Bill Clinton Paved The Way For Today’s Dumbed-Down Media

[GoLeft TV]

Twenty years ago, former President Bill Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act. What many people don’t understand is that the act did far more damage to the media than Ronald Reagan’s repeal of the Fairness Doctrine. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.

[jwirr]

1. Amen.

[lewebley3]

10. This is a picture of the most successful Presidents:22m job: 7.4million pulled out of poverty

with Dem party's help.

[daleanime]

21. What does that have to do....

with the ruin that is corporate media in America today?

[JDPriestly]

22. The good economy of that time is no excuse for having signed the Telecommunications Act.

It was seriously wrong to sign that Telecommunications Act, and Clinton was warned about it at the time by a lot of people who could foresee what we now know it lead to.

Huge mistake by Bill Clinton.

[lewebley3]

34. The bill was administered by Bush: and he cut wavers to his in the media

[AgerolanAmerican]

28. and signing Glass-Steagal

threw tens of millions right back into poverty while facilitating the wholesale export of jobs overseas

thanks, Bill!

[lewebley3]

32. Bush put the country back in debt: he was in power becase of Sanders voters

[lewebley3]

36. Bush put people back into poverty: as the song goes: under Clintons "Happy Day's Were here

Again" The sky' were blue" a fitting song for the Clintions
who were and are heirs to FDR. Almost everything they
do they well: the best thing they ever done for all of is lead the
fight for America against the GOP. (along with other Dem's of course)

[lewebley3]

37. Glass-Stegale is nothing. but left wing talk show host idea: GOP policy is

Last edited Wed Apr 6, 2016, 05:30 PM - Edit history (1)

always to deregulate.Banks and everything thing
they get their hands on! Hoover dereguted and
crashed everything: under Regan the country had
to bailout the GGP because of the savings and
Loans schandal. Bush again crashed everything:
He pulled the Cop's at the SEC Off the beat:


Pont of fact: Phil. Gram of Texas wanted Glass done away
with for his wife at Enron

Had Gore been President he could kept the SEC strong: there is
always possibility we may never had a crash if Dem had been office:



We did pretty good until Regan: Sanders would put another GOP person
Into the White hose like Nader supporters: Gore was just not good enough
for the Sanders Ideologues: their ideologue. Purity cost many American's
their lives.

[cprise]

2. Cousins is absolutely right

And I have long made this point here on DU:

The Fairness Doctrine that Reagan repealed was more hindrance than help, and the Right often took advantage of it.

(With that said, I believe the FCC should enforce Equal Time for political candidates.)

Deregulating media ownership, however, did far more damage to the media environment. It created media entities that are pervasive, and whose interests naturally aligned with the wealthiest of multinational corporations. There are now only a handful of gatekeepers to public discourse, especially to the kind of broadcast channels that anyone can access without a paid subscription... no wonder the poor don't turn out for progressive candidates anymore.

[tymorial]

3. 6 corporations own more than 90%

Of all news media. Wall street is a problem but surely this ought to be as well

[cprise]

4. Wall St. is heavily involved in those media corps.

They are the mouthpieces of "too big to fail" capital.

Which gets to another point I have long stated: The post-Clinton media are no more separate entities from Big Finance than the politicians are. Some have labeled this situation as "Inverted Totalitarianism", but oligarchy serves just as well.

[zeemike]

5. Or organs and appendages of the same beast.

And this beast has devoured the whole world...or soon will.

[tymorial]

27. I agree

I think however many fail to see the link and find distinction when in fact there is common cause.

[lewebley3]

12. Under the Clinton administration the middle class was rebuilt: Bush crash everything

[JDPriestly]

23. No. Bills that Clinton signed paved the way for the Bush demolition derby on our economy.

Clinton was very intent on signing bills that would make the most crooked of the Wall Street lot very happy.

We need a healthy economy. We need a healthy banking system and a strong investment sector.

But we do not need the lawless corruption we have now.

I trust Bernie to do some trust busting and as Cousins explains, get more diversity in ownership and control in our economy. That's one of the main reasons that I want Bernie to be president.

I am a fan of Teddy Roosevelt's fight against corruption. Trust-busting was a big part of that fight. I think that will be Bernie's approach to improving our economy.

We need a lot more diversity in the ownership of businesses in our country. The decision-making is concentrated in too few hands. Nowhere is that more evident than in our banking sector.

[cprise]

33. Um, the Dotcom bubble burst at the start of 2001

Just as Bill Clinton left office... http://www.thenation.com/article/note-to-hillary-clintonomics-was-a-disaster-for-most-americans/

He even planned to privatize Social Security, and spouted PNAC's lies about Iraq and made plans to topple its government.

What a stinker.

[NCjack]

6. Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton combined to make the US public politically ignorant.

