America's TV Media Crisis Goes Far Beyond Covering Trump: We Simply Aren't Hearing About the Most Pressing Issues of Our Time
By Thom Hartmann A...
America has a "lying press" problem. And it's not the "enemy of the people" situation our president has asserted.
Consider the biggest threats America faces right now.
Abrupt climate change is happening around the world as a result of our use of fossil fuels. France 24 reported on February 18 that half the population of Somalia is facing famine because of an unprecedented, climate change-driven drought that's extending across north and central Africa, while the United States is whipsawed between unprecedented weather extremes because there's 6 percent more moisture in the air than in 1950, feeding massive storms.
The list goes on from the Arctic, which was up to 50 degrees warmer than it should be this winter, to the Antarctic, where sea ice is also reaching lows not seen since humans came out of the trees.
Have you seen the story on American network news? Probably not.
Read more news that you have not heard on mainstream media - and the reasons why - here.
Comments
#2
Thom's full article at AlterNet is a comprehensive breakdown of the myriad threats to our democracy distilled into the core issue: restricted access to objective reality and simple truth -- a long-term, near total corruption of the First Amendment by big-money interests.
Muting the press sounds the death knell for a free and open society and is, by far, the most consequential action authoritarians can take to fast-track their fascistic agendas. An ignorant and confused populace is much more pliable and compliant.
#3
The mainstream media is owned and operated by the 1%. You hear what they want you to hear. You do not hear what they do not want you to hear. Seek alternate sources for news.
On a side note Bill O'Reilly is losing his sponors.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bill-oreilly-advertisers_us_58e3dafc...
Bill O'Reilly of Fox News is the Bill Cosby of the mainstream media.
#4
Free press is a very important element of democracy as envisioned by the founding fathers
That is as true today as it ever was
A very astute and amazing perception of its time
It appears that there is movement to prevent free press by those with immense riches
'Twas ever thus
Keep the peasants ignorant
History tells us that civil war or revolution can be an outcome that will change domination
#5
First of all, calling Trump "our president" is akin to having Stockholm Syndrome. Crooked Donny is nothing more than a Putin installed usurper which means Pence is illegit too.
Forget Comey and his extreme anti-democracy right-wing agenda....what pisses me off is the CIA has been sitting on the treason evidence since summer. I mentioned right after the electoral vote that the plan must be to wait well into the year before Trump gets dumped and Pence installed. I don't give a crap about precedent, a re-election should be demanded by all concerned citizens. This was an attack by a hostile foreign power....an act of war.
If we don't revolt the Fascists/Kochs will then finally have their Teabagger man in the White House, and the useful orange idiot may very well end up in jail...oh well. None of this needed to happen. We all knew the election was more illegit than the two Bush elections combined. One thing is for sure, Putin has already won, he has fffed our country up but good....with an assist from Comey.
We let these Teapublican election frauds happen and then get frustrated about the Fascist propaganda machine not reporting real news....news about economic, environmental and social justice/truth. Well if it had been President Gore, Kerry, and Clinton or Sanders... we wouldn't be in this mess.....despite all the god damn Fox News, Brietbart lies. Our founders finally fought back. I suspect they'd be tar and feathering Fox News reporters if here now...that along with burning effigies of Putin.
#6
Spot on! If we don't have fair and transparent elections without massive interference from foreign governments, corporate lobbyists, monopoly media, Republican state legislatures, and even our own justice department and intelligence services, then we don't have a democracy.
A fascist state is not some vague, future possibility of political theory for casual intellectual debate; it is a here-and-now reality, right up in our faces. Anyone who denies the obvious and doesn't fight back is a damn fool who doesn't deserve democracy.
#7
I'm not sure that it's not that the media is unwilling to cover the "most pressing issues;" as it is that a large segment of the American people are unwilling to listen to the most pressing issues. In fact, its in their DNA to prefer faith over reality.
FOX et al. even back to Nixon, and P.T Barnum for that matter, realized long ago that there were unfilled masses that yearned to have their biased, ideological and often racist notions validated via the corporate media. Of course by pandering to them, there was not only great political advantage to be gained, there were vast sums of money to be reaped and power to be had by supplying the "truthiness" they so craved.
