The American Media 101 (The media as GOP shill)

[ProSense]

Or why the media is so damn complicit in furthering the Republican agenda.

The media serves as a shill for the group more likely to protect its corporate interests, Republicans. The fact is the levels of media ownership run so far and deep into the financial community it's hard for the average person to see, and so easy for the media to deny that these connections have any impact on its reporting

Here is and excellent ownership chart:

http://www.projectcensored.org/newsflash/C2006_chap6.pdf (pp 4-9 highlight the connections)

Now an example of how much deeper it goes beyond AOL/Time Warner connection to Citigroup (pg. 9). What this chart doesn’t show is the link to Kingdom Holding Company:

Kingdom Holding Company is a private holding company, incorporated in Saudi Arabia, and is one of the largest Saudi companies. It is owned by Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz, and is headquartered in the city of Riyadh.

Snip…

Probably its best know international investments include (or have included):

Amazon
AOL/Time Warner
Apple Computers
Boeing
Canary Wharf
Citigroup
Coca Cola
Compaq
Disneyland Paris
eBay
Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts
Ford
George V Hotel, Paris
Gillette
McDonald's
News Corporation
PepsiCo
Procter & Gamble
Walt Disney

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_Holding

Alsaud, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal , 44 , inherited and growing
Track This Person

Source: Kingdom Holding Co.
Net Worth: $20 bil -
Country: Saudi Arabia
Marital Status: married , 2 children
Menlo College, BA/BS
Syracuse University

The man: High-energy investor who searches out undervalued stocks saw some of them become even less valuable this year. The fortune: Prices plummeted on Internet picks Priceline.com and Amazon.com as well as holdings like Motorola and Compaq. Lucky for him, these are small pieces of a big pie. The biggest slice, his 3.9% of Citigroup, accounts for half his fortune and was up 12% since last year. Passions: Long walks near his weekend desert retreat; watching CNBC.

http://www.forbes.com/finance/lists/10/2001/LIR.jhtml?passListId=10&passYear=2001&passListType=Person&uniqueId=0RD0&datatype=Person

Prince Alwaleed, Chairman of the Kingdom Holding Company and a member of the Saudi Royal Family and one of the world's leading philanthropists, supports many educational and humanitarian initiatives. He recently donated $20 million to the Louvre in support of its collection of Islamic art and created the first Centers for American Studies and Research in the Arab World at the American University of Beirut and the American University in Cairo. He has also made donations to President George H.W. Bush Sr., Scholarship fund established by Phillips Academy, the Carter Center for Peace and Health Programs in Africa, and given substantial aid to the Tsunami victims.

Note: Articles listed under "Middle East Studies in the News" provide information on current developments concerning Middle East studies on North American campuses. These reports do not necessarily reflect the views of Campus Watch and do not necessarily correspond to Campus Watch's critique.

http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/2329

The point of all of this is that the media’s objectivityhas to be questioned because of these corporate/financial links. And even if the point is made about how spread out those ownership interests are, look at how much of Citigroup this Saudi company owns: 3.9% (or as stated above, half the Prince’s fortune).


How it works

Scenario 1 and Democrats: When charges, regardless of how false, are leveled at a Democrat, the media launches into a ling of questioning using RW talking points to put Democrats on the defensive to respond and prove the charges false.

Scenario 2 and Democrats: When charges are leveled at a Republican (no matter how factual) the media launches a line of questions using RW talking points to put the Democrats on the defensive to prove they are different from the Republicans, not as guilty or complicit.


In the first scenario, Republicans are asked leading (softball) questions. For example:

Media interviewer: So you’re saying President Clinton did the same thing…
Republican responder: Exactly. (Further elaboration optional)

In the second scenario, Republicans are offered the opportunity to rebut the Democrats charges and/or reiterate the Democrats’ complicity.

Case studies: See recent posts about Wolfie’s interview with Dean, Reid and RW media, numerous articles about Abramoff-related money and articles about Bush distancing himself from DeLay.


The RW further engages in payola because some so-called journalists are only in it for the money and the practice allows the Republican to create the appearance of a solid, consistent and objective (Ha!) block of voices in agreement with their positions.


The wingnuts don’t get it

The RW audience, clueless that the media isn’t objective, complains whenever any charges are leveled against Republicans and picked up by the media because they still have to report most things. The RW audience accuses the media of having a liberal bias. When the media does something that really doesn’t appeal to them, they freep the media with e-mail


Other resources:
http://www.cjr.org/tools/owners/
http://www.mediachannel.org/ownership/chart.shtml


JMO


edited to add "s" to serve

[AX10]

1. KICK, KICK, KICK!

[KoKo]

2. Then our only hope is to wait for the Oil to dry up in Saudi Arabia.

Because there's nothing we can do to fight this. Congress whether Dem or Repug will never cut off sources of foreign income into America. We don't have job growth because our manufacturing is dead. So these companies are being propped up by the Saudi's and our bonds are being bought by China and Japan probably along with a portion by the Saudi's whenever there's an imbalance in one of our auctions (Japanese and Chinese have a bad day and reduce their treasury buy at the auctions).

