wells Fargo et al won't allow on the airwaves not because they are "against it" but because there's a "busy news day"

Don't forget all the repeat news stories that come up every single year and suck up available media air, like the stupid criminal stories, Finnish wife-carrying contest, various other types of "human interest" stories that may interest humans but are also quite dispensable. One can make QUITE the long list, and what's left doesn't leave much room on the stage coach. The stage coach "works" as theory whether it's accidental or accidental on purpose.

[KharmaTrain]

12. "News" As Profit...

A very well put post...and the fact you can put this out here and that there are others bypassing the corporate media filter is important...vital in the change of the information landscape and the way millions get their news. In many cases, I see websites that search out the stories that aren't covered...and that's their attraction...moreso than anything offered by the corporate media...and I know there are many others here that feel the same way.

The corporate media always saw news in its most journalistic sense as a necessary evil. In broadcasting, for many years it was mandated and became a "loss leader" for networks. At it's best...in the age of Murrow and Cronkite, news was insulated and isolated...also a luxuary item. It became a status symbol...but it still remained predominately a liability, not a financial or corporate asset.

Fast forward to the modern age of deregulation and a handful of corporates dominating the media and the emphasis has gone to turn all properties into profit...through titilation on one side and downscaling on the other. The status of a big news department or bona fide journalists became a luxuary these corporates didn't want to support and no longer were obligated to. We've seen "news" become enterainment and visa versa...or as a revenue source. Complex doesn't sell, eye candy does.

The media landscape is changing...newspapers are going down the tubes, broadcast revenues continue to vanish and the means of distributing information and entertainment are moving more and more into the hands of the consumer.

[Time for change]

18. I believe that the saving grace of today's era is the Internet.

Thanks to the Internet we are not in the dark. We can indeed bypass the corporate news media, and more and more Americans are getting their news in this way:



http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5300306

[Auggie]

24. Very well put. Corporate media knows the public is more interested in

following celebrity than hard news. They're following the money and reaping a nice little bonus to boot -- mainly, the dumbing down of America. Another very important reason to fight for net neutrality.

[Hannah Bell]

36. mm, look at the viewership chart for tv. down, not up. they're *not*

"giving the people what they want," & the public is *not* more interested in following celebrities than real news.

they'd like us to believe this, though.

[DCKit]

13. Then another cute white girl goes missing. Coinky-dink? I don't think so. n/t

[KoKo]

14. I'm concerned it's getting even worse since the election...

Fox News apparently promoting the "Tea Parties" with links to materials to us, Beck offering a fund raiser and reporters set to cover the Parties all over America..

PBS/NPR promoting more conservative views and even doctoring a documentary which appeared on Frontline. More chatter and news anchors who seem to be hip hop speakers or pretend female cuteness of an innocent l4 year old in asking questions of guests or a snarky, sneering confrontational dismissal of any Democratic views or actions.

I had so hoped that Obama's FCC (with Michael Copps still on board) would be working on change. Perhaps they are...it's early yet. But, I see the same or worse (because of expansion of cable/Fox, CNBC, hate radio) media coverage that early brought down public opinion of Carter which he never recovered from and the hysteria over Vince Foster and the private plane that flew into the White House, early damaged Clinton administration. The policies of both Clinton and Carter certainly had there share of critics but what hurt them the most was the disinformation that went on in reporting that influenced viewers. We don't have time to waste with so much attention on Bachman, Beck, Gingrich and the Palin family chronicals gaining so much attention on the web and in cable coverage.

Anyway... excellent compilation there as usual.

:thumbsup:

[Time for change]

17. Thank you -- Carter.... Clinton.... Obama

All presidents who have been aggressively targeted by right wing media. You'd have to go back to JFK and LBJ to find a Democratic president for whom that wasn't the case (I was only a kid then ... maybe they were targeted more than I realize, but I don't think so).

I've often said that it began to spin out of control with the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (I wonder how much Clinton regrets signing that?). And that is probably true. But still, Carter and Clinton were treated very badly by the media before that. And Reagan was pretty much given a free ride, despite his many transgressions. And I recall that George McGovern was given a very unfair shake when he ran against Nixon in 72. So it certainly didn't start in 1996.

[cascadiance]

21. I WONDER why McCain didn't campaign on his record of voting AGAINST the Telecomm Act then!

How he's changed, and I'm sure the telecomm companies NOW own him pretty well to keep him from trying to make a case for himself as a "past" maverick in that case.

[nolabels]

39. Yea and all the republican ones too

Interesting point which indicates 'We the people' are eventually going to be taking the upper-hand position. It's taken traitors from both sides of the aisle to keep us down all this while, just wait to pendulum swings to the other side

[cascadiance]

22. I think the East India Company would have SPONSORED these tea parties instead of being a target...

of them the way they were in the original "tea party" in Boston.

[DFW]

16. But they CAN

The decision not to is influenced by other considerations entirely.

An unformed public is a public more easily open to manipulation. Consider whose purpose that serves.

[pitchforksandtorches]

19. The biggest cover up of all

HERE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I5dVBezF9k

[caraher]

20. and it's not just the US media

Charlie Brooker takes on the news in Britain

[valerief]

23. I don't think censored news stories should even be called news. They

should be called business as usual stories, because they are business as usual. The day will come when there will be no food but corporate food because Monsanto will have killed off all "real" food seeds. That's business as usual, after all.

[leftstreet]

25. K&R

[Uncle Joe]

26. You do good work, Time for change.

I believe the primary goal of the corporate media isn't so much direct profit as secondary profit via manipulation of the American People by the overwhelming use of propaganda.

I believe many of those truly important stories that you cited would have garnered record ratings, but the decision makers decided dumbing down the American People was more important to their overall corporate supremacist agenda and the interests of their true clients.

Thus, they swamp us with Pablum while promoting the lie, this is what the American People really care about.

I disagree with those that believe we should just tune the corporate media out, because too many people can't or won't and you can't rebut a false message, if you don't know what the message is.

Thanks for the thread, Time for change.:thumbsup:

[Time for change]

34. Thank you Uncle Joe -- I most certainly agree with you about the fact that the corporate media

is more concerned with manipulation of the American people than it is with profits from its news shows.

[Turbineguy]

27. Excellent Post.

As usual.

The hard part is to pick the very few diamonds from the pig swill. That means not getting overwhelmed by the pig swill. Actually the real gems come along only every few years. For example, when candidate for President George W Bush announced that he would attack Iraq.

And then when Saddam Hussein announced he would be switching from Dollars to Euros for his oil.

Lost in the mire and we all know what happened.

[Time for change]

35. Thank you -- Yes, there are a few diamonds there

But not much, and there certainly is a lot to wade through to get to them. I feel much more comfortable with what I can find to read on the Internet than I do with watching TV news -- except for Keith and Rachel.

[KoKo]

28. In case this "drifts"...a Kick...

[zeemike]

30. Another great post TFC

I am getting to expect excellence from you.

[Time for change]

37. Thank you zeemike

[unkachuck]

31. K&R....n/t

[defendandprotect]

32. Great post --- and TURN OFF THE TVs . . .!!!!!

[Nostalgic]

40. Fox news does this all the time

Remember when Gary Condit and that girl he was having an affair with was always on the news? Fox was doing continuous coverage on it, program after program, with each program host asking the same inane questions to their guests.

[tooeyeten]

41. When Bo the First Dog comes home

There should be about 100 stories filed in the first 3 days!

Great thread!