When did you realize you could not trust MSM?

[nadine_mn]

Seriously.
I know some will say never, but I will be honest. I trusted everything I saw and read on the major networks and the newspapers. I (shamefully) believed that Al Gore really said he invented the internet and discovered the Love Canal. In fact the msm was so effective, I considered changing my vote to Nader. Then the diaster of 2000 elections happened and I kept thinking...come on - we all know that Gore won Florida. I kept thinking surely some major newspaper will report this.

A piece of me - the piece of me that believed in the Constitution - died the day * was sworn in.


Then came the infamous Howard Dean scream. I donated to Dean, and when I heard the "scream" I thought big deal...why is this news. Weeks later after hearing the scream parodied and played to death all over the msm and his chance at the nomination gone - I was shocked. I was watching Good Morning America, and they apologized for playing the scream and explained that what was seen all across the country was manipulated. GMA explained how when they are on the Plaza for the live shows, the sounds of the crowd are muffled so you only hear the hosts - they played both versions of the Dean scream - filtered and unfiltered. The unfiltered was amazing - you could not hear Dean at all.

Now did that explanation and apology get the same airplay as the scream? No...but that moment changed my view of the world forever.

This election cycle I am much more aware of the manipulations, more critical and a lot less naive.


I am curious for fellow DUers when were your eyes opened?

[Evergreen Emerald]

1. In the 90's when the Clinton's were being attacked.

Then, later, I remember a specific story on FoxNews that cited AP as the source. I happened to read the AP version on line and noticed that the story was changed on Fox to put democrats in a negative light. I e-mailed FoxNews and then stopped watching them. That was when I stopped believing the news.

It is ingrained in us--however, from the past to believe that the free press was part of the "fourth branch" of government. I felt so betrayed when I discovered that the media was a propaganda machine for the neocons.

[Ian David]

4. I don't consider Fox part of The MSM. They're an organ of the Republick Party. n/t

[papau]

21. 1968 when bias in favor of Nixon was obvious - then again in 80 with Reagan

[ProudDad]

99. I was going to say 1968

but then there was Watergate.

But then, Walter Kronkite's declaration that the Vietnam war was "lost", The Washington Post of Katherine Graham and Ben Bradlee and the New York Times that published the Pentagon Papers -- all in the last 60' and early '70s -- temporarily restored some hope in the MSM.

The selection of that piece of shit, waste of skin ronny ray-gun with press complicity ended my minimal trust that the MSM wasn't just a tool of the corporate establishment...

The MSM IS now the tool and wholly owned subsidiary of the corporate capitalist evil...

[SpiralHawk]

61. Yep - in the 90s when they promoted Gingrich & republicon "family values"

Even then I knew for a fact that the republicons had a vast herd of sexual deviants, closet cases, and payola palookas,

And the corporate media knew it, too.

I have NO FAITH in them at all any more.

They have abused my trust, and I have withdrawn it ...

[Ian David]

2. The baldfaced lying and blatant spin became painfully apparent during the Jeff Gannon scandal.

"Democrats are mad because a reporter is asking conservative questions."

[SpiralHawk]

62. Yuppers - they never told the public that Bush's White was welcoming a male prostitute

who sells his corrupt republicon booty for big bucks to do the kinky S & M thing, and had over 100 visits to George AWOL Bush's White House, with several apparent overnighters (according to the official Secret Service records).

No I don't care what kind of kinky sex Bush & his republicon cronies are into, but in this case it was NEWS...and corporate republicon media BLACKED IT OUT ENTIRELY.

[lisa58]

3. When all the skinny blond women....

....were beating up on bill clinton. That was my first wtf moment.

[0007]

59. When all the skinny blond women....started working as newsmen

on all the major networks.

Seriously, 1943

[bunkerbuster1]

5. I'd love to say there was one epiphany, but it was gradual

I've gone from watching the nightly news on ABC almost every night to loathing almost all commercial TV news, and much of the thin gruel served up by PBS and NPR as well.

But, obviously, like you it got very bad after Al Gore was treated like crap, and got progressively worse as they cheerled us into Iraq and pretended like Howard Dean was a lunatic and, finally, shafted Kerry by giving the Shit Floaters credibility.

[lib2DaBone]

10. 'No Recession"

Ben Bernake on C-Span. "We are not in a recession and I do not anticipate one. HAHAHAH HOHOHOHO HEHEHEHE ROFL...... What a card that guy is......

[Kingofalldems]

6. When Russert started buddying up with

pigboy Limbaugh. He used to do a yearly one hour lovefest with him.

[GreenArrow]

7. During the Reagan years

.

[RuleOfNah]

14. During the Nixon years.

The movie Network was the no turning back moment, for me.

[GreenArrow]

55. I almost said the Nixon years

but I would have been parroting my parents. The Reagan years were when all their criticisms came home for me.

[TahitiNut]

8. Some time in about 1965. That's when I read three newspapers for 'balance'. ...

... the WaPo, the NYTimes, and the CSM. All three have gotten worse over time.

