the purpose of the corporate media is more to entertain and keep the
audience consumers fat, dumb and self-satisfied rather than to inform them of vital information.
Snipped from a Buzzflash interview with Kristina Borjesson editor of and contributor to the book
Into The Buzzsaw:
BuzzFlash: Why do you think there is such gullible acceptance of government explanations and policies among the mainstream press? As you point out in your essay within the book, many of the government's explanations of dramatic events amount to conspiracy theories themselves. Just look at the Bush propaganda campaign before the invasion of Iraq and how Saddam Hussein was allegedly associated with everything from Al Qaeda to 9/11 to WMD that were supposed to be on the verge of being launched against us. But the mainstream media didn't question THAT conspiracy theory, did they?
Kristina Borjesson: The press' acceptance of the government's explanations had nothing to do with the mainstream press being gullible. Post 9/11, news executives got the message from the American public that it was time to rally around the president and that asking tough questions about 9/11 or the decision to go into Iraq would not play well and would result in lower ratings. Lower ratings mean lost revenue. It's nothing personal; it's just business. Most journalists will tell you that a reporter's job is to tell people what they need to know, not what they want to hear, or what the government wants them to hear. In the news business, however, upsetting the government or the public makes no sense for the bottom line and should be avoided.
Don't expect to be well informed if you rely on mainstream media alone. As some of the stories in Buzzsaw clearly illustrate, mainstream media's limitations are extensive. There's no point in getting upset at the mainstream media. It's better to just move on to better news sources--and there are lots of them. (emphasis added /JC)
snip
BuzzFlash: How did we end up at a time when the members of the White House press corps, with the exception of Helen Thomas and a couple of others, basically serve as props and stenographers for the administration?
Kristina Borjesson: You have to keep in mind the fact that the White House press corps makes its living off of official sources and depends on them for leaks. Harper's publisher John MacArthur said it best to me in an interview: "They can't operate without being part of the system. Or they feel they can't operate without being part of the governmental system of leaks. And nobody in top management encourages them to think otherwise. Donald Graham, the publisher of the Washington Post, is a very conservative man. He doesn't want to upset the apple cart. He doesn't want to challenge power. He is power. He's part of the system." Helen Thomas is an example of what can happen to a reporter--even an eminence grise like Helen--who does upset the apple cart by asking tough questions. Access is shut off. You don't get called on when you raise your hand.
snip
BuzzFlash: Is media conglomeration a double curse? It appears to us that because most media outlets are now owned by big companies, they think and act like conservative businesses and don't want to rock the boat. But, in addition, many of the media empires include large entertainment divisions, and the news and entertainment worlds appear to have merged into infotainment. News is now often judged on its entertainment value. We think of, for example, how television covered the "shock and awe" bombing of Baghdad as if it were a fireworks display.
Kristina Borjesson: They are conservative businesses that don't want to rock the boat. And they are very, very successful. Not only is there no reason to change the status quo, there are actually good reasons to move more towards entertainment in every possible way because the more entertaining the program, the more audience it attracts. Again, for entertainment, American cable and network TV offer some great stuff. But as I said earlier, look elsewhere for real news.
http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/05/01/int05002.html
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