[Nitram]

8. I strongly disagreee, Jack. The public is entirely responsible for their own ignorance.

Otherwise, you and I would be as ignorant as they are. And we are not. Low information voters are too lazy to look beyond talk radio and TV for their "news", and they won't read or watch any form of media that doesn't agree with their strongly-held political views.

[lewebley3]

13. Agreed: these same people that supported Nader are supporting Sanders:

They were the ones that brought Bush and the GOP to power:
they are doing the same thing now: If the GOP take power
they want war with Iran: They were willing to commit treason
to stop the peace deal.

[silvershadow]

16. Says the one whose favorite group is Socialist Progressives? The one with 0% chance of

serving on a jury? What evidence do you have that the Naderites are in any way with Sanders? And if they are, maybe he is just bringing new folks into the party? Kind of like the Clintons did when they brought the New Way (Republicans) into the party...

[JDPriestly]

25. I strongly supported Gore and especially Kerry, one of my favorites to this day!

And I am a Sanders supporter.

Please change your post.

The people who voted for Nader were very few in number. Some of them may now be supporting Sanders, but there are too many of us Sanders supporters for anyone to be able to claim that the "same people that supported Nader are supporting Sanders."

That statement is quite obviously wrong. Sorry, but it is just plain wrong.

[SHRED]

24. From Reagan to W...

Those Presidents are proactively responsible for much damage to this country.
Obama has been treading water with slight improvement.
Which isn't at all flattering.

...

[certainot]

7. it was the fairness doctrine 9 years before in 87 that

allowed years of screaming from 1200 radio stations to deregulate media and everything else.

the talk radio PSYOPS turned congress red and forced compromise and made gingrich and rove 'geniuses'.

at a cheap $1000/hr x 15hrs/day x 1200 stations, rw talk radio is worth 4.68 BIL$/ year or 390MIL$ /month FREE for pro republican wall st think tank propaganda and swiftboating -pushing the whole country right 20 pts. the telcom act never would have happened without the talk radio monopoly and the left ignoring it.

in you haste to blame clintons you're looking at the symptoms, not the cause.

[Bluenorthwest]

9. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was a steaming pile left by the big dog....

Probably the worst part of his legacy. It's not just the news programming that got fucked over. The entire enchilada got flipped. Very bad for the country and not all that great for the rest of the world's media either.

[lewebley3]

14. His legacy is the most successful in History: 1996 was administered under Bush

I remember the FCC putting their people into place:
the Colon Powel's little kid and he re wrote the rules.

[JDPriestly]

26. I have difficulty understanding your post. Clinton was president in 1996.

Please provide some links to explain what you are saying.

I'm confused about what you mean. Thanks.

[highprincipleswork]

11. That is so true, and has been so damaging to the state of consciousness in America.

Business before knowledge, before awareness, before consciousness, before any kind of enlightened behavior.

What is ironic is that American business would undoubtedly run much smoother and happier if more of our people had money to spend.

[stupidicus]

15. yep, another way in which he aided his 1% pals and allies

that has hurt us little people in ways I shouldn't need to cover here.

I am happy to see him get the kinda condemnation he deserves on this and assorted other dirty deeds he did dirt cheap.

[dlwickham]

17. The Clintons are responsible for the dinosaurs dying off

Or something like that

[fun n serious]

18. Bad Clintons Bad Obama..

Bush...**crickets***

[Loki]

19. The Clinton's killed Bambi!

and unicorns, and all things sparkly. This is getting ridiculous.

[johnp3907]

20. Just another day on Republican Underground.

[gordyfl]

29. That Would Explain This...

NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report)—Bernie Sanders failed to impress major media outlets over the weekend as he barely managed to win seventy per cent of the vote in three western primaries.

The major cable networks briefly mentioned Sanders’s vote tallies in Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii but noted that he ran out of steam well shy of eighty per cent.


“There’s no point in sugarcoating it,” one analyst put it. “Rough night for Sanders.”

According to one cable executive, Sanders needs to “put up some big numbers fast” if he expects the networks to continue giving his campaign airtime.

“It’s going to be harder and harder to justify covering him while he’s stuck down in the seventy-per-cent range,” the executive said.

While Sanders campaign officials remain optimistic about the upcoming primary in Wisconsin, media outlets are calling it a “do or die” state after his sputtering finishes over the weekend.

“I think if he limps across the finish line with, say, seventy-five or seventy-nine per cent, it’s going to be time for him to reassess things,” one cable representative said. “That would have to be a wake-up call.”

A spokesperson for CNN could not be reached for comment, as the network was busy preparing a ninety-minute special on the birth of Donald Trump’s new grandchild.

[stopbush]

30. 1. Sanders losing the primaries. Check.

2. Blame everybody but Sanders for everything bad. Check!

3. Blaming even highly successful Ds is A-OK because Sanders is losing badly. Double check!!

Did that cover it?

[mckara]

31. Idea: Let's ALL Live in Denial

And question why things never change?