Michael Moore: 'Newspapers Slit Their Own Throats'

[tomm2thumbs]

Run time: 04:29 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFkbShik1L0   Posted on YouTube: September 14, 2009 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: September 15, 2009 By DU Member: tomm2thumbs Views on DU: 11227

 

Michael Moore talks about how American newspapers overwhelmingly supported Republican candidates for President through the years when they were the ones who would undermine support for education and would eventually kill the papers off. He cites how advertising funds our papers while other countries' papers are supported more by circulation. Corporate paper conglomerates squeezed the papers dry of money and then let them die away. He equates it to GM supporting candidates who were against driver's education. How smart would that be?

Some very interesting thoughts from Moore.

[fascisthunter]

1. kick (nt)

[Xipe Totec]

2. Death by 1,000 paper cuts n/t

[whatchamacallit]

3. Tell it! (n/t)

[janedum]

4. WOW!! Heavy Video!! Thanks!

[DearAbby]

5. Excellent :)

[BillDU]

6. ?

I voted democrat.

[LiberalAndProud]

89. Which newspaper?

Maybe I should become a subscriber.

[LuvNewcastle]

7. Great analysis.

That's exactly why I quit reading my local paper.

[Merlot]

8. Michael Moore says it like no one else

He cuts straight through to the heart of the matter, and throws in a joke for good measure.

Keep talking, Mike!

[harvey007]

9. Right on Target

Michael Moore hit the nail on the head. Sad but true.

[gtar100]

10. Interesting connections. 30 years of extreme republicanism bears witness

When I was in elementary school back around 1972, we got a new principal who was very conservative. I didn't know it like that at the time but I recognize it now. For the first few years I was there, before this guy arrived, we had plays, a lively art scene, music classes, and a very vibrant school. Then all that stuff started to get scarcer and scarcer. I recall it had something to do with not having the money. I recognize it now as a conservative mindset taking over the school. Sure it's easy to save money by cutting programs but we started losing culture. I learned (without thinking it in these terms) that republicans have a very narrow definition of the value of culture and are very short-sighted. My mom was a republican and I respected Nixon at the time, thinking he was a good man. But by the time Reagan came around, I knew he was a bad choice and seeing him take over, it felt only like a terrible omen for this country. By the time I had a chance to vote, I went straight democrat. Republicanism, conservatism is a slow death for a nation and its people.

[diane in sf]

62. Good reply--I'm older and I remember when we had very good education and

public services in the 50s and 60s, You were definitely there for the gutting of public schools and the making of college unaffordable.

[truedelphi]

69. Even in the eighties and nineties, we had some

Pockets of good education. But the HS my son graduated from in 1993 is now considered a gang mecca, and so most people who can move away from that district or put their kids in public schools do so.

Of course, the older you are the better the schools -- my dad's old textbooks are testiment to that. My Dad was an articulate guy, graduated from HS in 1928 at the age of sixteen. When I was in fourth grade, he passed all his grammar school books on to me. I found his seventh grade geology textbook one that needed a dictionary close at hand to read. Even kids now in college wouldn't have mastered it.

But his generation was expected to look up words - there was none of this nonsense of building a vocabulary for an age group. You had edcuated people writing the text books, and they used the best word to describe something - even if that meant that some poor seventh grader would have to look it up.

I was taught poetry, rhetoric and dialetics in my HS in mid-sixties. So I came out of that school able to evaluate any and everything. People taught after my generation don't have those tools at their disposal.

[bobbolink]

67. Thank you for your first-hand account. For those of us who are older,

we can see these things, but it's more theoretical.

Your experience bears out what we have thought.

Turning this around is going to be really tough.

[ro1942]

11. That was brilliant thanks for posting

[democracy1st]

12. K & R

[Hutzpa]

13. This is the reason I admire this guy

dude, this is going to open the minds of idiots if that line of argument is pursued
and I think Michael Moore should go for it.



