Goodbye Terry Gross, we never knew ye—on liberal media denial

[MelissaB]

Goodbye Terry Gross, we never knew ye—on liberal media denial

By Joe Bageant
Online Journal Contributing Writer


Jan 21, 2006, 20:34

Having come to understand that mainstream media are in the business of selling fried chicken and cars, giving Wall Street head, and stealing bandwidth from the public’s airwaves, none of us expect them to question anything afoot in the empire. We quite understand they cannot be wasting profitable air time on a nation whose collective memory is 30 seconds long.

So we watch them pull their punches and wait for the commercials, which are their whole point anyway. If, god forbid, you are the pointy-headed type interested in details, turn on NPR. And if you consider yourself hipper than the couch taters out here in Budland, go onto the net and visit Salon. Or if you are so worldly and hip you are a downright commie, then subscribe to Mother Jones. That’s the way it used to be.

But now we are seeing what were once considered the more intelligent and in some cases more principled media such as NPR, Salon and Mother Jones distance themselves from meaningful controversy -- pulling the few wimpy punches they have. (Bullshit controversy, however, is still in fashion.)

We are talking about Mark Crispin Miller’s new book, Fooled Again - How the Right Stole the 2004 Election and Why They’ll Steal the Next One, Too (Unless We Stop Them). Miller has become a known and respected progressive figure, one of the few in-your-face bespectacled lefty author types with any credibility. But when it comes to promoting Fooled, the guy can’t even get arrested. No interviews, nothing.

In fact, these days even his cash bounces -- Miller can’t even buy a spot on National Public Radio for his book. Now you may be saying to yourself: “Public Radio doesn’t sell advertising.” Which would make you one of those delusional souls who believe that shameless brand hawking by the oil companies and the financial establishment on NPR is not advertising. I mean, after all, ADM and Wal-Mart? NPR has sales people out chasing these sponsors. They sell these damned announcements. The only difference between NPR’s “paid sponsorships” and the puke jock shows’ commercial radio ads is that the NPR folks don’t have a real rate card. Which is either stupid or brilliant, I’m not sure.


Much more: http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_443.shtml

[Peace Patriot]

1. We know what they've done by what they ban.

The theft of the 2004 election is the most important news story in the history of our Republic, if not in the history of western civilization. That it has been TOTALLY BLACK-HOLED by the entire news establishment of the country--not to mention the entire political establishment--really does tell you where to look. Look THERE, my friends--where they're telling you not to look. Read "Fooled." Buy the book. And find out what it is that they are trying so hard to prevent you from knowing.

Hint. All of them--the entire war profiteering corporate news monopoly establishment--acting in concert, through one polling organization, late on election day, 2004, FALSIFIED their exit polls on everybody's TV screens, DOCTORING the exit poll data (Kerry won) to force it to 'FIT' the results of Diebold's and ES&S's "trade secret," proprietary vote tabulation software (Bush won), after shutting down the reporting system with a phony computer "crash" for one hour. Remember? Kerry was winning. Hiatus of an hour. Then, out of nowhere, suddenly Bush won.

That's what they did. The whole bunch of them. COLLUDED with the election thieves at Diebold and ES&S.

That's the main thing they don't want you to know. The rest is all corollary to it. The Bush junta. And now, the nuking, conventional bombing or invasion of Iran.

--------

I don't know why I hate NPR more than I hate, say, WaPo, the NYT, Faux News, CBSNBCABC, and all the rest of them. Maybe because of the once bright promise of the Commons, our collective ideals of democracy and the public interest, and the common good. Our us-ness, our sovereignty as a people, which we exercise through the mechanism of voting, and by which we chose to have public radio and TV, public parks and wildlife preserves, clean air, clean water, no homeless people--everybody with a net of food and shelter under them--public schools, a free university education for all qualified students, protection of the civil and voting rights of all citizens, a military for our defense not for manufacturing war, rules for the conduct of war, should it be necessary--for instance, no torturing of war prisoners--an intelligence establishment that keeps us safe and doesn't assassinate other peoples' democratically chosen leaders or overthrow their legitimate governments, roads for everyone to use, hospitals and emergency services that protect and care for everyone, no established religion by which to foment religious persecution, wars and inquisitions, common values of tolerance, inclusiveness and equality and human dignity, a common bond BECAUSE OF our diversity, whereby we have created a common government, with all these goods in common, out of the most culturally diverse nation ever to exist.

Those ideals. Our ideals. The beautiful, revolutionary country that we were striving to become. Why we funded NPR in the first place, as an expression of our Commons.

Maybe that's why I hate what's happened to NPR so much. Because it was once an expression of our intelligence as a people, and is now a tattered symbol of how far we have fallen, or rather, of how violently we have had our faces smashed into the pavement.

To see it sullied with Bush toadyism, and taken over by corporate war profiteers, hurts a lot.

[bonito]

6. Good comment

Perhaps NPR has given up on intelligence, and now serving those among us that don't think for them selves for what ever reason, but in the process they have given up there own intelligence for nothing but fear, pretending they are asleep, while laying in there soiled sheets.
A pitty, not for only them, but for all who have enjoyed their dialogs over the years, and yet find themselves now on ther own.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. NPR is supported by.... yada yada yada..... 5 minutes later, NPR

is supported by yada yada yada and on and on.... I can't bear to keep it on the station anymore.

[lady lib]

3. My e-mail to Diane Rehm

I appreciate Diane Rehm’s work and listen to her show on a regular basis for fair and informative interviews. She’s a breath of fresh air and is one of the few voices of truth remaining in our corporate controlled media.

With this in mind I am requesting that she please consider interviewing Mark Crispin Miller on his new book Fooled Again. This is an extremely important piece about the theft of the 2004 election that is getting almost no coverage in the United States. The truth about the election must come out so we as a nation can remedy this situation and start to behave like a democracy again.

http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_443.shtml

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/21/AR2006012101051.html

Sincerely,

[Joanne98]

4. Damn! That was a ass kicking rant! K&R!

[IndyOp]

5. Excellent point - but why pick on Terry Gross?

The 'personalities' are not the management. I am not saying that she and other NPR personalities are without sin, but Terry Gross took Grover Norquist *down* in a memorable interview in which Grover compared the 'unfairness of high taxes paid by wealthy Americans' to the 'unfairness of Nazi's killing Jews' --

[FARAFIELD]

7. CHEAP SHOT AT TERRY

I try to listen to terry gross everday i can, ive listened to her since i lived in allentown in 1999. This past few weeks she's had Paul Bremer on and questioned him hard. The actor Terrance Howard, Albert Brooks, she even replayed an interview with John Spencer after he died. She is by far the premiere interviewer on the Radio and just because she is on NPR which skews our way, doesnt mean she has to interview people she doesnt find pithy. Shes the one that stuck it to Bill Oliely years ago, to put her name on an article that attacks NPR as a whole, is just a uninformed mistake.

[EFerrari]

9. Terry Gross should have Mark on. He's a terrific interviewee

and if she doesn't find him "pithy" she needs to have her head examined.

The point is, she has a LOT of say in who goes on the show.

And that aside, WE need to keep pushing on our networks until we shake some press loose for this book.

[mom cat]

8. National Pentagon Radio....Just when you thought it couldn't get worse.

[PDittie]

10. A great piece.

Thanks for posting it.