Don't Believe The Hype

[SoCalifer]

Amy Goodman Dismantaling U.S. So Called News Media:

http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/media_war_256.rm&proto=rtsp

[NYCGirl]

1. And just to muddy the water, here's a good column about the

failure of the media by Howard Fineman:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6813945/

WASHINGTON - A political party is dying before our eyes — and I don't mean the Democrats. I'm talking about the "mainstream media," which is being destroyed by the opposition (or worse, the casual disdain) of George Bush's Republican Party; by competition from other news outlets (led by the internet and Fox's canny Roger Ailes); and by its own fraying journalistic standards. At the height of its power, the AMMP (the American Mainstream Media Party) helped validate the civil rights movement, end a war and oust a power-mad president. But all that is ancient history.

Now the AMMP is reeling, and not just from the humiliation of CBS News. We have a president who feels it's almost a point of honor not to hold more press conferences — he's held far fewer than any modern predecessor — and doesn't seem to agree that the media has any "right" to know what's really going in inside his administration. The AMMP, meanwhile, is regarded with ever growing suspicion by American voters, viewers and readers, who increasingly turn for information and analysis only to non-AMMP outlets that tend to reinforce the sectarian views of discrete slices of the electorate.

Yes, I know: A purely objective viewpoint does not exist in the cosmos or in politics. Yes, I know: Today's media foodfights are mild compared with the viciousness of pamphleteers and partisan newspapers of old, from colonial times forward. Yes, I know: The notion of a neutral "mainstream" national media gained dominance only in World War II and in its aftermath, when what turned out to be a temporary moderate consensus came to govern the country.

Still, the notion of a neutral, non-partisan mainstream press was, to me at least, worth holding onto. Now it's pretty much dead, at least as the public sees things. The seeds of its demise were sown with the best of intentions in the late 1960s, when the AMMP was founded in good measure (and ironically enough) by CBS. Old folks may remember the moment: Walter Cronkite stepped from behind the podium of presumed objectivity to become an outright foe of the war in Vietnam. Later, he and CBS's star White House reporter, Dan Rather, went to painstaking lengths to make Watergate understandable to viewers, which helped seal Richard Nixon's fate as the first president to resign.

(more at link)

[papau]

3. Pushing Truth is evil - even partisan - since it hurts the GOP - Howie

does know how to find bias.

[NYCGirl]

4. Huh? Fineman says that the GOP has RUINED the media. NT

[papau]

5. Fineman is always on both sides - but his CBS remarkes and Nixon

as target of the left seem lacking in logic - truth telling makes you a political party?

Well - perhaps the item is not showing Fineman bias in favor of GOP -
but it is showing Fineman fear of writing an article that simply states how GOP have taken control of media.

But I guess the current GOP rules for the media will not let him write such an article.

By the way - I did not read the line that mainstream media is "is being destroyed by the opposition (or worse, the casual disdain) of George Bush's Republican Party" as a dump on the GOP.

Indeed Howie seems to admire the ability to spit on those that tell truth.

[cestpaspossible]

8. "went to painstaking lengths to make Watergate understandable to viewers"

That's his idea of partisanship -- communicating the truth.

[papau]

10. YEP - - :-(

:-)

[liberal N proud]

2. Only had time to watch 10 min. But that was incredible

Thanks

[SoCalifer]

6. You're very welcome liberal N proud

And it gets better. I particularly was completely unaware of and enjoyed to see the part where she shows the Spanish News Media putting down all their cameras and pens and paper, and refusing to report for a day after the U.S. killed a couple of their journalists. And gathering in front of the U.S. Embassy and shouting "murderer."

I never knew this took place until I seen this film.. It's the main reason why when I want to get "accurate" news, I only go to what some refer to as radical and counter culture media. I refer to it as honest media..

[cthrumatrix]

9. I agree...everyone should watch this.... unbelievable

[cry baby]

7. I believe in my heart that an independent media is the only thing that

will save our country. Hopefully, an independent media will step into the vacuum left by the present main stream media we have now. It's our only hope. Thanks for posting this, and welcome to DU!!!
:hi: :toast:

[SoCalifer]

12. Thanx cry baby

For the welcome.. :)

:toast:

[Roland99]

11. The media is only as liberal as the conservative companies that own them

[SoCalifer]

13. Corporate News

I think there ought to be a law forbidding news media from owning more than one news station but allowed to transmit anywhere and everywhere in the country. And disallowed from owning or being owned by any other business.

It might not be the perfect thing, but at least it would prevent some of monopolies and corporate conflicts we see today.

[Roland99]

14. With Powell's resignation, maybe some changes will occur at FCC

Or probably not...