:kick: & Rec.... :thumbsup:

[Triana]

14. Righteous. K & R n/t

[Iwillnevergiveup]

15. K&R

The nation of sheep is all by design. Circulation, then advertising sounds about right.

[Joe the Liberal]

16. k&r This is good but I can't wait to see his new film. n/t

[Kitty Herder]

17. Interesting. I'd never thought of it that way. n/t

[GivePeaceAchance]

18. Moore is a complete legend, calls it like it is every time.

[The Wizard]

19. Just calling them out

It's why Republicans hate Michael Moore.
If you know any Republicans, send this to them.

[Grinchie]

20. Moore is a good example of Critical Thinking and making connections.

This is just another thing that is not taught in schools anymore, but it doesn't stop there. In the 1930's, Dr. Weston Price, a researcher into Nutrition and Physical Degeneration found that the food Americans were eating were directly affecting the Brain Development of many Americans. He identified in no uncertain terms that malnutrition was rampant in the US, even though people were presumably well fed.

It was a factor of what people ate, along with the degradation of the food supply via travel from farm to market, and improper milling of flour, among others. He also noted that foods differed in nutritional value based on what regions they grew in, and warned of soil depletion way back then. His finding was that food is widely variable and dependant on soil fertility, and that most of the farmland in the US was already depleted by the mid thirties. I'm not talking about N-P-K alone, but all the rest of the micronutrients that food plants use to make the vitamins and minerals we depend on to build out bodies. N-P-K Fertilizers are the basics a plant needs, but it's not the whole story, and that story has all but been forgotten, thanks the the FDA and its rule of "Substantial Equivalence", because they didn't want to be responsible to grading food on Nutritional qualities.

Dr Price estimated that 30% of Americans needed some sort of supervision, or were developmentally disabled, even in the mid 30's!

This is another factor to the dumbing down of America. It's the reason why we have so many Sick and Tired fat people that struggle to wolf down anohter bag of pretzels loaded with nothing more than carbohydrates and trans fats. Forget about building blocks for the body in that crap, and don't count on the natural fatty acids that make up 90 percent of our brain to get any food for thought, because there isn't any to be found. We are fed like bee's now. All sugar water and high energy foods, but nothing to rebuild our ever changing cellular composition. Price even showed primitive people on primitive diest, teeth worn to the nubs, covered with enamel! No cavities, the enamel grew back! That is what good food can do. Bad food is the real thing that destroyed the natives of the world. The white man poisoned them with crappy food, and they succumbed to disease, birth defects, and general degeneration.

Then, there is the dirty little secret about Thimerosol, and now the revelations of Adjuvants such as aluminum in vaccination given to infants. This incredibly disturbing and dissapeared news story is fought against by the Big Pharma groups as viciously as Monsanto pays the MSM to keep any negative news about GMO's in the news. I've done my research, and despite what the Bloviators say, Thimerosol is still used, and the Adjuvants may be just as diruptive and toxic to the human system. Again, it has taken nearly 20 years to make the connections as the Autism rate skyrocketed starting in 1992 on an exponential curve.

Then their is Prozac nation. Kids, Adults, the Elderly.. Prozac in good for you. Millions take this stuff, and they can't quit cold turkey. It is used by collage students, and is easier to get than a joint.

GMO Food is another source of worry. Our kids born in 1996 are the Guinea Pigs for widespread GMO food. It is only a matter of time before this crap shows up in another generation of Ill people. I have a friend that has been interviewing prospective tenant for a management company. This person is extremely disturbed by the large numbers of young children that are out of control when they visit for a walk through. Frankly, so am I. I see the problems now, and I wonder what kind of monsters we are producing unknowingly due to the hidden malnutrition.

Put all of this shit together, and you get Joe the Plumber. A substandard human, or Intelligent Ape. You decide.

[diane in sf]

63. Very good info, I'm a great follower of Weston Price. A good cookbook that follows

his information is Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats by Sally Fallon.

