Note to MSM: I'm SICK of Your New "Infotainment Mode" and I'm TURNING YOU OFF

[The Cleaner]

This morning I woke up to the "news" of the Anna Nichole Smith trial that's been hyped by the media 24/7 this entire damn week. It was the very first damn story NBC Today Show brought up, and they've been talking about it ad nauseum. The next headline?

And this is big news...

Brittany Spears is now in rehab for the 3rd time.

I've had it. It's too damn much. While the world is holding its breath to see what will happen with Iran...while our troops our DYING in a never-ending war that Bush has just escalated...while the Democrats are voting on key measures such as an increase in minimum wage and scaling back the 2002 AUMF, while our rights and freedoms have been consistently attacked and our Constitution trampled upon, while Katrina survivors are STILL trying to rebuild both their lives and their communities, while Cheney may be the focus of a new investigation by Fitzgerald (remains to be seen) - ALL the MSM can blather on about is this absolute meaningless CRAP.

I've had it. It is HIGH TIME we ALL turn the channel. MSM has basically turned into a 24/7 Entertainment Network, and it is the most disgusting display I've seen in a long time.

Can I get an amen?

[hwmnbn]

1. Preach it Cleaner!!....

Amen and halleluia!!

I get my TV news from The Daily Show!

[truedelphi]

35. Same Here! n/t

[European Socialist]

2. It's a pukefest--especially in the morning.

[Dr.Phool]

3. Amen! I turned them off a long time ago.

The only broadcast or cable news I watch is Countdown.

I get better links to real news on DU and Buzzflash.

[vssmith]

54. Me too except I also watch Jim Lehrer on Public TV

[bahrbearian]

4. LINK TV

[EFerrari]

8. Link TV.

[rodeodance]

13. or Democracy NOW. (I once called them to say thanks for being on

in the morning as I could NOT stand the 'news" shows).

They need to know this

[Change has come]

50. Link TV

Free Speech TV is good too. I think it's only on the Dish Network. :toast:

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

44. or FSTV, channel 9415 on Dish Network

http://www.freespeech.org/fscm2/genx.php?name=home

[PhilipShore]

5. I agree

[mike_c]

6. turn it off and disconnect the cable....

That is the ONLY response that will make any difference to the MSM, and guess what? It'll immeasurably improve the quality of your life too!

[roody]

41. AMEN! You can get all you need here on the net.

[jollyreaper2112]

7. my solution

Bury Britney in Anna Nicole's grave and feed Anna Nicole's body to the sharks. Everything is resolved. Yay!

Seriously, I'm not sure if this is a chicken or egg question here. Who's fault is it, the bastards who print the celebrity gossip trash or the idiots who buy it at the checkout stands? If people would stop buying, would it go away? If they stopped selling it, would people develop taste?

[rman]

16. The owners of government and media

have an interest in keeping us uninformed about the important issues. That's the egg. Or chicken, if you will.

[BlueJac]

9. AMEN Cleaner

I saw that and turned the channel. I have watched a lot less MSM......I'm sick and tired of nothingness news. People have lost it totally.........The Iran war talk is nuts too!

[Jacobin]

10. america has gone All National Enquirer TV 24/7

Its the death rattle of a dying empire.

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

11. These Stories Died Days Ago

I admit, when Anna Nicole died, it was a story. OK. She's a celebrity, and she probably killed herself before even reaching 40. That's news I suppose.

Britney freaking out. Again, perhaps it's a 5 minute story. But now? It's just sad and tragic, and a waste of airtime. She's a BRAIN DEAD LOSER, pure and simple. I don't really care about what happens to her at this point, and I expect she'll eventually self destruct. When she finally does, and her story comes to a crashing end, then it will once again be news.

But the media is a pathetic joke. I find myself watching less and less TV, and when I do watch, it's Never news programming, except of course for Countdown. The only news that's fit to air!

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

12. Amen!

Only time I catch MSM news is when I'm in line at the bank.

[Tin Man]

14. Yep, turn it off.

[frogcycle]

15. amen amen amen amen

I am also getting tired of the latter portion of Olbermann's show. The mixed-bag was a nice idea at the outset, but he has emerged as one of the few reasonably good news outlets and I'd like to see them expand it to a full hour of the real stuff. ditch the "nightly segment of entertainment news"
altogether, and maybe keep the sound bites and worst person as a closer...

