Stop focusing on Bush! Take the war to the media instead.

[Carmerian]

This suggestion comes up now and again here, and it certainly bears repeating in light of the last couple of days : stop focusing on Bush! No, really. Focus on the man behind the curtain. That man in this case is collectively Fox, CNN, ABC, and NBC. Even if Kerry wins, they will strain themselves to blunt any attempt by him to change the course this country is on. They are already doing what they can to campaign for Bush. The media is the shield generator that has protected the neo-cons over the past ten years and allowed them to flourish. We are going nowhere until we openly contest the power of the networks.

Pouring huge amounts of money into TV campaign ads every couple of years is a suicidal a waste of money. Not only is the Left getting mere table scraps of air time in exchange for huge amounts of money, they're giving it to the media themselves, who promptly turn around and use it right back at the Left. I honestly think every dollar spent attacking them and their duplicitousness is a dollar far better spent than one that goes to ad campaigns for political races. The media's power comes from their illusion of being authoritative and unbiased. If people in general become skeptical of what they say, the networks' power diminishes, and the truth can start to gain a foothold again.

All four of these networks reported that superscripts and proportional fonts didn't exist until the advent of PC's. They reported this, even though 15 minutes of research on the internet would show otherwise. This one issue should be taken and beaten over their heads for a long time to come. "Why would they report something that is so easily disproven?" That should be the lead-in to the rest of their record over the years in shilling for the Right.

Beating on Bush may be emotionally gratifying but is unproductive. Beat on the Quisling media, though, and you will start to see change. Can and will people make the mental shift necessary to do this? That remains to be seen. I don't think we have much time left to find out, though.

[annxburns]

1. Your absolutely right.

When Kerry wins he is going to inherit a disasterous debt, a quagmire in Iraq, and a on-going war on terror. He will have his hands full. Now I am completely confident that he can steer us through this nightmare - but in order to do so, he has to be given a fair shake from the media. We have to ALWAYS keep the pressure on and take back the media. Kerry only "wins" if we keep fighting.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

3. I agree. We should all be at war with...

CNNFOXMSNBCCNBCCNNFCABCNBC/WHORINGTON TIMES/RIGHT WING HATE RADIO/WEEKLY STANDARD!

What we need is our own network. A left wing Fox!

[NMDemDist2]

2. how do you suggest we do that, short of getting Kerry elected and

him giving the FCC an enema?

[Carmerian]

6. How? By asking questions

The press has a history, and much of it over the last few years is shameful. Treat them as if they were running for office. Bring up their record every chance you get, just as you'd do by talking about Bush. The 7 minute clip of Bush is a prime example. It is damning to him. It is also damning to the press. "They have not shown it in the three years since it happened, and have still not shown it since F911 came out. Why?" Pose this question to the people you meet. Even if they have not seen it, an explanation should suffice. Since there really is no good reason for the press to do this, the people you tell this to should start to wonder. PNAC, the war drumbeat, the week-long Reagasm, the difference in treatment of Clinton vs. Bush by the press, these and more should be the media's Achilles Heel. On a small scale, it means grabbing the people you meet and beating on the press to them, or loaning them copies of Outfoxed. On a larger scale, it means money from people like George Soros put into more DVD's like Outfoxed, but of the other networks, and disseminated widely.

[Cleita]

4. There are those who think that if the media

has been complicit in keeping the Bushlers in power that they should be tried for RICO or something like that.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

5. Hmmm.

:think:

[smirkymonkey]

7. I completely agree with you!

We need to declare war on the mainstream media - there is no WAY this hijacking of the US government could have occurred without big media.

The propaganda they have been feeding the public daily for the last four years is the ONLY reason that Bush is still in office and holding ground in the polls. If they had been doing their job, the political landscape would look entirely different at this critical point in time.

If we don't engage in an all out assualt on the puppeteers and the whores who peddle their tripe, the political battle means nothing. THEY are creating the consensus. THEY are manufactuing public opinion. THEY are keeping the Bush Administration afloat. THEY must be stopped.

[OnionPatch]

8. Agree 100%

If it wasn't for the media, Bush and company would have been frog-marched out of the White House a long time ago. What they are doing to our country is outright treason. We need to take them on constantly. And in the long term, the left needs to start building up their own media, pushing for non-profit news outlets and advancing opportunities for internet access to everyone.

[grasswire]

9. I have been promoting the idea...

...of a Citizens Bill of Rights for Media-White House Transparency.

If I repeat myself, please forgive. But I hope this will be considered.

The reason the WH correspondents give for giving Bush a pass is the threat of denial of access. If they are too critical, the WH will deny access to the news outlet.

There is a remedy. The authority to issue White House press credentials needs to be returned to the professional peers and removed from the WH press office, which grabbed that power after WW2.

This power to credential, and access too, can be guaranteed through a Citizens Bill of Rights. That one act would transform our WH press corps.

There is precedent: press access to Congress is codified by law.

You can read my arguments and partial draft at http://webdems.blogspot.com -- scroll down to the first entry.

[Only Me]

10. I agree. Everybody talks about it...Even in the most rural of areas like

were I live. There are a ton of Repubs here and even most of them would probably say the media agrees with them.
Thats just another way of saying, the media answer to the right wing
special interest money-people. We need our own media sources.
The Democratic party needs investors to start their own 24/7 news channel. We have needed it for years...and until we get stronger in
the news business..they(RW) will always run us to the ground.

[DeepModem Mom]

11. I'm wondering if/how the campaign and/or DNC could hit the media head on

It is obstructing the ability of one of our two major parties to wage a campaign in a Presidential election -- it's undermining, and maybe destroying, the democratic process.