Good Story In The Nation - Perhaps The Anti-Democrat Smears Aren't An Accident

[Median Democrat]

There is a good article in the Nation called, "Who Will Unplug Big Media."

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080616/mcchesney

In short, it talks about how the next President will have a direct impact on the composition of the FCC, and the ability of media conglomorates to conduct large mergers such as News Corp's/Fox acqusition of the Wall Street Journal. With this in mind, do you think that Disney/ABC or News Corp/Fox might be tempted to slant their stories against the Democratic nominee in favor of a candidate who might be less inclined to oppose such mergers?

This is why I think that the anti-Obama slant of ABC and Fox is not just simple bias. These companies have a direct economic stake in the election. If Obama gets elected, then their ability to create media monopolies will be impaired.

[cliffordu]

1. Kicked and enthusiastically recommended.

:kick:

[Honeycombe8]

2. Good point. Good post. (And of course, you are right. Except ABC...what is this about ABC?)nt

[Median Democrat]

5. Disney/ABC - Recall The Anti-Kerry and Anti-Clinton Smears?

In the months leading up to the 2004 election, ABC and its local affiliates showed two major anti-Kerry and anti-Clinton smears.

First, there was the "9/11" docudrama, which suggested that Bill Clinton was to blame for the 9/11 attacks:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/06/AR2006090601819.html

"ABC's entertainment division said the six-hour movie, "The Path to 9/11," will say in a disclaimer that it is a "dramatization . . . not a documentary" and contains "fictionalized scenes." But the disclaimer also says the movie is based on the Sept. 11 commission's report, although that report contradicts several key scenes."

Second, several of ABC's affiliates in key battleground states, televised Stolen Honor, an anti-Kerry movie:

http://money.cnn.com/2004/10/11/news/newsmakers/sinclair_kerry/index.htm

"Sinclair has ordered all 62 of its stations to air "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal" without commercials in prime-time next week, the Washington Post reported, just two weeks before the Nov. 2 election.

Sinclair's television group, which includes affiliates of all the major networks, reaches nearly a quarter of all U.S. television households, according to the company's Web site. A dozen of Sinclair's stations are in the critical swing states of Ohio, Florida, Iowa and Wisconsin.

Affiliates owned by the major television networks reach a larger percentage of U.S. homes because they are in the largest markets."

So, is this a matter of simple bias? Or, is there a direct quid pro quo between the GOP and News Corp and Disney?

[karynnj]

13. The Clinton movie was in 2006 - but they are both examples of smears

The smears were actually all pervasive in 2004 - when even mocking purple hearts didn't meet with condemnation. The media had ample proof that the entire official record backed the fact that Kerry was a war hero. It was played as he said they said - but it was the Navy said vs a group of Bush supporters said. It was not that the SBVT were good at smearing or that Kerry didn't provide proof, it was that the media condoned character assassination.

[Median Democrat]

16. True, I forgot it was near the 2006 Elections

Though I do agree with your point. The SBVT were pretty over the top, but the problem was that the media just played the accusations over and over again while not challening Bush on the numerous lies that led to the war.

[karynnj]

21. Which is why Kerry has spoken of losing to two lies

The big lie being the truth about Iraq. There, in 2004, the lies Kerry listed were that Bush did not take the steps he said he would. Those lies were indisputable - and the media STILL lets him off the hook on that. This was in addition to manipulating the intelligence.

The other lie was about Kerry's service.

[Honeycombe8]

48. No, I don't recall that. Thanks for reminding me, though. nt

[scrappydo]

18. If you want to take a walk on the wildside...

go over to the ABC blogs and take a stroll...a stroll over there is a journey heaped in paranoia and narcissism. :grr:

[Overseas]

24. ABC is quite conservative. They want the fake maverick.

[rucognizant]

30. SO Who here.........

Is visiting Disneyworld/land buying Disney products, DVDs movies, toys for the kids..............

[azmouse]

31. If you can stand it, watch Good Morning America some time.

Any time a Democratic issue is in the news they always have a conservative Rep on the show to talk about it but never, ever a Democrat.

[FrenchieCat]

3. Of course.....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x6015088

[blogslut]

4. Good article

We have to keep the pressure on even a President Obama. While McCain would kill media reform, we need to make sure that Obama embraces it. The best way is to appoint Michael Copps as chair of the F.C.C..

[Median Democrat]

6. Promising to Appoint Copps To Chairman May Guarantee Defeat...

Can you imagine the docudrama that Disney or News Corp would come up with? "Barack Hussein Obama! America Hater and Eater of Children!" based on the eye witness accounts of the Swift Boat veterans! There will be a little tiny disclaimer saying that a portion of the docudrama is fictional and a dramatization.