If an hour is too long for all "hard news of the day" clearly there are investigative stories (NOT child predator stings, or women in prison, PLEASE!) that could run in the second half, or "someone you should know" human interest like the Buck Owens stories

they could give keith a second show. he is multi-faceted; he could do an entertaining mock-news program with all the fluff


I get the impression from the comments "my producer is forcing me to do this story" he used to do that he might agree. I notice he doesn't say that anymore.

[grasswire]

22. start a poll on DU

Ask them if they watch half or all of KO. I'd be interested to know that, too. I only watch the first part, the hard news, much as I love KO. I just don't care about the entertainment.

[Marie26]

23. Try NewsHour

They do the investigative pieces, in-depth coverage & no entertainment fluff.

[frogcycle]

30. i know that

just sayin i want more of keiths better talents

[Marie26]

31. It's corporate TV

So IMO it's always going to have the celebrity fluff to balance out the serious news. That's the only reason they let him do the serious news.

[frogcycle]

32. I think ratings are overblown, but

it would be interesting to see how much his drop off in second half.

I don't really believe they can get that specific, but he was quoting someone else's ratings the other day saying they tank after the first 16 minutes, so I guess they at least THINK they measure that precisely

I don't trust ratings in general. I don't know if they still have "nielson families" with set-top boxes, or if they have other means to gather data, but I am reasonably sure they don't get a true cross-section. And that fine-tuning it to the minute just sounds absurd.

Viewing habits differ from what they were when there were just three broadcast networks and they were comparing ozzie and harriet to i love lucy I know they try to keep up, and advertisers pay big bucks for their data, but i am just highly skeptical that the data mean much

[Bjorn Against]

38. I gave up on the News Hour during the run up to war in Iraq

They were just like all the other networks, repeating the Administration's line without seriously questioning the consequences a war would bring. They failed us and I don't know if I can ever forgive them.

[Marie26]

47. Oh, well.

I didn't watch it during the run-up to war, so I'm disappointed if PBS jumped on that bandwagon too. But IMO it is better than the corporate TV news, because they don't need to jazz up the stories for ratings, which means they focus on substantive issues rather than fluff & hysteria. NewsHour has delved into important stories that most of the MSM ignores - the neoconservatives & "Cheney's cabal", the Libby trial, Waxman's congressional hearings & the shakiness of Bush's "evidence" against Iran. It's probably the best American nightly news show out there.

[Mind_your_head]

17. Amen - and I too turned them off long ago

I can't understand why 'reasonable people' would pay a lot of $$$ every year (for cable, big screen TVs etc) just so that they can be lied to, manipulated, and be fed mostly 'junk food' for the mind.

I hope more and more people come to the same conclusion that you have.

Peace,
M_Y_H

[Triana]

18. I turned it off back in 2001....

...have saved a ton of $ on cable teevee bills...

[porphyrian]

19. Say it loud. - n/t

[OneBlueSky]

20. I haven't watched a newscast -- broadcast or cable -- in over 5 years, and I'm still . . .

way more informed that any of my friends or neighbors who get their news from tv and newspapers . . . the internet is the only option for anyone wishing to keep up on what's really happening in the nation and across the planet . . .

[Ian David]

21. I have a solution

When they cover the Scooter Libby trial, they should just run B-roll footage of Ann Nicole Smith.

Everyone wins!

[Ishoutandscream2]

24. I cannot watch and listen to the news

DU is my news source. Seriously. The stuff I hear about Britney and Anna Nicole come from my co-workers. Of course, they don't have a clue about the Libby trial and seem to be oblivious to the war talk concerning Iran.

[bdamomma]

25. the dumbing down of americans continue.

sadly.

[KansDem]

26. I'm with you on this one!!!

Got rid of cable 11 years ago...haven't missed it since. Use the TV for movies only (we buy, rent, or borrow). My kids ask why we can't get cable (they will watch TV at a friend's house) and I just tell them, "..'cause there's nothing on!" They look perplexed but understand why I'm saying. Anyway, the "TV habit" has not surfaced in our household. Makes for some very peaceful evenings and weekends! I don't know, maybe when they move out and get their own places they'll have TV on 24/7, but I really don't think so...the habit just hasn't formed.