[Grinchie]

73. Yes, but Dr. Price's works really upsets the Vegans to the point of Rage

I have posted regarding him in the past, and have received incredible Flame baiting from so called Vegans that have been slighted by his findinds that Vegan's also exhibited signs of malnutrition. I forget exactly what he called them in the book, but I think he called them fanatics.

I grew up as the offspring of a tpracticing and teaching Prfessor of Medicine and researcher. I grew up with the scientific method, and my father, along with all of his associates alwyas talked routinely about such things. Nothing was personal, and they were not afraid of words, similiar to what I saw in Price's book, which is nothing more than an honest reporting of the data, in albeit less than politically correct terms, typical of no nonsense researchers. Very little emotion, but driven to get the facts right at all times.

Thanks for the reference, I will look up the book by Sally Fallon.

I was intrigued by the many descriptions of the indiginous peoples he studied and lived with all over the world, and his reports on their native diets. It's fascinating to see what people ate when they were using so called primitive agricultural methods, but in my studies, I have found some of the older methods extremely unique, and have focused on re-establishing the important sustainable technique that enabled the pacific islanders to produce enormous quantities of food in isolation from the world for centuries.

The period after Western Contact shifted agriculture from subsistance to cash crop, and ended up destroying the native agro-forestry techniques and causing the old methods to die out, in favor of Imported high starch, westernized diets.

My results have been wildy successful, and I rarely have to do any work, nor add any inputs. The diversity provides food all year round, and also is at harmony with the forest, which is a key component of the system. I do not force more out of nature than what it wants to produce on its own, so crops are consistent, both the good bugs and the bad bugs have plenty to eat, other than my food crops, and I harvest all year long instead of dealing with a huge glut of food coming to harvest at once, which is the worst bit about farming if you ask me. There is nothing so awful as working 90 hour weeks to get a big monocrop harvest picked, graded, packed and shipped. Been there, done that, don't like it.

[diane in sf]

93. Thanks,you might enjoy reading about the Japanese farmer following your same

nature-based working methods in Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature by Janine M. Benyus. I'm curious about what techniques you're using and what you're growing and harvesting.

As to vegans, most of the ones I know don't look too healthy by their 40s, gray haired, stick thin or pot bellied with stick limbs--all signs of not great health. I think veganism is more of an urban, fundamentalist religion based on not wanting to hurt animals, which is not in tune with the reality of nature. Sadly, animals eat each other to live and plants wait around for something to poop or die near them. Even gentle cows eat a lot of bugs in their foraging.

But, some people can eat a carby, veggie diet and be healthy, if they are slow metabolizers and what they eat is real food. Some people don't digest meat very well because they don't have the enzymes for it. Some are more natural meat eaters and may not have the enzymes to deal with grains.

[chervilant]

66. As a fledgling public school teacher,

I feel compelled to respond to your post.

First, thank you so much for pointing out the grim and irrefutable fact that we are what we eat. I can personally attest to the fact that eating a healthy, largely organic diet is both difficult and expensive. Having battled obesity all my life, I started eating 'right' and exercising, accomplishing and maintaining a healthy weight for seven years. My energy level shot up and my appetite--no longer driven by sugar or artificial ingredients--leveled off. I went through a painful, unexpected divorce, and reverted to my old eating habits (well...I still don't eat trans fats or sugar). Now, I can tell that 1) artificial ingredients are toxic AND addictive, 2) most processed foods are cheaper and easier to obtain, and 3) truly organic, locally grown fruits and vegetables are now nearly impossible to find.

Second, the degradation of our public school system is much farther along than most people know or will admit. I have to substitute teach now, because my district thinks I'm "too intelligent to teach these kids," so they haven't offered me a second permanent teaching position. Last Wednesday, I watched in helpless horror during lunch as a 'special education' aid lost her temper with her only student whose presenting emotional disorder features aggressive oppositional defiant behavior. Her inappropriate anger (and, I'm not judging her for this, as so many adults have BEEN there) escalated his emotional response and she grabbed him just above his wrist and squeezed hard, as she berated him for his behavior (which he lacks the ability to comprehend). Not a single veteran teacher who witnessed this event addressed how she mishandled this student.