[blogslut]

11. I don't know about guaranteed defeat

If we are defeated it will be because of voter disenfranchisement and fixed electronic voting machines. The nation is sick of repub rule. While I agree that many people are easily led by yapping talkers on teevee, I'm pretty sure most folks have caught on to their scam.

They'll try. They will most definitely try. However, the influence of broadcast television has waned dramatically when it comes to informational resources for the general public. For instance, take the Reuters news story:

Nearly 70 percent of Americans believe traditional journalism is out of touch, and nearly half are turning to the Internet to get their news, according to a new survey.

While most people think journalism is important to the quality of life, 64 percent are dissatisfied with the quality of journalism in their communities, a We Media/Zogby Interactive online poll showed.

"That's a really encouraging reflection of people who care a) about journalism and b) understand that it makes a difference to their lives," said Andrew Nachison, of iFOCOS, a Virginia-based think tank which organized a forum in Miami where the findings were presented.

Nearly half of the 1,979 people who responded to the survey said their primary source of news and information is the Internet, up from 40 percent just a year ago. Less than one third use television to get their news, while 11 percent turn to radio and 10 percent to newspapers.

More than half of those who grew up with the Internet, those 18 to 29, get most of their news and information online, compared to 35 percent of people 65 and older. Older adults are the only group that favors a primary news source other than the Internet, with 38 percent selecting television.

In general, more people understand that when it comes to news and information, broadcast television is not a top priority source anymore.

EDIT ADD: link http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6232574.html

[Median Democrat]

19. Television Is Much More Biased Than The Internet - See Examples

I don't know, I am forced to watch Fox at a local gym I work out on, which has Fox on one of the TVs. So, of course, I am treated to Wright and Ayers being played over and over again. Of course, for good measure now that the primaries are over, they throw zingers at Hillary, as well. You also have Barack's Baby's Mama, and the terrorist fist jab remarks appearing within a week. This is my take, look at Foxnews.com:

http://elections.foxnews.com/

Still some bias, but it is not nearly as bad as watching Fox News on TV:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouKJixL--ms

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjvNSpsPu1k

Likewise, you link to ABC news website. However, here's ABC Nightline's recent smear on Obama in reference to 10 worst Vice-President choices:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2kT2-SAvSA

Why?

My take is that internet users tend to be more educated (since you need to at least be computer proficient), and they also tend to be more liberal. The moment they post something on the internet, it will be ripped apart in seconds on the internet. However, there is no easy way to give instant feedback on a television news program unless that viewer is reviewing somes ite like media matters or factcheck. If you are relying entirely on cable news, and you don't read the newspapers or review internet sites, then your view of the world will be pretty warped. The only thing you will hear is Reverand Wright, Baby's Mama, and never see McCain's numerous flip flops.

So, the websites of Fox and ABC may not contain some of the more inflammatory attacks, which will be reserved for network television, and the low information population that depends on it, and cannot access competing sources of information.

This all goes back to the original pont of why media consolidation is bad. You effectively get the equivalent of a state run media if the television channels (Fox and ABC) and major news outlets (Wall Street Journal) are controlled by very few players. Yes, it is great that the internet provides a counter-vailing voice, but many Americans do not hear this voice, because so much of their information is controlled by so few corporate media players.

[anonymous171]

7. Can't wait until all the media consolidation is undone and the MSM has to compete again.

[JimGinPA]

8. I Get Such A Kick Out Of "The Liberal Media" Meme

The right-wing bias has been obvious since the 90's.


K&R

[Zodiak]

49. But there are plenty of people here who erroneously think

That since both sides are complaining that the news must be unbiased. As if looking at the facts is secondary to looking at people's emotions. Emotions are just that...they are not objective at all and can be manipulated.

It is the lack of critical thinking skills amongst our own that depresses me sometimes.

[CreekDog]

9. I completely disagree

with "perhaps" ;)

[Pushed To The Left]

10. I've heard Thom Hartmann mention that he believes a big reason John Edwards didn't get much coverage

was due to his stance on media consolidation or something similar.

[lurky]

12. Some people think the "Dean Scream"

was payback for him threatening the media monster just a few days before that.

[Overseas]

23. That made sense to me.

[AZBlue]

14. Corporations, including the M$M, are very scared.

Their good times are about to come to a screeching halt.

[McCamy Taylor]

15. I have explained this before. ABC will be Obama's best friend. Check this out.

From their site.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=5054401&page=1

The Mouse has problems with McCain over A La Carte Cable as I have discussed before.

The Path to 9/11 was programmed to fail. I believe Disney cut a deal with the Bush FCC in spring 2005 to keep them from messing with Disney's cable franchise in exchange for ABC producing The Path to 9/11---only Disney never promised to do a good job. Just speculation, but the timing works out.

