The Media is in a Lock-Down

[ck4829]

"On Friday I received a phone call from a good friend who works at CBS, I've known her for years and she is a Producer for some of the news programs, one well known one in particular. She tipped me off that the news media is in a "lock-down" and that there is to be no TV
coverage of the real problems with voting on Nov. 2nd. She said
similar "lock-down orders" had come down last year after the invasion
of Iraq, but this is far worse--far scarier. She said the majority of
their journalists at CBS and elsewhere in NYC are pretty horrified--
every one is worried about their jobs and retribution Dan Rather
style or worse. My source said they've also been forbidden to talk
about it even on their own time but she was pissed and her
journalistic and moral integrity as what she considers to be a gov't
watchdog requires her to speak out, while be it covert and she
therefore asked me to "spread" the word... She said that journalism
and the truth is at stake. She said another friend of hers, a
producer at MSNBC, said that an anchor by the name of Keith
Olbermann had brought it up on his show on Friday eve and the axe
came down. He's at least fighting back and talking about it on
his "Blog", but she said that people there are worried that he's
going to be fired by higher ups. She said at this point the only way
that the "real news" was going to be if the people started talking
about it and made a big enough stink about it to our elected
officials, the FEC, and "noise" to the international media, that our
own media won't have any choice but to cover it. (Yes, this is really
happening in the good ole' supposed "democratic" free press of the US
of A). The only place you'll see this talked about right now is on
the internet and on AirAmericaRadio."

Everyone--this is serious....I can't emphasize it any more than
saying if there was ever a time to speak up and take action it is
NOW. If you are feeling sick to your stomach (like me) about the
possibility of 4 more years under Bush and the future of our country,
and yet you feel helpless, here's your opportunity to take action.
Imagine if you saw a loved one drowning--what do you do? Well, our
country's democracy is drowning and she needs us. In an email I sent
you last night, I used the F-word--FRAUD and mentioned to you that I
felt strongly that there is a lot of mounting evidence that this
election was not clean. I say that not only out of a result of my
observations while out in the field as a poll watcher in the key
battleground state of Ohio, I say it with the knowledge and
information of reports that have been circulating around the country
in various voting precincts involving irregularities and problems
with the voting machines and numbers not matching up with the exit
polls or actual numbers of registered voters in various precincts.
I've been busy researching this issue and compiling for you below
some details of these reports and where you can get more info:


To believe that Bush won the election, you must also believe:

1- That the exit polls were WRONG...(remember--they have been used
for over a decade and considered reliable)

2- That Zogby's 5pm election day calls for Kerry winning OH, FL were
WRONG. He was within a less than 1/2 % point margin of error in his
2000 final poll and previous polls for other elections.

3- That Harris Poll last minute polling for Kerry was WRONG. They
were also within a 1/2% point margin of error in their 2000 final
poll.

4- The Incumbent Rule
(that undecideds primarily break at the end for the challenger) was
WRONG.

5- The 50% Rule was WRONG (that an incumbent doesn't do better than
his final polling)

6- The Approval Rating Rule was WRONG (that an incumbent with less
than 50% approval will most likely lose the election)

7- That Journalist Greg Palast was WRONG when he said that even
before the election, 1 million votes were stolen from Kerry. He was
the ONLY reporter to break the fact that 90,000 Florida blacks were
disnfranchised in 2000.

8- That it was just a COINCIDENCE that the exit polls were CORRECT
where there WAS a PAPER TRAIL and INCORRECT (+5% for Bush) where
there was NO PAPER TRAIL.

9- That the surge in new young voters had NO positive effect for
Kerry, even though it was the largest number of youth voters 18-29
ever and a huge jump from 2000 and they were over 55% in favor of
Kerry. >> 10- That Bush BEAT 99 to 1 mathematical odds in winning the
election.

11- That Kerry did WORSE than Gore against an opponent who LOST the
support of SCORES of Republican newspapers who were for Bush in 2000.

