Media Watch
Ralph Nader's descent from being one of the most respected and powerful men in the country to being a pariah illustrates the totality of the corporate coup. Nader's marginalization was not accidental. It was orchestrated to thwart the legislation that Nader and his allies—who once consisted of many in the Democratic Party—enacted to prevent corporate abuse, fraud and control. He was targeted to be destroyed. And by the time he was shut out of the political process with the election of Ronald Reagan, the government was in the hands of corporations. Nader's fate mirrors our own.
The whole point of so much of what we do seems to be to weed people out. We do it for fun, and without awareness.
The following miniature news item, accompanied by a voyeuristic surveillance camera photo, ran as filler in Redeye, the Chicago Tribune adjunct publication for the too-busy-to-read crowd:
“Police in Kansas City, Mo., are looking for a woman who went on a rampage at a McDonald’s because she didn’t like her hamburger, The Associated Press reports. Police say the woman caused thousands of dollars in damage Dec. 27 when she became upset that the restaurant wouldn’t refund her money.
“Employees had offered to replace her hamburger, but the woman refused and demanded her money back.
“Police released a video showing the woman throwing a sign and a bucket of water over the counter and pushing off a glass display case and three open cash registers. She then cursed and fled.”
The point of this story, headlined “She’s Got a Serious Beef,” was entertainment. Very slight entertainment, to be sure — half a snicker’s worth, maybe. “Police are looking for her.” Hah!
The following miniature news item, accompanied by a voyeuristic surveillance camera photo, ran as filler in Redeye, the Chicago Tribune adjunct publication for the too-busy-to-read crowd:
“Police in Kansas City, Mo., are looking for a woman who went on a rampage at a McDonald’s because she didn’t like her hamburger, The Associated Press reports. Police say the woman caused thousands of dollars in damage Dec. 27 when she became upset that the restaurant wouldn’t refund her money.
“Employees had offered to replace her hamburger, but the woman refused and demanded her money back.
“Police released a video showing the woman throwing a sign and a bucket of water over the counter and pushing off a glass display case and three open cash registers. She then cursed and fled.”
The point of this story, headlined “She’s Got a Serious Beef,” was entertainment. Very slight entertainment, to be sure — half a snicker’s worth, maybe. “Police are looking for her.” Hah!
As you flip through a range of channels on your TV or browse through a stack of newspapers and magazines at a newsstand, you may feel lucky about living in a world where such a plethora of viewpoints is available. It might also seem that the apparent increase in media choices also increases the chances for the public interest to be understood and served fairly. Unfortunately, this is far from the case. The media world is shrinking by the day.
Welcome to 2010.
The coming year might go down in history as that of major media consolidation, as in concentration of media ownership in the hands of a few large conglomerates and powerful media moguls. Predictions regarding mergers of media companies are very bleak, and to a degree frightening.
In his Los Angeles Times article “2010 predictions: Another turbulent year ahead for media”, Joe Flint determines that the debate in the media world “over which is king –content or distribution” was settled in 2009. As a result, a new wave of mergers is likely to follow. Giant media will guzzle other giant media, which had already swallowed less enormous media companies, who in turn had .. well, you get the point.
Welcome to 2010.
The coming year might go down in history as that of major media consolidation, as in concentration of media ownership in the hands of a few large conglomerates and powerful media moguls. Predictions regarding mergers of media companies are very bleak, and to a degree frightening.
In his Los Angeles Times article “2010 predictions: Another turbulent year ahead for media”, Joe Flint determines that the debate in the media world “over which is king –content or distribution” was settled in 2009. As a result, a new wave of mergers is likely to follow. Giant media will guzzle other giant media, which had already swallowed less enormous media companies, who in turn had .. well, you get the point.
As we all know, on Christmas Day Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (Mutallab) boarded a plane in Amsterdam with a makeshift bomb hidden in his underwear. Thanks to an alert passenger and the technical difficulty involved, the bomb did not detonate, the bomber caught himself on fire, the plane landed safely and the young man, Mutallab, is in custody.
The performance of the corporately controlled Orwellian media is again abysmal to the point of being a joke. We must asked ourselves “why” in an age where real news is so readily available. Enter Kurt Haskell.
Michigan attorney Kurt Haskell witnessed two important events, neither of which has been widely reported although his testimony and collaborating testimony is available via You Tube videos of local news coverage including Mlive (Michigan live), NPR interviews, Fox News, Antiwar radio, and Alex Jones Prison Planet.
The performance of the corporately controlled Orwellian media is again abysmal to the point of being a joke. We must asked ourselves “why” in an age where real news is so readily available. Enter Kurt Haskell.
Michigan attorney Kurt Haskell witnessed two important events, neither of which has been widely reported although his testimony and collaborating testimony is available via You Tube videos of local news coverage including Mlive (Michigan live), NPR interviews, Fox News, Antiwar radio, and Alex Jones Prison Planet.
