8 Things Mainstream Media Doesn't Have the Courage to Tell You

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/media/8-things-mainstream-media-doesnt-have-courage-tell-you




1. U.S. Wealth Up $34 Trillion Since Recession. 93% of You Got Almost None of It.

That's an average of $100,000 for every American. But the people who already own most of the stocks took almost all of it. For them, the average gain was well over a million dollars -- tax-free as long as they don't cash it in. Details available here.


2. Eight Rich Americans Made More Than 3.6 Million Minimum Wage Workers

A recent report stated that no full-time minimum wage worker in the U.S. can afford a one-bedroom or two-bedroom rental at fair market rent. There are 3.6 million such workers, and their total (combined) 2013 earnings is less than the 2013 stock market gains of just eight Americans, all of whom take more than their share from society: the four Waltons, the two Kochs, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett.


3. News Sources Speak for the 5%

It would be refreshing to read an honest editorial: "We dearly value the 5 to 7 percent of our readers who make a lot of money and believe that their growing riches are helping everyone else."

***SNIP

4. TV News Dumbed Down for American Viewers

A 2009 survey by the European Journal of Communication compared the U.S. to Denmark, Finland, and the UK in the awareness and reporting of domestic vs. international news, and of 'hard' news (politics, public administration, the economy, science, technology) vs. 'soft' news (celebrities, human interest, sport and entertainment). The results:

-- Americans [are] especially uninformed about international public affairs.
-- American respondents also underperformed in relation to domestic-related hard news stories.

[liberal N proud]

1. That is 8 Things Mainstream Media is not allowed to Tell You

They are not going to divulge anything that will get them taken off the air by their corporate overlords.

[cantbeserious]

2. + 1,000

eom

[Doctor_J]

23. That's it

Headline is woefully starry-eyed. Big media is just an arm of the 1%

[GoneFishin]

3. Even "liberal" MSNBC tells Cenk Uygur to "tone it down".

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/21/cenk-uygur-msnbc-leaving_n_905415.html

[closeupready]

8. Thanks - I didn't know this.

[closeupready]

33. "Network II"?

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

52. I was telling my friend over the weekend that not even MSNBC...

will devote any time to a Dem candidate other than Hillary. Bernie said he'd run, Reich said he'd run. Nothing. All Hillary all the time and the 7 Republican Dwarfs. Their favorite pastime is to compare Hillary to any R, regardless of whether they're in or out or considering. Why not spend equal time trumpeting Dems who said they won't run, like Warren, like they devote to Rs?

MSNBC answers to the overlords.

[GoneFishin]

65. Yep. In a manner of speaking, the fix is in.

I agree : "MSNBC answers to the overlords".

[malaise]

4. What passes for news in America is a joke

and it has to be deliberate.

[xchrom]

5. +1

[Overseas]

11. I agree.

[KansDem]

32. Check out the contrast in Time magazine covers...

What we read and what the rest of the world reads are quite different...

[go west young man]

35. Thanks for this.

I've not seen it before. It truly speaks volumes about what our media wants us to know.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

45. we're a joke.

Those US covers...... say a lot about what the overlords think of us.....



ugh. and of course there's the bible cover. Can't get away from that crap here.

[malaise]

50. Excellent

I've been wondering about that for decades although I stopped reading Time ages ago

[Jasana]

58. That's insane. I don't want to read any of that stupid crap in the US version...

give me the European version and I might spend money on the damn magazine. No wonder their subscription rates are falling. The only thing the US version is good for is toilet paper.

[Art_from_Ark]

61. I gave up on TIME back in the '80s

I preferred to get my national news from MacNeill-Lehrer.

[Octafish]

6. Let us prey: Why the Big Money goes into the Big Lie

It's not just busting unions. They want to bust Democracy.



The plan spelled out, by a lawyer for Big Tobacco soon-to-turn Supreme Court justice:

The Lewis Powell Memo - Corporate Blueprint to Dominate Democracy

Greenpeace has the full text of the Lewis Powell Memo available for review, as well as analyses of how Lewis Powell's suggestions have impacted the realms of politics, judicial law, communications and education.

