It Was A Very False Year: The 2005 Falsies Awards

[Barrett808]

It Was A Very False Year: The 2005 Falsies Awards
by Diane Farsetta

As Father Time faded into history with the end of 2005, he was spinning out of control.

Over the past twelve months, the ideal of accurate, accountable, civic-minded news media faced nearly constant attack. Fake news abounded, from Pentagon-planted stories in Iraqi newspapers to corporate- and government-funded video news releases aired by U.S. newsrooms. Enough payola pundits surfaced to constitute their own basketball team -- Doug Bandow, Peter Ferrara, Maggie Gallagher, Michael McManus and Armstrong Williams. (They could call themselves the "Syndicated Shills.")

Then there were the public relations campaigns that sought to redefine reality itself. The oil and nuclear industries could be greenwashed! Rights-abusing governments and labor-abusing companies could be whitewashed! Junk food companies could be nutriwashed and genetically-modified foods poorwashed! The only limitations were PR flacks' imaginations -- and their expense accounts.

Viewed in sum, the extensive pollution of last year's information environment could either make you cynical or have you convinced that two plus two really does equal five.

...

And the Falsies Awards Winners Are...

The coveted Gold Falsies Award of 2005 goes to the video news release industry (with a nod to their accomplices in television newsrooms).

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The Silver Falsies Award goes to the mainstream media and the Bush administration, for "Not Counting the Dead."

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The Bronze Falsies Award goes to the U.S. military and their public relations contractors, for "Spinning Wars and PsyOps."

(more)

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0104-32.htm

[underpants]

1. How about-diagnosing via videotape?

Schiavo