We can all overcome intellectual laziness and cultural malnutrition if we just turn off the TV!!! :thumbsup:

[davekriss]

27. You should've done that a long time ago

I stopped watching the MSM shortly after 9-11, after hearing the "they hate us for our freedoms" meme, and after hearing Paula Zahn say, after cutting away from well reasoned remarks from Scott Ritter, that "he's been drinking Saddam's koolaid" or something similar. With that, I had enough. I turned off the TV set. Now I watch the occassional movie on Sundance or IFC, and CSPAN. That's it.

I get my news from places like DU's Latest Breaking News and Buzzflash, and I watch (via online streaming) Amy Goodman's Democracy Now! There is no need to plug in to the MSM with it's near-monopolized indoctrinating messages and distractions from what matters. In fact, I think it's dangerous to do so. Like a bad an addictive drug, TV must be shunned.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

28. The dumbing down of the American public

I think we've got to put some money together and buy these news channels. I can't see any other way. Turning it off ain't going to do any good?

[MelissaB]

29. The first 18 minutes of the Today Show!

I just couldn't believe it. I usually eat my breakfast while watching this show. They really fell today.

[MamaBear]

33. Amen!

I turned off the TV over ten years ago, and it would take a whole hell of a lot to get me back. A lot more than they've offered so far.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

34. Perfect example...streaming on the bottom of MSNBC is a blurb about Herman Padilla not being able to

stand trial because his years in captivity have made him incompetent. Why aren't there full blown discussions on this?

It's only about an American Citizen stripped of his rights by this criminal President, and thrown in prison without due process of law...
:sarcasm:

[meldroc]

36. Yep. Bread and circuses is what the corporate overlords are demanding.

They use crap like Anna Nicole and Britney to distract us, to break up the stories about the corrupt bullshit in Washington that they're obligated to air because of intense demand. If they could manage it, the MSM wouldn't talk about Bush's surge at all, or his saber rattling at Iran, but they have to in order to get the viewership the advertisers want. So they mix in the Britneys and the OJs and the Anna Nicole Smiths in order to dilute the real news to keep the plebes docile.

[Bjorn Against]

37. Amen, I quit watching the "news" long ago

And I am a news junkie. I am news junkie, but Brittney Spears is not news to me. I refuse to waste my time watching people blather on about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and pretend it is "real news that matters". It is so sad that today Comedy Central is a more credible source of news than CNN.

[benld74]

39. I don't even watch anymore,,,

except for local news. Get all my news from the net now, from various sources. Local paper news is usually 2-3 days behind what I find on the net also. MSM basically is non-existant

[Supersedeas]

40. Coverage of John Mark Karr is what threw me over the top

[Glimmer of Hope]

42. That did it for me too.

[progressoid]

43. I watched 20 minutes of CNN yesterday. Pathetic.

It's too bad because with their infrastructure and experience they have to potential to be great. But instead, it's become tabloid TV.

[Chipper Chat]

45. I disconnected my cable when CNN hired Glen Beck

and happy that I'm saving $50.00 a month. I have an outside antenna that brings in the local stations, but I use TV mainly for security as I work nights and no one is home. My cat enjoys watching PBS at night. Fortunately at work I get to view the Keith rerun followed by Jon Stewart. That's the extent of my TV and I'm happy.

[GCP]

46. For those with satellite - BBC America

The only news source worth watching for international news - now that they got rid of the CBC feed from Canada - grrrr.

[The Count]

48. Amen. I watched Charlie Rose gushing over an UK racist saying

that "The English Speaking People have a Primacy in the world" (the only people you can trust to show up for a war). Rose was blubbering how others consider him a great historian and Bush loves his book...
And that was "serious talk" on public TV....
My Tv us usually on exclusively for entertainment - and infotainment is not in that category. For news I come here/Air America.

[snot]

49. For better or worse, I haven't watched corporate news for YEARS; and

don't feel I've missed a thing.

Any other thoughts on how to bring about media reform?