Blogpost by Charlie Cray - August 23, 2011 at 11:20
Greenpeace.org

Forty years ago today, on August 23, 1971, Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr., an attorney from Richmond, Virginia, drafted a confidential memorandum for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that describes a strategy for the corporate takeover of the dominant public institutions of American society.

Powell and his friend Eugene Sydnor, then-chairman of the Chamber’s education committee, believed the Chamber had to transform itself from a passive business group into a powerful political force capable of taking on what Powell described as a major ongoing “attack on the American free enterprise system.”

An astute observer of the business community and broader social trends, Powell was a former president of the American Bar Association and a board member of tobacco giant Philip Morris and other companies. In his memo, he detailed a series of possible “avenues of action” that the Chamber and the broader business community should take in response to fierce criticism in the media, campus-based protests, and new consumer and environmental laws.

SNIP...

The overall tone of Powell’s memo reflected a widespread sense of crisis among elites in the business and political communities. “No thoughtful person can question that the American economic system is under broad attack,” he suggested, adding that the attacks were not coming just from a few “extremists of the left,” but also – and most alarmingly -- from “perfectly respectable elements of society,” including leading intellectuals, the media, and politicians.

To meet the challenge, business leaders would have to first recognize the severity of the crisis, and begin marshalling their resources to influence prominent institutions of public opinion and political power -- especially the universities, the media and the courts. The memo emphasized the importance of education, values, and movement-building. Corporations had to reshape the political debate, organize speakers’ bureaus and keep television programs under “constant surveillance.” Most importantly, business needed to recognize that political power must be “assiduously cultivated; and that when necessary, it must be used aggressively and with determination – without embarrassment and without the reluctance which has been so characteristic of American business.”

CONTINUED...

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/news-and-blogs/campaign-blog/the-lewis-powell-memo-corporate-blueprint-to-/blog/36466/

In the process, their greed and lies work to destroy democracy and the planet, let alone peace and prosperity.

[xchrom]

9. +1

[Overseas]

12. Sad how successful this long term strategy has been.

[mountain grammy]

29. Well, see, we had that burst of democracy in the 60's and it was looking like my generation

was REALLY going to change things, and we did! We passed Medicare, Medicaid, Civil Rights, Voting Rights, the EPA and there were real news people on the teevee. Throw in a few Supreme Court decisions that gave women, labor and minorities even more rights, and wow, the wealthy elite got jolted out of their sleep. While we were mourning assassinations of our greatest liberal leaders, "business groups" spent the next few years buying the media and assassinating the character of all liberals. That worked. ALEC was born while we enjoyed our "shows" and all the great "stuff" the corporations were selling along with the distractions of "fluff" news. We were sold a fantasy and bought into it, and in 1980, elected Reagan in a landslide.

It's the younger generations, who will have to face the devastating effects of our foolishness in the form of massive income inequality and, of course, the climate change we all helped create and for which we refuse to accept responsibility.

And then there's the emergence of the religious right, but don't get me started. Let us prey indeed! Thanks for the post.

[YOHABLO]

62. the generation that's so plugged into social media that they haven't a clue about the world?

[mountain grammy]

66. I hear ya, but for their own sake (and their children's) I hope they get one.

[L0oniX]

31. ***

[MaeScott]

7. It's really a masterpiece....

....how the media shapes the reality to fit the script

[Victor_c3]

10. #4

I wonder how much of that is the fault of Fox News? I'm sure other networks are also complicit in this as well, but fox strikes me as especially accountable for this.

I read something a while back that people who get their news from fox are more likely than people who watch no news at all to get facts of major incidents/stories wrong.

[Moostache]

14. Fox is what it is....by now everyone knows it too...

I hold the counterbalances - NBC, CBS, ABC, and PBS along with the cable screechers - MORE to blame than Fox due to their timidity in calling Fox out for their nonsense for years. The so-called free press is anything but. They are wholly owned subsidiaries of the 1% and the fact that people are STILL swallowing their horse shit is depressing.

[rurallib]

24. PBS is particularly sad

they have been bullied and intimidated by Republicans to the point that they are a bland sidelight.

