What Will It Take To Break The Media Grip?

[burning bush]

Bush is a badguy, we get it.

But is he the real problem? Would Bush even be in office if not for the giant media conglomerated control of information?

More than just getting rid of Bush in 2004, what must Democrats do to reign in this egotistically bloated, ethically emmaciated media?

Is it even possible?

I hope that Dean, if he cannot win the nomination, continues gaining delegates, and forces a plank on the Dem platform to reform the media in this country.

After all, its only our entire democracy that is at stake.

[KissMyAsscroft]

1. Dean is the only one that will adress the problem

nt

[SangamonTaylor]

2. which media do you refer to?

Sure not movies, music, or magazine form of media?

Major news papers are fairly split down the line.

The national public tv media (abc, cbs, nbc, pbs, etc.) are all pretty fair (or even quite liberal).

Cable media is naturally more right-wing because of their demographics. I mean, think about those people who can afford cable tv. "The aristocrat choir sings, 'what's the ruccous.'"

Same goes with right wing AM radio.

[burning bush]

5. Thanks for weighing in Sangamon

Tell me, since you wear an Edwards ensignia, is this the opinion of your candidate? that the Public TV media are all pretty fair?

I disagree, but I want to know if Edwards just lost any chance he had with me or not.

So, clarify for me, would you?

[LearnedHand]

6. Okay, let's back up here

ABC, CBS, NBC are not anywhere CLOSE to being fair or even liberal. Vis: They were among the loudest who beat the drums for the Iraqi war; they refused to question Bush about ANYTHING (2000 election, Sept. 11 attacks, his arrest record, his TANG service); and they LOUDLY repeated any rumor or lie coming from the wingnuts about Clinton, Hillary Clinton, any of their associates, etc.

PBS is not bad, but they watch their asses because of NEA and other public funding (same for NPR).

I don't know what newspapers YOU read, but they only line they are split down is between rightwing and RABIDLY rightwing.

Cable media has almost NOTHING to do with demographics, and neither does AM radio. It has EVERYTHING to do with who owns the cable and AM radio outlets: namely, Armpit Murdoch (cable outlets), and ClearChannel (radio outlets).

I'm wondering if you've thought about the vast, vast (theoretical) importance of the media in this country? After all, besides religion, the media are the only other non-governmental entities mentioned in the Constitution. The people who dreamed up this experiment in self-governance realized how incredibly important an INFORMED electorate is to the task of self-governance.

[Catholic Sensation]

25. you sound like a leftist rush limbaugh

THE MEDIA IS COMPLETELY CONSERVATIVE!!! To which I say "wrong."

The regular television networks are more fair than right wing or left wing. Anything to the right of Noam Chomsky seems to pose as "conservative" to some people on this forum.

The newspapers I read tend to be fair. The New York Times Op-Ed page is a perfect example of this. They have Paul Krugman, Bob Herbert, Nick Kristoff to represent the left. Maureen Dowd to rep the moderate Democrats. And David Brooks and William Safire to represent the ultra-right. Their reporting tends to focus on the stories.

It seems like people who call the entire media right wing want the media to report only that Bush is a liar, that we went to war because of lies, and how Donald Rummsfeld is a war criminal nazi. The bias in the media isn't conservative or liberal, but sensationalistic and lazy. It's easier to go with the flow than to be a real journalist. That's the problem with the mainstream media: not political bias, but laziness.

[DannyRed]

27. errrrm....

read Eric Alterman, Al Franken, the FAIR website, and any number of other sources...you will find that you are wrong about this.

And you don't even have to read Chomsky or watch "Manufacturing Consent" to come to that conclusion...although you would be well-served to do so.

[tobius]

10. OMG!

high probability of flames predicted.

[wyldwolf]

12. I agree for the most part, but...

... I find it really funny how conspiracy theories are getting flung around this morning because Howard Dean hasn't performed to expectations.

Read between the lines of this thread and you read: "The MEDIA chose our candidate."

Several other threads are claiming the primary system failed.

When does it become the fault of your candidate?

[Doctor_J]

19. Uh-oh

Looks like we have a visotor from "free" republic. Here are a couple FACTS about the "quite liberal" media"

Last time a Dem presidential candidate got more newspaper endorsements than his opponent: 1964

Last time before that: Never

Average % of newspaper endorsements the GOP candidate gets: 70

If you want, we can have a contest where I name 5 Repub pundits who appear regularly on TV and then you name 1, and we'll see who runs out of names first.

As to your bizarre proposition about cable tv catering to "aristocrats" who can afford cable - IF that's true, exactly how does that translate over to AM radio?

Yeesh. The media is overwhelmingly RW because the people in charge - owners, managers, and editors - are right wingers.

[jus_the_facts]

3. ..first thing is to break up the monopolies...restore anti-trust laws..