12- That Bush did better than an 18 national poll average which
showed him tied with Kerry at 47. In other words, Bush got 80% of the
undecided vote to end up with a 51-48 majority--when ALL professional
pollsters agree that the undecided vote ALWAYS goes to the
challenger.

13- That Voting machines made by Republicans with no paper trail and
with no software publication, which have been proven by thousands of
computer scientists to be vulnerable in scores of ways, were NOT
tampered with in this election.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/anti_cnp/message/579

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. Good thing Bush hasn't been elected President yet

There is still a slim chance that we can stop the madness.

[donhakman]

2. If you know the plot of 7 days in May

You would know the coup has been a success for the last 6 years.

[Jawja]

31. The coup has been a success for the

last 41 years. It began on Nov. 22, 1963 with the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

And it was easier after Bobby Kennedy was murdered for Nixon and the thugs that came in with him to take power and today, are STILL in power.

yeah, I have tinfoil hat on, but makes sense to me.

[katmondoo]

3. If not I am thinking more and more of some kind

of shadow government. Headed by Dean or Kerry. I think Dean would be more committed to this. This movement could have the power to at least force some Democrats to fight the Bush policies instead of caving in. 55 million people behind this could be formidable.

[gerrilea]

4. So, What do we do? Any suggestions? I've written letters, sent emails,

Oustside of taking up arms...which I don't have...what else can we do?

[Lerkfish]

12. The problem is, News organizations are not govt. agencies...

even if they are controlled by them behind the scenes...therefore recourse for citizens/viewers is that much more difficult. Once the fairness doctrine was eliminated, there are NO legal restraints against news agencies that I'm aware of.

Repukes know this, and this is why they have gone this route. At least if you could prove this sort of thing in a govt. office, as a citizen you could go after them.
As a consumer, in this situation, I don't know of anything you can do on a shadowy rumor (which I believe is true, but nonetheless)....except boycott or similar.

This is why it is IMPERATIVE we have a free press. If Kerry can get in this time or we can get in next time that has to be a HIGH PRIORITY to protect the press and the people from this sort of manipulation. Until there is legislation making it illegal, there is nothing that can be done, as far as I can tell.

[Jawja]

32. The new free press

in America is the internet. That's the truth.

News that is blacked out in America is available from foreign sources over the internet; and independent organizations are able to do investigative research and report over the internet.

History is being made here and the big story will be how the internet became the lifeline of democracy in America.

One can hope, can't they?

[Pachamama]

20. Keep calling, keep writing, keep on your elected officials and the

news media...don't stop...keep it up...we can't give up the fight and when the time comes for steps beyond that, we'll all know....

[gristy]

5. Yes, they stole the election, but...

I wouldn't put any credence to this post from yahoo.

[ck4829]

6. This is from a Yahoo Group I own

[Pachamama]

18. This was posted by Peter Coyote, the actor and activist...

...he's a friend and I know the friend that wrote this and that he passed it along from...its very credible, as is the person who wrote it and the source...believe it...

[Skidmore]

7. The media is in lock step

and has been since the 2000 campaign season. The media owners are probably all Super Rangers (or whatever cutesy name given them) on *'s campaign support list.

[ck4829]

8. They are known as the 'Power Rangers'

[Mister K]

9. This has been floating for two weeks now....Unverified Junk

[Pachamama]

19. What has been floating for two weeks? This email or the rumor

of a lockdown in the media?

Hmm....lets look at the facts: Would the fact that tonite on the news that they are now finally having to admit that there is a "recount" in Ohio about to take place and the fact that there is still very little coverage about it, despite the fact that for 2+ weeks there has been a lot of attention and talk by many people about it, but with little or no MSM coverage?

How about something else....I know who the source of the email is to the actor Peter Coyote and this person is as credible of a source as you can find...

Sorry, its real...but for a newbie who doesn't post a "profile", why such skepticism?

[Mister K]

35. Newbie...Yes...Freeper...No

Yes, there is probably a media lockdown of some sort. This email that was posted is a FRAUD. If you have search ability on this site, you will see this SAME email posted here (on DU) at least 5 TIMES over the last 2 weeks. The source is unverified and came from Yahoo message boards.

