Al Gore Fights The Big Lie Machine

[StlMo]

Al Gore Fights The Big Lie Machine


This week, as NBC hammers out details on its proposed merger with Vivendi Universal Entertainment, former Vice President Al Gore is trying to finalize his own deal: the purchase of a Universal-owned digital news channel called Newsworld International, a transaction that could herald Mr. Gore’s official transformation from historical footnote to media player with the power to get in the game that he says has lately upset him so.

"He thinks the country is disserved by the absence of truth in news, by the absence of honesty in public-official presentation, by the apparently infinite cynicism of those who currently hold high office," said Reed Hundt, the former chairman of the F.C.C.—the Michael Powell of another political age—who saw through the Telecommunications Act of 1996, as well as a close friend of Mr. Gore’s. "These things disturb him, I know that. He’s made these points to me. I think Al, and to my knowledge dozens of other progressives, would like to go beyond complaining to actually trying to fix the problems." ...

In explaining the power of media on public tastes, Mr. Hundt didn’t bring up News Corp. and Fox News Channel boss Rupert Murdoch. But as Mr. Gore said last year, he considers Fox part of a "fifth column" within the media, responsible for injecting "daily Republican talking points into the definition of what’s objective."

"There’s no question that Democrats are suffering in an environment where there are powerful outlets for anti-Democrat viewpoints," said Bob Somerby, editor of influential political Web site The Daily Howler.

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http://www.observer.com/pages/frontpage6.asp