[treestar]

9. I discovered alternative media around the time of the first Gulf War

And from there knew that the MSM did not cover all bases. I recall listening to Noam Chomsky on the radio and hearing his theory about how the media limited debate.

I still thought of it mainly as viewpoint, though, mainstream as opposed to more unusual viewpoints.

Ever since the 24 hour a day news channels started, it became more apparent to me that it is what the MSM chooses to emphasize that shows what their agenda is. And there is very little dispassionate reporting - giving the facts and letting the hearer/reader make up their own mind. They are always trying to tell you what you should think of it. This triples my distrust.

[supernova]

11. Started out seeing the way the Clintons were treated

all that crap about bodies int he rose garden, VF didn't really commit suicide you know, Yes, those are Scaife (we now know) talking points. All I knew at the time was, how come such whacked out crap is leaking into the MSM? It shouldn't have gotten off the gossip pages, but it was so consistent that the rumors were being treated as legit news items.

:wtf: I knew before then that the MSM wasn't a place to get good information, but that really sealed it and let me know that they had no interest in keeping the public informed, just filling up air time with whatever they could get their hands on, truth be damned.

[EFerrari]

18. For me it was the way they refused to call him "President Clinton"

from the outset.

[annabanana]

12. It was a long time ago.. I remember being annoyed at the-

"teases" that they used to boost viewership.. I thought.. "End of the World.. film at 11"

I gradually became aware that I had no more information at the end of the news than I had had at the beginning. Somewhere along the line (and this is a long time ago...pre-Reagan, even) they stopped naming names when there was some problem, and there seemed to be no effort to get anymore information beyond. . "Officials" (or "company spokemen") denied the allegations...

It was gradual, and baffling. I'd puzzle over it for a little while and then forget it, because it usually didn't effect me personally.

One time I DID have some inside info on a local story (a fire or something) and the local newsperson got several facts wrong. I tried to contact someone to let them know their mistake. No one was interested in taking my call. . . .

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

57. "I had no more information at the end of the news than I had had at the beginning"

Well put.

[lolly]

89. Local News misinfo got me started too

I didn't think much about the news one way or another until after the earthquake here in LA in 1994.

The school board had been looking for an excuse to close down our local elementary school for years, since it was one of the smaller ones, but they were probably afraid of the political repercussions.

After the earthquake, the local newspapers all began parroting LAUSD's crap about how the school was falling apart, huge cracks in the earth were snaking across the playground, etc, etc.

It was clear nobody from the Times had actually looked at the school itself. I would read the paper in my house across the street from the school, and what they were saying was clearly, demonstrably false.

It began to dawn on me that there were no checks on the press, no way to make them be accurate if they didn't want to be. We called, we complained, we went to school board meetings. Didn't matter. They could print whatever they wanted, and we had no real voice (and no time) to counteract them.

[ProudDad]

100. Very good!

"I had no more information at the end of the news than I had had at the beginning"

And that can be traced back to when TV network news ceased to be a "public service" and became a "profit center" for the corporate capitalist masters who owned the networks. Those masters are now rupert murdoch, disney, viacom and g.e.

(Edited to add National Petroleum Network -- "public" radio and TV has turned into a disgusting shill for the USAmerikan Empire! Of course, they depend on corporate capitalist money to keep running since ronny ray-gun/bush/clinton/bush stripped them of condition free funding)

After that decision the "news" was filler to be inserted between the commercials...the REAL substance of corporate capitalist USAmerika...

[angrycarpenter]

13. I stopped watching the day

that they all attacked "sicko" and michael moore rather than cover the very serious points he brought up in the movie. I get all my news from the internet.

[moobu2]

15. When they all joyously jumped on the

Invade Iraq bandwagon.

[kywildcat]

16. during the 2000 campaign

when russert, matthews and the rest scoffed at the shrubs 'alleged' cocaine use and DUI and his AWOL. When NOTHING was mentioned about brother Neil and his role in the savings and loan scandal.
But the kicker was immediately after 911, when NO ONE connected Colin Powel's request for money for the taliban to bribe them to stop blowing up sacred world heritage sites, and the taliban that harbors BL.

[lpbk2713]

17. The Viet Nam Era

They all seemed to have an agenda. Not all had the same agenda though.

[sojourner]

19. I was in college class, viewing a documentary on the cold war...

I heard and saw how the media assisted the govt in "selling" the communist threat to the US. From then on, I was careful about what I heard from them.

Then, when I watched the media go all ga-ga for an obvious idiot and son of a criminal who had let his boys loot the Savings and Loans, and who had been intimately involved in Iran-Contra debacle, saw the media dismiss bush-boy's drug use as if it didn't matter (cuz it was Cocaine and not Marijuana?) the hypocrisy really hit me straight on. I watched them declare the Democratic party "hopelessly in disarray" and Al Gore "stiff and boring".

Lastly, when they helped Bush steal the white house, I stopped listening to them and started digging into stories for myself, with the help of DU.

