It's time to say it

[malaise]

The Corporate Cable Networks are spreading propaganda and no longer provide any truthful information to American citizens. The coverage of the Iraq invasion and occupation is atrocious, but the lies being spewed by both Bushco and CNN re the Georgia Russia crisis are laughable.

If you have access to French, German, British networks, you must be shaking with anger. They have enough resources to access United Nations documents on agreements, but they are spewing Bushco's talking points.

This is dangerous. The Assault on Reason is an affront to intelligent people and is unfair to unsophisticated people who believe the media presents the truth.

Wake Up America.

Gr.

[alstephenson]

1. I totally agree.

But what do we do about it?

[texastoast]

2. I will repeat

Pots and pans.

All of us. Not a few of us.

[alstephenson]

3. Protests?

If there were many of us, and not just a few, it could be effective to protest the appropriate media outlets. Here in Arizona we're lucky to get a couple of hundred people out to protest the war. Boycotts? Boycotting media advertisers could be effective if enough people participated. I guess it's all about the numbers and I'm not sure how many people feel as strongly about this issue as you and me. To me, it is the core issue. The MSM is complicit in everything that's gone wrong in this country.

[AllentownJake]

17. No pots and pans

In all do respect to Molly Ivins that idea was bandied about by the crazies concerning Matthews and Olbermann during the primaries.

[MGKrebs]

34. Support alternative media (you are already!).

Contribute credible content when and where you can.
You ARE the new media.

[ihavenobias]

48. Amen n/t

[Indenturedebtor]

52. Yes, that's the only hope for change at this point. The MSM is afraid of the blogs

And they should be. The next generation will for the most part get most of it's news online. I know I do, my wife does, etc.

If they can control the internet though it will be 200 years before anything remotely resembling democracy exists in this country.

[MichiganVote]

4. Agree.

[drmeow]

5. We need

Radio Free America

http://www.rferl.org/info/about/176.html

[malaise]

8. Actually M$M sounds more like

Voice of American propaganda.

[drmeow]

20. Yes, Radio Free Europe

is American Propaganda. I meant we needed the equivalent - we need non-US sponsored pirate radio.

[Uncle Joe]

6. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, malaise.

[King Coal]

7. Uh, it has been said before.

[malaise]

9. Several times but

some days it needs to be repeated

[pleah]

12. I agree. Repeat it often and loudly!

:)

[Gregorian]

10. Linktv is running Aljazeera.

Not to mention their other high level programs.

It's cable, but everyone who can get it should look. Also, every night is Mosaic news out of the Middle East. A sampling of many news casts throughout the region.

And yes, the media is the big issue.

[malaise]

19. Sadly we don't get LinkTV

This is real media's take on the Georgia Russia chaos.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/13/russia.georgia
<snip>
One thing is for sure. This week's operation in Georgia has displayed the failure of the west's policy of belligerence towards Vladimir Putin's Russia. The policy was meant to weaken Russia, and has strengthened it. The policy was meant to humiliate Russia with Nato encirclement, and has merely fed its neo-imperialism. The policy was meant to show that Russia "understands only firmness" and instead has shown the west as a bunch of tough-talking windbags.

Georgia, a supposed western ally and applicant to Nato, has been treated by Russia to a brutal lesson in power politics. The west has lost all leverage and can do nothing. Seldom was a policy so crashingly stupid.

Putin would die laughing if he read this week's American newspapers. The president, George Bush, declared the Russian invasion of Georgia "disproportionate and unacceptable". This is taken as a put-down to the vice-president, Dick Cheney, who declared the invasion "will not go unanswered", apparently something quite different. Bush says that great powers should not go about "toppling governments in the 21st century", as if he had never done such a thing. Cheney says that the invasion has "damaged Russia's standing in the world", as if Cheney gave a damn. The lobby for sanctions against Russia is reduced to threatening to boycott the winter Olympics. Big deal.

What is clear is that the Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili, is a poor advertisement for a Harvard education. He thought he could reoccupy South Ossetia and call Russia's bluff while Putin was away at the Olympics. He found it was not bluff. Putin was waiting for just such an invitation to humiliate a man he loathes, and to deter any other Russian border state from applying to join Nato, an organisation Russia had itself sought to join until it was rudely rebuffed.

Saakashvili thought he could call on the support of his neoconservative allies in Washington.

