Artist Entry: Architect drummer Ant Michel contemplates a separation of media, and well, media

"You know what really Grinds My gears" not by Peter Griffin

Our diluted fake fucking Media who are too scared to ask real questions. But when it comes time to fear monger the American sheep they are right on board. How about this? I am going to form two News companies. One Called GOOD NEWS, and the other is called Are you Fucking Kidding Me? News. All the Good News will have everything good that people do in this country. You know helping elderly, foster care, adopting crack addict kids, people at a food pantry, helping your neighbor, etc. I mean honestly this list is long and sends a positive message to people who always bitch and moan that nobody does anything good, and everyone is getting shot, and gas is high, and cry me a fucking river, shut up. Life is what you put into it. If you are a miserable prick that blames everyone else for you being a loser then you will always amount to nothing and be a miserable prick.

The next is Are you Fucking Kidding Me? News. I mean really there isn't many asking the honest questions, and when people are--for example Alex Jones--its always called "Conspiracy Theory." No its just because media today and the American sheep cannot be rattled by the true thought of an honest question--and GOD forbid actually get an HONEST ANSWER--because we all know if there was an HONEST ANSWER (for example) of why we went to Iraq, this country would freak out. It's funny how our President has the lowest approval rating of all time, supposedly Al Qaeda flew planes into two buildings and yet Al Qaeda is in no way shape or form linked to Iraq (FACT), IRAQ had no WOMDs (FACT), Saddam Hussein hated Al Qaeda (FACT) and the list is long, but people still feel we are safer that we are in Iraq.

Did I just hear myself write that? Wait is that right? Haha. Wait, people even know that it was a scam -- I mean it is printed everywhere, yes even on CNN, and somehow this country is not up in arms fighting. Hmmmmm… IN WALKS Are you Fucking Kidding me News, featuring yours truly Ant, and on the road Keith. And our first question is busting in the doors of Congress and asking "WHY THE FUCK ARE THERE NO CHARGES BROUGHT UP ON THIS ADMINISTRATION?' Now you may say to yourself well there are already people doing this, yeah, but we will be on National TV. Why is it not already?

I have touched some topics today that are on a more serious note than just busting on dumb celebrities, because Keith said I am not serious enough. So this article of "You know what really grinds my gears" is just 10 percent of my anger. The other 90 percent is spent on drums. I hope you have enjoyed this story, and if not you are a little jerk.

Artist Entry: the_Network guitarist Kevin and the truth behind the boob tube

“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.

*Yea, I used some sources for this blog, but this isn’t college, so I ain’t citing shit.

ALTERNATIVE NEWS SITES

Fairness and Accuracy in reporting: www.fair.org

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

Side note from Moderator: If you want to see who owns what, check out the Web site for the Columbia Journalism Review.