news you can use (because the news is using you)
Okay, so most of us know that Fox News is little more than a mouthpiece for the Republican Party disguised as a news network. Still, it's pretty shocking to read the following story from Keith Olbermann, who could just as easily be described as a mouthpiece for the Democrats...
Has Fox News Gone Too Far?
Which leads me to my question: Which media sources are we supposed to be able to trust these days? Is there anyone? I can't believe any of the major television news departments can be trusted anymore. ABC is owned by Disney, a notoriously conservative corporation with really deep pockets; NBC is owned by General Electric, a corporation who invests more in military and weapons technology-related industries than few others in the world; CBS...I forget who owns them, but there's no denying their tendencies to cave in to White House directives with regard to their journalism; and, obviously, Fox isn't even worth considering as a serious news organization. CNN? What should be a beacon of independent journalism has deteriorated into little more than an outlet for right-wing screamfests. The larger issue, though, is just the fact that the media as a whole no longer does its fucking job. No one investigates or does much more than lob softballs at press secretaries who are nothing more than public relations schleps who get paid to recite text provided for them and then stick to that script come hell or high water. The reporters then, rather than question the BS being fed to them, mostly report that script with little to no investigative follow-up.
So who do we trust to report the truth (or at least facts, not to get too Colbert-y on anyone)? I think at this point there are few options beyond independent internet journalists.
I'm sure you notice most of the media reports I reference come from an organization called TruthOut, who I learned of through Wendy. They are hardly an unbiased group. I do fight my way through (read: ignore) most of the more obvious Democratic Party propoganda, of which there's plenty. But there are also plenty of articles and commentary that expose the truths that the major media outlets ignore. I'm assuming there must be a few similar organizations who operate from the right as well. (I'd hope so, anyway.)
The answer to my own question, "Who do we trust?" is...I don't know. I just know we no longer have an independent media. Probably haven't for quite a while now. It's disappointing, to say the least, and extremely un-democratic at its core.
Any suggestions from the audience? Is there anyone left who can report truthfully without fear of being smothered by corporate motherships? Or is the state of American journalism yet another permanent casualty of our decades-old orgy of deregulation?
Has Fox News Gone Too Far?
Which leads me to my question: Which media sources are we supposed to be able to trust these days? Is there anyone? I can't believe any of the major television news departments can be trusted anymore. ABC is owned by Disney, a notoriously conservative corporation with really deep pockets; NBC is owned by General Electric, a corporation who invests more in military and weapons technology-related industries than few others in the world; CBS...I forget who owns them, but there's no denying their tendencies to cave in to White House directives with regard to their journalism; and, obviously, Fox isn't even worth considering as a serious news organization. CNN? What should be a beacon of independent journalism has deteriorated into little more than an outlet for right-wing screamfests. The larger issue, though, is just the fact that the media as a whole no longer does its fucking job. No one investigates or does much more than lob softballs at press secretaries who are nothing more than public relations schleps who get paid to recite text provided for them and then stick to that script come hell or high water. The reporters then, rather than question the BS being fed to them, mostly report that script with little to no investigative follow-up.
So who do we trust to report the truth (or at least facts, not to get too Colbert-y on anyone)? I think at this point there are few options beyond independent internet journalists.
I'm sure you notice most of the media reports I reference come from an organization called TruthOut, who I learned of through Wendy. They are hardly an unbiased group. I do fight my way through (read: ignore) most of the more obvious Democratic Party propoganda, of which there's plenty. But there are also plenty of articles and commentary that expose the truths that the major media outlets ignore. I'm assuming there must be a few similar organizations who operate from the right as well. (I'd hope so, anyway.)
The answer to my own question, "Who do we trust?" is...I don't know. I just know we no longer have an independent media. Probably haven't for quite a while now. It's disappointing, to say the least, and extremely un-democratic at its core.
Any suggestions from the audience? Is there anyone left who can report truthfully without fear of being smothered by corporate motherships? Or is the state of American journalism yet another permanent casualty of our decades-old orgy of deregulation?
Labels: our gutless media, public relations
posted by rama666 at
11:03 AM
1 Comments:
There is my beloved NPR (and MPR here in Minnesota). They're not perfect, but they're closer than most.
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