Corp Media has not developed a spine.

[Disturbed]

It is safe for the Corp. Media to be critical of the Bush Admin. regarding this disaster because it is not seen as unpatriotic to do so as criticism of the Busco Invasions and Occupations may appear to many RWingers and Repub Lites as being. It is also much more obvious that the Bush Admin. screwed this up and are accountable for the levees breaking and the terribly slow response to the disaster.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. It has woken up. It will discover that Bush can't cut them all off.

See this thread on media spine:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4640022

[Burried News]

2. Spine no - new Tude? Perhaps

[MadeinOhio]

3. I think you're wrong....

With CNN anyway because they have experienced disaster firsthand. And all the failures stem into gutting federal programs to pay for the Iraq war. Why on earth they would gut the funding for the Levee and storm system, of all places to pay for a disaster of a war is BEYOND me.....

Its almost as if.....they did that on purpose, and would love to destroy Louisiana and get their oil.

If that makes sense.....Yeah the corporate media will not be their lapdogs anymore.

[still_one]

6. I hope your right, but unless our democratic representatives

grow a spine they will be

Under this administration, FEMA is no longer a cabinet level position and has been placed directly under homeland security:

In the event of a terrorist attack, natural disaster or other large-scale emergency, the Department of Homeland Security will assume primary responsibility on March 1st for ensuring that emergency response professionals are prepared for any situation. This will entail providing a coordinated, comprehensive federal response to any large-scale crisis and mounting a swift and effective recovery effort. The new Department will also prioritize the important issue of citizen preparedness. Educating America's families on how best to prepare their homes for a disaster and tips for citizens on how to respond in a crisis will be given special attention at DHS



http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/theme_home2.jsp

Statement on Federal Emergency Assistance for Louisiana

The President today declared an emergency exists in the State of Louisiana and ordered Federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts in the parishes located in the path of Hurricane Katrina beginning on August 26, 2005, and continuing.

The President's action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives, protect property and public health and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in the parishes of Allen, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Claiborne, Catahoula, Concordia, De Soto, East Baton Rouge, East Carroll, East Feliciana, Evangeline, Franklin, Grant, Jackson, LaSalle, Lincoln, Livingston, Madison, Morehouse, Natchitoches, Pointe Coupee, Ouachita, Rapides, Red River, Richland, Sabine, St. Helena, St. Landry, Tensas, Union, Vernon, Webster, West Carroll, West Feliciana, and Winn.

Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency. Debris removal and emergency protective measures, including direct Federal assistance, will be provided at 75 percent Federal funding.

Representing FEMA, Michael D. Brown, Under Secretary for Emergency Preparedness and Response, Department of Homeland Security, named William Lokey as the Federal Coordinating Officer for Federal recovery operations in the affected area.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: FEMA [phone].



http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050827-1.html

[MadeinOhio]

9. Well howard dean is doing just that....and I have faith that more deans

will follow....

[newswolf56]

4. Speaking as someone who has slaved for corporate media...

off and on for the past 45 years, one of the things I know is that during disasters, the oligarchy always loosens the leash with which it controls editors and reporters. The expressions of unvarnished truth we have seen from New Orleans are thus typical in their atypicality. Hence the most important point to be gleaned from this is that -- contrary to ignorantly optimistic analysis -- the behavior of the media during the past few days does NOT herald some great consciousness-raising or evolution of a newly radicalized outlook. Far from it. Within weeks if not days, mass media will return to unabashed promotion of its Big Lie, its underlying Josef Goebbels message that "all is well in America" -- never mind the death-toll: so outrageously unnecessary the conclusion of deliberate-genocide-by-neglect is unavoidable.

[whistle]

5. No spine, no guts, no respect for the truth...so why do we listen to MSM

[newswolf56]

7. Because most of us have no other news source.

[marcus_b]

8. Catastrophes sell advertisements.

This is the number one rule, and nobody should ever forget that:

The purpose of the media is to sell customers to advertisers.

Repeat this after me:

The purpose of the media is to sell customers to advertisers.

Often, the advertisers are companies. But just as often, the "advertisers" are the elite class, with their ideological propaganda message. If the messages of the political elite and the corporate elite conflict, the corporate elite wins. This is easy to understand: The political elite can easily be replaced, they are only dummies anyway.

When a catastrophe strikes, people are glued to the television. The trickling down of information in real time makes the consumer addictive of sensation. More viewers translates directly into more recipients for advertisement, and thus more money $$$.

[greekspeak]

10. No they haven't developed a spine...haven't even changed that much

As soon as Der Phooey landed in Biloxi and started his little photo-op circle jerk, they have been back whoring. Convoys of Hope? How about Convoys of Too Little Too Late.

Not all of the media has been doing the whoring, but a lot of people in the studio at least have been doing their best to spin this for Shrub's political gain.

Where are the dems? On vacation...well all but the CBC, Senator "How do you like my new spine" Landrieu, Governor "How About Some James Lee Witt" Blanco, and Mayor "Can of Whoop-Ass" Nagin. Oh and Al "This is what a president looks like, Georgie" Gore. But he is a private citizen, unlike "Cat Killer in the Spotlight" Frist, who went a doctrin' for a photo-op, and Imeldalezza Ferragama Rice.