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.
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.
Founder of Motley Mystic and the Jubilee! Circle interfaith spiritual community In Columbia, S.C., Candace Chellew (she/her) is the author of Bulletproof Faith: A Spiritual Survival Guide for Gay and Lesbian Christians (Jossey-Bass, 2008). Founder and Editor Emeritus of Whosoever, she earned her masters of theological studies at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, was ordained by Gentle Spirit Christian Church in December 2003, and trained as a spiritual director through the Omega Point program of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta. She is also a musician and animal lover.