ABC News broke the Mark Foley scandal which did more than anything else to sink GOP chances in the fall of 2006.

[Median Democrat]

17. Remains To Be Seen - Path to 9/11 and Stolen Honor Appeared . . .

In September and November respectively. I doubt that ABC will do anything overt against the Democrats until September at the earliest, but most likely in late October. It is kind of hard to avoid actual "news" like Mark Foley, since there is always the risk that some other network will break the story. However, the beauty of docudramas is that there is no uncertainty. You can air it right before the election with no risk that some other network is going to preempt your little piece of fiction.

[WinkyDink]

20. I thought the "direct economic stake" has always been evident.

[Median Democrat]

22. Disagree - Article Notes Lack of Coverage Of McCain's Dealings With Big Media

The article contains this passage discussing John McCain's relationship with big media:

"While most of the attention to February's New York Times investigation of McCain's relationship with Vicki Iseman focused on speculation about romantic entanglement, shockingly little attention was paid to the revelation that in 1999 McCain had, as Commerce Committee chair, pressured the FCC to issue a critical TV station license to Paxson Communications, for whom Iseman was lobbying. McCain's approach was so aggressive and so out of bounds even for corporate-cozy Washington that then-FCC chair William Kennard complained about the senator's attempted intervention. Paxson's executives and lobbyists contributed more than $20,000 to McCain's 2000 presidential campaign, and its CEO lent McCain the company's jet at least four times for campaign travel. The senator's symbiotic relationship with Paxson and telecom giants like AT&T is rarely mentioned on the Straight Talk Express.

Also unmentioned is the crucial role McCain played in shaping the Bush-era FCC. It was McCain who personally and aggressively promoted Michael Powell to serve as FCC chair, and who defended Powell's attempts in 2003 to rewrite media ownership rules according to a script written by industry lobbyists. While other senators objected to those rule changes after more than 2 million Americans communicated their opposition, McCain sought to preserve them. And he remains joined at the hip with Powell, who unabashedly thinks the job of government is to promote the interests of the largest communication firms. In May Powell represented the McCain campaign on a panel discussion at the annual conference of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association."

[Triana]

25. Absolutely. The lamestream media is part and parcel of the plutocracy/corporatocracy..

...this has been a problem for years. They CONTROL the elections with their propaganda. They CONTROL the government and the government runs FOR THEM and for any other big corprats (big oil, big pharma, mil-industrial, big insurance, etc.).

The lamestream media need to be broken up, the FCC ownership rules changed, and the Fairness Doctrine reinstated.

The are SO BELOW and nowhere NEAR credible anymore it's pathetic. They are NOTHING but a propaganda arm for the neo-con, corprat/Inc. government and that government is nothing but a crime ring whose job is to keep them fat and happy and to keep THE AMERICAN PEOPLE misinformed, ignorant, silent, and sidelined.

[Indenturedebtor]

27. Yes we have to take them out - priority #1!!!!!!!!

[Indenturedebtor]

26. Good Article, thanks for posting

I really believe that this is the first and most important step towards restoring Democracy in America!

[patriotvoice]

28. Everyone, including corporations, acts in self-interest.

If they have the power to maintain or improve their interests, they will.

But remember, their power derives from our consent: our will makes them relevant. We, collectively, have the power to cripple them. When our subscriptions stop, their enterprise and their monopoly, crashes. Our rise begins when each of us stops sending them money. Drop your cable. Browse at newsstands and libraries. Refer to Internet link dumps.

[Juan_de_la_Dem]

29. Very good article. Thx

[rebel with a cause]

32. I am ignorant on much of this stuff and I will admit it.

So my question is where does MSNBC stand in this? Keith Olberman talks about fox being out to destroy GE because of him and bill o, but I would suspect it is more than that. Where are they in the bigger scheme of things?

[Median Democrat]

34. Good Question - Unlike Disney and News Corp.,

General Electric's business is not focused on the media. There are winners and losers in the media consolidation wars, and I don't see General Electric abandoning its core business to try to develop a media monopoly. GE makes appliances, jet engines, you name it. Media consolidation may even put GE's NBC property at a disadvantage relative to News Corp and Disney.

Disney and News Corp, on the other hand, are media companies. That's their core business, thus they have a far greater stake in the issue of media consolidation, because such rules directly limit their growth while GE can still expand its non-media related businesses.

So, is it a coincidence that NBC has Keith Olbermann, and Disney/ABC and News Corp/Fox do not? One set of companies stands to directly benefit from a merger friendly FCC?

This is not simply political bias. Basic economics are at stake.

