US MEDIA NOT SO 'FREE' - Dr. James J. Zogby

[paineinthearse]

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=57857&d=21&m=1&y=2005

How Free Is the Free Press?
Dr. James Zogby, [e-mail]

Just how free is the US’ “free press?” Does the absence of direct government control, by itself, create a “free press?” In a paper I recently presented at a conference organized by the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research, I sought to make a contribution to this discussion by examining the influences that impact US media.
While there is no direct political influence or control of US media, such as may exist in societies with state-run media, there is, nevertheless, influence that “controls” coverage that can be subtle, but is at all times, pervasive and decisive.

<snip>

A study conducted by FAIR, a media monitoring group in October of 2003, for example, found that over three-fourths of all commentators invited to appear on TV news programs were current or former US government officials, divided about evenly between civilian and military officials, and almost 80 percent of all these guests were supportive of the administration’s policies.

News reporters operating in this culture, or near tribal world of Washington elites, share the understood “rules of the road,” the shared values, shared meanings of words, and shared narratives. They accept them, and largely operate according to them. In this world, pack journalism or “group think” becomes a problem. And in this tribal-like culture, one learns not to challenge the rules of the tribe, because to do so is to risk “losing face” or worse, in this particular profession, “losing access.”

The media monitoring group FAIR suggested that the media behaved more like “stenographers” than journalists. They reported without question and, at times, even became conduits for “disinformation campaigns.” As a result, the extremely effective public relations effort of the White House was able to utilize a compliant media to build public support for the war. But more on this next week.

— Dr. James J. Zogby is president of the Arab American Institute in Washington.

[KoKo]

1. Excellent...and goes along with the Media Matters survey of "Coronation"

coverage, posted somewhere here on DU today. Keep hammering away on the Media...I think something's coming. Media and Voting are the two issues of the most importance to take our country back!

[Guns Aximbo]

2. And thats the last you'll hear of it

because it'll never be reported in the U.S.

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. Things that make ya go HMMMMM

---------------------------------------------------------
"We the people" have no voice in the USA!
http://timeforachange.bluelemur.com/electionreform.htm#why

[KurtNYC]

3. But they are spending their credibility

and shedding viewers/readers continuously.

The Guardian UK reports that half of the visits to their website now come from the US.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/

[Gold Metal Flake]

5. Amazing, but...

I don't see the statement. Have you a direct link?

With a direct link, can you make a new post with this info? I think it is important that DU-ers see this.

[KurtNYC]

8. Sure

In January, for example, half the visitors to the Guardian Unlimited news site, an umbrella site for Britain's left-leaning Guardian and Observer newspapers, were from the Americas.

http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,58056,00.html

Will start a new thread too because I love the Guardian's coverage. They cover American news better than most US-based entities.

[meow2u3]

4. The government INDIRECTLY controls the media

by giving pundits offers they can't refuse. They pay them off under the table if they do pedal their propaganda, and kill them off (professionally, at least) if they insist on telling the truth.

[cally]

7. I would love to be a friend of the Zogbys

and hear their private conversations. Both are very smart, informed, and insightful. This article expresses my beliefs about the US news media. They are steeped in their culture and are more worried about bothering their peers than in reporting real news. I've read numerous studies on how regulators, police, and become more loyal to their peers than to their jobs. I think that's what has happened to the media. It's become insular.