The Media should be run like professional sports teams. Fire the losers.

[Armstead]

In professional sports, if a team badly screws the pooch, the owners fire the managers and the players who did the screwing, and replace them with a different line up.

That's what should happen in the Mainstream News Media, in the wake of the 06 Elections, and everything else that has been happening of late.

The MSM has been Screwing the Pooch since at least 2000. The pundits, reporters, editors, producers and upper management of news organizations blew it big time, by ignoring the important and obsessing over the trivial. They got the story wrong over and over.

They blew it with the 2000 election, and they have been consistent losers ever since then. They puffed up an incompetent president and corrupt administration. They helped turn America into a Savage Nation in the wake of 9-11, and pumped up the fear and hatred rather then encouraging intelligent soul searching. They helped to shove the nation into a needless and futile war in Iraq, and they helped to keep the post-invasion delusions alive for four years.

They ignored important information, tried to marginalize different perspectives, and helped to surpress a badly-needed public debate about the nation's direction.

All the while, they ignored and glossed over a rising wave of discontent and anger in America. Their playbook worked for three elections. But by 2006, the discontent and anger of a majority of Americans had built up to the point where they threw the bums out.

That event made it official. The media has been Screwing the Pooch. The team of "experts" missed what was really happening, and they have only belatedly recognized it.

So now it's a whole new Ballgame. And yet, the same losers are trying to catch up and figure out this new playing field, while being stuck in their old playbook. hence, we have nonsense like them continuing to parrott GOP Talking Points, even though a vast majority of the US has rejected those talking points.

In sports that would mean it is time to Fire the bastids and bring on a fresh new team.

If only.....

[valerief]

1. The media are shills for their sponsors. That's all. nt

[Armstead]

2. True -- But they even lost for their sponsors

[blm]

4. Sponsors bottom line is fed by their interests in defense companies.

The news divisions at the networks have all been coopted to be used as the PR depatrments for their defense industry masters.

[blm]

3. Corpmedia is still depending on this team to take down their number one opponent

for next year - Kerry - who will be chairing the committee that can hold hearings on FCC ruling and the one that handles net neutrality. They need to make the Dem party reject his credibility, especially in DC - something they can easily manipulate through the inner cravenness of some Dem leaders. Kerry will STAY their number one target because of these issues.

Remember back in the old days of baseball when every team feared Ted Williams but the Cleveland Indians were the team that kept him below his par far so long because they developed a shifted fielding defense that worked well against him?

That lasted till Ted surprised them one day - BIGTIME.

Kerry Seeks to Reverse FCC's "Wrongheaded Vote"

Commission Decision May Violate Laws Protecting Small Businesses; Kerry to File Resolution of Disapproval

Monday, June 2, 2003

WASHINGTON - Senator John Kerry today announced plans to file a "Resolution of Disapproval" as a means to overturn today's decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to raise media ownership caps and loosen various media cross-ownership rules.
Kerry will soon introduce the resolution seeking to reverse this action under the Congressional Review Act and Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act on the grounds that the decision may violate the laws intended to protect America's small businesses and allow them an opportunity to compete.

As Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Kerry expressed concern that the FCC's decision will hurt localism, reduce diversity, and will allow media monopolies to flourish. This raises significant concerns about the potential negative impacts the decision will have on small businesses and their ability to compete in today's media marketplace.

In a statement released earlier today regarding the FCC's decision, Kerry said:

"Nothing is more important in a democracy than public access to debates and information, which lift up our discourse and give Americans an opportunity to make honest informed choices. Today's wrongheaded vote by the Republican members of the FCC to loosen media ownership rules shows a dangerous indifference to the consolidation of power in the hands of a few large entities rather than promoting diversity and independence at the local level. The FCC should do more than rubber stamp the business plans of narrow economic interests.

"Today's vote is a complete dereliction of duty. The Commissioners are well aware that these rules greatly influence the competitive structure of the industry and protect the public's access to multiple sources of information and media. It is the Commission's responsibility to ensure that the rules serve our national goals of diversity, competition, and localism in media. With today's vote, they shirked that responsibility and have dismissed any serious discussion about the impact of media consolidation on our own democracy."