After all, you're more likely to get fired from FOX for telling the truth, than for lying. In fact, FOX viewers require that FOX reporters tell them what they want to hear, the facts be damned. This has spilled over to much of the rest of the Mainstream Media and now they have no choice but to report what the pitchfork, torch wielding mobs demand, or be the victim of a full-scale revolt by their faithful as demonstrated by the "Freedom Caucus."
For many years via the "Fairness Doctrine", the corporate media realized that it was in their long term best interest and the best interest of the nation to present the facts in spite of any short term consequences. However, eventually they succumbed to unbridled greed and lust for power. Hence, FOX News and the current state of affairs with the mainstream media.
#8
Is there a full moon?:)
#9
Why don't you pull your head out of Trump's ass and see?
#10
God people, once again Santa Claus has arrived. Thank you, Thank you.
You bitch about other issues not being covered and all I ask is you Hartmanheads, or pick your leftie/socialist bobblehead of the day, and tell me they start off their program with anything but negative Trump 99% of the time.
How about decrease in Democrat voters, I mean immigration, increased consumer confidence, or the Stock market bump which should have helped wipe away a lot of the unfunded union pension money?
Cheer up, only 7-3/4 years to go.
#11
Case in point.
#12
Dianereynolds - huh... what makes you think Trumpty Dumpty will last that long?
The bet is impeachement or some other arrangement
#13
Stopgap - the message can be stated in any and many forms and still ignored
Yet! Where is the leader?
Without the gang will not follow
#14
Be very careful what you wish for bunky,
Following a Trump departure then a true Republican would be in the oval office. Hmmm, President Mike Pence and Vice President Paul Ryan. Now let's see who would make an acceptable conservative to serve as Speaker of the House, perhaps Trey Gowdy? Nice ring to it don't you think.
With leftie/socialist mental health issues on the edge right now, I can't imagine how the likes of Mr. Ed would cope with the above mentioned scenario.
There is always Canada, oh that's right, they have an immigration policy that makes sense.
Best to calm down and you will find a non Republican like President Trump is your better option.
#15
Truth is hard; lies are easy.
#16
Hey Diane and Coulter: Seriously? After the asinine attempt by your own party to repeal the conservative Romneycare plan, you two are still cocky???? LMAO
I stand by what I posted election night...look it up....you foxmerized fools have no place to hide now, not even behind the pussy grabber in chief.
Oh I forgot, it's Obama's fault Assad used sarin gas on women and children....Jesus Christ!
Freaking pathetic!
#17
(2950-10K - #16))
"Oh I forgot, it's Obama's fault Assad used sarin gas on women and children....Jesus Christ!"
I'm not sure about that ... a century or so ago, I heard they gave the vote to " the black man" ((with stiff stipulations, of course)) but not to women - possibly, as a blow to womens' sufferage. Now, because here in America, we (at least) believe in fair play ... as all good things take time, I think this time, they'll hand it over to the ladies ...
Hillary ...?
How could you do this to us?!
#18
... and, I have to ask ..., where,
when, who, why, and how in the world
did fair play in America become fore play?
#19
Our government is "The greatest purveyor of violence in the world..." (MLK)
What's the difference between a baby dying in a bomb raid conducted by our military or dying in a gas attack conducted by our enemy's military? Is the image of a baby's brains splattered on the crumpled walls of her home, her mother's skin draped on a nearby tree, somehow less shocking than the blue faces of a mother and child lying in the street? Is it because our corporate media disseminates and elevates one gruesome image over another, so easily twisting our desensitized sentiments?
We forgot the lesson of Viet Nam and the escalation of gratuitous warfare. Hate begets more hate and violence begets more violence. Ever since the First Gulf War and even more aggressively after 9/11, again and again, America has proven the timeless truth of that fundamental wisdom.
Radical Christian terrorists who support brutality in response to brutality are no better than radical Islamic terrorists who do the same; for, they do not believe -- cannot see -- the universal morality behind the teachings of their own religion's namesake. They are hypocrites of the worst kind!
The most evil of all, however, are those who use religion and patriotism to profit on blood-money and to gain political power by dealing in death. Look no further than the fascists in the "offense" industry, the criminal enterprises on Wall Street, the lackeys in Congress, the fool in the White House, and the if-it-bleeds-it-ledes, infotainment "news" media.
..."Where have all the young men gone?
Gone for soldiers every one
When will they ever learn?"...
..."Where have all the soldiers gone?
Gone to graveyards every one
When will they ever learn?"...
