It’s been suggested by contributor “johnnywalk” that I invite folks to engage in a discussion of the media and it’s failing, especially in regards to covering politics in a post 9-11 fascist world, so here goes.
But first a confession: I seldom plunge into the fetid, rancid retention pond of “mainstream media”. Virtually all the information/background I seek is from select magazines (germaine to current events, Harpers and New Yorker specifically) or the web. Can’t recall the last time I watched a network newscast, or for that matter even tippy-toed in CNN-land. Should I want to sample the stale bread offered there, I go to Crooks and Liars or Media Matters. (http://www.crooksandliars.com/, http://mediamatters.org/) I personally find Media Matters a little too fastidious for my taste, engaging in a lot of nuanced nit-picking, without ever really dropping the hammer on the lying jackals of the press. More of a curt slap across the cheek with a white glove. That said, Media Matter’s founder, David Brock, has written one on the most significant books pertinent to the media-in-the-era-of-Clinton: Blinded by the Right (http://www.democraticunderground.com/books/02/brock.html) If you’re not familar with it, Brock lays out his conversion saga of being a former journo-hitman for the Gingrich S.S. in the 90’s, and his ultimate enlightenment. Media Matters is obviously his self-imposed penance.
Also indespensible, book-wise, is Mark Crispin Miller’s Cruel and Unusual (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Crispin_Miller), a heavily annotated and referenced book about the media’s complicity during the Bush/Cheney reign of terror.
This is less of an opinion blog and more of a conversation starter and I’m leaving much out here, on purpose, because I’m interested in your sources and alternet faves. Trashing corporate media is great sport, so have at it!
well, there you go. The MORE you watch TV news, the less you know. Fact.
When Gulf War 1 broke out, I watched the initial air assault in Baghdad that night, turned off the TV, & that was it.
By no great desire of my own, I became a “go to” guy in Madison, Wi, for the anti Bush 1 view. TV, radio, print.
To my lasting pride, after a month or so, the Chairman of Wisconsin Viet vets, for reasons that still escape me pro Bush- ORDERED its membership to NEVER debate me in public.
Id make absolute fools of them every goddam time, because I NEVER watched TV news. Or relied on the newspaper….pretty damn sad, when you think about it.
back then I didnt have the Net to scrounge, either, but I did have a slot at a radio station & used its various access.
Id toss into your mix Counterpunch and the numerous links offered on Andrew Sullivans site- he’s not very fond of torturers and war profiteers, Talking Points Memo for Repub filth, and for those of you- too few- who have military sensibilities, these two blogs I find indespensible:
http://www.kaboomwarjournal.blogspot.com/ a platoon leaders observations of everyday life in Iraq for our nieghbors, relatives, & complete strangers acting in our name (government with consent of the governed, right?)
and inside baseball critical military intel http://abumuqawama.blogspot.com/
Im not a “progressive” or a “liberal” except in the sense of the very liberal men of the Enlightenment who came up with this notion of checks, balances, & representitive government. Not that by ANY stretch I think Im remotely as smart as they were.
After 40 odd years of being politically active/aware, I just got to say proggie Statists by & large make my skin crawl…..but not as much as reaganite Statists. So Im once again thrown into an alliance. You progs throw away chances at building alliances on a regular basis. Unlike the Right, which, since its only “core principles” are power, soak up massive amounts of popular support by giving lip service to whatever group they are addressing.
Progs might pare down thier endless lists of how they demand people think/speak/what they care to do/who they care to associate with/etc. if you can………
Lenin said, famously: “What is to be done?” Me: What is to be undone?
Show me a pol who, instead of laying out lists of laws they want to pass, lays out lists of laws they want to redact.
I have certain things I wont compromise on, like this: Ill NEVER give my support to a pol who dosnt think a woman is intelligent enough to decide wether or not to bring a fetus to term. You dont trust her? I dont trust you.
You dont trust me with a firearm? I dont trust you with political power.
And so it goes.
