I'm really bummed this morning.

[unhappycamper]

I sent this LTTE to the Cape Cod Times over the weekend and it dropped off the earth. Reality must scare them. Oh, well. :shrug:



The sound bite v. reality


“Up R Down.” “Cut N Run.” “Over there or over here.” “They hate us for our freedoms.” "We must finish the mission." “Get R Done.”

If you watch Faux Noise, Billo, Glen Beck and the rest of the White House spin machine (a.k.a. The Ministry of Truth,) these phrases are part of your ‘reality.’ It’s a different reality from mine, to be sure, but we are all entitled to our reality. At least 30% of the American population is right there with ya. It must be comforting to know that 30% think like you do.

I get my TV news from DemocracyNow, Countdown, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.

I read a lot of stuff on the internets, as I’m interested in news without the spin. “Asia Times,” ”The Guardian,” “The Christian Science Monitor,” “BuzzFlash” and “Watching America” are some pretty starting points. I took the BBC off my list after The Carlyle Group bought an interest in the BBC; I fully expect their propaganda-free reporting to decline.

Want something a little more edgy or grittier? Try “TheHuffingtonPost,” “RawStory,” “truthout,” “DemocraticUnderground” or “AlterNet.” Want to know what’s going on in Iraq? Juan Cole’s “InformedComment” is simply the best blog on the Middle East.

A mind is like a parachute: it works best when opened.

[nuxvomica]

1. When did the Carlyle Group buy an interest in the BBC?

I wouldn't think that would be possible.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Sounds strange; I think they're confused

Certain bits of the BBC, like "BBC Broadcast", which provides technical broadcast services, have been sold off to private groups (I can't see Carlyle involved in any of them, but it would be possible). But this would be like saying you don't trust TV news because your television set is made by Sony, and they're a huge multinational. The content of BBC news is still determined by the BBC, the nationalised corporation.

Given that Countdown is produced by a company with massive defense industry interests, this dislike of the BBC seems doubly silly.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Well. You ARE an unhappycammper, after all.

[blm]

3. Great letter that nails the corporatism of the newsmedia - which is why it won't

get printed.

My spouse works in a newsroom and whenever the media is attacked for its corporatism, the complaints go right to the trash. Ever since newspapers started in on the profit race, they have become slaves to their corporate advertisers. This was done by design as the RW has steadily bought up control of most newsmedia the last 2 decades.

[Atman]

4. Good letter, but I'll tell you why it didn't run...

Newspaper op-ed pages don't like sarcasm and playing with the names of the subjects. If you had written the same letter without using "Faux Noise" and "Ministry of Truth" it likely would have run on it's merits. But editors read the joke stuff (even though we know they're not jokes) and just toss the letter aside 99% of the time. I once had a letter published in the Hartford Courant, and the only such "joke" I made was to refer to then-Defense Secy Casper Wienberger as "Casper the Friendly Weinberger"...they changed it, but nothing else.

.

[LaurenG]

6. That is a good letter

I am sorry they didn't "get it".

[dysfunctional press]

7. try writing a grown-up letter next time.

leave out the name-calling- i.e. "faux noise" "billo" "ministry of truth" and maybe they'll consider it fit for publication.

[WiseButAngrySara]

8. Well, we can read it and appreciate it here! Thanks for posting.

It's good!