Reply #256: i'm reluctant to defend even my own speculation but hey ... [View All]

[bin.dare]

... who else will?

here is an interesting read:
http://www.crisispapers.org/Editorials/internet.htm

AFTER THE INTERNET
By Ernest Partridge
Co-Editor, The Crisis Papers
September 23, 2003

It is not too soon for progressives to ponder, “what would we do without the internet?” for it is folly for us to take the internet for granted.

For consider: The right wing has captured AM talk radio, cable (so-called) “news,” and six Bush-friendly “conservative” corporations control virtually all commercial broadcasting and publishing. The only remaining free and diverse mass media “marketplace of ideas” is the Internet. It would be naive to think that the corporate establishment does not also have its sights set on the internet.

No doubt about it: the progressive internet is a threat, for it has recently displayed considerable political clout. The internet promoted and coordinated the international anti-war protests that brought millions into the streets. It cost Trent Lott his majority leadership in the Senate. It has been the primary stimulus to the Howard Dean campaign. And it was a prominent source of the public indignation that led to the Congressional overturning of the FCC ownership ruling. As ever more citizens lose confidence in the credibility of the corporate media, they are turning to the internet, and through it to international and independent sources of reliable news of the world and of their own country and politics. It is a trend that is continuing and accelerating.

Surely, the grand Poobahs of the corporate-GOP-media complex will not sit still for this!

But what can they do about it? Unfortunately, there is much they can do.

(there is lots more, a good read)
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