Just attended a memorial service for Terry Nye, Madame President, one of the founders of the Cute Motherfuckers Motorcycle Club. Terry was the kinda gal who wouldnt fit in too well with a lot of commentators here. Too goddam bad, too, cuz Terry was a king hell gal, a fiery Citizen, a two fisted badass, who understood the inherently dangerous nature of State power. She was a skeptic. That, her tats, her scarred knuckles & her sense of humour - never mind such social sins as ridin fast, drunk, & lovin it, would rule her out of “Peace movement” type events. Even tho she knew what a racket war is. She didnt have much schoolin, but she could read a map, & knew these countries we are blowing up are a long fuckin ride from here.
Whatever. I really walked away from public life a long time ago, but this war has drug me back in.
I figured out a long time ago almost everybody got some small part of The Answer. aint NOBODY got The Answer, aint NOBODY got a lock on the “correct line”. Period.
For 20 odd years I had the great privelige of being Ray Levasseurs secretary. The State buring him in tons of concrete & steel, I made it my purpose to see his words were read. glad to say, not allowin him to be buried meant he lived to see freedom.
You have no idea- or maybe you do- of how much static I caught from “progressives” for not letting him be buried away.
http://home.earthlink.net/~neoludd/
Comment by mutt — Saturday, April 5, 2008 @ 3:26 pm
<p>Except for the first three, in no particular order; otherwise, here’s what I read/listen to/watch when possible/available/interested. I’ve surely forgotten many, but perhaps that’s because I obviously get no sleep lol.</p>
<p>1. Monday-Saturday financial, survival news:<br />
http://urbansurvival.com/week.htm (may need to refresh) written by George Ure.</p>
<p>2. Monday-Friday doomsday headlines:<br />
http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/breakingnews.html assembled by Matt Savinar. If you’ve never been there before, start here<br />
http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/ and plan for a looooong read; bring kleenex, smelling salts, heart meds.</p>
<p>3. Uber doom food, etc. news and a good reason to cry, updated sporadically by the handsome (married w/children) gloomy “admin”:<br />
http://survivalacres.com/wordpress/</p>
<p>4. Breaking news the reichwing/MSM/LSM (lamestream media) doesn’t want you to hear:<br />
http://rawstory.com/<br />
http://buzzflash.com/<br />
http://alternet.org/<br />
http://rense.com/<br />
http://unfilterednewsnetwork.com/index.php</p>
<p>5. Political humor:<br />
http://www.bartcop.com/,<br />
Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me (fm89.5 11-noon Saturdays, http://kpbs.org/radio/schedule, http://www.npr.org/programs/waitwait/)</p>
<p>6. Outrage, angst and humor:<br />
Mike Malloy* on http://novamradio.com/ (M-F, 6-9pm, http://mikemalloy.com/),<br />
Maron v. Seder on http://www.samsedershow.com/ (Tuesdays, 8-9am usually).<br />
[*Mike’s on vacation next week: Sam Seder Monday April 7th; Marc Maron Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday April 8th, 9th, and 10th; then Peter Werbe wraps it up on Friday April 11th]</p>
<p>7. When Stacy’s preempted by sports:<br />
Jeff Farias (M-F, http://www.1480kphx.com/DynamoSite.php–also a very dependable feed for AAR, if anyone’s left there, and alternative for Mike Malloy if novam is hard to stream)</p>
<p>8. California issues/news:<br />
The California Report (Fridays, fm89.5 http://kpbs.org/radio/schedule),<br />
NOW (Fridays, everchanging times, ch.11(15) http://www.kpbs.org/tv/tv_schedule/, http://www.pbs.org/now/thisweek/archive.html)</p>
<p>9. San Diego issues/news:<br />
Editors Roundtable (Fridays 9-10am, fm89.5, repeats Sundays 6am http://kpbs.org/radio/schedule)</p>
<p>10. The best tv journalist alive:<br />
Bill Moyers Journal (Fridays, everchanging times, ch.11(15) http://www.kpbs.org/tv/tv_schedule/, http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/index-flash.html)</p>
<p>11. Sometimes great author interviews:<br />
C-SPAN2 (ch.18, weekends, http://www.booktv.org/)</p>
<p>12. Almost continual embarrassment live from our reprehensible unRepresentatives and scumbag Senators:<br />
C-SPAN (ch.21, weekdays, http://c-span.org/) </p>
<p>13. All things UFOish and ghostly, this will either put you to sleep or scare you awake, but they consistently scoop NASA and have interesting news at the top of the show, loads of folks with predictions, and wacko callers out the wazoo. It used to be rah-fuckin-rah for TPTB, but they’re coming around:<br />
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/, nightly 10p-2am (sometimes portions repeat 2-4, 5, or 6a; sometimes the previous day’s show repeats prior to the current show, starting at 6,7,8 or 9pm) on am600 (http://kogo.com/main.html), am640 (http://www.kfi640.com/main.html) or any of hundreds of affiliates (http://www.coasttocoastam.com/info/wheretolisten.html)</p>
<p>14. Blogs I read:<br />
http://kunstler.com/index.html<br />
