So, there is no news at all on tv

[shadowknows69]

Everyone is running features. CNN is running one about TWA flght 800 and how Iran was probably behind it. You hear the word Iran about every fifth word. Other than that you wouldn't even know anything is going on in the ME right now. Did Hizbollah have a succesful rocket attack or don't they want us to see Israeli tanks rolling over gaza strip civilians?

[Syncronaut Seven]

1. They haven't had the time to write the spin yet.

Me thinks Israel jumped the gun, Fallwell was sure armageddon wasn't scheduled until Tuesday.

[bloom]

3. Armageddon could take some build-up

Tuesday could still work. Thursday is Meatloaf (according to a sign I sign earlier today.)

[bloom]

2. Some people say

that TWA flight 800 was attacked by a right-wing militia type group from Florida.

Esp. if that is true - which BushCo would not want the news out about - it's interesting if they are tagging on Iran. More reasons for people to hate Iran - justify bombing it and all.


I suppose news of Israel bombing suburbs is not the news that they want people know. It doesn't fit the right victim complex dynamic.

[NanceGreggs]

4. Just so you know what we're up against ...

I wrote a piece here on DU a few weeks ago about CNN (and how it is no longer a news outlet), and it wound up being posted on a CNN website.

One of the comments on that site, from an admitted younger viewer, was that CNN runs 24 hours a day, and there's only about ONE HOUR of news that actually happens in a day, so that's why people shouldn't criticize their use of 'filler' material.

Only ONE HOUR of news happening in any given twenty-four hour period.

I guess to the 'younger viewers' who have become 'news aware' during the Bush years, this is the accepted norm.

[shadowknows69]

5. I've been having some hope with some of their anchors

but you are spot on and so is that younger viewer. It's 23 hours of waste. Even headline news now runs Glenn Beck for like an hour. Don't know if it's actually that long because I can only stomach about 30 seconds but WTF. Wasn't headline news supposed to be the feature free CNN so we could have constant updates? The Press is officially dead. As someone who was taught by three very "old school" journalism professors it pains me more than I can adequately describe

[NanceGreggs]

18. I hear ya!

I became a CNN fanatic during their coverage of the first Gulf War -- you could tune in any time, day or night, and get an instant update on what was going on.

About ten years ago, my household participated in a month-long survey as to what TV we were watching and when. We had to keep a log of our viewing, and at the end of the month, we realized that the TV was tuned to CNN for the majority of every day.

If we participated now, we'd be down to maybe an hour a month tuned to CNN -- and ONLY if Larry King had Bill Maher on for an hour during that time.

What a truly sorrowful waste of the credibility CNN had so painstakingly built for itself back in the day ...

[SharonAnn]

23. They no longer cover interenational news or controversial US news.

Saves a lot of money in staff and offices, as well as expenses on location, and avoids controversy.

Also means that Americans are woefully ignorant of what's really happening anywhere.

[ContraBass Black]

6. Iran downed TWA 800? Since when?

We've always been at war with Eurasia, of course.

[shadowknows69]

8. Since 7pm this evening on CNN I guess

I don't remember hearing a lot of that rhetoric either at the time. Can anyone else confirm this? This is a pure prop piece isn't it?

[SPKrazy]

20. It Was Proven To Have Not Been A Missile, Or Terror Attack

are they going to now say the FBI screwed that one up too and it was the Iranians?

All those people who claim they saw a missile and were ridiculed and ignored by the FBI and media during the investigation; should there be an apology?

I don't believe this.

My suspicions are that Ramsi Yousef was behind the flight 800 and the FBI administration knew it and covered it up for some heretofore unknown reason.

[PA Democrat]

9. Oh Christ, we are screwed. The sheeple would believe it.

Another one down the memory hole!

[Gatchaman]

7. *sigh* TWA Flight 800 was downed by...

...a poorly designed fuel tank wherein wiring caused a spark in an empty tank, setting off fuel vapors and causing an explosion.

It's one thing when people on the Internets talk about conspiracy theories. It's another alltogether when CNN does it. They should know better.

