One of the biggest problems we have in the United States is that we cannot rely on the 'media' for accurate and honest information - current weather is perhaps the exception.
It only makes sense that people can, at best, form opinions from the information available to them. People have no information regarding planets on the far side of the solar system and therefore must rely totally on information handed to them through our systems of education. Similarly, most people in this country have never been outside of the country and the information about countries and people on the other side of this planet is only that which is presented to them - whether correct or incorrect.
Once one leaves our system of formal education, the only real source of any knowledge at all is the media. And, the corporate run, corporate directed media disseminates propaganda for the benefit of capitalism and the 'for-profit' world.
The media specializes in the sensational. The more people who are killed, the bigger the story. The media loves it. A story with lots of deaths including the capture of the perpetrator of the crime gets coverage 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Even when the story has run it's full course, the media continues to play it for all it's worth with a series of special showings and follow-up stories
As pointed out beautifully by Bernie Sanders, "Media shapes our very lives". It tells us what products we need to buy and, by the quantity and nature of coverage, what is “important” and what is “unimportant.” Media informs us as to the scope of what is “realistic” and “possible.”
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When we see constant coverage of murders and brutality on television, corporate media is telling us that crime and violence are important issues that we should be concerned about. When there is round-the-clock coverage of the Super Bowl, we are being informed that football and the NFL deserve our rapt attention.
When there is very little coverage of the suffering of the 43 million Americans living in poverty, or the thousands of Americans without health insurance who die each year because they can’t |  |
get to a doctor when they should, corporately owned media is telling us that these are not issues of major concern. For years, major crises like climate change, the impact of trade agreements on our economy, the role of big money in politics and youth unemployment have received scant media coverage. Trade union leaders, environmentalists, low-income activists, people prepared to challenge the corporate ideology, rarely appear on our TV screens.
Media is not just about what is covered and how. It is about what is not covered. And those decisions, of what is and is not covered, are not made in the heavens. They are made by human beings who often have major conflicts of interest. As a general rule of thumb, the more important the issue is to large numbers of working people, the less interesting it is to corporate media. The less significant it is to ordinary people, the more attention the media pays. Further, issues being pushed by the top 1 percent get a lot of attention. Issues advocated by representatives of working families, not so much. For the corporate media, the real issues facing the American people— poverty, the decline of the middle class, income and wealth inequality, trade, healthcare, climate change, etc.—are fairly irrelevant. For them, politics is largely presented as entertainment. With some notable exceptions, reporters are trained to see a campaign as if it were a game show, a baseball game, a soap opera, or a series of conflicts. |
Leading Journalists Expose Major Corruption in Mass Media. These riveting excerpts from the revealing accounts of award-winning journalists in the highly acclaimed book Into the Buzzsaw reveal major media corruption. These courageous writers were prevented by corporate media ownership from reporting major news stories. Some were even fired or laid off. These journalists have won numerous awards, including several Emmys and a Pulitzer. You can help in building a better world by helping to spread this news far and wide.
As Bernie says, “The media is an arm of the ruling class of this country.”
Even Donald Trump recognizes this truth, saying, "The corporate media can't report on the establishment because the corporate media is the establishment," he said. "Reporters who work for these outlets like the Washington Post or the New York Times, may think of themselves as journalists, but they are actually cogs in a corrupt political machine."
Even Donald Trump recognizes this truth, saying, "The corporate media can't report on the establishment because the corporate media is the establishment," he said. "Reporters who work for these outlets like the Washington Post or the New York Times, may think of themselves as journalists, but they are actually cogs in a corrupt political machine."
Certain story lines fit the propaganda line being sold by the media. Those stories in particular get tremendous amounts of 'press' with film and pictures being distributed far and wide - as far and as wide as is possible.
When the main line of the story doesn't fit with the propaganda model, or worse yet, when the true story contradicts the propaganda model, that story never sees the light of day, let alone the light of one's TV screen, and that's the truth !!!
A thwarted airport bombing receives little national press — and some activists cry foul. No one noticed when a white man planted a bomb in a North Carolina airport last week.Media double-standard?
from Salon by Charlie May
Major news outlets were remarkably quiet after last Friday's arrest of Michael Christopher Estes, who planted an improvised explosive device in a North Carolina airport and later admitted he was "preparing to fight a war on U.S. soil." That this homegrown terrorist slipped past major media outlets has some critics crying foul over the media's double-standard for terrorists who don't fit the popular image and narrative of what a "terrorist" looks like.
