“Where the press is free, and every man able to read, all is safe.” –Thomas Jefferson. 1817
News.
News is what happened or will happen, right? Well, no, it isn’t. News is what someone says it happened or will happen. A healthy democracy is dependent on a well informed citizenry. That is a regularly agreed upon statement among objective people. When we, as citizens, are aware of what is going on in our country and the rest of the world, we’re in a better position to decide what we want from our leaders. The problem is that power hungry people know this as well. The Russians tried to control behavior, the U.S. government wants to control opinion, and the U.S. mass media rarely hesitate to give them a hand. So we need news and we get news, but who’s giving it to us and what’s their motivation? Who pulls the strings at our news sources? In order to answer these questions, one must first look at who’s in charge.
Let’s look at television. Basically, all networks (besides my band) are owned by a handful of huge conglomerates with billions of dollars and plenty of international interests. (*The following companies own far more channels than what is listed, but I’ll mention only their news outlets and Comedy Central.) AOL/Time Warner owns CNN, Headline News, and 37.5 % of Comedy Central. General Electric owns NBC, CNBC, 50% of MSNBC (w/ Microsoft), has stakes in regional news channels, and NBC and CNBC in Europe and Asia. Viacom owns CBS and 50% of Comedy Central. Disney owns ABC. News Corporation owns Fox and the Fox News Channel. Bertelsmann owns almost all of the channels in Europe. Those companies, along with Sony, Vivendi, and AT&T, basically own everything you see on TV. (*Google “The Big Ten” to see the ridiculous amount of crap these conglomerates own.) Many of the above mentioned stations share interests in a variety of channels, newspapers, radio stations, magazines, etc. Personally, I get sick thinking of how much they own. I own some guitar stuff, some jeans, and whatever t-shirts bands are nice enough to give me (hint hint).
This kind of ownership can greatly affect a news channel’s output. For example, NBC’s “Today Show” deleted a reference to the General Electric Company from a report on shoddy products that was televised November 30, 1989. NBC is a subsidiary of RCA, which is owned by General Electric. Also, GE has secured millions of dollars in defense and military contracts, earning itself a place among notorious war profiteering companies. With this in mind, how critical of U.S. military interventions are NBC, CNBC, and MSNBC really going to be? Many of the above mentioned companies’ CEO’s are staunch conservatives and have interests in other organizations that benefit from war. For example, CBS has board members from the Amoco Corporation and NBC shares board members with J.P. Morgan & Company. J.P. Morgan & Co. helps manage $290 billion of the Sabah family’s money in Kuwait. Perhaps that could help explain why the U.S. Government ignored Saddam Hussein’s atrocities until he invaded Kuwait, a huge U.S. cash cow.
This is why the overused “liberal media” label just kills me. Conservatives love to look at journalists and call the company they work for “liberal.” You know, those Volvo-driving, latte-drinking, tree-hugging liberals controlling the media. How many times have you heard conservative talk show hosts blaming the “liberal media” for making Bush look like an idiot? (A fucking one-year-old could do that.) Even Bill Clinton whined to Rolling Stone that he did not get “one damn bit of credit from the knee-jerk liberal press.” And of course, George W. Bush complained that the media “are biased against conservative thought.” If the U.S. mainstream media were biased against conservative thought, they wouldn’t exist!
Follow the dollars, find the problem. You want the news? A few people are getting rich controlling vital information and millions of people are getting dumb listening to what billionaires want them to. I mean, 1% of the U.S. population owns 50% of the stocks! I could go on and on and probably will in my next few blogs. So, if you’re bored by thinking, don’t tune in here, tune into your television.
ALTERNATIVE NEWS SITES
Independent Media: www.indymedia.org
Public Citizen: www.citizen.org
Non-Violence Web: www.nonviolence.org
Voices in the Wilderness: www.nonviolence.org/vitw
School of the Americas Watch: www.soaw.org
Global Exchange: www.globalexchange.org
Earth Justice Legal Defense Fund: www.earthjustice.org
World Trade Observer: www.worldtradeobserver.org
Online Anarchist Community: www.infoshop.org
Missionary Service News Agency: www.misna.org
The Emperor’s New Clothes: www.tenc.net
Third World Newsreel: www.twn.org
One World.Net: www.oneworld.net
Third World Network: www.twnside.org.sg/
“April 16”: www.a16.org
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3 comments:
Some scary facts, but the scary thing is 90% or more of the population have no clue. They just walk around with their blinders on believing everything that is force fed to them. NWO, Illumanati, Aliens, shoot.....some jacked up shit could be goin down soon. Are you ready? AR
I don't deal too much with the aliens, illuminati, 9/11 "Truth" bullshit. People read too much into that stuff. Besides, there is enough bullshit and lying going on in very real and documented circumstances. And, yes, I'm ready.
You are right, there is alot of bullshit like that 9/11 "Truth" bullshit you speak of. Truth is there alot of documented facts, lying, & scary stuff going on in the "government" & blackmarket, some stuff people might not want to think about or consider. some people do read too much into the conspiricies, but most people don't even consider or think about them at all. You make a valid point & the facts stated in your blog are very serious & I thank you for bringing them to my attention. AR
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