The number of children who have serious emotional disorders like this is increasing exponentially. Compound that reality with a piece of crappy legislation called NCLB, and we have to 'mainstream' most of these emotionally disturbed children. What do you think this does to the level of education for students who are not temporally or emotionally or intellectually impaired?

Furthermore, NCLB means that standardized testing is much more important than educating our youth. Last year in our district, students 'passed' their standardized test if they scored at least 53%. More than 70% of my students could not do long division or simple multiplication, and let's not even mention fractions! How's that for 'education'?

[Grinchie]

74. Yes, Nutrition has been neglected for the most part in Modern Medicine

In my former life, I was a Software Engineer. In my current life, I feel like a Terraformer, with a huge palette of plant life to work with. Some edible, some not, but all useful in some way.
I originally purchased my first farm as a means to shelter the income from Software Engineering, and it certianly proved to be a valid means to do it. A few years in, the DotCom bubble hit, and then Enron nailed the coffin in to my career, which forced me to farm full time just to hang on. Inevitably, I had overextended based on now nonexistant income and jobs, and after 2 years, finally went underwater and lost a beautiful farm to the Bankruptcy Trustee.

However, I would have succumbed much sooner if I had not been on the farm, and the time spent actually producing full time, out in the fresh air, observing nature, changed my point of view, and I shifted from the Cubicle Farm to the Food Farm. The loss was painful, so I quit California and moved to a Tropical Island and bought a tract of land there.

I had to research farming in the Tropics all over again. It is just too different to take any skills learned on the mainland to the tropics. I took my time, and eventualy found an existing farm living uder all the vines and secondary growth. Turns out I had an existing crop but didn't know it! With some survey I was able to identify everything we needed for at least subsistence, fiber and timber. I have expanded to about 80 more species, all growing in a semi wild state, and it just does it's thing for me. It's very cool.

What you have experienced is Detox, and it's just like Nicotine addiction. It take the body at least 4 months before the Toxins of Cigarettes are flushed out of your system, longer if the body is compromised. After the flush, I could start to smell other smokers, and I found them revolting. In fact, to this day, any cigarette smoke on clothing makes me sick. It' took me 4 months to cleanse, and I was very active, out in the woods on the motorcycle everyday. I was a vicious mean terror behaviorally.

After I got over smoking, I started learning about food, and it is similar in it's effect.

You are absolutely correct. Our processed food is incredibly cheap, and incredibly toxic. It may taste great, but the body isn't satisfied and demands more. The number of Morbidly obese Men, Women and Children is truly staggering, and for this reason, I doubt that we will get meaningful health care reform, simply because the Government knows that the Food is generally poison. The lack of any action by Obama on GMO's, plus his appointment of Michael Taylor (Monsanto) to the USDA recently, cause me and my cirsle of friends, farmers, and acquaintances to drop support for him, and their is no going back. He is truly a one term president when it comes to the people that are concerned with reformed, sustainable agriculture.

NCLB is the culmination of the goal towards Specialization to the point of idiocy. We no longer have liberal arts, music, Metal Shop, Electrical Shop, and pardon me while I date myself, Print Shop.

We have Channel one, with Corporate messaging for the kids in the classrom. A is for Axiom, your home sweet home, B is for Buy-N-Large, your very best friend. C is for Cupcake in a cup!

Good luck in your teachings, I can feel from afar how difficult it must be.

[chervilant]

79. Wow...

Now, I'm just incredibly jelly! I dream of getting back to a tract of land and again growing my own food. I learned French Intensive methods, and the yield I got was phenomenal!

Also, I suspect that the Corporate Megalomaniacs want our public education system to churn out factory and service industry workers, as well as highly malleable, fearfully puerile people.

I appreciate your good wishes, but I despair of finding an administrator who is not intimidated by my intellect or vocabulary. On the bright side, my students love me. I had a college algebra student ask me "where were you when I had to take this in high school?!" because I had helped her understand a critical algebraic concept that she had never grasped before. Those are the moments I live for. Advocacy and art--sustains me, and keeps me optimistic.