--Pete Seeger
#20
K. allen: The republicans were against and fought Obama's plan for an airstrike on Assad for chemical weapon use back in 2013....look it up. The blood is on the hands of Putin, Assad, Cheney, and Bush....and a political party that was against anything "Obama. "
But I really have no idea if I answered the content of your reply.....I was trying to be sarcastic with the Obama comment you quoted.
#21
deepspace: I agree, to the parents of a dead child there is no difference between a sarin gas strike by Assad or a drone strike by us. Our economy is based on a massive war budget now.....it's going to end bad....no easy way out.
#22
(To 2950-10 - #20)
Thanks for the clarification - just in case anyone missed the main point of your comment - sarcasm recognized, appreciated, and reciprocated.
#23
An occasional breeze carries a whiff of copper from the rivulets of fresh blood collecting into puddles, oozing from mutilated corpses; mostly though, the air is heavy with the putrid odor of spilled bowels and an overwhelming, unforgettable stench of burnt flesh. Like wooden puppets with broken strings, the dead are splayed out in unnatural poses, dusty faces, mouths agape, empty eyes staring into the abyss. Even the mournful wailing of anguish from the living fades into the stillness and silence of senseless death as it presses down, pushing away every thought ...except one. Why?
#25
History books are filled with tyrants who point to the atrocities of their enemies to justify their own.
#26
Just throwing this out there....we know we can't trust Crooked Donny, so why in hell would we trust his motives to bomb the Syrian airbase based on his humanitarian feelings??? Yeah right, Mr. appoint Bannon to his cabinet.
I'm throwing this out without anything but some vague communications with knowledgeable friends... conclusion: Trump and Putin have conspired to make it look like Trump is not Putin's puppet????...spin away from the attention on treason. Word is that Tillerson's Putin ass kissing trip will be very friendly...but won't be presented to the corpse media as such.
Trump doesn't give a flying crap about foreign policy unless he can cash in ...wake up. He's a con-artist who has ripped off desperate citizens with his fake university...that's just who he is...he hasn't changed based on recent videos of Russian/Assad carnage in Syria.
#27
It seems highly likely that 2950-10K's analysis is an accurate reading of the situation, especially since credible, high-up diplomatic and military sources have leaked that the U.S. warned Russia, who subsequently warned Syria, prior to the raid. Additionally, our Middle East military geniuses promised only to bomb certain jet bunkers and not any of the runways or other high-value targets.
Right on cue, the Russians moved all their personnel and equipment out of the way, and the Syrians moved all their functioning aircraft safely onto the runways and left only a few miscellaneous aircraft in the bunkers that were under repair and unable to fly anyway. It was a phony raid from the "go" that did no significant damage and lacked the element of surprise, for which Generalissimo Trumpnino always criticized Obama.
This whole ridiculous exercise, which wasted 85-million taxpayer dollars worth of cruise missiles, reeks of collusion with the so-called "enemy" for self-serving, hollow propaganda purposes, giving both Putin and Trump not-so-subtle political cover.
Where is the Great Orator's moral outrage for the 25 civilians, including 9 children and 7 women, whose guts he splattered all over their ruined village in his other misguided, politically motivated, failed raid in Yemen, for which we gained no military advantage or worthwhile intelligence whatsoever, and during which a 70-million-taxpayer-dollar Osprey aircraft was destroyed -- a raid which he blatantly lied about the value of to the American people, and which he then used to score political points by abusing a Navy SEAL's widow in front of Congress and the world?
Attacking a sovereign nation that is not a direct military threat to our national security, by any stretch of imagination, without preapproval from Congress and the U.N. is completely illegal and a war crime of the highest order.
Impeach this worthless, lying, repulsive maggot before he starts a nuclear war! Look what happened to the world the last time Congress left a Republican war criminal in office.
The Village Idiot's "Shock and awe" -- and now Brian Williams' patronizing "beautiful pictures of fearsome armaments" -- is the type of truly insane, Fourth-of-July, patriotic nonsense that disguises the harsh reality of war ...and our culpability. When will the shallow, starry-eyed American infotainment audience of numbed-out voters ever learn?
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As insightful as Tom's views are on many topics, why the press acts as it does is not one of them.
The press is a business and will cover those topics it chooses, and in a manner it chooses, to maximize its profits.
Instead of whining about the US press, direct readers to alternative news sources.
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