What is the reason that the MSM will not report the actual news?

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

Poll question: What is the reason that the MSM will not report the actual news?

Five media giants, conglomerates basically control all the media.

Journalist deaths have been high.

The FCC might get them, or the IRS might get them, at someone's request.

They're enjoying the power?

They're actually blind to the dire straits we've gotten into?

What is it?

[catnhatnh]

1. Weekends with Porter......n/t

[ClassWarrior]

2. Because they're not actually "mainstream"...

...and you only aid and abet their deception by calling them the "MSM." They're the Corporate Media, plain and simple, with an irresponsible corporatist agenda of power and profit.

Thank you. That is all. Carry on citizen.

NGU.

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

4. Me thinks the stream is meandering. n/t

[pauldp]

3. the media is THE REASON we are in dire straits. n/t

[Sinti]

5. Both pressure from their corporate masters, fear of being fired

One guy got laid off/forcible vacation for for saying he didn't like Bush in a private Blackberry message. Some, I do believe, are loyalists, they were there savaging Clinton back in the day, they're still there supporting Bush. Those guys are enjoying the power. How do dictatorships control their press? Keep friends in and get all those who question out, yes?

If the government wanted to, though, they could fully censor the news, and all other TV, there's a 30-second delay on everything that comes through your TV due to Tittygate. So I guess we're half-lucky they haven't done that yet.

[stray cat]

6. Ratings - they gear stories to the least common denominator

They show what the majority of their viewers want to see. Progressives are not believed to watch as many cable talk shows as conservatives

[WiseButAngrySara]

14. Excuse me, but don't you think the people viewing Watergate 2 would

increase ratings, or that coverage of B*'s crimes and the resultant impeachment proceedings that would inevitably result if the truth were told, would increase their 'precious' ratings?

It's not so simple as ratings.

[stray cat]

16. I was naive enough to think they would vote for Kerry

I think many Americans who watch the cable news shows seem to be more interested in female missing persons and people going missing from cruise ships. You have more faith in the watchers of cable news than I do.

[WiseButAngrySara]

23. I was naive enough to believe that people would realize by the exit

poll analysis, and by the RNC's links to Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia voting machines, and by the historical fact that this wasn't the first election that B* stole, because the people actually chose Gore, and the SCOTUS, the very political body that supposedly shows high integrity and honesty and objective non-partisanship, selected B*, and thus began the erosion of our separation of powers, which continues to this very day,...I was naive enough to think that the people would realize that Kerry won! But, alas, the media didn't report any of these things.

Ratings?

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

17. No doubt about it. Those ratings would be huge. n/t

[SPKrazy]

7. Laziness, Fear of Losing Jobs, Corporate Pressures

i'm sure it is different for all of them, but laziness is a big factor when you've got the pressure of getting news out 24 hours a day. Take the press release and don't take the time to investigate it for truth.

This is the news in our generation I'm afraid

[KyuzoGator]

8. Because their objective is higher ratings, not journalistic integrity.

It's just a matter of dollars. They are an entertainment business.

[Autonomy]

9. They are lazy and conformist, unwilling to take the chance

on reporting news that people may not like. What passes for news these days is merely partisan spin, and anyone who goes out on a limb runs the risk of being scapegoated by the right-wing. That's where the conglomerates come in. There's always the pressure from the corporate bosses, aka Big Brother, our real government.

[WiseButAngrySara]

10. I voted for the corporate conglomerates, but it is not as obvious as I

initially thought. It is a COMPLETE Lack of INTEGRITY and a void of love for the TRUTH, and GREED for their own jobs...The media has become cowardly because they, like their corporate bosses, protect their skin above all others.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

11. Reporting the important news hasn't been important since

news departments started getting rolled into entertainment divisions and-- ooh! Brad and Jen broke up!

[pretzel4gore]

12. bushinc burned their bridges on them, re 911

the media has been a main political player since long ago, but it was when pbs was quietly defunded and forced to become corporate whores during regan era that the thing really got going and the pigmedia emerged as cnnfoxnews etc - they constantly harassed the democrats until anything was possible, newswise, and the clinton impeachment showed how powerful the pigmedia was...then bush took the white house thanks to the pigmedia, but....i guess bushinc didn't want the pigmedia just doing their own thing - 911 thus burned the bridge on the men who run the media, gave them no choice but to support bozo and his mob pals, or they will be dragged down along with bush....lol. what we're seeing is blackmail (it helps that the newsmedia whores are mostly cheap tricks to start with, but that's largely the result of generations of winnowing out people with principles etc)

[baldguy]

13. When they tell the truth, they get fired.

Dan Rather being the prime example.