Many of us here know the Stock Market is being propped by the so called "Plunge Protection Team." There's been speculation about the Saudi's in this.

Not much we can do about it. Just got to go with the flow...I guess.

[ProSense]

3. The solution is already taking root.

That's why Wolfie lost his cool and Reid stood his ground. It's the reason why CNN is being exposed as a shill and why the truth about Iraq became known.

The other day Barron's called for inquiry to determine if Bush should be impeached. Barron's is a publication with a circulation of less than 300,000. It's just a little more than say Mother Jones or The Nation. OK, they're affiliated with the WSJ, but the point is a lot of small entities joining forces wield a lot of power.

So that's the reason all this is coming out: alternative media and the blogs, oh and Wiki.

DU is 82,000 strong and probably has more pass through than the average print media pass along readership. There are huge liberal forums online, and they are on these stories every day, and are getting under Wolfie's skin. They're quoting blogs now on the MSM. Oh and the WSJ and Barron's have nothing on the the liberal forum, except perception of credibility to a segment of the public, but not in terms of the size of the audience created by their affiliations. The liberal forums link to the larger party structure and are forcing the information to the surface. Liberal it's a large alternative media block.

Well, the corporate thing is pretty locked up by the MSM, but the rest is up for grabs, meaning the truth is getting out despite their billions and minions.


edited: it's billions

[radio4progressives]

4. K&R

:applause:

[ProSense]

5. So what else is the MSM not reporting? n/t

[LibertyorDeath]

6. Tell it Tell it Amen !

[hootinholler]

7. Liberal Bias

is a R talking point that the media seems to embrace. At best it's comming from an astroturf campaign.

-Hoot

[Lyle]

8. I'd like to add this link:

This link offers a more graphical representation of media ownership.

http://www.thenation.com/special/bigten.html

[ProSense]

9. Excellent chart. Thanks. n.t

[ProSense]

10. Media now distorting Kennedy; spin is now on Alito's wife (go home)n/t

[ProSense]

11. Enron CEO Lay takes case to the Internet

Former Enron CEO Lay takes case to the Internet By Anna Driver
1 hour, 9 minutes ago


NEW YORK (Reuters) - People sell everything from antique china to chihuahuas on the Internet, but former Enron Corp. chief executive Kenneth Lay's legal defense team wants Web surfers to buy his credibility.


Like media-savvy Martha Stewart and HealthSouth Corp.'s Richard Scrushy before him, Lay has set up a Web site designed to bolster his image as his trial is set to begin in Houston on conspiracy and fraud charges.

In a trial set to start on January 30, government lawyers are expected to paint Lay and former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling as men who lied to cover up a massive fraud that led to the collapse of the power trading giant.

But a check of his Web site, http://www.kenlayinfo.com, reveals an extensive list of community awards and service. For example, Lay was named "Father of the Year" by local community group and the then-mayor of Houston once declared a "Kenneth Lay Day."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060113/wr_nm/crime_enron_internet_dc_1

See post 5, it really does work (even the crooks know it), as does writing letters to the MSM.

[ProSense]

12. Blogs growing more powerful

Diving Into The Blogosphere

Politicians, Students, Share Ideas

POSTED: 1:34 pm CST January 20, 2006

MADISON, Wis. -- The popularity of blogging is increasing nationally, but what may surprise people is that there's a whole political blogosphere right at their fingertips, News 3 reported.

Brenda Konkel, Madison alderperson, spends a lot of time on the computer. But it’s when she gets home that the world can go to "her side of town".

snip...

According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, nine percent, or 13 million Americans now have blogs. Another 39 million say they read postings of people who do.

more...

http://www.channel3000.com/news/6280793/detail.html?rss=c3k&psp=news

Blogs put megaphone up to Sundance buzz

Friday January 20 3:27 AM ET


As befits its indie roots, the Sundance Film Festival has long played host to innovations that have spread elsewhere.

Blogging is one of them. Personal blogs, millions of them, are spreading on the Internet like kudzu, from LiveJournal.com to MySpace.com. Professional blogs such as Gawker Media's gossipy Defamer.com draws some 270,000 page views per day.

As blogs become more successful, they are challenging traditional media, and this year's Sundance marks a fascinating juncture as newly powerful blogs like http://www.Cinematical.com take on the likes of the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times.

more...

http://movies.yahoo.com/mv/sundance/news/vas/20060120/113775644800.html

[blm]

13. House of Bush - House of Saud - business partners for over 30 years.

.