The following article is Editor Bob Fitrakis' "Raking the Muck" article in the 2009 End of the Year Free Press issue, just out in print January 1, 2010:
Behold, the resurrection of a truly “free press.” The Free Press is of one of the nation’s few remaining alternative newspapers from the 1960s. Our online reporting at www.freepress.org provides the content for reflecting back upon this incredibly schizophrenic political year. The Nobel Peace Prize winner and sitting President emerges as our choice for “Hawk of the Year.”
History repeats itself. In January, Norman Solomon warned readers that “LBJ’s ghost hovers” over Obama. Recall that President Johnson ran as the peace candidate in 1964. In his infamous “daisy” commercial he suggested that if we elected the notorious warmonger Senator Barry Goldwater, we were likely to escalate the Vietnam War into a nuclear holocaust. Once he won the election in a landslide, Johnson massively increased the troop count in Vietnam. His approach was a surge, just like Obama’s. Not surprisingly, both surged to promote peace. Like Bush.
Behold, the resurrection of a truly “free press.” The Free Press is of one of the nation’s few remaining alternative newspapers from the 1960s. Our online reporting at www.freepress.org provides the content for reflecting back upon this incredibly schizophrenic political year. The Nobel Peace Prize winner and sitting President emerges as our choice for “Hawk of the Year.”
History repeats itself. In January, Norman Solomon warned readers that “LBJ’s ghost hovers” over Obama. Recall that President Johnson ran as the peace candidate in 1964. In his infamous “daisy” commercial he suggested that if we elected the notorious warmonger Senator Barry Goldwater, we were likely to escalate the Vietnam War into a nuclear holocaust. Once he won the election in a landslide, Johnson massively increased the troop count in Vietnam. His approach was a surge, just like Obama’s. Not surprisingly, both surged to promote peace. Like Bush.
Canwest Global Communications Inc. is owned by the Asper family, with Leonard Asper its current CEO. The corporation is decidedly pro-Israel and frequently has news articles on television or in the daily newspapers that give strong support to Israel. A current article in the Vancouver Sun follows the tired and true formula of blaming the Palestinians for the problems that afflict the Palestinian people, the old victim as perpetrator rhetoric that is so prevalent with all occupying powers.
Former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney sent an Email around on Sunday in which she wrote:
"[I]t has just now come to my attention that a 'journalist' who suggested that I be lynched was actually being paid by our own government to say that. Now, when I reported it to the FBI, how in the world was I to know that he was at that time on the FBI's payroll?"
"Hate blogger" Hal Turner's lawyer said last week, and prosecutors agreed, that Turner was "trained by the FBI on how to be deliberately provocative" and "worked for the FBI from 2002 to 2007 as an 'agent provocateur' and was taught by the agency 'what he could say that wouldn't be crossing the line'."
Turner is being charged with making death threats against Connecticut legislators and Illinois judges and is apparently going to claim that his actions were legal because he did the same sort of thing when employed by the FBI:
This story has been written up by Wired and by The Southern Poverty Law Center, but without the McKinney angle.
"[I]t has just now come to my attention that a 'journalist' who suggested that I be lynched was actually being paid by our own government to say that. Now, when I reported it to the FBI, how in the world was I to know that he was at that time on the FBI's payroll?"
"Hate blogger" Hal Turner's lawyer said last week, and prosecutors agreed, that Turner was "trained by the FBI on how to be deliberately provocative" and "worked for the FBI from 2002 to 2007 as an 'agent provocateur' and was taught by the agency 'what he could say that wouldn't be crossing the line'."
Turner is being charged with making death threats against Connecticut legislators and Illinois judges and is apparently going to claim that his actions were legal because he did the same sort of thing when employed by the FBI:
This story has been written up by Wired and by The Southern Poverty Law Center, but without the McKinney angle.
A week ago, I published a report on 1,200 photos of U.S. torture that I have examined but the public at large has not seen. I talked about the photos on a few progressive radio shows. I received calls from some advocacy groups that have been trying for years to get hold of these photos. But I received not one single inquiry from the corporate media. Even most good blogs ignored this story despite a handful of prominent blogs promoting it. This started me thinking and fantasizing: what would the world look like if we had major media outlets that were worth more than a warm bucket of spit?
Imagine if the media monopolies were busted, a diversity of private outlets were free to compete, and public media were developed, including free substantive air time for election campaigns. Imagine media outlets with democratic accountability. Imagine media outlets that judged a story important if the majority of the public said so, and not if those in power said so.
Imagine if the media monopolies were busted, a diversity of private outlets were free to compete, and public media were developed, including free substantive air time for election campaigns. Imagine media outlets with democratic accountability. Imagine media outlets that judged a story important if the majority of the public said so, and not if those in power said so.
Celebrating the fact that J. Kenneth Blackwell was defeated in his recent bid for the leadership of the Republican National Committee! Actually, he did about as poorly as a guy could do. Of course though, the Dispatch left a few things out and well, Bob Fitrakis points out a few of them here. Enjoy!
Bob Fitrakis speaks about the Columbus Dispatch and how it's in bed with the sleaziest of Ohio politicians, this time it's the former governor and now senator, George Voinovich.