On the motivations of the mass media...

[Jackpine Radical]

Most people know that the mass media are, for the most part, dumbed-down purveyors of celebrity gossip. Critics commonly blame this downward drift in content on corporate decisions to make the news bureaus into profit center for the networks. They say that average people care only about the scandalous doings of the movie stars and have no interest in the boring details of government and such things, so all those investigative reporters are needless overhead. In short, the people get the news coverage that they want and deserve.

In fact, I think this is only part of the story, and the smallest part at that. The news departments had to help the bottom lines of the corporations that own the networks--GE, etc. That meant that they had to become propaganda mouthpieces for right-wing views. GE profits mightily from the war, and they all profit healthily from deregulation. Republican administrations are good for the big, established corporations, so these giants of industry do their best to perpetuate pro-Republican beliefs and attitudes among the populace. An informed people is a dangerous people.

Tell me you don't think impeachment news would sell. Want scandal? Start digging into the doings of the ownership class in their boardrooms, in their bedrooms, and in the halls of government. If you think the public wouldn't avidly follow every drip of revelation, you just don't remember the Watergate Summer when Sam Ervin's hearings replaced normal daytime TV and everyone was watching in fascination as our government melted down.

[sshan2525]

1. We should start using the term....

...."Corporate Media". We need to get people to understand who owns the media in the US and what motivates them to report the way they do. Too many Americans are under the illusion that our media is "liberal" which, as those of us who live in the real world know, is nonsense. Using the term "corporate" often elicits a "what do you mean by that?" from less informed people and allows one to explain the real evils being perpetrated by our press today.

[Jackpine Radical]

2. I agree, and often use that term.

Thanks for reminding me.

[sshan2525]

3. You're welcome and...

.....your original post was a good one. I should have mentioned that.

[Writer]

7. The only problem with that is not all media are corporate-owned.

[Jackpine Radical]

8. Right. Like our local low-wattage station.

Even PBS lives under the thumb of major corporate contributors like ADM, for example.

[anonymous171]

4. How do we make Impeachment sexy?

[SpiralHawk]

15. Drag Jeff Gannon* into it?

* The official Bush White House male B & D escort who, according to the official Secret Service records, made over 200 visits to Commander AWOL Bush's place of residence, with several apparent overnighters.

[balantz]

16. Yes, we all know shrubbie likes Dick!

It is the name of his v.p. (or should I say his boss?)

:P

[FrenchieCat]

5. Eggxactly!

in a nutshell.

Notice with the big uproar about FISA all over the net, the corporate media has barely dealt with the story. Guess they are laying in wait.

[Skidmore]

6. When reporters/journalists became celebrities with multi-million dollar

incomes and all the trappings of wealth, then the industry ceased to function properly.

[balantz]

9. You can make impeachment as "sexy" as you want

and the corporate owned media still won't cover it.

There are many, many things that won't be covered because the corporate media are part and parcel of the fascist takeover in America.

Journalists have been replaced with millionaire mouthpieces who have been carefully selected and groomed to speak for their kind, the corporate elite.

[Jackpine Radical]

10. That is precisely my point.

[balantz]

11. I know, and thanks for the thread.

I just had to throw my part in.

I am at a loss as to what we can do about it. By the time enough Americans wake up to the level of complicity of the corporate media with the fascist takeover it will be a done deal.

Along the same lines I see people watch their government, including the Democratic party side with the fascists and it is such a shock that they still just can't quite wrap their heads around it.

I think it is already too late to do anything about it. Perhaps massive, painful strikes may have an effect. But at this point the corporate elite are bleeding us so slowly that the majority of the good citizens just try and crawl further into their comfortable shells. Ultimately most of us are dependent on them for our food and water.

I am waiting for the next shock and awe, and along with it the manufactured media spin telling us what we are supposed to believe about it.

[Jackpine Radical]

12. We can't win thier game on their playing field.

To resist is to lose. You have to move past them like the mammals did with the dinosaurs. I think that means the Internet. I think that eventually (fairly soon, I hope) the mass media will be irrelevant and people will be communicating directly with each other.

The news media were supposed to be like sense organs for society. When they cease performing that role, society stumbles about like a blinded giant. In the long run, being disconnected from information about reality is always fatal.

[balantz]

13. Sounds good!

But won't they be ruling the internet too?

[Jackpine Radical]

14. Because they won't see it coming?

Net neutrality is a very important issue. We need somehow to get it firmly implanted in people's minds that they own the net and must resist any attempts to take it away from them.

[KoKo]

17. Your premise is proved by Fox News rise and the early days of MSNBC when Geraldo Rivera

had a show on focusing on Clinton's Impeachment where all the RW Hacks who later made Fox News famous used to appear talking about Clinton/Monica that went on all night. That was when Roger Ailes was running MSNBC before he moved over to Fox. But, MSNBC did very well and so has Fox on Presidential Scandals and perceived corruption. GE and Murdoch... it's all about getting their breaks from the Repugs and not about the what the "public really wants is sex and scandals."

Thanks for the post about this!