[unc70]

20. Started to questin in early 60's; by 68, no trust remained.

There were still a few sources I stil mostly trusted, but not many after 68. Cronkite, Severeid, Kuralt, et al at CBS (mostly), Daniel Schorr, Helen Thomas, and a few others here and there.

[DFW]

29. Helen is still out there plugging away

I spent over an hour with her with my brother last Friday evening.
She has a lot of guts, being in a profession where most of her colleagues
have sold out, and she knows it. She'll be 88 this year. An absolutely
amazing, amazing woman and jounalist.

[unc70]

39. My envy shows! Daniel Schorr is still there, too.

I remember your situation growing up from your previous posts. A unique perspective.

I have various Zelig moments (bombings in UK, France, Turkey, Italy; S.F. for Jonestown and M./Milk murders; early sit-ins; Op. Paperclip). It's a really small world, but nothing close to my suspicions about you.

[unc70]

41. Looking at the responses, I feel really old. Glad for Tahitinut and papau. n/t

[DFW]

103. Keep a perspective on the perspective

35 years ago, she was just my dad's friend Helen. How were
we to know then that she would be one of the last of the Mohicans?

[AtomicKitten]

22. during the 2000 coup d'etat

[otohara]

85. Yes, The Coup

before that I wasn't paying much attention.

[KoKo]

23. About 1995...when the Internet got going...and we got news about Mellon -Scaife funding Anti-Clinton

...but, the GREAT AWAKENING for me was when ELECTION 2000 was STOLEN FROM AL GORE...and, I've NEVER GOTTEN OVER IT! I will NEVER GET OVER IT...I devoted my life to it...so that's why I can't give it up... woe is me....I guess..."can't get over it." :-(

[tridim]

24. When Limbaugh hit it big.. Right around the time Clinton took office.

A sea change happened over the next 8 years capped by the Impeachment. The media could have easily stopped that bullshit impeachment if they wanted to, instead they covered it exactly like the GOP told them to.

[Nictuku]

25. Sometime after 9/11, before the Invasion of Iraq

... when they were beating the drums of war for Iraq. I thought I was losing my mind. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. It seemed to me that they had replaced Osama with Saddam. Even my mother was supportive of invading Iraq (fortunately she has seen the truth now and I can once again proudly say she is a Liberal).

But then, when the demonstrations I saw myself in San Francisco were not reported anywhere in the MSM, I lost my trust in them.

It was around that time where I (by accident one morning) came across Washington Journal on C-SPAN. I used to watch CNN news while getting ready for work. In fact, I saw the 2nd plane hit on CNN.

Anyway, back to my discovery of C-SPAN's Washington Journal... It blew my mind to see a program on the TV that had a moderator that did not give the typical talking head spin. They were neutral, and took calls from citizens who voiced their opinions. It was refreshing!!

I've been hooked to C-SPAN ever since. I'm up early, and it is a great program to catch up on daily headlines (they read them from numerous papers)

Then I log into the Internet and check DU, Rawstory, Huffington Post to find out what MSM is not covering.

[DFW]

26. 1998

My father was a newspaper reporter in Washington from 1950 to 2000.
One of the last of his kind, he was a one-man Washington bureau for
a one-horse town in upstate New York. Respected and showered with many
awards for objective and fair journalism, he freaked out at his MSM
colleagues when they got totally obsessed with Monica Monica Monica,
and ignored that there was a world out there that needed attention.

He said it was a temporary death of journalism. Too bad: his diagnosis
turned out to be too optimistic. It looks like the symptoms may be fatal.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

27. The "5 O'Clock Follies" body counts when we were "protecting" democracy in Vietnam.

Or, was it protecting Democracy from Vietnam? Oh, well, it was sometime when we were "protecting" democracy by killing millions of people.

[rox63]

28. When the Lewinski scandal was all we heard about on the "news" day after day n/t

[Ron Green]

30. During the 2004 campaign, NPR was running an ongoing series of interviews with

Undecided Voters. This was TWO WEEKS before the voting to choose between John Kerry and George W. Bush. Anyone who claimed to be an "undecided voter" at this point was an idiot, so what in the HELL was NPR (posing as some kind of alternative to the bought-and-paid-for corporate p.r. machine) doing giving valuable airtime to IDIOTS?? At this point I realized that "public radio" was nothing more than another echo chamber, no different from any other corporate entity except that they pretend to be something better.

[Initech]

31. When all the election recall shit was going on in Florida.

That's when I knew they couldn't be trusted. What sealed it is during 9/11 when they started running that damn banner underneath the talking head.

[depakid]

32. During the 1980's when Reagan was their little darling

Brokaw and his incessant pandering was what clued me in.

[Pacifist Patriot]

33. Edited on Reflection: Satanic Verses/Rushdi

I worked in a bookstore at the time. I was interviewed so I tuned in to the story on the news. Totally fabricated, misrepresented what was going on and majorly sensationalized.

