The only way we can win is to wage "Jihad" against the MSM

[Ignacio Upton]

Hopefully now this bullshit about what Kerry said will after down after tomorrow morning's newspapers. By this weekend it should be out of the news-cycle altogether. Unfortunately, Kerry's remark is only a microcosm of our ongoing battle with the MSM, a battle that we are losing. That will distort and spin everything one of our guys says. If it wasn't Kerry, then they would be going after Dean this week, or Nancy Pelosi, or John Solomon would send out another AP Harry Reid hit-piece as a desperate October Surprise. We are dealing with an apparatus that acts in bias, both intentionally because they benefit from continued Republican rule, and unintentional neglegance (for example, reporting "balance for the sake of balance" by trying to use a strawman about Democrats taking money from Abramoff when they took money from tribes that were BILKED by Abramoff...they merely spun the story like that so Republicans wouldn't call them "liberal.")
My feeling tells me that the MSM both wants a horse-race instead of a 1994 tsunami, and the fact that the owners and editors are Republican hacks.

Dealing with the MSM in a conciliatory matter is foolish and meaningless. If we take over Congress on Tuesday (and that is a big if, because the MSM spectacle of Kerry, combinded with a possible Osama tape and the Saddam trial verdict on Sunday could serve as a collective dike for the Democratic flood) then we should wage all out "jihad" against the MSM.

Revoke the licenses of each network channel. Say goodbye to NBC, and CBS, and especially ABC for collaborating with the right.

Break up all media monopolies, so corporations like GE and NewsCorp and Time Warner and Disney can't dictate and manufacturer public opinion based on lies like Kerry's non-story.

Revoke Congressional press passes for right-leaning stations like Faux, plus news networks that have a history of GOP shilling such as ABC and CNN (and revoke passes for papers like the Washington Times and the New York Post.)

Boycott each and every single political talk show where the host has demonstrated a history of malice towards our side. That means NO MORE surrogates on shows on Faux, and no surrogates on shows like The Situation Room or Hardball (at least not when Norah O'Donnell is on, because at least with Chris Matthews he's "good" every other day.)

Treat members of the press like the lowest life-forms they are. Every member of Congress should be giving them dirty looks on a casual basis.

[bainz]

1. Jihad? n/t

[Ignacio Upton]

2. Not in the terrorist sense

But in the sense that we are going to kick their asses and finally grow a fucking spine.

[ContraCommando]

3. Journalists are like sail boats, they go with the wind

The media in this country have become so powerful that, collectively, they are essentially the fourth branch of government. We cannot allow the other side to totally dominate television media - we must either have our own version of Faux news or these monopolies must be broken up. Having only a few corporations own most of the major news stations in America is not healthy for our democracy.

Presently, on television there are largely only two main categories from whence we can receive our news. On one side there is the right wing political crack dispenser Faux news, and on the other is the MSM (CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, etc). The main stream media, because they are owned by large corporations whose business fortunes may depend upon pleasing the party that controls the levers of power, have become painfully bland in order to not offend the GOP - with nonstop “Dateline: to catch a predator” and “48hrs: Mystery….was the young vulnerable model killed by her doctor husband or by the evil gardener?” shows. They report nothing in depth, like the Abrahamoff scandal or even the suspension of Habeas Corpus, out of the fear of upsetting their masters; the GOP congress could easily restrict or damage their corporate business dealings. Murdoch learned this lesson well. That is why his Faux news outlet constantly shills for the republicans….and they’ve repaid him in spades; FCC ownership rules were significantly relaxed to allow him to corner an even larger portion of the media market.

So, on one side we have hate filled lies and constant propaganda being leveled at us from Faux, and on the other we have a passive MSM - one that is largely afraid to report anything controversial; instead, no matter what GOP scandal breaks, they’ll be busy reporting on the latest teen make-up trends and whether or not Today show viewers should pick this or that wedding dress for their reality couple. This has to end. I believe this is one of the main reasons democrats have problems with getting out their message. With the Faux news hate machine against us and the MSM way too passive to confront them, how are we supposed to compete? It seems that the only way we can is to hope for a political perfect storm every election cycle. Its happening this year but it might not happen next time.

Thanks to media consolidation we have been a one party state for the last several years and may continue to be in the future, with only brief interruptions (2006). Think about it, a couple of days ago on my local station some guy was railing against the estate tax while he was being interviewed, even though it doesn’t affect him. That’s the power of the media. Invite some millionaire on Cavuto to push his “fair tax” book - detailing tax cuts for the supper rich - and the masses lap it up…..as if the “fair tax” somehow impacts them. And we’ll never have that kind of power to present our ideas unless the MSM is dealt with. Presently, we have to filter all of our ideas through Faux or a passive MSM, or let them stay of the shelf and collect dust. How many times have you heard the line “democrats have no ideas” coming out of the mouth of some RW media hack? Of course this is a lie, we have plenty of ideas. The point is that since we cannot effectively counter this, most people will tend to believe it. It happened with Kerry. Faux distorted what he meant to say and we were left almost completely powerless to rebut. The first step in making the Democratic Party a truly completive institution again is to loosen the right’s hold on the MSM by breaking these organizations up. Of course, things like further campaign finance reform and restoring the fairness doctrine might help, also. Our first action, however, should be to rein in these corporate media monopolies; for the sake of our country and of our party.

[Ignacio Upton]

4. I agree with just about everything you said

In all honesty, I think that breaking up the media monopolies would be easier than setting up a parellel media, which would require private capital, whereas destroying the MSM could easily be done by an act of a Democratic-Controlled Congress

[ContraCommando]

5. I agree, we should just go for the jugular

Didn’t Gore try to form a network and fail? Unless you are the owner of a huge corporation and have billions to spend, it would be very difficult to set up a counter to Faux. Perhaps, instead, we could increase PBS’s funding so that it would more closely resemble the BBC. Lately, PBS has had some decent political programming (“Moyers on America” and his expose of the Abramoff scandal).

[snot]

6. Don't go for the jugular; go for the axiomatic principles of the beast --

I don't blame the employees; it's the system that we've allowed conservatives to break. We must restore restrictions against consolidation of media ownership, perhaps even jack restrictions up beyond what they were -- i.e., how about a Constitutional amendment restricting any media org. from affiliation with any other business entity whose primary purpose is not media? This would at least, e.g., prevent conflicts of interest such as when corps that sell products own media outlets that might otherwise air documentaries exposing the dangers of those products.

The media are the fourth estate, they are as crucial in the scheme of checks and balances as the three formal branches of government. I don't think the Founding Fathers could have foreseen the extent to which the media has been co-opted by nefarious elites. The media need bucking up.

Honestly, I'm not sure what I think about all this, but I would like for us to work out a scheme that would actually work, even if it cannot as a practical matter be implemented in my lifetime or in this country.

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

7. TURN IT OFF NOW!!!!!!

All Corporate WHORE Media Is SHIT!!

Countdown is on between 8 PM EST & 9 PM EST, with Repeat At Midnight EST.

Everything else is Useless!

Turn it off, and don't support it. Don't watch the commercials. Don't listen to the LIES. The SPIN!

TURN IT OFF NOW!!