[WiseButAngrySara]

15. Yep! That too, most definitely is a factor. ....n/t

[earth mom]

18. Profits, Profits, Profits.

Can't tick off the advertisers OR upset the public who will then stop buying stuff which will then lead to ticking off the advertisers etc., etc., etc.

Meanwhile, the public is being screwed both ways and at their own expense. :puke:

[Lars39]

19. Some links...

http://www.mediatransparency.org/

http://www.mediachannel.org/ownership/chart.shtml

http://www.cjr.org/tools/owners/

http://www.nowfoundation.org/issues/communications/tv/mediacontrol.html

The Military and CNN:

http://www.commondreams.org/views/032300-107.htm

http://www.counterpunch.org/cnnpsyops.html

Whatever happened to the Fairness Doctrine? A Primer.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=1037537

[WiseButAngrySara]

25. Thank you! This will be the first poll I've bookmarked and R'd, as

I infrequently respond to them. These links are jewels, I bet.

[Lars39]

34. I hope you find them helpful.

:hi:

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

20. I wish we could get all the "MSM" to look at this poll, and to give

us their responses and NOT anonymously.

[Berry Cool]

21. Simple.

Keith Olbermann is only one man. He can't do the work for ALL of them.

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

32. This was supposed to answer the original post, I assume. n/t

[savemefromdumbya]

22. Gagged and bound by the corrupt

[TreasonousBastard]

24. What makes you think they're no, and...

who is to decide just what "actual news" is?

[Warpy]

26. They're willing participants

because all the talking heads on the tube are paid huge salaries, salaries that make them wealthy enough to enjoy sizeable tax cuts from the gang of thieves. They've been completely co opted.

That is why the outrages of this gang never get air time.

[Jane Austin]

27. Conventional Wisdom is the only acceptable position.

Get out of that and you will be marginalized.

Cokie Roberts is the Queen of Conventional Wisdom. She's just one long string of cliches.

[anoraksia53]

28. You forgot to mention Clinton's role in this

If we're gonna complain about this now we need to wonder why dems were leading the way.

Five media giants, conglomerates basically control all the media.

Didya think this was an accident?

I'd love to know why Clinton changed the laws to allow this much media consolidation. It's one of the marks of shame of Clinton's presidency, why did he do it???

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

33. Your point is tangential to the question I posed in the OP.

Didya think this was an accident?

No, I felt it in my gut. I felt the truthiness that it was or was not an accident.

[anoraksia53]

36. Tooshaaay!!! n/t

[corbett]

29. It's All Karl Rove

Part of his strategy from the very beginning was to take an aggressive tack with the press because he can. The constitution does not guarantee White House access to the press. It is the White House's decision how much access will be granted. So, early on, KKKarl made it very clear. The media had 3 choices:

1) Shy away from tough questions and entire topics or lose their access;

2) Sneak in one tough question and lose their access; or

3) Accept RNC talking points as policy statements and facts and have access to occasional interviews with top staffers and the Oval Office.

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

30. I had Rove in mind when I wrote the ones that reference the

WH, GOP, or "the powers that be."

There was a scene or description of a scene in "Bush's Brain" in which Rove intentionally intimidates a journalist for something they said or did.

I never forgot the image.

[corbett]

37. Donna B., Gore's Campaign Manager In 2000, Made Several Errors But...

underestimating Karl Rove was the fatal one. No one who does that has a chance of beating him. It just can't be done, no matter the candidate's merits.

[Pithy Cherub]

31. Media in today's era is to be a commoditized revenue stream

that is held to the same standards of other corporate subsidiaries. The revenue is ad based and therefore the most eyeballs become important. The American public has also been largely silent and complicit as journalism has turned towards topics that are about plastic people and fit between the all important sponsors. Product placement is now the all the rage in entertainment media. Not long before it hits what remains of news media.

The lack of cross pollinization on a story is apparent as well. Disney shows and news folks stay on their corporate platform. The Faux people are so discredited that they have one of their own now speaking for the president of the United States. The peacocks are living down to their strutting levels. Watch the late night shows and see who each late night host is forced to speak with because of the lauch of another show that may last say, oh, the time it takes to read this post.

The integrity has diminished and journalism skills have atrophied to the point that regaining it by using those who have sold out on priniple for pure cash and eyeballs is not going to work.

[Ciggies and coffee]

35. Payoffs disguised as advertising - another choice

It is possible that a group can purchase advertising which is not designed to sell a specific product or service, or is too costly to justify from the benefits gained in that specific instance, but is a direct or indirect payoff to influence the news in some way.

[0rganism]

38. combination: pressure from owners/editors and fearing loss of access

Loss of access to the GOP bigwigs is huge. Since they run everything now, if you get on their shitlist you won't be getting any high-profile interviews with them.