Gulf War I: Because of my dad's position in the DOD I recognized glaring discrepancies.

[JHB]

34. Back during the Reagan days I discovered Pacifica Network radio...

Prior to that I would hear and read mainstream programs and articles refuting critiques of Reagan policy, but almost never did you hear or read the critique first-hand. It was like listening to someone argue over the phone -- everything is filtered through the side you can hear.

One day I stumbled across the local Pacifica station and BANG! suddenly I could hear the missing sides. It was shortly after that that FAIR got started and began to document the falsity of the "liberal media bias" meme, but it was that strong impression from the radio exposure (from now-more-familiar names like Amy Goodman and Laura Flanders, among others) that convinced me that relying on mainstream media definitely left one with unacceptable holes in one's knowledge and understanding of events.

[warren pease]

35. When I was one of them...

back around 1975 or so. I thought the whole business was like Watergate and gradually learned that it's more like channeling Goebbels and Bernays. Then I went to grad school and studied under Ben Bagdikian at UC Berkeley, which pretty much killed any lingering illusions about corporate control of mass media and its function in social control.

wp

[Evoman]

105. Any chance you could tell us more?

What did you learn in grad school that made you feel that way?

[warren pease]

110. Sure...

No dark secrets. Just another sad case of youthful disillusionment and dashed expectations. I went to J-school because a) I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up (and still don't) and, b) I'm incurably nosy and like to know the back story.

Reporting Salinas/Monterey/Carmel-style turned out to be not much more than stenographic work on behalf of the local honchos, supporting their development schemes and political cover stories -- which invariably involved more for them and less for everybody else -- while positioning them as fine upstanding folks, when a fair percentage of them were utter bastards and truly evil, acquisitive, greedy pricks. And those were the harmless ones.

I did that for several years for a couple of pretty decent daily papers before finally getting sick of the whole gig. Two main reasons for this besides having to suck up to creeps: Horrible pay and miserable hours. I had a scanner in my bedroom and was expected to be a slave to it 24/7, and normally worked 70 hour weeks. And wages in the lower to mid-echelons of the newspaper biz are so lousy that I was almost in my 30s, still push-starting a '62 VW 6-volt Bug, and probably making about $2.00/hr. when stretched over the typical 70-hour work week.

So I said screw this, applied to every journalism grad school around, got lucky with UC Berkeley and got a free ride. Which is where I met Ben Bagdikian, the dean of the J department and author of the book "The Media Monopoly," which was just about to come out in first edition when I got to UC in 1980. According to Ben, propaganda had pretty much replaced honest reporting by then, with only about 50 major corporations owning nearly all content fed to information consumers. We should be so lucky; now there's about six or 10, depending on how you parse things.

My experiences with corporate intrusion warping the news, coupled with his perspectives on the underlying reasons for and results of that intrusion, made me too pissed off to work in anything but the alternative press ever since. And if you think mainstream media pays miserably, it's a fortune compared to alternative media.

So I had to find another way to make a buck, using the only skill sets I had that were marketable: writing, interviewing and researching. Naturally, that led to a series of jobs in corporate PR which, if you're not already a confirmed cynic, will make you one within days.

For example, as a reporter, you never, EVER fabricate quotes. You never even change them a little, except for grammar every now and then. And you're very careful to retain the intent and sense of the original. In corporate PR, however, you're expected to make them up and attribute them to various high-level execs. So when you see some idiotic blurb in a corporate "prepared statement" and attributed to some CEO, realize that he probably doesn't talk like that; he's just being victimized by some PR android who had to get 37 distinct messages into each sentence.

So that's the long version. Ask me anything about my life; I'm an expert.


wp

[Evoman]

111. Great post.

So many DUers like you have experiences that I don't even come close to having, so it's nice to hear their life stories (even if they are abridged).

I love threads like this where people share their experiences.

Thank you.

[never_get_over_it]

36. During the impeachment of Bill Clinton

but not sure when I actually stopped watching them - I stopped watching some time between 2001 and 2004 (before the election) The only M$M I ever see is occasionally (very occasionally) I watch Olberman - also I see clips on the internets and clips on Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert - and I have to tell you my DVR picked up the new Daily Shows from last week and the clips I saw concerning NH primary LITERALLY MADE ME SCREAM....and I feel very guilty watching Jon and Stephen but man I have missed them

[DisgustipatedinCA]

37. After the first Gore-Bush debate

Gore cleaned up the floor with Bush and after the debate, I thought I was losing my mind. All the talking heads were pontificating about how well Bush did, how badly Gore did, and so on. I checked with my wife and with friends to see if I was still sane. Up to that point, I was under the assumption that the people on the news reported the facts. Yeah, I know, it sounds naive.

[ikojo]

38. I noticed that they didn't discuss people who came

from families like mine when I was a kid. I didn't see families like mine on TV or in the news. Sure there were divorced moms but they didn't seem to struggle like my mom did. The mom on One Day at a Time supposedly had struggles but they always had food. The family on TV that came closest to what I experienced as a kid, but without the presence of the dad, is Roseanne's early seasons.

