Honestly, what are we gonna do about media?

[HEyHEY]

I finally have a little package that can get Canadian TV on my computer in China. So, with all these world events I was happy I'd be able to watching updates on 24 hour news. How sorely disappointed I've been.

Last night I worked until midnight, mostly in front of a newswire service reading updates. So, when I got home I was thinking, "great! I can watch some news." Turned on the slingbox and started watching. CNN was laughing about how Donald Trump "Pulled one over on Gaddafi" in a real estate deal. Airstrikes were starting again and this was what was on. As a bunch of poor people are trying to overthrow one rich bastard running the country CNN is vilifying him while at the same time applauding a rich bastard in the USA for screwing him over. There's something sick in that, "Down with that rich guy, ya our rich guy!" (Don't get me wrong I'm not defending Maommar.) Just pointing out this.

I know Canadian and British media ain't much better. And I know it's hard to report from where they are (in terms of clear info) but something better has to be produced. It seems no matter what the banksters/teabagger...etc have done... the biggest issue that needs to be addressed is US media. Question is, how do the people make that difference?

[revolutionnow45]

1. I think we need to surround the stations and protest them like they did in Egypt

Those lying bastards are responsible for everything that has happened. If they didn't cover for the stolen election 2000, 9/11, lies about Iraq, another stolen election 2004, bailouts, looting of the country in general...none of this would have happened.

[HEyHEY]

4. That actually may be it. Turning off the TV won't work.

[tabatha]

2. We need to become like Mo Nabbous

and have our own internet radio stations.

[RufusTFirefly]

21. Mo Nabbous. May he rest in peace

Not sure we want the end that Mo met. Then again, maybe we do.

[tabatha]

22. No, we don't want that end.

But doing nothing, we will end up like him anyway.

[RufusTFirefly]

23. So true, tabatha. So true. n/t

[Blue-Jay]

3. Stab them with pencils. All of them. Right in the forearm.

[HEyHEY]

7. I came close once

harumph

[Blue-Jay]

9. Close to who? How close?

[HEyHEY]

11. Someone I used to work with

Diva news anchor, she's lucky here forearm isn't full of holes.

[SylviaD]

5. Get your news from the internet. n/t

[HEyHEY]

6. Most internet news is just regurgitated from CNN and has an opinion thrown in

I stick to rueters and such for bare facts. But that's all you'll get from them "This is happening here" for more in-depth stuff there's nothing.

[RKP5637]

8. Somehow the masses have to be educated that they are watching propaganda for

the most part with many of their news sources. If we could get AJZ on mass TV in the US that might help, but the MSM media cartel in the US will strive to keep them off the cable. MSM knows they couldn't possibly keep up with AJZ. So we are left with crap, like most things in the US today.

[HEyHEY]

10. See, I don't even think it's propaganda, I think it's just that morons run it.

[RKP5637]

15. You've got a good point! I hadn't looked at it that way. Some of it is sooooo stupid it

couldn't be propaganda.

[themadstork]

16. I believe it's designed to work as propaganda. Most of its workers carry out this design sincerely

believing that it's not.

[pacalo]

17. In Fixed News' case, it is propaganda & they are morons.

Life runs in cycles; right now we seem to be reliving the McCarthy era. Perhaps there will be another "have you any sense of decency" moment in regard to the current nuttiness, which, thereafter, will make the news more viligant & more responsible?

[HEyHEY]

19. Yeah, that's a double whammy

[OffWithTheirHeads]

12. I have long been advocating that when you have a protest

you don;t do it downtown, in the square. You do it at the front door of your towns media! I have watched the corporate propaganda machine ignore we the people since the Viet Nam war. 100,000.00 people show up to protest what is going on in Wisconson, no media there. I have been watching this for years. Stop going downtown and start blocking the corporate propaganda machine offices! When they can't get to work, maybe they will pay attention!

[revolutionnow45]

18. yes yes yes!!!!

I'm there!

[xiamiam]

13. i watch al jazeera and rt online..feel much more informed and respected as a viewer

the tv or cable will never be turned on in my home again

[HEyHEY]

20. Ooo, I stay clear of RT

AJ is good though.

