Bruce Guthrie, the Libertarian candidate for the Senate race in Washington, posted a succinct reply to my blog entry on how badly the corporate media treats third party candidates. "You are absolutely right," he said.
I gave my 20 years of my life to newspapers and while I had few illusions about the 'profession', it was generally a business I could be proud of.
Then President Reagan and Congress gave corporations the right to own and devour the country and one result was the massive concentration in the news business that led to a handful of giant corporations having a stranglehold on the news. The 1996 Telecommunications Act accelerated that trend to the point that 5 or 6 corporations control most of what we see and hear about the world.
Or don't see about the world.
World news that doesn't involve a celebrity -- usually doing something scandalous, or what rightwing extremists think is scandalous -- is rarely seen. Americans are thus almost totally ignorant about the world outside our borders.
And they aren’t much better informed by the corporate media about the national scene. Anything that challenges the worldview of the ruling elite is taboo, not to be covered, at least not in any detail. And since third parties always challenge the worldview of the ruling elite, they are to be ignored whenever possible.
I think the Russians under the Communists got more honest reporting from Pravda. Well, at least as honest.
Posted by Deck at November 9, 2006 02:13 PM