[corkhead]

37. I have especially noticed how David H. Koch's underwriting coincides with the dumbing down of Nova

That used to be a great show that delved deeply into science. Now every other show seems to be about some creature eating another. I guess it reflects his worldview.

[Jackpine Radical]

18. What you say about Fox readers is clearly true, but

Fox output is just the extreme right wing of a corporate media that ranges from them to a Neoliberal corporatism.

These media essentially control the "Overton Window," i.e. the range of "acceptable" political opinion. For example, nobody is allowed to question the notion that the deficit is our biggest problem. Nobody is really allowed to report the true degree of unanimity among scientists on the topic of climate change. And so it goes.

[mwooldri]

34. Fox has its share of blame... the others too.

American media is beholden to the people who pay the bills. Not even PBS is immune.

Sadly, money talks. International media has its own issues too.... we may like Al-Jazeera, but the government of Qatar owns it. IMO the BBC gets close because it's directly funded by the people, not through governmental taxation. Then again the BBC operates under a government charter that gets renewed periodically.

Rupert Murdoch has continually railed against the BBC... but because the BBC had years working as the monopoly broadcaster and gained a reputation for reliable, fair and balanced news programming.... Rupert has had to try to live up to that standard.

Fox News channel has never had this problem. I think Rupert made a news outlet that mirrors what his newspaper business does... and it's always been overtly political.

[Heidi]

13. Kick, kick, kick!!!

And !

[xchrom]

15. it's so good to see you Dah-link -- it's monday and i'm just not ready for it...

[Heidi]

17. I'll bet Monday's not ready for you, either, dah-link!

Go get 'em!

[xchrom]

19. i shall put on my Opera Length Gloves and Venture Forth

[Heidi]

21. And I shall

be praying for "everybody and everybody else" who gets in your way!

[xchrom]

22. !

[Dalai_1]

16. Kick !n/t

[fredamae]

20. Corporate Christianity

finds MSM Moguls et al "Braying" at the feet of the Bronze Bull on Wall Street--or perhaps their place of worship is now at the steps of "The Temple of Justice" aka: SCOTUS?

[allan01]

25. re:8 Things Mainstream Media Doesn't Have the Courage to Tell You

the only reason that us tv is dumbed down was that rimshod mentioned that in one of his tirides about sid ceasers show of shows. sid was an unknown at the time and gasp , he was a jew . the network said , we cant have that . also problem: us tv was changing from a open format to a specialized format ie sit com ( honneymoners ) game show . he also ran against burns and allen , etc and people rememberd vaudaville and radio as these folk ( hope burns and allen etc came from them and the publick was familar with them). sid was a tallent show one week . a drama the next . ultimatly he lost due to rating, not dumbing down as rimshod said . this was from a pbs docmentry that i remember years ago and dont remember the title , also i dont have any links . please do ur own reasoearch. i had to get that off my chest .thanks for exposure and a good read .

[go west young man]

26. Many here bang on other countries media such as RT...

but our media's selective omission of real news is actually worse than propaganda in my mind. At least with propaganda you can decide for yourself if your being manipulated. Our media goes one further and actually never gives the important stories thereby reducing any chance for people to make up their minds....they never knew about the issue in the first place.

What little our media does report on is based entirely on their agenda and bottom line....in other words making the 1%, Wall Street, The MIC and all their corporate cronies happy.

Thankfully people like Amy Goodman, Thom Hartmann, Bill Moyers and a few others are continuing to push the boundaries.

Personally I turned cable off in 2009 and have never looked back. After hearing about CNN's non stop idiocy over the missing plane recently, I'm thinking it was one of the best decisions I ever made. And I've saved over $6000 since then.

[brooklynboy49]

27. Bitch, bitch, bitch

I'll give odds the Danish don't know squat about which Kardashian is married to whomever and which Kardashian...

But, Americans know! We know the important stuff!

What the fuck is a NATO anyway?

[L0oniX]

30. Nato's are just like Tomato's only they aren't grown by Tom.

[niyad]

28. k and r

[johnnyreb]

36. K&R

[Rex]

38. The number one thing they won't tell us - corporate news is controlled

by the people that sign their paychecks.