[Pachamama]

38. Consider this a verification of the email

I personally know the person who authored this email and so does the actor Peter Coyote who was on the email this was sent to. I also know the CBS producer that was the source...this is not a fraud...Peter whom I know as well as the author of the original email are reliable and honest people. Peter would never post something with his name attached unless it was legit.

The fact that it made it 5 times or more on DU and around the internet and post boards does not make it illegit.

Choose to believe what you will...I'm not a Newbie on DU, I'm a pretty knowledgable and respected source of info on this site and I can tell you on the life of my children, this is not a fraud.

[Mister K]

40. I will take it on your word then....

The reason of me being suspect of this, is the source. A yahoo message board of all places.

Also, DU locked the thread and kicked it out of LBN for the same reason. It was unverified.

I apologize for my transgression, for you apparently know more then I do about this.

[Pachamama]

41. Thanks...

I appreciate that, and I wouldn't be bothering to defend it unless I did in fact know the source of the email and the source to the email. I find it fascinating that it made it on a yahoo board after I actually got to see the original email and then several versions of it later. But like I mentioned, Peter Coyote is in fact Peter Coyote the actor and he knows the sources too...they are right on and reliable honest sources....

I never saw the other DU thread, but its possible it got locked because it didn't qualify as LBN....should have been general discussion.

Thanks for being willing to listen....while one should always have a healthy amount of suspicion on things, consider this the closest you could come to a verification short of the actual name of the Producer at CBS.

[G_j]

10. here is a good concise article to pass along..

-Good concise article to pass along..


http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/112204A.shtml

Litigating the Election
By Marjorie Cohn

t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Monday 22 November 2004

Without much fanfare, a number of lawyers are busy mounting court challenges to the election. Lawsuits have been filed and other actions are being taken in Ohio and Florida, the two key electoral states. Members of Congress have demanded a General Accountability Office investigation of the election. The largest Freedom of Information Act request in the nation's history has been launched, and other efforts are in the works.

Is there substance to these challenges? On Thursday, the University of California's Berkeley Quantitative Methods Research Team released a statistical study - the sole method available to monitor the accuracy of e-voting - reporting irregularities associated with electronic voting machines may have awarded 130,000-260,000 or more excess votes to Bush in Florida. The three counties where the voting anomalies were most prevalent were also the most heavily Democratic: Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade, respectively. The official tally in Florida shows Bush with 380,978 more votes than Kerry.

Recount, Lawsuits, Hearings in Ohio

Green Party candidate David Cobb and Libertarian Party candidate Michael Badnarik have sought a recount of the votes in Ohio. A demand for a recount can only be filed by a presidential candidate who was on the ballot or a certified write-in candidate. Alleged improprieties in Ohio include mis-marked and discarded ballots, problems with electronic voting machines, and the targeted disenfranchisement of African-American voters. Although a recount doesn't typically begin until after the vote has been certified (December 6), Cobb and Badnarik have asked for the recount to proceed forthwith for fear there won't be sufficient time to complete the recount in time for the December 13 date on which the Ohio presidential electors will meet.

..more..

[yurbud]

11. Why don't reporters resign in protest?

It's ironic. Agents are doing this at the CIA where it arguably could do some harm, but a symbolic gesture like that from say, the entire on air staff of 60 Minutes would mean something.

It's notable that WALTER CRONKITE probably the last real reporter to anchor American network news, is an outspoken critic of the Bush admin.

[Lerkfish]

13. probably because its a McCarthy blacklist situation...

they know they have a career that is based, in large part, on their reputation and the controlling owners. Sure, it would boost the PUBLIC"s perception of their integrity to see them do that, but it would have the opposite effect on those who hire them.

Sad, but true.