[shadowknows69]

11. You're right!!!

That's what I thought originally that it was never even ruled an attack. I remember at the time thinking it probably could have been and thinking it was a potential coverup but that just proves how irresponsible this CNN piece is.

[City Lights]

15. Ah, but the poorly designed fuel tank was designed and built by...

IRANIANS. C'mon, get with the program. ;-)

[killbotfactory]

16. They know better

They are working with the government and prepping us for a war with Iran.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

21. The CNN program made it very clear that it was a design defect, not Iran,

that caused the TWA 800 accident. They were critical of the FAA's failure to require nitrogen in empty fuel tanks, and dismissed terrorist acts or other conspiracy theories. The beginning of the show addressed the fact that at the time of the accident most people thought it was terrorism and Iran was a possible culprit -- and that's all. Yes, CNN often sucks in a lot of respects, but this show definitely did NOT blame Iran for Flight 800. Sometimes it helps to keep watching rather than jump to conclusions based on the first 5 minutes of a broadcast...

[shadowknows69]

22. Good point

and I'm guilty of exactly what you just said. I still think it shows how the prop. machine can work. I'm still not so sure it wasn't by design to have it be that misleading in the beginning. My attention span is only slightly longer than the average viewer and many could watch that long and get the same thing from it. My wife made me turn it off because I was yelling at the tv again.

[Cleita]

10. Have you noticed it's like everyone goes home for the weekend

except maybe one guy in a control booth? I mean if you didn't know any better you would believe the world paused every weekend with nothing happening until Monday.

[shadowknows69]

12. Having worked for corporate radio and knowing a bit about

broadcast tv I can tell you for sure that's how a LOT of stations operate. You don't need many people these days to give the illusion of live anything.

[sweetheart]

13. On

a planet without membranes, do the polluting minds of a billion undead scream unheard?

[shadowknows69]

14. That's a great little phrase

I'm not completely sure what it means but, well said.

[Swamp Rat]

17. Nothing but fascist propaganda

"The concept of propaganda has undergone a fundamental transformation, particularly as the result of political practice in Germany. Throughout the world today, people are beginning to see that a modern state, whether democratic or authoritarian, cannot withstand the subterranean forces of anarchy and chaos without propaganda. It is not only a matter of doing the right thing; the people must understand that the right thing is the right thing. Propaganda includes everything that helps the people to realize this.

Political propaganda in principle is active and revolutionary. It is aimed at the broad masses. It speaks the language of the people because it wants to be understood by the people. Its task is the highest creative art of putting sometimes complicated events and facts in a way simple enough to be understood by the man on the street. Its foundation is that there is nothing the people cannot understand, but rather things must be put in a way that they can understand. It is a question of making it clear to him by using the proper approach, evidence, and language.

Propaganda is a means to an end. Its purpose is to lead the people to an understanding that will allow them to willingly and without internal resistance devote themselves to the tasks and goals of a superior leadership. If propaganda is to succeed, it must know what it wants. It must keep a clear and firm goal in mind, and seek the appropriate means and methods to reach that goal. Propaganda as such is neither good nor evil. Its moral value is determined by the goals it seeks.

Propaganda must be creative. It is by no means a matter for the bureaucracy or official administration, but rather it is a matter of productive fantasy. The genuine propagandist must be a true artist. He must be a master of the popular soul, using it as an instrument to express the majesty of a genuine and unified political will. Propaganda can be pro or con. In neither case does it have to be negative. The only thing that is important is whether or not its words are true and genuine expressions of a people’s values. During its period of opposition, the National Socialist movement proved that criticism can be constructive, indeed, that in a time which the government is in the hands of destructive powers it may be the only constructive element."

- Dr. Joseph Goebbels, Der Kongress zur Nürnberg 1934 (Munich: Zentralverlag der NSDAP., Frz. Eher Nachf., 1934), pp. 130-141. Speech given at Nuremberg Rally - 1934.

[unhappycamper]

19. We haven't had TV news since January, 2000. n/t