So, I guess I stopped trusting the mainstream media around the age of nine.

[European Socialist]

40. When there were no stories about WTC7 collapsing in its own...

footprint in the media capitol of the world.

[TreasonousBastard]

42. About the same time I stopped trusting internet boards. n/t

[zeemike]

43. I can't remember the year but

It was when Ted Turner lost control of CNN by hostile takeover.
After that the news changed from reporting everything no matter how controversial to the soft core propaganda and glitz we enjoy today.

[riverdeep]

44. It began with local news.

I assume you're limiting the discussion to when did you stop trusting news sources.

Anyway, sometime in the early 90's, it began to dawn on me, that the local news is a joke. Six minutes of supposed actual news, then weather (I don't need to know the dew point count in 1953, just put up a graphic between commercials telling what the weather's going to be like tomorrow) and sports. Sports is not news, it is in no way related to the news, it has no business being there when that time can be used to inform. Same with restaurant reviews, and movie reviews. Finally, their saccharine, patronizing 'kicker' story about some kitten in a tree. All connected with 'happy talk'. I felt like I had to watch it to be 'informed'.

Stopped watching it, and that was the beginning of the end.

[bpeale]

45. when the media bashed Gore during election 2000

but did not do the same to Bush. i realized the bias right then & stopped watching MSM. for a long time i got all my news from the web. still do for that matter. i don't trust them to tell me what i need to know to make an informed decision.

[nadinbrzezinski]

46. During the debacle leading to the Iraq war

I knew there was a problem when you could find some stuff in the Guardian but not in the US Press

My favorite example though is not from that period, but the 2004 primaries... the AP carried a story where they told us that the RNC had cancelled all primaries nationwide... problem is... the story was run in the Guardian... not in the US Press... talk about a blatant example

[Lydia Leftcoast]

47. I think I woke up during the 1970s-198The clincher was Working on t0s. It was a series of incidents:

1. Being in Japan in March 1978, when Afghan Marxists overthrew their government and declared their intention to bring Afghanistan into the modern world, with such things as compulsory education for both boys and girls. I was back in the U.S. by December 1979, when the Soviets supposedly "invaded" Afghanistan. It was played up here as an unprovoked attack on some democratic government, with no mention of the 1978 coup or the fact that the rebels objected mostly to women's rights or the fact that the Marxist government of Afghanistan actually invited the Soviets in.

2. Seeing reports on Japan in the MSM during the boom years and being continually irritated by their exaggerations and inaccuracies.

3. Hearing a talk by a former NPR reporter who had covered El Salvador and Nicaragua. She told about how even NPR spiked stories that might be offensive to underwriters and how so many news agencies sent reporters who couldn't speak Spanish to cover these countries, so that they were dependent on briefings from the U.S. Embassy and unable to interview people on their own.

4. Listening to Canadian coverage of the invasion of Grenada and noting how vastly different it was from U.S. coverage. Later, the truth about Grenada came out, and it was as the Canadian press had reported.

5. The increasing triviality of newscasts

6. Although it occurred in 2004, my involvement in the Kucinich campaign was the last straw. I saw how Dennis was either ignored or ridiculed in the national media and how we in the Twin Cities had to nag our local media to cover his visits--with mixed results.

[upi402]

54. PBS refusing to air "The Panama Deception" cemented what I suspected PBS had become

I wrote to complain and cancel my regular support. They asked to print the letter in 'Letters to Editor". I said yes, but they printed only letters lauding their programming choices. The slant became worse when they pushed for NAFTA. I don't even listen to NPR now as well.

[raccoon]

58. "Working on t0s?" What's that?

You educated me today. I didn't know that about Afghanistan in #1.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

102. Somehow some stray characters got into my title, and by the time I

realized it, the editing period had expired.

I'm not really that incoherent.

[raccoon]

117. I thought it was some abbreviation I'm not familiar with! :-) nt

[Zorra]

48. Don't recall ever trusting them. n/t

[lutefisk]

49. The corporate media's complicity in the Clinton impeachment

Then, the 2000 election made me realize it was far worse than I had thought during those innocent times of the Clinton impeachment.

[upi402]

50. 1985 and fighting it ever since

maybe earlier but there was always McNiel-Lehrer Report on what used to be PBS.

PBS, now without the P.

[redqueen]

78. "PBS, now without the P."

:thumbsup:

[rucky]

51. When I worked for them. n/t

[blogslut]

52. All my life

My Father was a newspaperman. My siblings and I were taught to always read between the lines and look for the strings.

Even when newspapers and television stations were owned by individuals and families, there was a certain amount of social engineering going on. When those individuals died off, or families sold their interests to corporations, the social engineering just became more organized.

People forget that (then US Senator) Lyndon Baines Johnson used to own the only television station in Austin, Texas and it carried all the broadcasts from all three networks. In my hometown, the local paper used to be owned by one of the city's richest families, who had their own social agenda. Media moguls have been manipulating the public since well before the days of William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer. I have never trusted any media.