[diane in sf]

94. Thanks again, wish I could recommend your comments!

[DeSwiss]

71. +1

[ScottLand]

21. I agree with Linda Ronstadt.

Michael Moore is a great American.

[Douglas Carpenter]

22. excellent!

[Lerkfish]

23. and on top of that, newspapers fired out or drove out any employee who was NOT republican

slitting their own throats, indeed.

and we all know why republicans don't want an educated populace -- just look at the tea party demonstrations.

[Oeditpus Rex]

53. What's your source for this?

Newsroom cuts began with positions being eliminated. Copy desks were cut by a third and beats were combined. Then they took some off the top, firing or buying out employees with seniority — the ones who cost them the most. I was one.

Political allegiance had nothing to do with it.

[Joe Bacon]

24. Kicked for Mike!

He tells the truth. Republicans will live to regret their desire for Idiotcracy!

[baldguy]

27. Regret requires understanding.

Remember, these are the people that will still claim Obama isn't an American citizen even after they're shown his birth certificate & statements by the Governor and Director of the Dept of Health of Hawaii saying that he is. These are the people that believe Obama is a Muslim AND a radical black nationalist AND a communist AND a Nazi AND a socialist - all at the same time. These are the people that still believe that Saddam did 9/11 & had WMDs. These are the people that Hospice is a death squad and that Medicaid isn't a govt program.

These are the people who think ignorance is a virtue.

[Joanne98]

25. Good point.

[Vroomfondel]

26. Kicks for Michael

Americans, mostly, do not deserve him.

[maxpower]

28. Right on

We need more Michael Moores. Pun intended.

[90-percent]

29. Dear Michael

Please, my good friend, take better care of yourself. We need you around for a whole lot more decades, buddy!

-90% Jimmy

[maxpower]

70. From your lips to the FSM's ears

Peace,
Max

[90-percent]

96. Michael Moore health update

http://www.thejaylenoshow.com/video/clips/michael-moore-part-1/1157707/

According to this Sept 15 Leno clip, Michael has lost 60 pounds since Christmas!

Thank you, Michael! I hope this inspires me to do the same.

-90% Jimmy

[chervilant]

77. Wow...

You don't happen to live in Sugar Land, do you?

[txwhitedove]

92. Chervilant, a belated welcome to DU, from Spring, TX!

:)

[chervilant]

95. Thank you!

Glad to see another Democrat lives in the big state of Texas...

[Richd506]

30. wow.... I'm speechless

O_O

[pattmarty]

31. Fuck all those jag offs that criticize Moore. He may be a little "elitist"..............

...........but he stands for ALL poor, middle class, working people. I've seen all his films and am waiting for the latest.

[RufusTFirefly]

33. America can't trust elitists

Look what this elitist did to ruin our country!

:sarcasm:

[Hutzpa]

38. Elitist????

where did you get that from? thats a subtle dig at Moore and it's out of line.

[pattmarty]

51. See above: I like the guy, don't freak out.

[slampoet]

48. How is representing the interests of LABOR at all elitist? Name ONE other media figure who does.

[pattmarty]

52. See above couple of posts.

[slampoet]

55. That doesn't answer the question or deflect my point.

[pattmarty]

56. My opinion he sometimes has an "elitist" air about him. I think that...................

.................might be some of the reason he doesn't have a majority of "working people" (under 50K which by the way is most of the country) behind him. I have always liked Moore and ALL his films, but for whatever reason he hasn't gotten the working class behind him when they ALL should be by what his films represent.

[caraher]

68. calling Moore "elitist" is incredibly ironic

I read his free paper when he was in Flint, making less than the blue collar workers whose stories were his bread and butter. He owes his entire documentary career to the fact that he couldn't connect with the "elitists" at Mother Jones. Moore in San Francisco was a disaster; his brand of populism clashed horribly with the cultural milieu at the magazine he was hired to edit. Worse, when he moved to the Left Coast he gave away his printing press (I believe to someone in Nicaragua) and couldn't resume his paper.