[Gregorian]

23. The BBC also did a very good job of covering and digesting.

There are a handful of facets to this war that make it inevitable. Putin once said the worst thing to happen in the twentieth century was the end of the Soviet Union. Talk about short sighted. And Bush has kindled the fire in more than one way.

I have to say I'm impressed with the coverage I've seen. But then I never turn American television on. But probably most of America has no clue, or worse yet, FOX's bullshit.

One thing I come away from this with is just how fragile we all are. Cozy Americans drinking their sixpack in front of a tv glowing with Fox lies don't realize that a few well placed bombs could ruin their day. Or even their life. In just one minute of time, it could all be gone. We're living in a dream state. Unconscious. I keep thinking every day now of that saying- ignorance is bliss.

I forgot to mention that the bbc had Richard Holbrooke on to discuss the situation. He had to rebut what they were saying. But I'd call it informative. He claims it's going to continue. But where it's going could be anyone's guess right now.

There's too much going on right now. I can't keep up.

[malaise]

27. Robert Hunter was also on BBC on the weekend

You know who is informed on the subject and who's spreading Bushco and McSame talking points.

[Dollface]

41. The BBC was the first place I heard that had anything resembling a journalistic approach

to reporting on this. A basic rule of thumb is if the msm and the white house are selling the same line then it is bullshit. Look elsewhere for the real story.

http://www.linxnet.com/news.html#LOCAL3

[Twist_U_Up]

59. Didnt the BBC report WTC 7 had fallen, when it was still standing behind reporter?

sounds like they are just as corrupt.

[defendandprotect]

69. The BBC, like our PBS/ PR, has also been battered . . .

and changed in negative ways --- but it isn't quite yet our MSM . . .

But again nothing like what it once was --- most of its many connections have been broken ---

and it has been moved to the right --

[fascisthunter]

65. My Father Watches it Everyday

very good program on the Link!!!!! They carry Democracy Now.....

check it out DUers...

[JNelson6563]

11. Well said.

:toast: K&R

[libnnc]

13. I'll kick that.

:kick:

'Cause it's true.

[pleah]

14. K&R!

:kick:

[Octafish]

15. Corporate McPravda

It's Big Brother meets 1984, Brave New World Order Thing style.

I like "Press Corpse," too.

[malaise]

18. I love Press Corpse

It says everything.

[depakid]

16. But, but... Libertarians will say that we're against freedom of speech!

[mike_c]

21. vote with your feet....

Turn off the squawking box.

[MadMaddie]

22. What we need is the "Fairness Doctrine" and we

need to break up the news corporations. There are around 5 major owners of all media, this is the root cause of what we are seeing today or shall I say what we are not seeing!!

[Truth2Tell]

24. Agreed. This is the worst

I've ever seen it. And you are damn right, this is dangerous.

Recommended.

[ConsAreLiars]

25. Thanks (K&R) - It's sad to see even people who should have learned a thing or two over the past

decade or several still swallowing the Corporatist Propaganda whole and happily regurgitating as if these disinformation lies were unquestionable truths. They probably buy Nike or GAP apparel and think they are hip or whatever and insist that their physicians prescribe every pill they see on the TV.

(edit minor typo)

[malaise]

26. Isn't that the truth

Nice links in your signature line.

[Name removed]

28. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[barbtries]

29. throw out yer TVs and fire up your computers

i gave up on tv news 10 years or so ago. i'm better informed than almost anyone else i know, and they don't have tv's either. it's the only way. we can't afford to be stupid anymore.

[TexasObserver]

30. Spanish speaking TV in America has better war coverage than MSM

Even the ladies who are raising the children of the well to do in this country - the undocumented immigrant ladies who raise the GOP's children - see better war coverage when they watch Spanish TV in the homes of John Q. and Mimi Republican, as they do all the real work in the house.

[TooBigaTent]

31. IF we can have no impact on the corporations that control the media outlets, it only makes sense to

select a different target.

There is one vulnerable cog in the propaganda machine, but no one seems willing to go at the weak point - the people who spew the garbage.

It should be uncomfortable/risky for the mouthpieces to spread their lies. Until there are consequences for lying to the public, it will continue.

[malaise]

32. You are correct

Expose their links and scandals.

[City Lights]

33. K&R

:thumbsup:

[MindPilot]

35. Since when is "the media" required to give us unbiased, accurate information?

All media, print and electronic, is a business and their bills are paid by delivering eyeballs & earlobes to advertisers.

