Don’t trust the mainstream media
Posted by: Candace Chellew-Hodge
Much of my family are addicted to Fox “News” swearing that it is an oasis of “fair and balanced” coverage in a swamp of “librul” media like my former employer CNN. I try to tell them – based on my two decades of experience in the media – that there’s no such thing as “librul” media – not mainstream media anyway. That, over the years, all mainstream media has become “corporate media” as big corporations began to swallow up places like CNN – first with the takeover by Time Warner and then the takeover by AOL. Murdoch’s News Corp started Fox, so it BEGAN as corporate media. GE owns NBC and it’s other manifestations including MSNBC. The media is basically owned by a handful of corporations.
That’s why you’ll see angry, right wing backed mobs at town hall meetings talked about like they’re some organic grass roots movement angry over health care reform. Bullshit. It’s the corporate media protecting it’s corporate assets – nothing more, nothing less. The corporations tell the newsrooms what they’ll be putting on the air that day – because the corporate bigwigs are in on the morning news meeting, every single day. From CNN to FOX to all the other news outfits. They are owned and run by corporations.
Keith Olbermann has run into problems and I fear Rachel Maddow will be the next to be silenced by GE as she exposes these fake mobs for what they are – corporate anti-health reform propaganda and bullying.
Here’s a great article to get you going on this issue.
Our media is not watching out for the interests of you and me. They are watching out for the interests of their corporate owners and they will relentlessly spin the news to bring the people and Congress in line with their wishes. Don’t believe the mainstream media. Look for other sources and read the foreign media – they cover the US far better than any of our “media” outlets.
My family does not believe me – they will not believe someone who sat on the inside and knows this stuff first hand. They’ll believe Hannity, Rush or any of those lying loudmouths before they’ll believe me – because y’know, I’m a “librul” who worked for the “librul” media so I’m immediately suspect.
It’s that kind of gullibility that has put us in this place. Don’t be fooled. The media ISN’T working for us. It’s working for the corporations – and doing a damn good job of misinforming and misleading us all.
August 9th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Don’t be too trusting of the British media either. Most of our newspapers are in the group owned by Murdoch.
For example one of the Murdoch tabloids – the Daily Mail (much quoted by the Christian Institute) is on a crusade against the BBC because the BBC is still publicly funded and as close to neutral as you’re going to get in today’s media. Their latest non news article was about the amount of money the BBC spends on horses. And -no – I didn’t see the point either.
I guess Candace’s family find “Auntie BBC” unbelievably “librul”.
September 13th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
I am rather late commenting on this post but then, it’s the latest one up! Anyway, it’s true about the so-called liberal media. And, I am increasingly disappointed with NPR News, which at least finds things to cover that are often not in the MSM but which has dumbed down its reporting so much that it is basically a mouthpiece for whoever’s face they stick a mike in front of. Insightful questioning? Fact checking? Fuggedaboudit. They have endowment money and have hired a huge staff. But with a couple of exceptions we see no real digging. Anne Garrels reported from Iraq for a long time and did a great job. Since then there’s no one even remotely approaching her depth of reporting.