I don't remember whether MJ bought him out or if it was a court settlement, but Moore turned that lump of money into some film equipment and made "Roger and Me." And the rest is history... apparently because the very "liberal elite" who today toast him rejected him as an editor.

[slampoet]

75. The majority of people wanted to pound an other nail into Christ.

Does that make Jesus an elitist?

Popularity has nothing to do with LABOR.

LABOR is also not about income level as a definition.

Your point is an irrelevancy.

[pattmarty]

78. Well, my "opinion" is you're wrong. Have a nice fucking day!!!!!!!!!

[Quantess]

80. Your concept of "elitist" is odd.

A bit skewed.

[Lorien]

88. "Elitist" is a Right Wing code word for "educated"

is educated a BAD thing in your book?

[pattmarty]

97. Since you're asking me a "question", I want to ask you one.........................

...........Did you actually read (and comprehend) ANY of the things in any of my posts here? Did you look at my avatar or my comment about education? I am beginning to think some so called Liberals (yes, I proudly still refer to myself with the "original" term) are blindly one sided as some of these right wing nuts. Maybe I should have a different term instead of "elitist" (my dictionary must be an older version, it doesn't say "right wing code for educated") maybe aloof or "yuppyish" or whatever. I don't know how many fucking times I have to say that I like the guy and his work. Have seen all his movies and read his book too. Is there a secret "progressive" repentance that I have to go through or genuflection or maybe the secret "progressive" handshake??? I am just a poor working man, maybe you can let me know when YOU get off your fucking elitist high horse.

[LibDemAlways]

32. One of the things I admire most about Michael Moore is his

common sense. He puts two and two together in ways that get people to think.

And I am proud to claim him as a member of my (very) extended family - though I've never met him. His stepdaughter is married to my sister-in-law's cousin. From all accounts, he's a good guy.

[stillrockin]

34. The absolute truth!

My husband and I quit subscribing to papers ONLY because they had clearly become dominated by right wing ideology.

[Vinnie From Indy]

35. Well that and the fact that they lied so blatantly over the last few decades

From Bill Clinton forward, the fig leaf of responsible, informative news dropped away. The lying became so obvious during the reign of Smirky Bush that it became almost too painful to read newspapers for rational, informed people.

[lob1]

61. I agree, why read a newspaper when it's filled with lies?

I agree with what Moore said, but I'd add a couple of other things that's killing them. As I said, they only print the republican side of an issue, even if it's totally made up. Also, they let the media consolidate and become basically newsletters from only 5 corporations. We need to break the media up again, or we'll never hear the truth.

[LuckyLib]

36. Our paper routinely calls (how did they get my number?) to ask me something.

Since I subscribe 7 days per week, I suspect it must be some additional online "package" -- last time I told the caller that one more phone call and I am cancelling my subscription. The paper has cut reporters and is a shadow of its former self. All fluff, puff, and sports, just like TV.

[Enthusiast]

37. But as ignorance has

become more widespread it has given the GOP a useful tool. As an example just look at the Washington D.C. protest. These ignorant people are advocates for a position against their own best interests. So the GOP strategy of dummying down America is working admirably.

[justinaforjustice]

39. Moore Makes Superb Analysis of Newspapers' Demise.

Moore is a wonderful investigative reporter, the kind that our newspapers no longer employ. He relies on facts -- such as the fact that European newspapers make their money from their circulation numbers, i.e., their readers, while the U.S. newspapers rely on paid advertising for profits, causing them to degrade their readers and cut their reporting costs. American newspapers have cut out their reporting on news in favor of cheap opinion and fluff. Meanwhile, the newspapers have been supporting Republican candidates who want to decrease spending on education, thus increasing the illiteracy rate, thus decreasing the number of people who can read newspapers. Thus have the newspapers "slit their own throats".