On Friday, October 6, just before 1 a.m., a man dressed in all-black walked into the Asheville Regional Airport and set down a unattended bag, as security footage shows, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
"Based on a review of the video, the individual walked near the entrance to the terminal, went out of sight momentarily, and was then seen departing the area without the bag," the criminal complaint read.
After a police dog sniffed out what was presumed to be explosive material, authorities at the airport closed the concourse and the street leading to the airport.
Inside the bag authorities found a cocktail of ammonium nitrate, fuel oil, and a Mason jar full of shrapnel — a common design of explosive device, as the FBI attested in the affidavit. This bomb design has been used "in a number of terrorist-related incidents around the world," the criminal complaint continued. "When [ammonium nitrate and fuel oil] comes into contact with a flame or other ignition source it explodes violently. Nails or ball bearings are often items added to the device so as to increase the devastation inflicted by the explosion."
A timer revealed that the bag was set to explode at 6 a.m. the following morning, and would have unleashed immense damage on travelers.
Critics suggest that the incident received little attention because the alleged terrorist, Michael Christopher Estes, did not fit the profile of a terrorist that feeds sensationalist and scaremongering headlines. Indeed, Estes was both white, and not a Muslim.
The profile of Estes is politically relevant, as President Donald Trump often jumps at the opportunity to declare violent acts "terrorism" solely because of the profile of the perpetrator. Trump has also ignored or washed over acts of terrorism when they are perpetrated by right-wing and/or white suspects. Likewise, Trump has used fear of terrorism as a justification for banning travel from Muslim-majority nations.
"Sorry if it sounds like you’ve heard this story before," wrote The Intercept's Shaun King. "I’m as tired of writing it as you are reading it, but you know good and well that if Estes was a young Muslim — hell, if he had ever even visited a mosque in the past 25 years — that Trump would be tweeting about him right this very moment to tout how essential a Muslim ban is for American safety."
"His actions aren’t an indictment of his whole faith, political outlook, and race. White people aren’t, thanks to Estes, suddenly labeled terrorists or seen as a threat to American safety in the way that would almost certainly happen had it been anybody other than a white man," King added.
from Salon by Charlie May
Major news outlets were remarkably quiet after last Friday's arrest of Michael Christopher Estes, who planted an improvised explosive device in a North Carolina airport and later admitted he was "preparing to fight a war on U.S. soil." That this homegrown terrorist slipped past major media outlets has some critics crying foul over the media's double-standard for terrorists who don't fit the popular image and narrative of what a "terrorist" looks like.
On Friday, October 6, just before 1 a.m., a man dressed in all-black walked into the Asheville Regional Airport and set down a unattended bag, as security footage shows, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
"Based on a review of the video, the individual walked near the entrance to the terminal, went out of sight momentarily, and was then seen departing the area without the bag," the criminal complaint read.
After a police dog sniffed out what was presumed to be explosive material, authorities at the airport closed the concourse and the street leading to the airport.
Inside the bag authorities found a cocktail of ammonium nitrate, fuel oil, and a Mason jar full of shrapnel — a common design of explosive device, as the FBI attested in the affidavit. This bomb design has been used "in a number of terrorist-related incidents around the world," the criminal complaint continued. "When [ammonium nitrate and fuel oil] comes into contact with a flame or other ignition source it explodes violently. Nails or ball bearings are often items added to the device so as to increase the devastation inflicted by the explosion."
A timer revealed that the bag was set to explode at 6 a.m. the following morning, and would have unleashed immense damage on travelers.
Critics suggest that the incident received little attention because the alleged terrorist, Michael Christopher Estes, did not fit the profile of a terrorist that feeds sensationalist and scaremongering headlines. Indeed, Estes was both white, and not a Muslim.
The profile of Estes is politically relevant, as President Donald Trump often jumps at the opportunity to declare violent acts "terrorism" solely because of the profile of the perpetrator. Trump has also ignored or washed over acts of terrorism when they are perpetrated by right-wing and/or white suspects. Likewise, Trump has used fear of terrorism as a justification for banning travel from Muslim-majority nations.
"Sorry if it sounds like you’ve heard this story before," wrote The Intercept's Shaun King. "I’m as tired of writing it as you are reading it, but you know good and well that if Estes was a young Muslim — hell, if he had ever even visited a mosque in the past 25 years — that Trump would be tweeting about him right this very moment to tout how essential a Muslim ban is for American safety."
"His actions aren’t an indictment of his whole faith, political outlook, and race. White people aren’t, thanks to Estes, suddenly labeled terrorists or seen as a threat to American safety in the way that would almost certainly happen had it been anybody other than a white man," King added.
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