Of course there are a few stories in the press or on TV which attempt to
cover the "rascals" and what they do. And, after all it was the media (Public
Broadcasting) that "allowed" Moyer's program to be shown. If you haven't seen
it, you really should. It has some very interesting footage, including
interesting stuff from republican Senator McCain (is that how it's spelled?), who
is quite concerned about the issue.
A couple of examples from the tape---
Where was the media when the owners convinced their friends in congress to
give them $70 billion (the digital spectrum)? Why wasn't it all over TV again and
again?
Where was the media when Hightower was taken off the ABC network after
criticizing the Disney takeover of ABC?
Where was the media--which was making lots of money from the attack
adds--when the republican state legislator from NC was being villified and her
political career cut short because she put her constituents interests above that
of the industrial hog corporations? Why didn't the media show that all these adds
were a bunch of nonsense? Is that the way democracy should be played out?
It is not an issue of condeming congress or the media. I think that the main
point is that it is impossible to have a true democracy when monied interests can
usually control not only what is said about things, but the agenda as well.
My guess is that after seeing Free Speech for Sale, you will have a somewhat
different perspective on the US democracy.
FRED
Cass Peterson wrote:
> Fred Magdoff weighs in the gov't/industry thread:
>
> >the Supreme Court has held that corporations have the same right to first
> >amendment free speech rights as any person. [...] Combine this with the
> >control of the media by few corporations, that also have interests in many
> >other sectors, and it is clear that the corporate effort to get both
> >government and media off their backs has been a huge
> >success. That is why there is little else than the "company line" in the
> >mass media.
>
> Where did the Bill Moyers tape come from, Fred? I don't mean this as
> criticism, but your comment seems a bit unfair. Perhaps the corporate
> forces have managed to tar and feather the mass media as thoroughly as they
> have Congress and the federal government.
>
> Caveat: This opinion comes from an erstwhile ink-stained wretch, with 20
> years in daily newspapering. Disregard as you deem fit. I'd just like to
> point out that reputable newspapers, journals, and magazines have always
> covered and routinely continue to cover pork-barrelling, lobbying,
> agenda-setting, rogues, rascals, sleazeballs, votes-for-sale (and its
> corollary, science-for-sale), and more. How much the public responds to it
> is something else.
>
> <snip> It is only when a tremendous pressure
> is brought to bear (as with labor strikes during the depression or the early
> post war period, the civil rights and anti-war movements of the '60s, or the
> more recent environmental movement) that the political folks will respond to
> "populist" desires. </snip>
>
> A good deal of that "tremendous pressure" was a result of journalism, which
> in turn was a result of committed people out there making news and making
> the rest of the world sit up and take notice. As long as people are
> relatively fat and happy, fully employed, enjoying the benefits of the
> stock market, and don't feel their personal rights are being stomped on
> overmuch, the mass media's harping on how corporate interests are taking
> over the world goes pretty much unnoticed. Have you read the coverage or
> sampled editorial columns on the Microsoft trial? Anybody giving up Windows
> for Linux?
>
> >{Infrequently, sanity actually prevails over economic-political corporate
> >power. In a recent example from the military-industrial complex, that
> >Eisenhower warned us about so many years ago, both industry and the Defense
> >Department are astounded that congress is considering cutting off funding for
> >an airplane just because it is vastly over budget and doesn't work (what
> >could those
> >congressfolks be thinking about?).
>
> I could name a bunch of examples where sanity prevailed. Billion-dollar
> projects to divert rivers, drain the Great Lakes, blast out dam sites with
> leftover nuclear weapons, and much more that never happened because the
> scheme couldn't stand the light of press attention and public notice. The
> press is still paying attention. The public is too busy reading the comics
> and the sports page to notice.
>
> End of rant.
>
> Cass Peterson
> cpete@nb.net
>
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