“Believe none of what you hear and half of what you see.” - Benjamin Franklin

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

53. The Political Light Turned On For Me With The Whole Manufactured 'Recount Protest' Brewhaha (Gore).

It was at that moment that I not only realized how ignorant I'd been with politics, but also a feeling of terror of "holy cow, this is so wrong. How can this possibly be for real?". It was then that I knew there was more to politics than I had ever before known, and that the media itself was shameful and complicit in their ability to not put forth truth.

In fact, I've never quite been the same since. I'll never forget that moment of awakening, nor where I was at the time (Punta Cana, for the record).

[raccoon]

56. K&R. Not sure exactly when I realized it, but it wasn't long before I

found my way here to DU. :-)

[NewJeffCT]

60. When they were fellating Ollie North during Iran-Contra

while he wrapped himself in the flag. I was like 20 or 21 at the time, and even I knew the phrase, "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel," and it seemed so obvious to me... yet, it was a big Ollie North love-fest on TV.

[here_is_to_hope]

63. When I left the LA Times in

...1988...
No use for them whatsoever...

[Warren Stupidity]

64. 1967-68

If you were old enough to be politically aware in the mid-to-late 60s you got a clue about what was going on. However the current depravity, which slowly developed between then and now, reached its state of total bullshit 24/7 somewhere in the 90s, and became painfully obvious from 2000 on.

[DeeDeeNY]

65. It was very gradual for me during the 90's

But then it really hit me during the 2000 campaign - as though I was living in a parallel universe to what was being reported.
For an excellent overview of all of this, I recommend Frank Rich's "The Greatest Story Ever Sold".
And for a lighter look at the same subject, Al Franken's "Lying Liars . . . "

[TerwilligeRedux]

66. After seeing a movie called "The Panama Deception"

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-446387292666223710

This film outlined for me the way which the media serves corporate interests. The Invasion of Panama was just as wrong-headed and unethical as the Iraq war, but the media just served up the propaganda from the White House and Pentagon. This hasn't changed, and in a way, it's always been this way.

The film was made in 1992 but I only first saw it in 2001 POST 9/11. After everything we'd all been through, it was obvious that the media would simply serve the basest impulses of Americans and ratchet up their bottom line.

[OneBlueSky]

67. I haven't watched tv news or talking heads in over five years . . . n/t

[TerwilligeRedux]

68. After I saw a movie called "The Panama Deception"

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-446387292666223710

This film outlined for me the way which the media serves corporate interests. The Invasion of Panama was just as wrong-headed and unethical as the Iraq war, but the media just served up the propaganda from the White House and Pentagon. This hasn't changed, and in a way, it's always been this way.

The film was made in 1992 but I only first saw it in 2001 POST 9/11. After everything we'd all been through, it was obvious that the media would simply serve the basest impulses of Americans and ratchet up their bottom line.

[Jim__]

69. October 17, 1989.

That's when an earthquake struck San Francisco just before a scheduled World Series game. The game was cancelled and so, there was a huge blank spot in the TV schedule. For maybe the first 90 minutes, their hyping of the potential disastrous effects of the earthquake could be taken seriously. But, after that, when they continued to talk about the famous San Francisco earthquake where most of San Francisco was destroyed and they kept focusing on small fires that were burning and talking about the danger of the fires spreading to the whole city ...

The earthquake deserved coverage. And, I'm not downplaying the disaster this earthquake may have been in some lives. However, the media were playing it for hours like San Francisco may burn down due to the quake.

I've never taken the media serious since.

[Labors of Hercules]

70. When I realized who was paying for it. nt.

[Annces]

71. When I realized no matter how many stories

I dutifully watch, it is what I try to do in my own backyard that matters, and they never cover that. Also that most reporters are working for companies that want profits, and so their reporting is skewed toward favoring corporations. Conflict of interest. You cannot serve the public and the corporations, one wins out.

Also seeing my one favorite program, Frontline, basically losing their direction. They used to be so cutting edge. And of course even reporters like Rather are weeded out now.

[mikeytherat]

72. In college, in the mid-1980s, while in journalism school.

mikey_the_rat

[info being]

73. 9/11

[philly_bob]

74. I thought the NYTimes was different ... until Judy Miller! /nt

[Justpat]

75. For me, it started in the 80's

with Saint Ronnie the pudding head president who was cheered on in all his detestable
policies by a media who loved his delivery and cadence.

I have hated them ever since.

Then about ten years ago I read a book called:" Four Arguments for the Elimination
of Television", by Jerry Mander and turned the MSM off and haven't turned them back
on since that time.

[redqueen]

76. Early 90's. The PR War (Gulf War I).

That's when I knew we were being routinely lied to, and worse, that nobody much seemed to care.