.....and put MOST of these corporate bastards in PRISON....NO PARDONS....I'd say hang 'em for treason but that's frowned upon by too many...but that's what they deserve for what they've done to this country and the world IMO! :evilfrown:

[POed_Ex_Repub]

4. Two words - Trust Busting n/t

[DeepModem Mom]

7. Corporate control, and the current generation of reporters,

are the problem, in my opinion. I don't know what we, realistically, do about corporate control of our media. And, not that there are not millions of Gen Xers with a social conscience, and an interest in good government, but I'm afraid the ones who've gone into the field of journalism are no-nothings, who grew up during the Reagan years and see those years as the norm. Many older reporters are better (note what Cronkite has been saying), and I have hope for the kids of Gen Y.

[Guava Jelly]

8. an outright fully armed rebellion

is the only way (I am kidding of course)
but wouldnt it be neat to see all the fox pundits heads on pikes.

[DeepModem Mom]

9. I'd like to see them in the unemployment line...

with their whacko "journalism" a relic of the past.

[SerpentX]

11. Restore the Equal Time Doctrine

It may be their microphone, but they're our airwaves.

[mouse7]

26. Return of Fairness Doctrine is step one

FCC enforcement of Fairness Doctrine on all forms of TV is next, including cable TV.

Without access to the public airwaves, satelite communication doesn't work. Therefore, use that to force Fairness Doctrine on Cable News programming.

[burning bush]

13. KICK ME

thank you!

[mandyky]

14. I suggest a class action anti-trust or some other

sort of lawsuit. Let's petition the hell out of the FCC and start a media fairness movement.

[cryofan]

22. I agree! Legal action is the only way

Can we establish that we have been damaged by the media? If so, we might have a case.

[mzmolly]

15. I think we should work with moveon.org to lobby congress for a change

in the FCC regs.

I find it ironic that big media raised money for John Kerry's campaign and people still poo poo the whole possibility of calculated media interference. I don't know why it's not apparent that they wanted Kerry and enabled him while trashing Dean endlessly.

I will possibly voting for a man that Rupert Murdoch raised $$ for. Somehow that seems wrong ... *sigh*

[CWebster]

16. Storm the ramparts!

See you in the trenches!

[AP]

17. On Leno, Leno "slipped" and said that Edwards was running for VP.

Edwards laughed and pointed at him, and said that wasn't a slip, he meant that, but he mostly laughed.

I think that's part of the solution. You don't ignore it, but you don't get angry. It turns the tables.

And then when you get elected, you legislate free TV time and publicly funded elections.

[SeattleRob]

18. The Media is a big problem

I will start out by saying I am a Dean supporter. The Media played a large role in the demise of the Dean Campaign. I would also add that the Dean Campaign also has made a lot of errors and are not without blame.

That said, we have to be blunt here. The corporate media is a huge problem and if you don't recognize this, you need to open your eyes.

I would suggest looking at the run-up to the Iraq war as an example. The information that the Bush Administration was putting out was complete bullshit. The media did virtually nothing to challenge these false claims. In fact there silence was deafening. If a person like me with a simple internet connection can easily discover the contradictions and problems with the information the Bush people were providing, why couldn' most of the major media? Remember, a vast majority of Americans believed that Saddam was involved with 9/11.


We also have to look at media ownership issue. NBC is owned by General Electric, CBS is Westinghouse - Both companies make a lot of money as Defense contractors. Over the last couple of decades, the number of media companies controlling a majority of all media has shrunk to an alamring number. (With mergers and takeovers, it's down to about 5 companies.)

If you still have doubts, check out websites like www.mediawhoresonline.com and www.thedailyhowler.com where the misdeeds of the media are examined in great detail.

Having a well informed public is vital to the health of our democracy.

[w4rma]

20. I don't know. Whatever it is it will take a whole lot of work. (n/t)

[DannyRed]

21. How?

Get a million people together.

Or ten million.

Or as many as you can get.

have each one buy as many shares as they can afford in an agreed upon media outlet, for example the NYT, or the Washington Post, or whatever.

Have this group buy stock over a looooong period of time (businessly speaking, I think that means over the course of a few months or maybe a year) to prevent notice and prevent price/volume spikes.

then have all those people give their 1, 5, 10, 100 shares to an agreed upon Holding Company or agreed upon individual (like MoveOn, or Gore, or me...)....

And then present the Board of Directors or the CEO or the CFO with a fait accompli.

Demand a seat on the board, orchestrate a sale or takeover, and fire all the editors and reporters, and replace them with our own choices.

If the company balks, or sues, or stalls...then, after having amassed X Million shares of their stock over a period of months, we SELL all that stock over a period of hours or days, cratering the stock price, damaging the corporation, and putting a serious hurt on them...at a loss of a couple of dollars apiece.

Then we move on to the next target.

What do you think?

[Leilani]

23. But "the people" own the airwaves

so why should we have to buy them again?

[DannyRed]

24. No we don't...

Clinton gave them away, remember?