List the things that disgust you most about the media

[buycitgo]

1) they claim to cover possibly negative stories about * when they don't (AWOL is one egregious example, among countless others)

2) they accuse Dem candidates of "playing politics" with every anti-Bush statement, concomitantly, they rarely, if ever acknowledge the obvious fact that ALL the marionette DOES is play politics, even to the smallest, most insignificant degree

3) they reFUSE to entertain even the possiBILity that Bush has misled the public on ANY subject, but are only too happy to point out the slightest inconsistency in any Dem statement

4) gasbag shows very, VERY often allow pug guests to ramble on with long, mendacious responses to softball questions, almost NEVER following up with counters to their stunning lies.
Contrast that with their usual bulldog approach to democrats, where just about EVERY statement is questioned, not accepted at face value. Russert, of course, is the best (worst) example of this--his infuriating love fest with DeLay being a typical example of his whoredom.

5) unabashed cheerleading for war/fearmongering tactics by the junta; always slobbering over themselves in gushing attempts to portray the courage, honor, wisdom of the war on Iraq, war on Terra, war on Drugs, war on Bill of Rights, war on Women's Rights, etc.

I am getting so so so so sick of this, and feel more and more helpless, as it just seems to get worse with each passing day

had it up to HEREHEREHEREHEREHERE

[LWolf]

1. All of the above

and:

A less than even hand when it comes to reporting news about democratic presidential primary candidates.

[mandyky]

2. No news

Whatever they cover falls into 3 categories -

Propoganda
Commercials (Health, vacations, etc)
Entertainment figures (Michael Jackson, Kobe Bryant)

And if some breaking news, like the earthquake makes it on, they overdo the coverage. (other egs Lacey Peterson, the DC snipers)

[oldcoot]

23. The absence of real news is disturbing

I agree with your categories. I am sick of hearing about Michael Jackson, Lacey Peterson, etc. I am tired of coming to DU and finding out that international papers are reporting on all the important stories long before the American press is. I especially would like to see more coverage of international news.

[KissMyAsscroft]

3. People dont realize they have NO OBLIGATION to report the truth.

They are not interested with informing you. They are interested in increasing shareholder value, and increased ad revenue.

[Ksec]

4. So why do they do this while they diss Democrats daily?

Because they have power in numbers who Bomb media with emails and phone calls when they diss one of theirs.

Dems have a base that doesnt do this as much. Why? Maybe because weve held power in Congress and the Presidency for so long we got complacent. Either way the past few years of this butfuking weve recieved has had at least one good thing come to fruition. A big wake up call to the sleeping giants.

[ParticipatoryDem]

5. You're watching the wrong news

Try Dan Rather. He's not nearly as bas as the others and tries to give
bush his due.

[buycitgo]

9. you mean when he's not on his ranch that he owns with Rumsfeld?q

or worrying about getting necklaced for telling us what's really happening.

that was a good, hearty laugh you provided there!

thanks!

[Terwilliger]

21. you're watching the wrong news

any mainstream news is hopelessly biased, and woefully inadequte for the proper education of the American public about current events

[Eric J in MN]

6. Their coverage or lack thereof regarding protests.

1) So little coverage of protests. I didn't see anything on tv about the Miami protests against the FTAA, November 2003. Not even distorted coverage, just no coverage.

The police brutality in Miami, which we paid $8,000,000 for, was horrible.

Because the police hid their faces, no police who engaged in brutatlity will be held personally reponsible, even if a lawsuit against the city of Miami is successful.

There should be outrage that police officers, who are supposed to serve the public, hide their faces at protests under riot gear and sunglasses.

2) So little coverage of how the Iraquis are being treated by the US.
"60 Minutes" did a good story about how Iraquis arrested in their homes are held for months without charges and without letting their families see them, but that story hasn't been covered on any other tv show, as far as I've seen.