Moore says that there are 40 million illiterates Americans who cannot read and write, and 40 million more who can read and write but cannot understand what they are reading above the 4th grade level. This is an appalling statistic. The big corporations and their Republican CEO want a nation of illiterate sheep. Is this why the Republicans support home-schooling and oppose adequate public school funding?

[Love Bug]

40. My local newspaper (StarTribune) used to be fairly liberal --

-- so much so that local conservatives would refer to it as the "RedStarTribune." But a few years ago it was sold and ever since then there's been a shift. They've fired most of their columnists (except that neocon whore Katherine Kristin still gets space from time to time) and they depend more and more on wire service stories rather than doing their own investigating and reporting. They even endorsed Norm Coleman for Senator this past election and when the election went into recount they were always the last news source in town to report on any development that favored Al Franken, even online. Fuck them. They will never get another dime from me. And apparently, a lot of others around here feel the same. They deserve whatever trouble they get for abandoning the liberal population that supported them for so many years.

[Overseas]

41. K&R. Great point. //nt

[Ozymanithrax]

42. Papers also became owned by large groups...

They ceased to serve local communities first.

In San Diego, It is better to read a free newspaper than the Union Tribune if you want to know what is going on in my community. The conglomeration of the media is all part of the problem.

[Uncle Joe]

43. This is all based on the client/customer relationship.

When newspapers flipped their primary income source from circulation to advertising, they also De Facto flipped who they represent or are most beholden to, client interests are virtually always preeminent over those of customers.

Open any newspaper and compare the space devoted to advertising as to that of reader content and their priorites become more apparent. They want to sell you a product, candidate or down the river, enlightening you as to the truth has become too dangerous to their bottom line as it threatens their client's interests.

An excellent observation by Michael Moore.

Thanks for the thread, tomm2thumbs.:thumbsup:

[tabatha]

44. Yep, the liberal press indeed.

[demigoddess]

45. something similar happened in broadcast news. About the early eighties

after reagan came in they passed a law saying it was okay to separate the news and entertainment sections of tv and make the news pay its way. Before that it was not expected to and was subsidized by earnings from entertainment section of the network. As soon as the law was passed, all sorts of people were fired out of the news organizations. As a result we now have very little news from overseas and also we have very little news that is not politics. They come up with the funds to cover wars though, because they bring in the viewers through fear.

[Jkid]

64. Source please?

What law are you talking about?

[BlancheSplanchnik]

46. Brilliant guy. Love him!

thanks for the summary. Can't watch now.

[tclambert]

47. In the past few decades, conglomerates have taken ownership of newspapers

and other media. (This affects the TV news, too.) They forced a more "businesslike" model on the news organizations. They want to print a newspaper as cost-effectively as possible. So they cut unnecessary staff like fact-checkers and many reporters, and the number of column inches of news stories. Taking press bulletins straight off the fax machine saves a lot of labor. Columnists, who often write nothing but opinions with very few facts, draw in loyal readers without the expense of digging up actual news. And, of course, printing what people say, with no effort to verify the truth of what they say, that saves work hours, too. You end up with all the newspapers becoming supermarket tabloids, what we used to call "gossip rags."

On top of that, the corporate officers saw they could use their newspaper subsidiaries to promote corporate goals. So they push them toward imitating the in-house company newsletters.

Objective investigative reporting, the stuff you need to find out what's really going on? That's expensive, inefficient, and sometimes embarrassing. What MBA would approve of that?

[ChiciB1]

49. He May Not Be Pretty To Look AT... But I Have ALWAYS Felt He Has

been "spot on" when it came to almost EVERY issues facing the downfall of America!!

Why so many people hate him is just beyond comprehension, but he summarized it with what he just said!

MORANS... AND BIG MONEY!!!

[davidwparker]

50. "good riddance" - That's right. Support independent media.

[pleah]

54. K& R

[GreenTea]

57. A great skilled Doc Filmmaker, always entertaining, funny & liberal-Does more than most to help

on so many issues including donating to many various causes..."Sicko" helped get the word out on health care -

Truly a fine, funny & touching film if you haven't you seen it.

