Moyers:"by no stretch of the imagination can we say today that our media are guardians of democracy"

[kpete]

Bill Moyers: "Big Media Always Wants More. And It Will Stop at Nothing to Get It."

Big Media is ravenous. It never gets enough, always wants more. And it will stop at nothing to get it. These conglomerates are an empire, and they are imperial.

Monday, 08 April 2013 10:03
By Amy Goodman, Democracy NOW! | Video

..........................

For years, the media marketplace for opinions about public policy has been dominated by a highly disciplined, thoroughly networked, ideological "noise machine," to use David Brock's term. Permeated with slogans concocted by big corporations, their lobbyists, and their think tank subsidiaries, public discourse has effectively changed the meaning of American values. Day after day, the ideals of fairness and liberty and mutual responsibility have been stripped of their essential dignity and meaning in people's lives. Day after day, the egalitarian creed of our Declaration of Independence is trampled underfoot by hired experts and sloganeers, who speak of the "death tax," "the ownership society," "the culture of life," "the liberal assault on God and family," "compassionate conservatism," "weak on terrorism," "the end of history," "the clash of civilizations," "no child left behind." They have even managed to turn the escalation of a failed war into a "surge," as if it were a current of electricity through a wire, instead of blood spurting from the ruptured vein of a soldier.

The Orwellian filigree of a public sphere in which language conceals reality, and the pursuit of personal gain and partisan power, is wrapped in rhetoric that turns truth to lies and lies to truth. So it is that limited government has little to do with the Constitution or local economy anymore. Now it means corporate domination and the shifting of risk from government and business to struggling families and workers. Family values now mean imposing a sectarian definition of the family on everyone else. Religious freedom now means majoritarianism and public benefits for organized religion without any public burdens. And patriotism has come to mean blind support for failed leaders.

It's what happens when an interlocking media system filters through commercial values or ideology, the information and moral viewpoints people consume in their daily lives. And by no stretch of the imagination can we say today that the dominant institutions of our media are guardians of democracy.

........


Beyond what is officially labeled "Secret" or "privileged" information, there hovers on the plantation a culture of selective official news implementation, working through favored media insiders to advance political agendas by leak and innuendo and spin, by outright propaganda mechanisms, such as the misnamed public information offices that churn out blizzards of factually selective releases on a daily basis, and even by directly paying pundits and journalists to write on subjects of mutual interest.


much more (plus a great poem):
http://truth-out.org/news/item/15592-bill-moyers-big-media-always-wants-more-and-it-will-stop-at-nothing-to-get-it

[ananda]

1. Mr. Moyers..

.. right as usual.

[ProfessionalLeftist]

2. Love Bill Moyers. Sharing. n/t

[Uncle Joe]

3. If only I could recommend this more than once!

I would do it in a heartbeat.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.

[kpete]

4. Uncle Joe

Happening year for me and my family
thank goodness,
best way to stay busy

peace, kp

[Uncle Joe]

5. kpete

Last edited Sat Apr 13, 2013, 09:37 PM - Edit history (1)

It has been a most happening year for me as well.
I'm glad things are going well for you and yours'

Peace to you, UJ.

[L0oniX]

6. If anyone deserved a citizens service medal ...it's Bill. K & R

[lastlib]

7. I'm going to start a White House petition....

... to get Bill Moyers a Presidential Medal of Freedom. That man is a national treasure.

I'll post a link on DU and a few other boards to let people know when it's up.

[TxDemChem]

8. In the words of my great grandma,

"He ain't never lied!"

[GiveMeFreedom]

9. Mr. Bill Moyers

is a living legend. K and R. Peace.

[kpete]

16. Back at you

GiveMeFreedom

and peace,
kp

[valerief]

10. More like Thwarters of Democracy. nt

[Cleita]

11. Moyers got railroaded like Dan Rather was back when the media whores took over

our news outlets shortly after the Shrub monarchy began its rule. So he knows what he speaks of having been in the belly of the beast.

[Blue Owl]

12. Enablers of Creeping Fascism

Of the corporate personhood and for the corporate personhood.

[xtraxritical]

21. Roger Ailes (sic) and Ruppert Murdoch and a very few others have

a lock on the media that they bought from Congress.

[defacto7]

13. Major K&R n/t

[midnight]

14. K&R

[Berlum]

15. Corporate media (R) has turned its back on Americans and the truth

Completely corrupted by crass commercial interests, with the so-called journalists all having Assumed the Position for a handful of MaMMoN.

[tex-wyo-dem]

17. Bill Moyers = truthteller (nt)

[raouldukelives]

18. K&R!

Don't know which is worse. The media or the people that choose to work for its benefit.

[Vinnie From Indy]

19. "And patriotism has come to mean blind support for failed leaders. "

K & R Mr. Moyers!

Cheers!

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. Hmm...hmmm...this is why you need to support

community journalism. Some of us do the work...but it's not cheap.

So find your local paper, I don't mean your major daily...and support them. For example, we at the East County Magazine covered, in depth, a hunger strike, both at the paper...where we broke national news...Congressman Juan Vargas and immigration, and on my blog

You want alternate news to thrive and challenge the monopolies...simply put...we need money.