[nosmokes]

7. where to start?

all that's listed above, and the refusal to hold the administration accountable.

shrub changes the ostensible reason for the invasion/occupation/mass murder from WMD to humanitarian reasons when no WMD is found, so the mainstream press just drops the subject. why aren't his feet being held to the fire over this? oh, yeah, it's not clinton, and there's no sex.

or the repeated insinuations that saddam/iraq were in cahoots and that saddam was somehow reponsable for 9/11. and even though that is decidedly not the case, where's the media pointing that out? why does a huge percentage of americans believe that saddam was involved?

the fourth estate has punted their responsibility to hold officials accountable and report the truth, and has become little more than corporate shills.

[newyawker99]

19. Hi sobersteelhead!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[GURUving]

8. Number one:

They are not what I was led to believe they were when I was growing up. They are not a group of dedicated individuals seeking the truth for the betterment of all. They are propagandists for the highest bidder.

I am so glad I decided not to become a journalist. I may have been tempted to be just like them, and would have had to commit hari kari.

[morgan2]

10. the profit motive

[buycitgo]

11. funny you should mention that, but........

it doesn't work when you'd think the kind of stories that they went ape over during the 90s sit uncovered if they concern the pugs.

exhibit A: Neil Bush, involved in a VERY nasty divorce, with lots and lots of prurient appeal, involving long-running affairs, threats to his wife, exotic hookers in a foreign land, sleazy financial entanglements.

have you seen ANYthing about this outside the web? ANYthing?

and what about Livingstone? it was wellknown that he was into very kinky SM-related sexcapades, but Larry Flynt, of all people, killed his story at the behest of his wife! can you imagine the whoremedia doing that to protect Chelsea?

you're generally correct about the almighty dollar, but ideology occasionally trumps profit in the clinch.

these RW radicals will sometimes sacrifice their short term financial gain in the interest of long term satisfaction.

[arewethereyet]

12. they're just so darn stupid

and so transparant and they so believe that they are not.

[wanderingbear]

13. The FCC control of the Media..

Get rid of that and youll see a free media again.

[buycitgo]

14. I think I see what you mean, however

it's a matter of WHO controls the FCC, and what sort of control they exert.

as it's now constituted the FCC is just a pathetic, craven parody of what it should be, like most other government agencies.

these agencies supposedly exist to PROTECT us from corporate amerikkka, but under the pugs (since Reagan......Nixon actually allowed some good programs to blossom under his aegis), EVERYthing they can control at these agencies is designed to undercut their putative mission.

I used to live out there, have many friends in government (civil service) and they've always been appalled/disgusted by what happens when the pugs take over....the political appointees at the top are there to GUT the agencies they're appointed to lead.

AFA the FCC goes, read "Rich Media, Poor Democracy"

you'll get an idea of how much, at this point, the media need to be regulated; how much structural change needs to occur there, because media control is at the heart of a modern ECONOMIC democracy.

without structural ECONOMIC progress, there can be no democracy, and we all know what's happening now: a swift race to the bottom of the economic barrel, with the gap between rich and poor widening every minute, eventually resulting in the elimination of our middle class.

Welcome to the third world, working stiffs of the US!

unless you wise up and vote your interests, instead of your fantasies, you'll be no better off than all those slimy wetbacks that are taking those jobs that will be the ONLY ones available to you in a few years.

[LibDemAlways]

15. I can't stand that a guy like Rather, who used to be a journalist,

prefers to sell-out as a Bushco shill. I keep hoping that one day he'll pull a Howard Beale, throw down the script, and declare "No more bullshit" before reciting a long litany of Chimp/Cheney lies and malfeasance. They'd pull the plug on him for sure, but it would be electifying and would get people's attention.

[Dirk39]

16. Sending commercial spots from the "Rendon Group"

in news magazines, not mentioning that it is advertizing:

The Rendon Group (TRG) is an American public relations firm with connections at the highest levels within the U.S. intelligence community and the Democratic Party. Over the past decade, it's received more than $100 million in U.S.government funds, both to provoke instability within Iraq and to prepare the American public for war.


This company was behind:

“Did you ever stop to wonder,” Rendon asked, “how the people of Kuwait City, after being held hostage for seven long and painful months, were able to get hand-held American, and for that matter, the flags of other coalition countries?” He paused for effect. “Well, you now know the answer. That was one of my jobs then.”