Why do you think the republicans & corporations hate him, despise him, lie about him & the facts and constantly trash him...He upsets those happy & comfortable with the status quo and is not shy about getting right in their lying greedy faces...

How many do you know who consistently do that?

WE LOVE You Michael Moore!

At least Moore is always there trying, with facts, humor and a loud progressive voice!

Cheers to Michael Moore!!

[TommyPaine]

58. Newspaper management tend toward conservative; journalists don't

Newspapers' support of candidates and policies comes from management and editorial boards. There's often a disconnect between those bodies and the journalists and lower-level editors who do most of the work for the paper. Newspapers may also try to reflect the views of their readers even if they're not in agreement, e.g. supporting Bush in 2004 simply to placate a right-wing reader pool.

[gorfle]

59. I think he leaves out the most important thing.

I think this was just political grandstanding.

Yes, literacy is important to sustaining readership, and yes, catering to your readers instead of your advertisers is important, too.

But the biggest impact on print has been: THE INTERNET

The bottom line is this: People who seek out news are going to seek out news. And the Internet has become THE PLACE to seek out news. It is infinitely faster than any newspaper. It is cross-referenceable and checkable nearly instantaneously. It is easier to seek out the news you want and ignore the news you don't want. It is easier to ignore advertising.

[customerserviceguy]

91. Agreed

While there are elements of what Moore says that are true, it really didn't make any difference. The dead tree editions of sources of information were destined to dry up and blow away.

[jeremyfive]

60. The Way They Kissed Up to Bush, They Deserve to Die Off

The people would support real journalism, even as they transitioned to new technology.

But many of us were turned off by the slanted coverage and refusal to probe deeply into George W. Bush's tyranny and recklessness for 8 years.

Now, of course, Obama has to take the heat for cleaning up after this boob.

We would support a return to honest journalism--enough with the ass-kissing already.

[graywarrior]

65. Wow! Interesting that the 40 million illiterate empty barrels make the most noise

and those of us intelligent enough to comprehend the dire straights we are in are forced to deal with their lack of virtues via teabag rallies. You cannot have intelligent discourse with an empty barrel.

[ooglymoogly]

72. The big picture by Michael Moor

Hammer on head as usual. kr

[waldenaut]

76. Goodness. He was on fire.

Truth-to-power. Spoken.

[vinylsolution]

81. Bang on target, Mikey :)

Our local right-wing rag (the Colorado Springs Gazette) has recently hired Michelle Malkin, because its extreme hard far right-wing editorial page just wasn't insane enough.

And it was an awful paper, with plummeting circulation, even before that.

Duuuuuuh....

[20score]

82. Great! K&R

[lovuian]

83. Murdoch is going to lose lots of money

the Propaganda machine is exposed and dead

[argyl]

84. Cancelled my subscription to the Dallas Morning News on Dec.13th,2000,the day they editorialized

that the SCOTUS decision,which handed the election to Bush,was correct and proper.

Yeah, I know the paper is a RW rag for the most part but since I was a kid I had always looked upon a newspaper as a vital component of an informed electorate. I make due with the internets just fine now. Don't miss a local paper at all.

[number6]

85. kick n rec.

:kick: :thumbsup: agreed

[maxsolomon]

86. Didn't corporate consolidation have a lot to do with it, too?

the corporations that bought up the newpapers squeezed them until they were empty husks. Then the internet drove the nails into the coffins.

[mule_train]

87. Newspapers totally sold us out on free trade and globalism

New York Times Thomas Friedman - case in point

[AsahinaKimi]

90. Wow! You tell em Micheal !

K&R

[soonerliberlmom]

98. How Do You Feel About a Newspaper Bailout? (Poll)

Boy this is going to be a topic that both republicans and democrats both agree on. hope O is smart enough to realize both parties really don't trust them.

http://thedailyjabber.com/?p=1293