[Cheswick2.0]

37. So What? Let them care more about democracy than money for once

[SoCalDem]

14. Why?? Mortgages, tuition, car payments, alimony, child support

and the possibility that they will NEVER get another "good job" in media again..if they do

I wrote this a few years ago.. I was a prescient person even back then


It was a featured article at DU

When News Isn't
January 30, 2002
by SoCalDem

Those of us of a "certain age" remember the days of Huntley & Brinkley, and Walter Cronkite. In those days, our news was delivered to us in a straightforward manner, with little, if any, commentary. As Walter used to say at the end of every newscast, "That's the way it was on ...(fill in any date)."

Most cities of any size, had at least two newspapers, a morning and an afternoon paper. People read the morning paper with breakfast, the afternoon paper after work, and settled down for the evening news on television. Back in those days, some broadcasts were only 15 minutes long. The amazing thing was that in that short amount of a time the newsmen actually conveyed a sense of what was going on around the world.

When did the news stop being the news? Why does a slice of our demographic pie actually think what we get today is NEWS?

The format of a news broadcast has a lot to do with it. A look back at those archived, grainy old black and white images tells the story. A man, a desk, a microphone, a clock, and a serious demeanor... That's about what it took in those days to convince most people that they had better pay attention, because what they were about to see was important, and worthy of their attention.

The format has changed little over the decades. There are women now, but most of them are window dressing. The men of broadcasting age, but the women are replaced as their on-camera persona becomes less Barbie-like. Advertisers have burned the image of a desk, a man, a microphone, and a clock, into the collective psyche of America. That image conjures up NEWS.

It's no wonder that over time, the forces out there who would try to control the American Mind would adopt the very same format to get their message across. It comes to us wrapped up like a news broadcast, but like the Bizarro World of Superman, it isn't what it pretends to be. People out there in viewerland see the desk, and the trappings of a newscast, and they think that is what they are getting..

As the Fairness Doctrine faded away into the sunset, we were besieged by endless "faux" news programs. Corporate moguls hungrily devoured smaller broadcast venues as they built their vast communication holdings. Most of these moguls have very different worldviews than the average citizen does. It became easier and easier to insinuate their own political and ideological leanings into every aspect of their burgeoning empires.

In past times, when a news anchor wanted to change jobs, he would mail tapes of representative reportage to various media outlets across the country and wait to see if he got any offers. If they were a bigger outlet or offered a higher salary, there was little impediment to the newsman's acceptance of that offer.

This was the way it was then, but now with all the consolidation, that movement is dictated by the men at the top. When they control media all over the country, the individual broadcasters are not free to look around. They are more like indentured servants to their master. If they get on the wrong side of the message they are supposed to convey, their trip up the ladder is over. That they are well paid cannot be of much consolation, because their mobility and their very jobs are always in jeopardy, if they say the wrong thing.

The "Screaming Head" shows of today are an offshoot of the media consolidation too. When cable hurled itself into the "News Game," they gave birth to a beast that needed constant feeding. The OJ phenomenon showed that masses of people would velcro themselves to a couch and watch one single story over and over for months on end. Advertisers had to be wearing drool bibs when they realized that. But all "good" things must end, and eventually, we had no more OJ to kick around.

Enter... Politics.

Granted, the niche market for politics may be a narrow one, but political junkies are loyal, and they are interactive. The fact that most of the owners of the media are corporations who feast at the teat of the government, is not incidental. The message gets very important when it comes to the rules and regulations that the ones at the top need to go their way.

They know which party will acquiesce, and they know the drill. In order to get favorable legislation, the media must constantly sell the message that will urge the public to the polls and keep the "right" people in office.

If a non-compliant congress acts in the best interest of the public, the corporations will take a hit in the bank account. This must be avoided at all costs. It's a kabuki dance of dangerous proportions. Access is divvied up like the spoils of war between fewer and fewer rich men, and the spillover is that they control cable, satellite, mainstream broadcast and even the old fallback, newspapers.

The old maxim "If you can't beat them, join them" no longer applies. The modern version is, "If you can't beat them... EAT them."