“I am not a national security strategist or a military tactician,” Rendon said. “I am a politician, and a person who uses communication to meet public policy or corporate policy objectives. In fact, I am an information warrior and a perception manager.” He reminded the Air Force cadets that when victorious troops rolled into Kuwait City at the end of the first war in the Persian Gulf, they were greeted by hundreds of Kuwaitis waving small American flags. The scene, flashed around the world on television screens, sent the message that U.S. Marines were being welcomed in Kuwait as liberating heroes.

This company among other issues:
- has created the image of the Serbs for Clinton's and Clark's war

- oranized the toppling of the saddam-statue

- in 1991, a few months after the end of Operation Desert Storm, then-president George H.W. Bush signed a presidential directive ordering a CIA covert operation to unseat Saddam Hussein. And the CIA turned to Rendon.

- In 1992, the Rendon Group helped organize the INC, which represented the first major attempt by opponents of Saddam Hussein to join forces. According to a February 1998 ABC News report by Peter Jennings, Rendon came up with the name for INC and channeled $12 million of covert CIA funding to it between 1992 and 1996. INC brought together Kurds, Sunni and Shiite Arabs (both Islamic fundamentalist and secular), as well as democrats, nationalists, and ex-military officers. In October 1992, Ahmed Chalabi, a Rendon protégé, was appointed to head the group.

The Rendon Group worked with Hill & Knowlton, who masterminded the pro-Kuwaiti propaganda campaign. And while Kuwait's activities directed at manipulating American public opinion should have been exposed as foreign propaganda under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, the Justice department chose not to enforce it.

In one of the most glaring examples of disinformation foisted on the American public, in November 1990, a 15-year old Kuwaiti girl testified before the Congress that she had seen Iraqi soldiers tossing premature babies onto the floor of a Kuwaiti hospital so their incubators could be sent to Iraq.

'Our dedication is to provide unmatched strategic counsel. At The Rendon Group, we believe in people.This belief stems from our admiration and respect for cultural diversity,and in the wisdom and knowledge that come from the relationships we have formed with people and organizations around the globe. We help governments, companies and organizations identify and achieve their goals by providing comprehensive strategic communications counsel. We are committed to helping people win in the global marketplace by providing distinctive approaches to communications challenges.'


This War Brought to You By Rendon Group...

Hello from Germany,
Dirk

[lostnfound]

17. They ignored the 2000 election scandal and appointed Bush*

I know it's old news but look at all, ALL the damage.

[grasswire]

18. it seems impossible...

....to get our own people to even protest the media malfeasance. Here on DU, how many respond to a call for letter writing? Two? Six? A dozen?

MWO can generate more contacts than that, but certainly not in the realm of what Pugs can call up. With hate radio, freerepublic, FAUX, fax trees and call trees, they can transmit millions of activists' actions within hours.

The best I can think of to do is to write media professional organizations. Society for Professional Journalists, Columbia Journalism Review, National Society of Newspaper Editors, National Press Club, White House Correspondents Association, Editor and Publisher Magazine, Broadcast Correspondents, etc.

I'm with you on this one, sir elf! It's going to be the number one issue on my upcoming new blog.

[Terwilliger]

20. the inability of the media to self-correct

while capitalism rules and the bottom line is the first consideration, the people will always lose to the profit motive

[nomatrix]

22. Watch C-Span

Then you can pick and choose.

I agree with everything you said about commercial TV. Realize they can edit, and are being fed by a team, what to ask, change topics, cut to commercial..

Advise all representing the Democratic/Liberal side on any broadcast.
Turn the question against them.

Example: On Hardball, Mike Barnacle broke into an arguement with Washington Times reporter and questioned Nation's Editor Katrina vanden Heuvel "How does the Patriot Act affect MY freedoms/civil liberties?"

This is a favorite tactic.

Always should be asked "Have you read it?" All 1200 pages?

[Indiana Democrat]

24. I like Russert.

I think he's about the only true "Unbiased" member of the big media.