http://morrisberman.blogspot.com/<br />
http://www.samsedershow.com/</p>
<p>15. Gardening info from around the globe:<br />
http://www.peakoilstore.com/forum/index.php/board,21.0.html</p>
<p>16. Latest find re buying non-GMO foods:<br />
http://www.responsibletechnology.org/GMFree/HowtoBuyNon-GMFoods/index.cfm</p>
<p>Whew! Sweet 16 and kissed by death, laughing up one side and crying down the other!</p>
Comment by Kathleen — Saturday, April 5, 2008 @ 5:48 pm
Sorry, I screwed up ALL those links that have a comma behind them; can we get a “preview” mode? Vewwy sowwy. Chalk it up to no sleep? When you get the 404/err, delete the comma and they should work. (OR, could an editor go in and delete the commas?) This blog needs to get a tad more friendly to idiot posters like me.
Comment by Kathleen — Saturday, April 5, 2008 @ 6:07 pm
MSM is a myth look at the advertisers on the major network news programs it is the exact same group that has a strangle hold on the elected representatives.
1.) Oil industrial complex
2.) Big Pharma complex
3.) Military industrial complex
They are using our tax dollars to buy the advertising to disseminate non stop propaganda on the people. It will be interesting to see what this destruction will bring it appears to be beginning to unravel. I have a gut feeling that it will affect the likes of Mark Larson and his mindless followers. Any one to say the simplistic propaganda Mark Larson does and all the other dimwits in right wing radio land will have the most difficult removing the heel of the jack boot from their throat because these idiots do not even see it coming.
When a socialist program The UNITED STATES TAX PAYER is required to bail out the precious symbol of capitalism Bear Stearns it’s over capitalism is just an illusion.
Comment by Jesse east county — Saturday, April 5, 2008 @ 9:07 pm
In the 1990’s my then girlfriend was astounded to discover I did not own a TV, did not want one, and had not had one for many years. Only more recently have I begun to watch a bit more TV but still careful about what I view. Sometimes stuck in a hotel room, I flip on the TV and see all the cable trash or 100 channels of useless programming. I have found when I am away from TV, and then come back, it has an almost agitating effect on my energy/nervous system. The TV news/talk shows, where so called journalists are together as experts, is nothing like days where civility/courtesy/class (C3) was important (like Mr. Heston who had enormous C3, since he passed away tonight). These modern guys on cable/network news-talk, argue and talk over each other, and it is the same old show over and over. If they are not debating the non-debatable, or discussing items to take our eyes off the true problems, they have CNN full of Nancy Grace at night who does shows on some missing blond gal with botox (did you see a report said botox goes into the brain?) and fake breasts, who we have no idea who she was, but she was well liked but liked to sleep around, and now she is missing. Then the next night Nancy Grace says blood splatter was found at this missing no-body’s apartment, and let’s analyze the splatter patterns to see if we can make sense of it. No Iraq, no Afghanistan, no Putin, no Chinese invasion of America through new wars with silent weapons (called all the goods you buy at the Great Wall of Wal-Mart). Nancy Grace looks like one of those shape shifters in Devil’s Advocate, those people who only Charlize Theron could discern, that were hybrid demon-human people working for an international law firm. But that is another thread/topic. I can watch news all day long, and not get anything filling from it. It is like drinking O’Doul’s Beer and expecting some good result…only communists drink that stuff. But that is a different thread. We are an island now in America, the news we get is too often trivial, too often obsessed with non-idols like Britney Spears (thank God she is not in the current news cycles..did Nancy Grace say Britney was missing?). I have many good Web site sources, Stacy noted some good ones. I watch BBC and Lehrer News Hour. I listen to Stacy, KPBS in other hours, and have to admit during Stacy’s breaks I might sneak over to Hedgecock or Savage and see what they are saying. During the run-up program the masses (2002/03) to Gulf War II of many in a series, it became obvious to my discernment capacity, that Clear Channel Communications and Fox News, were some of the most gross offenders of responsible, accurate, unbiased journalism. I am sure Clear Channel and Fox have connections or handlers somewhere. Why Clear Channel even had that billboard on I-8 near College Avenue that showed an F-16 dropping bombs and a backdrop in red/white/blue and it said something like “SUPPORT OUR TROOPS…Sponsored by Clear Channel Communications.” On the local TV NEWS level, I thought KUSI was the most tainted for fair journalism, but if you look at the ownership and family of KUSI, you will get indicators of why they are patriotic without question.