[dorkulon]

77. The Reagan era did it for me.

I was only 10 when he got elected, but watching the way the media handled him, Iran-Contra, and the arms-for-cocaine thing showed me what BS my TV was selling.

I remember listening to a Jello Biafra spoken word record in which he detailed the facts of the CIA trading arms with the Contras for coke, and then selling the coke in California. I doubted the story, because I'd never heard about it. Then it was on the cover of Time magazine--many years after the fact. That was a milestone for me.

Probably the one story that had the effect of completely poisoning my view of the MSM was the completely fictional "incubator babies" story that PR firm Hill & Knowlton trumped up for the Kuwaiti royal family, and which the entire nation swallowed and most still believe.

[krabigirl]

79. Hmm..in college, im my media class. I was a journalism major. :) also

The Dean scream played into it as well, and the whole freakshow during the beginning of the Iraq war.

[progressoid]

80. My distrust started in the 90's but was cemented just after 9/11

Fuck em.

[Hepburn]

81. When I was in college and involved in my first peace march back in the 1960s.

What they said and what I saw? Like two totally different events. Nothing much has changed. <sigh>

[annonymous]

82. The Clinton impeachment debacle.

I refused to let my husband turn on the news because I didn't want my children hearing about blow jobs. That was when MSM jumped the shark for me.

[ljm2002]

83. For me, it was during Poppy's Iraq incursion...

...back when the military announced to the news people on site in Kuwait that they would have no freedom of movement, and that all their information would come from the military, with some allowances for reporters to come along with the military here and there. All for the reporters' "own protection", dontcha know.

So when the media just rolled over for that one and said "Okay sir, whatever you say sir", I knew that our media had given up on their Constitutionally-mandated role of bringing truth to the people and were just going through the motions.

Only I did not realize at the time, how active they really are. They did not just roll over; they have also become very active in propagandizing the population. I can't really say for sure when I first realized that they were actively complicit in the daily outright falsehoods, manipulations and conscious omissions that the press puts out there these days. Reading DU has been a real help in that department. Certainly the Dean Scream was a moment to be remembered -- when the media bared its teeth and showed right up front what they are capable of. They had an agenda and they promoted it, truth be damned.

[sakabatou]

84. Around 2004/5

When I really got into politics.

[peabody71]

86. Truelly, after the 2000 Election.

That with new access to the internet it started to become crystal clear.
Nothing is as they would like it to seem.
Ever notice how current events online rarely match "current event" in the MSM?
I am most disapointed with Chris Mathews.
I generally trust what he says, but when he won't even utter a small question mark about
the lack of accountability in our elections, it proves he too is a fraud.

[L. Coyote]

87. The first time I attended an event reported in a paper.

The job the media does reporting reality will never be complete or completely accurate is an early lesson in life.

Those who trust media are either young children or obvious victims of media propaganda.

:rofl: I worry for children who fixed on the one-eyed baby sitter instead of a human as their mother :rofl:

[Summer93]

88. Evolution of Dumbo

About the time Clinton was being impeached it became so pitched at personalities, so determined to drag him through the mud. I was interested to find out who/what was behind it.

Which led to finding out that Mellon -Scaife funded Anti-Clinton writings and,

Which led to finding PNAC (pronounced penis) which led to several other names. Which kept my skepticism up there for whatever came next.

News lead up to the invasion of Iraq. Iraq is a threat! Didn't anyone hear about the years (12 to 13) of the US shooting down Iraqi planes in the northern and southern no fly zones and the bombing. How could Iraq be a threat? Remember when they got to Bagdad airport and found one plane and it had NO engines?

Led to finding foreigh news links on the web and finding that millions of people were marching and scores of cities around the globe. Our M$M didn't tell us this!

Today we have the terrorizing of the Weather is soooo important. Today we have WAR on snow - it's gonna be a battle out there today. 7-11" of snow. When it is done we probably only have 4" because they just want to scare people using their flashing red lights and heavy drum beats - it's all they've got.

War on everything all the time. War on weight loss, now war on dancing, hahahahahahah

[alcibiades_mystery]

90. When Reagan bombed Libya

I was a small kid, and my father said "This is all propaganda." I remembered it bothered me because the Libyans shot down two pilots, and everyone was going insane over that. Meanwhile, we killed Qaddafi's two-year old daughter. It was disturbing.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

91. I think the whole Richard Jewell episode really sealed the deal for me.

They convicted that guy in the court of public opinion based on absolutely nothing at all.

[The Backlash Cometh]

92. By 1999, I was convinced.

Partly because of what happened to Clinton, but also because the local paper buried a huge local stories, and in essence, hushed it up, protecting lots of good ole boys, and ensuring that things would remain as corrupt as ever.

[indie_voter]

93. Iran/Contra n/t

[conscious evolution]

94. At the start of the first Gulf War

A room mate in college had a penpal in Kuwait who happened to be an editor for a Kuwaiti news paper.She was saying their was going to be a war several months before it occurred and that one of the main reasons had to do with Kuwait drilling into Iraqs oil feilds and stealing their oil.