One could possibly make the case that broadcast media by virtue of their use of the airwaves might be subject to some requirement to present "both sides"--which of course may negatively affect their income--but certainly not for cable.

Cable is just another product that each individual pays for like a magazine or a newspaper; don't like what's in there or how it's presented, don't buy it.

[fascisthunter]

36. Since the Media Was Considered the 4th Estate

since it has such a direct impact on the well being of our country and especially since it has had such a negative impact on all of us, especially after it's been deregulated and bought out by a bunch of fascist losers who only give a damn about making money. Everyone knows what power the media has on the public and most realize it's been used to aid one political party and a corporate fascist agenda.

This media has been compromised and is being used as tool against Democracy itself. But you know that...

[ChiciB1]

56. Americans & Their Apathy Will Be The Downfall Of This Country....

I felt when deregulation began that in time "people" would realize certain consequences... but NO and here we are so many years down the road. I can't recall the times I've posted here that this country had better WAKE UP and got so little response.

This country is so full of itself and still believes we're the "greatest nation on earth" when all signs indicate otherwise! My husband says since we are "boomers" we may be gone before the collapse and I laugh out loud!!! My reply to him is that "you are as self-centered as those you feel are doing the harm!"

Even blogging seems lame to me and I've called for REVOLUTION for many years, but APATHY abounds and as each day goes by I worry more and more!

THIS AIN'T ANY AMERICA I GREW UP IN!! All I can say now is.... REMEMBER ROME!!!

[fascisthunter]

64. I Was Too Young and Ignorant to Know at that Time

I was told our country was something you most likely grew up in.

[CitizenPatriot]

54. news has obligations

there are actually rules and regulations as to journalistic integrity, objectivity, citing sources, etc. for news. just because it's on cable doesn't mean they don't have to be truthful and accurate. Many of them should have lost their reputations by now and been asked to step down at the very least. you see people reporting on "rumor" and never saying it's arumor, citing "anonymous sources" which turn out to be the WH, and people editing footage so as to completely violate the speaker's intentions -- all of this is a NO NO in news, and in fact any time you are interviewing someone for a story, you have a moral and ethical responsibility unless you work for a tabloid and even then, you can't LIE.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

37. K&Rec #44

Agree - truthful websites, not MSM.

[valerief]

38. No such thing as news in Soviet America. nt

[HughMoran]

39. Recommended

The media is really out to lunch still after all of these years.

[bdamomma]

40. we should all know now how our media is just pure

BS and propaganda, very dangerous for the electorate. Keep using the Internet, and other means of getting your news, BBC is always a good source.

[malaise]

42. Even Pravda is attacking M$M

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3789452

[iamthebandfanman]

43. Now?

i thought that was evident years ago now.

[spanone]

44. you are absolutely correct...democracy no longer exists when the people cannot get the facts

r

[iconicgnom]

45. I have a good opinion of the Asian Times Online

http://www.atimes.com/

The US corporate MSM is laughable pure one-sided political propoganda in comparison.

I'll be bluntly objective, here: the corporate MSM serves no other purpose than to herd the people from point A to point B like animals, and the people who have subjected themselves to it are trained and conditioned like Pavlov's dogs to react instantly, on cue, to triggers written into MSM media events.

I subjected myself to watching "The Situation Room" once, and I've watched "Hardball" several times, and a few others, tho' I've never watched FOX -- and I say that anyone not used to absorbing those circuses of political agitation and directed misinformation couldn't help but be shocked at the blatant obviousness of the choreography. The in-your-faceness of the propoganda.

[seemslikeadream]

46. CNN use footage of Tskhinvali ruins to cover Georgian report

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVNblG9PJMk



In one of its news bulletins CNN has shown Russian tanks and ruined buildings which they claimed are in the Georgian town of Gori. Russian cameraman of the Russian TV channel, who did the footage in reality in South Ossetian city of Tskhinvali says CNN aired footage of Tskhinvali district close to former Russian peacekeepers headquarters, nearly all of them were killed by Georgians after the footage was made.

[malaise]

49. I did laugh when I saw that

Fugging inversion of reality to deceive people.