Fox News’ former slogan of something like “FAIR, BALANCED and ACCURATE” was the most oxymoronic motto I’ve ever seen. They were the mouthpieces for Halliburton and the neoCON jobs they are. Oliver twist-the-truth North and all his lame reporting. And that goes for Sean Insanity, Mark Lobotomy Levin, Rush-the-Viagra-Limbaugh, and the bulk of talk radio. It is refreshing to hear people like Stacy because I don’t feel he is handled or bought, and I believe many of the others must be either GOP or CIA operatives.
Maybe Stacy can answer, do the network news anchors and their producers call each other up and decide on cue what their script is and the sequence of the presentation items? Because it seems highly coordinated from CBS, ABC and NBC evening news, one broadcast would almost cover it all.
In the 100 year model of perpetual and escalating warfare, if the Dr. Strangeloves get their way, we might have a whole lot more programmed information for the masses type TV/RADIO/PRINT, in addition to more AOL type censorship of the ‘Net + e-mails, and people like Stacy will be a rare talker (we might have to provide personal protection for him in some broadcast-booth compound). BTW, I’ve been very impressed also with Don Bauder who was the former business editor for San Diego U-T and now writes for the READER, and exposes all the frauds on San Diegans like Moores & Petco Park.
Comment by Darren — Saturday, April 5, 2008 @ 10:47 pm
sorry for the extra unneeded obscenity above. to make amends, an extract from a greenwald column that adresses Stacys blog entry:
Here are the number of times, according to NEXIS, that various topics have been mentioned in the media over the past thirty days:
“Yoo and torture” - 102
“Mukasey and 9/11″ — 73
“Yoo and Fourth Amendment” — 16
“Obama and bowling” — 1,043
“Obama and Wright” — More than 3,000 (too many to be counted)
“Obama and patriotism” - 1,607
“Clinton and Lewinsky” — 1,079
And as Eric Boehlert documents, even Iraq — that little five-year U.S. occupation with no end in sight — has been virtually written out of the media narrative in favor of mindless, stupid, vapid chatter of the type referenced above. “The Clintons are Rich!!!!” will undoubtedly soon be at the top of this heap within a matter of a day or two.
Comment by mutt — Sunday, April 6, 2008 @ 8:39 am
Hey Darren: I like Don Bauder too, but haven’t read him since he went to work at the Reader. Did you know the owner of the reader is a crazy right-wing fundamentalist catholic who is once again financing a ballot initiative to keep young women (pregnant or not) under the age of 18 from getting medical help without parential permission? There’s another one that puts limits on who can and who can’t be married.
I urge everyone here to boycott the reader and to be sure to read all ballot initiatives before signing any petitions. Let’s not even let them get to the ballot!
Comment by Lorelei — Monday, April 7, 2008 @ 1:20 pm
Dear Webmaster,
Thanks for trying to fix my linky problems, but, uh, you made it worse! Can you give another shot at the items in #3-5, 7, 13-16 please? Thank yew
Lorelei,
You can also use them to make seedling pots: http://lifehacker.com/software/diy/diy-newspaper-seedling-pots-252764.php or google for more ideas.
Agree about the idiot control freak Reader owner. I read Tin Fork online, but pick up a copy now and then to use to add carbon to my compost
Excellent reminder about reading before signing petitions, thanks! You can’t trust what the people are telling you.
Comment by Kathleen — Tuesday, April 8, 2008 @ 6:15 am