More and more news outlets are being controlled by fewer and fewer ideologues. Strangely enough, there are still many people who see the desk, the man and the clock and their mind says... NEWS...

[rman]

29. plus, lack of awareness of the seriousness of the situation, and

a disbelief in the power of the people.

thing is, "they" do not have absolute power over us - if they did, then they would not need to deceive us in order to get the people's consent.
not only the past but also recent history shows that the people do in fact have the power to change things. if the people of venezuela and colombia can do that, then why wouldn't we?

[datasuspect]

15. i worked in radio

and that was an incestuous little world in itself. reputation is everything and it is a really "small" industry insofar as word gets around pretty quickly about people. talk about self-consoring. i had to do it all the time as a survival tactic - and that attitude come from the top down.

i could only imagine that television is 100x worse.

especially at the national level.

we don't really live in a free society anymore.

[hedda_foil]

16. Won't be anymore.

Fenton Communications is now handling the whole issue nationally for Common Cause, which is a partner of the group I'm working with. This is going to explode in a highly focused and directed way ... and we're the ones doing the directing!!!!!

We're rockin', guys! We're REALLLLLLLLLLY rockin'. When you start seeing the issue getting major mainstream coverage, you can say that you heard it from the horse's mouth on DU first!!!!!

love,
hedda (from inside the encampment)

[Cleita]

17. Love you too, but I have to ask to you watch your back.

These are bad times and you aren't playing on an even field. They aren't playing fair. They are gangsters and will stoop to anything, so be on top of your game.

:loveya:

[madfloridian]

23. Love ya, Heddafoil.

Stay safe in the encampment!

[hedda_foil]

25. I'm safe so far and thanks for worrying about me.

I'm not on the ground in the states at this point, but am working the phones from a distance. Lotsa conferring. Lotsa progress. Lotsa momentum. Lotsa bigtime players. But much of the encampmenting is very virtual.

And the dam hasn't burst yet, which is a GOOD thing because we had time to get a whole lot of major ducks in a row first.

No, Kerry isn't in this thing, but he knows what's going on.

hugs (from a so far safe part of the encampment)

Joan

[GingerSnaps]

24. Do you need any help?

I can go to campuses in my city and help out in any way possible.

:loveya: :hug:

[hedda_foil]

26. Organize.

Get the students interested and involved in cleaning up this mess! Some major protestin' wouldn't hurt afaic.

[mhr]

27. Hi Hedda - Thanks For The Feedback - Greatly Appreciated

eom

[leftchick]

30. hedda!

a true patriot! I am so proud of you! :loveya:



you go girl!

[donheld]

21. Is it just me

or isn't it impossible to lock down" a truly independent press?

[NuttyFluffers]

22. indeed. one must be a lie then...

but it couldn't be the truly independent press, now could it? ;) *gasp* good heavens no! impossible :evilgrin:

[rman]

28. exactly, the media lock-down is just more obvious now,

as is the election fraud.
So, more people then ever before have opened their eyes and are seeing the lies right in front of them. I'm afraid it may be to little, to late.

[LadyinRed]

33. Kicking for HF n/t

[DoYouEverWonder]

34. Funny they are covering election fraud in the Ukraine

yet they are completely silent about the blatant and massive fraud committed in the US election?

It's really beyond ridiculous at this point.

For myself, I don't even turn on the TV anymore. The MSM has zero credibility at this point. I'm tired of superstar model airheads telling me how I should think.

You can't have democracy without a free press.

USA
RIP

[Pachamama]

39. Amazing, isn't it? This morning on CNN - not a peep about OH recount

Yet they will mention and show footage of UKRAINE and the people's protesting and concerns of a fraudulent election there? WTF? :wtf:

If there was any doubt in anyone's mind before, it should have been erased by now....the MSM is in a lockdown and its not FREE....and without a free press there is no democracy....

[Cheswick2.0]

36. They should be more worried about democracy and less about

their jobs and retribution. I have no sympathy for these people who are afraid for their jobs. Join the rest of us who are living on the edge. Do something bold folks.