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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
sunny miller
Published Letters: 136 Editor's Choice: 3
I think the Corporate Media's behavior can partly be explained by the extreme pressure brought to bear by the right. They are able to marshall thousands of rude, bullying, threatening blog posts, letters, e-mails, boycott threats, speeches on the House floor, and so on everytime the media says or does something they don't like. They got Dan Rather fired, for cripes sake. Media figures are understandably frightened of offending them. The left is unable to match that level of threatening behavior. For example, look at the difference in what happened with the Reagan miniseries, and the execrable ABC show blaming Bill Clinton for 9/11. There were attempts by the left to yank the ABC show, but it went forward anyway. Why is that? Partly because the left is not willing to get it's s**t together and get really angry and focus that anger.
Why, like the electronic voting machine errors, does it seem that such widespread, nation-wide, major news media performance errors always swing to the right.-- El Cid
Considering they have accused her of committing a felony, improperly inserting herself into US foreign policy, and wet kissing terrorists, do you think the media will give Pelosi ample opportunity to defend herself? You know, long interviews on the Today show, op-ed space in the WSJ, and/or a prime time press conference?
I didn't think so.
I do not know how it could be made any clearer than what you have laid out. It IS a matter of the ideology and profit bias of corporate controllers, no matter the exceptions that so infrequently come along.
but a ______ bias. (Insert phrase -- scandal, flashy storry, gossipy...)
Well, it can't be a bias toward scandal, flashy story, or gossip. Two (admittedly obvious) examples.
The Gary Condit (D-California) murdered Chandra Levy story was all we heard about for months on end in the lead up to 9/11. Completely ignored in the same time frame- Dead woman found in Joe Scarborough's (R-Florida) OFFICE.
Monica Lewinsky v. Jeff Gannon/Guckert.
Isn't it funny how msm only loves scandal/gossip/flashy story if it skewers Dems/leftist?
Go on, I know you can add more. Like:
Ward Churchill v. David Horowitz
HuffPo anonymous commenter v. (which stupid right-wing blog wanted Carter murdered? I've blocked it from memory)
Dan Rather v. any damn anchor you could name that put out erroneous info or outright lies about Dean, Gore, Hillary, Obama on and on ad nauseum.
Corporate Mantra- Anything, anything at all that makes the left look bad, and anything, anything at all that puffs up the right. Why? Because the left is pro-worker, pro-environment, pro-poor people, anti-war. IOW, all the things that interfere with unfettered, obscene profit, while the right supports any and everything (except illegal immigration) that enhances said profit. The bottom line truth is sometimes very, very simple.
Edited by ex-CBS producer Kristina Borjesson, "Into the Buzzsaw" is a collection of essays, mostly by serious journalists excommunicated from the media establishment for tackling subjects like the CIA's role in drug smuggling, lies perpetuated by the investigators of TWA flight 800, POWs rotting in Vietnam, a Korean war massacre, the disenfranchisement of black voters in Bush's election, bovine growth hormone's dangers and a host of other unpopular issues.Borjesson describes "the buzzsaw" as "what can rip through you when you try to investigate or expose anything this country's large institutions -- be they corporate or government -- want to keep under wraps. The system fights back with official lies, disinformation, and stonewalling. Your phone starts acting funny. Strange people call you at strange hours to give you strange information. The FBI calls you. Your car is broken into and the thief takes your computer and your reporter's notebook and leaves everything else behind ... The sense of fear and paranoia is, at times, overwhelming."
The majority of the eighteen pieces in Borjesson's book are about hard-working mainstream journalists, dedicated to the ideals of their profession, who stumble into the buzzsaw and have their careers and reputations eviscerated. Though the subjects and personalities involved are wildly diverse, the stories echo each other in disturbing ways. Journalists are sent by their bosses to do their jobs -- in the case of Borjesson, to investigate the crash of TWA Fight 800 as a producer for CBS news. Sometimes what they find is impolitic, other times it brings threats of corporate lawsuits. Suddenly, editors kill the story, or demand changes. In some instances, like that of TV reporter Jane Akre, who was investigating the use of Monsanto's Bovine Growth Hormone, reporters are ordered to insert outright lies in their pieces or face firing. Other times, like with Gerard Colby's book about the Du Pont family and Gary Webb's San Jose Mercury News series about the CIA's role in the crack epidemic, the bosses are spooked after the fact and withdraw their support from work already published, hanging reporters out to dry.
From:
http://www.alternet.org/story/12753/
on the body politic.
Aggressive treatment is advised.
Dip a raw stalk into the yellow of a soft boiled egg-yummm!
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
219 Democrats and one Republican join in favor of the legislation, which passed by a narrow margin
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Salon headlines in your mailbox
