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PatrickforO

(15,432 posts)
20. I hear what you're saying about the people WORKING for the media - those who
Fri Jul 11, 2014, 02:35 AM
Jul 2014

produce the stories; the camerapeople, computer folks, clerks, etc. However, those who OWN the media are in fact the <1%. Consider Rupert Murdoch. He has final say in what his networks put out.

I think the person who called the media the <1% was making the point that corporate oligarchs exert direct or indirect censorship control over what is published or aired.

An example: my wife and I were watching the documentary 'The Sixties.' It's pretty well done, and the episode we were watching was about the Freedom Riders during the Civil Rights movement. The media was very segregated at that time, particularly in Mississippi. They would only report negative things about civil rights activists, ridicule them or downplay them, and were virulently pro-segregation. Medgar Evers demanded equal time on the air. Because of the 'fairness doctrine,' stations had to give him time, and a few weeks later he was murdered by a Klan coward.

The national media at that time at least made the effort to report news, and when Bull Connor and the rest of the bigots brought out the vicious dogs and firehoses to torment black children, Americans throughout the nation were offended by the footage - they saw what was ACTUALLY going on and went south in droves to help the civil rights movement.

Now, fast forward just under 2 decades on that unhappy day in January 1981 when Ronald Reagan injected himself into the White House like a plague bacillus. One of his first acts was to overturn the 'fairness doctrine.' This opened the way for giants like Walter Winchell, Cronkite and the rest to be replaced by propagandists like Limbaugh, Krystal and the Fox News gang.

I would aver that the today's national media tend to report things and highlight 'issues' that keep money flowing to the military-industrial-security complex Ike first warned us about.

As to the tragic killings of Palestinians, do you really think most Americans value their lives as highly as our own? This is the problem, you see - the 'enemy' is a shadow one, labeled 'terrorists.' As long as we dehumanize them (consider the brave 'patriotic' Americans demonstrating against that busload of kids at the border) - as long as the enemy has no face, then it is easy not to value their lives as highly as our own. Yet in the eyes of many on this earth, it is we who are the real terrorists. Again, consider our drone policies.

Recommendations

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

There is no "APPAC" to buy the American M$M and Congress. Jackpine Radical Jul 2014 #1
Israel is lucky to have anti-missle defense yeoman6987 Jul 2014 #27
I think the media cater to the 1%, but they are not the 1%. More the handmaidens of the 1% ellenrr Jul 2014 #2
The media are the tools of their owners, who are the .001%. Jackpine Radical Jul 2014 #3
They essentially own both the US mass media and the politicians cprise Jul 2014 #14
This message was self-deleted by its author cerveza_gratis Jul 2014 #4
I'm afraid if you can't make sense of it...... DeSwiss Jul 2014 #6
This message was self-deleted by its author cerveza_gratis Jul 2014 #8
Well good. DeSwiss Jul 2014 #9
This message was self-deleted by its author cerveza_gratis Jul 2014 #10
Here's the other side: DeSwiss Jul 2014 #12
Excellent, DeSwiss...101 courses might ballyhoo Jul 2014 #15
I hear what you're saying about the people WORKING for the media - those who PatrickforO Jul 2014 #20
well-put nt ellenrr Jul 2014 #24
Controlled Media Snoopy 7 Jul 2014 #22
Message auto-removed Name removed Jul 2014 #5
Damn you Norway!!!! DeSwiss Jul 2014 #7
I think it's more like one Australian American--Rupert Murdoch. tclambert Jul 2014 #11
Because ABC's Diane Sawyer LIED! And the MASSES who WATCH HER...SUCKED IT UP...Here: KoKo Jul 2014 #13
Probably the same reason they don't care about dead Americans. TygrBright Jul 2014 #16
Because God chose the Jews.... Spitfire of ATJ Jul 2014 #17
This message was self-deleted by its author cerveza_gratis Jul 2014 #26
Okay,...someone SAID it was in a book,......somewhere. Spitfire of ATJ Jul 2014 #28
They are poor. The poor do not count. They are fodder. McCamy Taylor Jul 2014 #18
You've got that right. As a nation, America is quite exceptional at two things: PatrickforO Jul 2014 #21
What passes for "analysis" of TPTB in our media cprise Jul 2014 #25
Insanity. Just like the way they reported Iraqis the US military killed. gtar100 Jul 2014 #19
Wasn't it the US that said 'you're with us or against us?' cprise Jul 2014 #23
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