[rucognizant]

35. On the other hand...........

Alppliances isn't the money making product for GE. It's weaponry, missles shields, etc. They gain by ongoing war!

[quispquake]

33. Look what happened to Howard Dean...

The Dean "Scream" ruined him just awhile after his saying he was going to break up the media monopolies:

On December 1, 2003, Howard Dean was ahead by twenty points in the polls when he appeared on Hardball with Chris Matthews and said, “We're going to break up the giant media enterprises.” This pronouncement went far beyond the governor’s previous public musings about possibly re-regulating the communications industry, and amounted to a declaration of war on the corporations that administer the flow of information in the United States.

It was an extraordinarily noble and dangerous thing to do: when he advocated a truly free press, Dr. Dean was provoking the corrupt media conglomerates that control what most Americans see and hear and read, and thereby control what most Americans think.

The media giants quickly responded by crushing his high-flying campaign with the greatest of ease. This time, they didn’t even have to invent a scandal in order to achieve the desired result; merely by chanting the word “unelectable” at maximum volume, the mainstream media maneuvered Democratic voters into switching their support to someone who poses no threat to the status quo.

More at:
http://makethemaccountable.com/podvin/media/040201_TheScream.htm

[beac]

36. K&R!!

[MasonJar]

37. An obvious conclusion! The internet must keep up the pressure so that

the networks can only go so far. The time for corporate control of the USA needs to be ended or this country is doomed.

[MasonJar]

38. Boycott them and their sponsors!!!!!! Even though I like Charlie Gibson,

I will never watch ABC again in any time slot. Let them know you despise their antics and will not buy the products of their advertisers. Better still, let the advertisers know.

[oxbow]

39. just follow the money.

More often than not, that's how you find what game they're really playing.

"It's hard to get a man to understand something, when his paycheck depends on him not understanding"
-Upton Sinclair

[Raster]

40. Anyone that believes that the anti-Democrat and/or anti-Obama bias in the media is unintentional

is seriously deluding themselves. Of course it's intentional.

[FunMe]

41. They are afraid of: FAIRNESS DOCTRINE

They know President Obama will bring back the FAIRNESS DOCTRINE that the FCC killed years ago.

Bringing it back will restore journalism at the TV networks and be the death of FOX and FOX-lite. (Yes, that would be ABC)

[Indenturedebtor]

42. Not only fairness doctrine, but of Dem rule in general

Backed by an informed public. Who would start their wars for them? Look at who owns these big conglomerates after all.

Here's a link -

http://la.indymedia.org/news/2003/04/47530.php

[slampoet]

43. WELL Frikkin DUH!!!!!

It has happened 18-20 times.


If a person on the subway stepped on your toes 18-20 times would you think it was all accidental?

Absolutely not.


What if it was 18-20 people each stepping on your toes?


Still No.





No reasonable person would think that it WASN'T premeditated.



Also notice that each and every one of these groups that have made these gaffes happen on purpose ALSO HAS A MOTIVE TO DO JUST WHAT THEY DID.

Fox - GOP network

ABC - Florida controlled by Disney and Disney has controlling Saudi interests.

NBC - GE military contracts.

Detroit News - Union busting organization of the highest order, conservative controlled by the Devos/Engler machine which has family relations to Eric Prince the owner of Blackwater.

WallStreet Journal - tabloid for old money


and the list goes on and on.

[sentelle]

45. uh not exactly

Wsj - now owned by Rupert (fox) Murdoch.

[sentelle]

46. oops

Dup. Pls ignore

[peacetalksforall]

44. You're asking as if you believe that these combined companies are independents.

They are just part of a plan. Three of these composite right wing entities, three airlines, no unions, privatization everywhere - it'a all about ownership of you and all of us. We will not move around or even think without them knowing where we are, what we're doing, and how we're thinking. Think tanks, foundations, controlling religious leaders and their mega organizations. It's all a plan. Yes, Murdoch had money and he made more, but not just for himself - it's part of the plan. Everyone needs to think vast baron conspiracy to really have the pieces fit together.

When people say there is no difference betwwen the two Party's it's true in part.

If you talk about sameness - look at the precise sameness of the FCC and these companies and the WHite House and Federalist Society. Quietly they proceed with little flair-ups that are focused in, but it's a vast land that they operate in.

AND the EXPECT to remain in control.

We must think of ourselves as a sovereign nation that has been invaded by our own - they want us - they want to control us - after they've culled some of us. The protestors, the food stamp people, the people who want peace.

Place them in their bigger context and they can be better understood.

[lonestarnot]

47. Excellent post!

[HughBeaumont]

50. "tempted to slant their stories against the Democratic Nominee?"

I'm not recalling a time after 1996 when they DIDN'T!

Even the subtle language they use reflects bias.