[sattahipdeep]

55. seemslikeadream

Kagan and Peters :rofl: :spray:



:hi:

[seemslikeadream]

67. ***sattahipdeep***

[malaise]

73. Beautiful

:D

[sattahipdeep]

74. Amazing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OsdoQk84uc&feature=user

[bertman]

47. Sorry to say that there's no hope for the "unsophisticated" people who watch network TV or cable.

They are too preoccupied with whatever it is that entertains them to even recognize that they are being fed propaganda. Plus they don't care. If they did they'd look elsewhere.

The founders apparently envisioned an informed electorate but they didn't anticipate the devastating effect of mass propaganda and psychological manipulation; although, if they were students of the Roman empire they may have had a pretty good idea about both.

So, here we are trying to keep each other informed while the rest of Merka couch potatoes its way into the future.

My personal experience is that anyone who is not REALLY TUNED IN TO THE MEDIA MANIPULATION thinks that I am a total nutcase for pointing out the ongoing misinformation and propaganda that passes for news. Some of them are FauxNews specimens and others are Nonews specimens. While others are interested but don't have time to be informed because their duties as breadwinners, parents, aspiring actors, coaches, choir members, etc keep them so preoccupied that they can't care about what's happening to our government.

Oh well.

[malaise]

50. Valid point

Good post

[ChiciB1]

57. I've Said The Same Thing Over & Over And As With You I'm The One People

around me say is too "political!" I try to tell them that unless THEY get with the program I'll have the last laugh, except I won't be laughing because their IGNORANCE will have a detrimental affect on me, the ONE who wanted a better country!

[madamesilverspurs]

51. Once more with feeling ---

We can all be thankful that the far right failed to anticipate the growth - and effect - of the blogosphere. Without the net, we'd be a nation of blissfull ignorance. Hell, even WITH the net I sometimes wonder.

[Cleita]

53. I agree, but there are those who say they have First Amendment rights.

I mean just how far do these rights extend? I don't think the founding fathers meant that our fourth estate could practice lies and deception presented as truth and facts as freedom speech.

[Twist_U_Up]

58. That includes all the unanswered questions of 911 also. TURN OFF YOUR TV

throw in the silence on election fraud and the lies about the anthrax attacks and I do believe you have a point.

[malaise]

63. Silence is consent

I do not consent. I am documenting their evil.

[nikto]

60. You would think...

From the nature of the Korporate media's coverage,
that Georgia had NOT been the original aggressor,
and had NOT attacked Ossettia first to
regain control of the region.

Obviously, Russia was waiting for an opportunity,
but cleverly, they waited until a perfect one
was dropped right in their laps--A military land-grab
by Georgia, that Russia could respond to in-kind.
Perfect!

I smell more Neocon fantasy-thinking/advice(i.e. for Georgia)
at work here, setting up this whole deadly fiasco.

And all the Korporate Media wants to do is
suck up to the Neocon/GOP agenda.

What astonishing LIES by ommission, in its coverage!

The Low-Info American Voter watches this for a
short while and turns it off, NEVER HEARING ABOUT
GEORGIA'S INITIAL AGGRESSION AGAINST S. OSSETTIA.

Korporate media brainwashing---Sneaky sneaky sneaky!
:(

[malaise]

61. You would also wonder how they carry press conference for missing blondes

but ignore one when the Chairman of the Democratic Party in Arkansas is assassinated in his own fugging party headquarters.

[NM Independent]

62. ...

I wish curses on those who are complicit, and a slow death for those responsible. They've ruined this nation, and turned more than half of it into f**cking ignorant IDIOTS.

[defendandprotect]

66. This has been going on for decades --- began in '63 with the coup on US government . ..

it began slowly, with creating violence atmosphere using networks---

Drug War, etal --- fear of other citizens ---

Violent movies ---

Project: The world is violent and makes no sense --

By the 1980's we had high level right-wing propaganda -- and, of course, a kindergardner
could have seen behind the "October Surprise" and the Reagan election!

Buchanan sponsored by GE/Crossfire --- all the political game playing ---

Any hint of any real news has been gone a long, long time ---

[malaise]

72. Good post n/t

[LSK]

68. Please read Spiegel

http://www.spiegel.de/international

[malaise]

71. They keep me sane along with BBC, Guardian

and German TV DW.

[bluesmail]

70. Isn't CNN controlled by shares/Saudi Arabia?

Isn't the king telling Darth what he wants done? Oh my.