Broken news

[lwcon]

It's taken a long time for me to really come to grips with this.

Growing up admiring Bob Woodward's good twin and all, and sober news guys like Cronkite and Huntley & Brinkley, I wasn't prepared to see the utter debasement of the news establishment.

I just couldn't figure out why people like Chris Matthews (with his Tip O'Neill cred) and George Stephanopoulos (with his Clinton cred) kept playing the equivalation game, propping up a series of the most revolting — and obviously disastrous — political agendas imaginable.

Then a friend explained that these guys aren't Democrats or Republicans, liberals or conservatives. They're Beltway guys. The only party they care about is the one that keeps going all night and makes them feel prestigious and connected.

I'm just so goddamn sick of seeing these values that we put on a pedestal — American democracy, the populist press — be publicly defecated on by the people we've entrusted them to. And we're still supposed to salute to them, all the while.

With all due respect to the few journalists who still do give a damn, especially the ones who put their necks on the line to smuggle some truth out of Iraq, their profession has completely gone to shit.

To paraphrase Graham Nash:

Media madness is killing the country
Solitary sadness creeps over me
And after the wars are over
And the body count is finally filed
I hope that The Man discovers
What's driving the people wild
Media madness is killing your country
So much sadness, between you and me

[Kelvin Mace]

1. I came to the conclusion years ago.

It is re-enforced by the fact that a handful of corporations own 90% of the media. Their financial interests depend on the neo-con agenda's success. Consider the fact that GE owns NBC. A defense contractor owns a media corporation. NO conflict of interest there.

This is why the web, bloggers and sites like DU are CRUCIAL to the survival and dissemination of the truth.

[lwcon]

2. I'm not convinced that they're doing it specifically to...

... sell their military goods, but clearly the news media have a sick, symbiotic relationship with the GOP.

Even without that extremely nefarious calculation, the GOP offers the MSM many advantages over the Democrats:
* They use simplistic imagery and issues, which are easy to market to a broad audience
* Hardball strength beats nuanced statesmanship when it comes to sound bites
* War beats peace as a news story
* And the GOP plays carrot-and-stick; kiss their butt and they make it easy on the media corporations, cross them, and they'll nail you to the wall. Safer to go along and get along.

Anyway, I agree with your broader point -- that media consolidation has allowed this to happen, and that new media are our best hope.

___

Hey, the liberal light is always on at the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy. Please stop by and say "hi!"

[Kelvin Mace]

3. They are not doing it consciously

but the result is the same. You can't peddle war and not have the philosophy trickle down into all you do.