[LSdemocrat]

51. What the hell is "new" about it?

This has been going on at least since the OJ trial.

[PhilipShore]

52. The Public-Opinion Engineers

http://www.ninehundred.net/control/mc-ch5.html

THE RAPE OF THE MIND: The Psychology of Thought Control, Menticide, and Brainwashing, by Joost A. M. Meerloo, M.D., Instructor in Psychiatry, Columbia University Lecturer in Social Psychology, New School for Social Research, Former Chief, Psychological Department, Netherlands Forces, published in 1956, World Publishing Company. (Out of Print)


PART TWO: THE TECHNIQUES OF MASS SUBMISSION


The conviction is steadily growing in our country that an elaborate propaganda campaign for either a political idea or a deep-freeze can be sucessful in selling the public any idea or object one wants them to buy, any politial figure one wants them to elect. Recently, some of our election campaigns have been masterminded by the so-called public-opinion engineers, who have used all the techniques of modern mass communication and all the contemporary knowledge of the human mind to persuade Americans to vote for the candidate who is paying the public-relation men's salaries. The danger of such high-pressure advertising is that the man or the party who can pay the most can become, temporarily at least, the one who can influence the people to buy or to vote for what may not be in their real interest.


The specialists in the art of persuasion and the molding of public sentiment may try to knead man's mental dough with all the tools of communication available to them: pamphlets, speeches, posters, billboards, radio programs, and T.V. shows. They may water down the spontaneity and creativity of thoughts and ideas into sterile and streamlined cliches that direct our thoughts even although we still have the illusion of being original and individual.


What we call the will of the people, or the will of the masses, we only get to know after such collective action is put on the move, after the will of the people has been expressed either at the polls or in fury and rebellion. This indicates again how important it is who directs the tools and machines of public opinion.


In the wake of such advertising and engineering of consent, the citizen's trust in his leaders may become shaken and the populace may gradually grow more and more accustomed to official deceit. Finally, when people no longer have confidence in any program, any position, and when they are unable to form intelligent judgments any more, they can be more easily influenced by any demagogue or would-be dictator, whose strength appeals to their confusion and their growing sense of dissatisfaction. Perhaps the worst aspect of this slick mechandising of ideas is that too often even those who buy the experts, and even the opinion experts themselves, are unaware of what they are doing. They too are swayed by the current catchword "management of public opinion," and they cannot judge any more the tools they have hired.

____________________________________________________

http://www.ninehundred.net/control/index.html
NOTE: This work has been long out of print, last known publication date 1956, the World Publishing Company. Of course, the technology has advanced and the techniques have been refined, but the principles remain the same.


THE RAPE OF THE MIND

The Psychology of Thought Control, Menticide, and Brainwashing

by

Joost A. M. Meerloo, M.D

FORWARD

PART ONE -- THE TECHNIQUES OF INDIVIDUAL SUBMISSION

CHAPTER ONE -- YOU TOO WOULD CONFESS

CHAPTER TWO -- PAVLOV'S STUDENTS AS CIRCUS TAMERS

CHAPTER THREE -- MEDICATION INTO SUBMISSION

CHAPTER FOUR -- WHY DO THEY YIELD? -- THE PSYCHODYNAMICS OF FALSE CONFESSION

PART TWO -- THE TECHNIQUES OF MASS SUBMISSION

CHAPTER FIVE -- THE COLD WAR AGAINST THE MIND

CHAPTER SIX -- TOTALITARIA AND ITS DICTATORSHIP

CHAPTER SEVEN -- THE INTRUSION BY TOTALITARIAN THINKING

CHAPTER EIGHT -- TRIAL BY TRIAL


NOTE: There are additional chapters that are not available at this time.

[SoCalDem]

53. You can spend the day without watching them. I have Dish

and by strategically studying the schedule channel, I can watch CNN-I, BBC, Link, FSTV and the various uinversity channels, and never have to watch any of the Infotaiinment shows..

Every so often I go cold turkey too and just zone out on the HDTV home improvement shows :) I especially like "Neat".. every time I watch it, my own messy house doesn;t look so bad :)

[6000eliot]

55. I turned it off the day after the 2004 election,

everything, even newspapers. I haven't looked back since.