[Martin Eden]

39. If this is the Liberal Media, then "Liberal" needs to be re-defined.

As a matter of fact, every major media provider is Corporate Media.

Even when the owners are not deliberately pushing an ideological agenda (like Rupert Murdoch) the news content is dictated by profits, not journalistic integrity and the importance of news as it affects the lives of real people.

We get Rachael Maddow because there is a market for perspective from the Left ... as long as the show turns a profit. This is not a comment on the value of Rachel and others on the left, but rather an observation on today's business model for all corporate media.

[freebrew]

41. Liberal? I would be happy...

for the u.s. news to just tell the truth and quit leaving out the important stuff.

What riles the most is not challenging the Rs on their lies. Very few reporters EVER do that.

Is Gregory gone yet?

[Martin Eden]

42. challenging the Rs on their lies

Reminds me of the 2000 presidential race when the media (in their effort to seem "balanced&quot gave equal credibility to the economic numbers put forth by Al Gore and GW Bush. Paul Krugman pointed out that W's numbers were mostly bogus and easily proved as such. He said if Bush asserted the world was flat, the story in the media would be Shape of World -- Views Differ.

[freebrew]

44. +1...

[daleanime]

40. K&R....

[underpants]

43. +

[defacto7]

46. K & R

[RainDog]

47. k&r n/t

[Sarah Ibarruri]

48. What do they think will happen if they tell the population these things? The Koch Brothers will deny

them?

[raouldukelives]

49. It is an alternate reality that does speak only to the 5%.

It is a special reality just for them full of all the news they care to know about with nothing to give them any glimpses of the true suffering they perpetuate and get rich off.
Certainly don't want anything about how they are changing the climate, killing the oceans, driving animals to extinction and killing everything our founders, vets, protestors and enlightened individuals built and suffered to protect.
Can't have any truths that aren't scrubbed to keep the markets running smoothly and the parasites grinning with ears full of Miley Cyrus, eyes full of dollar signs and hearts full of greed.
Sitting high in gilded towers. Shuffling from air conditioned luxury cars to climate controlled corporate boardrooms. The realities of life on the ground, the whimpers of the dying, the stench of decay, the stifling heat and dried streams, cracked earth and dying trees are shrouded from them.
They make money from death and the death dealers are all too happy to pay a pittance to keep them safe from hearing it.

[oldandhappy]

51. Yep!

Used to live out of the country. When I came back a decade ago I noticed right away -- mainstream media is very incomplete. Spent a lot of time trying to connect to out of the country sources. Situation is getting worse, not better.

[Corruption Inc]

53. #5, blame whites for everything, LOL

Why didn't you post that one?

[tiny elvis]

54. what is a white? does it correlate to a black?

how does privilege and 'a disdainful attitude' mean everything?
show your work for full credit

[nikto]

64. It's whites' fault

Guilty as charged, down thru history.

[pragmatic_dem]

55. us news media exists to comfort the rich, this includes Fox, PBS, NPR they all have

one thing in common - they serve the rich. Some use fancier or hipper words to do it.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

56. Howzabout: "Obamacare" is for white people too.

[Samantha]

57. I have been watching Aljazeera America quite a bit

The comparison between this station and all those mentioned in this thread makes one realize just how brainwashed we as a society are by the MSM. Of course many here already knew that but I wonder if we realized the degree. Many like me used to watch quite a bit of MSNBC, but that is mostly just politics and not much of the real news. I barely turn MSNBC on now, except I do try to catch The Ed Show.

My right leaning brother tells me Aljazeera is just propaganda, but I do not see that....

Sam

[Taitertots]

59. I'm confused why anyone still watches the Corporate Propaganda we call "news"

Do you like being lied to?
Do you think corporate propaganda doesn't affect you?

[FairWinds]

60. They Don't Want You to Recall . .

That this month is the 50th anniversary of the
military coup against democracy in Brazil;
brought to you by the US national security state.

[YOHABLO]

63. It's as if Joseph Goebbels were in charge of the History Channel these days .. WTF?