[cascadiance]

27. Thom Hartmann's daily "Big Picture" show on RT is great. You can watch on FSTV on satellite too...

... and for that matter, both Link TV and Free Speech TV carry a lot of Al Jazeera programming as well (Fault Lines, Witness, headlines, Riz Kahn, etc.) and lately cut to it when big events happen like what happened in Egypt. Democracy Now is also a good daily regimen at complimentary time schedules on both of these channels as well.

[themadstork]

14. It needs to be decentralized.

Huge media conglomeration is one of the most rank ideas ever. They need to be partitioned off so that no one group of people has control over an entire nation's media. This may need to be done by force. One of the few situations where I would consider "violence" would be destroying the media conglomerates' infrastructure and equipment. Wouldn't want to kill anyone though. Arrest and try them for whatever we can. Or simply let them fade into irrelevance.

We'll have to take back our media at some point. . . I'll be interested to see how it happens.

[EFerrari]

25. We have to support the indepedent media.

There are some good outlets and some very good indy journalists out there.

[Jack Sprat]

24. I was thinking about this earlier today.

We need to file a class action lawsuit against America's media news for giving preference to individual kooks to distort news events. Real news today is scarce and mostly dominated by opinion to spin the news in one direction. Mostly spun to the right, of course. Since this spin and opinion has a way of directly effecting policy and our lives, our citizens are jeopardized by this maliciousness. This is why I believe that a class action lawsuit is a reasonable response by the majority of us. When David Gergen or Dick Morris or David Frum or Bill O'Reilly or William Kristol or Paul Wolfawitz or Sean Hannity or any number of biased so-called journalists are allowed a continual forum to alter news stories and events, they unfairly manipulate popular opinion in their direction regardless of how wrong they may be.

Let me give you an example from tonight's CNN coverage on Libya. David Gergen said that Americans are wringing their hands worrying over our intervention. Now this may be true for some Americans and maybe some here, but that is patently outrageous that he could make that assertion for most of us. How would he know that? It made my blood boil because I'm not on the edge of my seat over this situation. I have concerns but Gergen doesn't know it.

Each of us has every much of a right to appear on CNN or Fox as any of these creeps have. They have no right to ever speak for us. Although a news outlet has a right to report on daily news, I don't think they have a right to form opinions of it or spin in any direction because it could have averse effects on our safety and pursuit of personal happiness.

[cascadiance]

26. Not really "media", but I think one could challenge Costco's policy of favoring right wing books...

They obviously are having big quantities of "overstock" books dumped on them by well-heeled right wingers that are trying to pump the rating of the many right wing authors they stock so much crap from (Hannity,Beck,Palin) and on so many right wing topics too.

I rarely see anything close to progressive political books there on the shelves. I think I saw a stack of "Fair Game" books when the movie came out earlier this year. And on one rare occasion I astonishingly found ONE copy of Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine" in paperback that almost looked like it was planted there instead of being sold. And we get a few about some "moderate" Democrats from a historical perspective like Obama (though the anti-Obama books far outnumber any that are pro-Obama). And in a town like Portland with the largest Costco in America in Hillsboro, you'd expect just a FEW copies of Thom Hartmann's books here? Especially when he's released a few new ones or revisions just in the last year that have been very relavent?

I think if we launched a petition campaign to the company and noted that many of us progressives like Costco for its otherwise very progressive treatment of its employees, etc. and are a significant portion of their customer base that avoids places like WalMart in favor of Costco. Say that they have a FLAWED book buying policy that doesn't provide books that a significant portion of their customer base wants. If this got enough publicity, perhaps they'd feel pressure (where many other companies like WalMart wouldn't) to start increasing offerings of books that we like as well, not just stacks of unsold crap that the overstockers force on them that contribute to the dumbing down of our people.

I think this is a consumer battle that we have some leverage with and can win, if we play our cards right! Books are a portion of the big media landscape that has been so warped by corporate America. If we can dent the fringes (like books at Costco), perhaps we can get that much more of the public to ask for more diversity in other areas of media like television and radio, if they start seeing more diversity represented on the book counters they walk by and browse as well.

Perhaps if Costco doesn't respond well to start with, we can threaten to up the ante and join force with those boycotting Bolthouse farms products (that Costco sells heavily) that the gay community are protesting with Bolthouse corporate leadership contributing to anti-gay funds, etc. If that also gets publicity, that might lead to some publicity that they'd want to avoid.

[Tx4obama]

28. Below is a link that has TONS of links to live streaming news all over the world

http://www.tvpc.com/ChannelList.php