I have not trusted the media since.The way they lied about what was going on was a war crime in my opinion.

[Pathwalker]

95. 1980 Presidential campaign. They lionized Reagan

over Carter, which was downright unbelievable.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

96. Pre-Iraq Invasion (2002-2003)

I guess the first time I realized how slanted and untrustworthy the so-called "liberal media" really was was during the run-up to the Iraq invasion starting with their seeming non-nonchalance about Bush's "Axis of Evil" address and subsequent advocacy of a "pre-emptive" military policy and how they failed miserably to seriously question the veracity of the Bush (mis-)administration's (and their supporters') claims about Iraq and/or examine any other viewpoint that wasn't clearly pro-war. Reading Barry Glassner's book, "The Culture of Fear" (introduced in Michael Moore's "Bowling for Columbine") also made me realize how manipulative the MSM (still) is and played a large role in leading me to seriously question how the media operates. Given everything that we know now about how complicit the media has been in allowing Bush/GOP to run roughshod over the Constitution, its opponents, and the rest of the world, one would be hard pressed to find a way to seriously defend its integrity or impartiality in recent years. Pretty much the only MSM source that I pay any attention to anymore is NPR which, although it can be biased and uncritical at times, offers a MUCH greater diversity of stories and viewpoints overall than CNN, MSNBC, et. al.

[ProudDad]

97. 1980 - when that fuck ronny ray-gun was "selected" (n/t)

[fascisthunter]

98. The Right Wing Attack on Clinton (nt)

[ProudDad]

101. If you want the truth

Do what I do and stream from:

http://www.kpfa.org (or any Pacifica Station)

http://www.democracynow.org/

<Add some of your sources to this thread!!!>

There is NO good reason to EVER watch the MSM for anything more than an occasional laugh or as a reinforcement to remind one that they are useless shills for the corporate capitalist masters.

[Chimichurri]

104. 2000 Election. First they all began reporting trucks with bags of

ballots and voter fraud being reported then the next day....

nothing.

My Dad and I are still waiting for the updates.

[windbreeze]

106. 1967....to be exact

My husband was in VietNam....and what I was reading in the local paper did NOT coincide with what I was told by those who were there...the discrepancies were so wide, that someone had to be skirting the truth..I chose the media...and the gov't, as the guilty parties...wb

[4_TN_TITANS]

107. Gore 2000

When the presidency was appointed against the will of the people. That's when I realized freedom in this country was on it's deathbed.

[Heidi]

108. Shortly before I resigned my managing editor's position, secured healthy severeance for my staff

and moved to Europe.

[leftofthedial]

109. 1963

[live love laugh]

112. Late 90's--when radio stations started snuffing out non-Republican shows. n/t

[Hekate]

113. Two times that really hit me: the Florida election debacle, and the runup to the Iraq invasion

The behavior of the MSM was so ungodly blatant. The runup to the invasion was in its own way worse than the coverage of the coup d'etat, because I suddenly saw how co-ordinated the tv networks were in creating actual propaganda for use on the American people.

:cry: and :grr: and :cry: again

Hekate

[tabasco]

114. When GW Bush was running for Prez the first time.

They did not report on his AWOL, drug use, DUI, failed businesses, or his phony movie set "ranch."

Etcetera, etcetera.

When someone mentioned these things they were portrayed as crazy.

But Al Gore was the boring, loony tree-hugger.

[ileus]

115. 1991 or 92....

[blonndee]

116. This is embarrassing.

Although I had my suspicions about "news" and "news" programs like Dateline NBC, etc., I never really gave it much thought until after 9/11 when I started honestly trying to figure out how something like that could happen. I was woefully ignorant but eventually did educate myself about a LOT of things, as painful as it turned out to be.

Anyway, I guess "the moment" was one night when I was watching (I shudder to think of it now) Bill O'Reilly with my parents (Faux-news fans) and he had the son of one of the 9/11 victims on. I thought the young man was very earnest and wanted to hear what he had to say. But Bill didn't like it and started screaming at him to "shut up" and then told the producers to "cut his mike." And they did. I was shocked and my jaw literally dropped. And then I really started watching the news with a critical eye and that was the beginning of it.

[lonestarnot]

118. '98

[Echo In Light]

119. Aware of it as a teen in the 80s re Iran/Contra. But the Waco, Branch Davidians in early 90s

Made it clear that something was really rotten. From there, how the entire mainline media went after Clinton. Really though, we all grew up with the idea of media conspiracy from JFK, Vietnam, etc

[Apollo11]

120. November 2000. When they told me that Bush-Cheney had "won" Florida.

Although I also think that we the people failed to support Al Gore during the difficult days after the election. He was kind of left to fight that battle on his own, is how it looked like.

Republican congressmembers like Tom Delay were sending their staff and supporters down to Florida so they could stop the recount BY ANY MEANS POSSIBLE. Where were Al Gore's supporters?

Like most of us probably, surfing the net or watching TV ...