Monday, August 16, 2004
I am back, with a little trepidation.
I am back after having just spent three weeks in Berlin and the Czech Republic.
Being away from all of the US media, with the exception of reading e-mail a
few times, was a welcome relief. I spent a lot of time reading The Guardian,
the UK's best newspaper, which set me to thinking, why do we not have a real
news media anymore? When I was growing up, the thought of injecting opinion
into the news was nothing but heresy. News was reported as it happened.
Just the facts.
In the last 20 years, we have seen the media consolidate, due to a inept FCC,
and become more timid, instead relying on entertainment to drive sales,
thus abdicating its public responsibility. We no longer get news, but opinion
disguised as news. No longer do we see a agnostic press that will let its readers decide what they are to think on any given issue. It's maddening. I used to think that I was crazy, but more and more the news validates my thinking. My thinking
is that the media has lost any and all moral authority. Lies and misinformation abound. I will not give you instances, as they are too abundant to mention. David Brock's book, "The Republican Noise Machine:Right-Wing Media and How It Corrupts Democracy" is a incredible primer on what exactly has happened. The corporate media is destroying America. The once "fair and balanced media," has slid into the mire of unnamed sources, innuendo, misinformation, and outright lies. More and more
we see sources coming from the far right, without any citations of the corporate and conservative think tanks that are paying their salaries. They are cited as "scholars." Many of their quote scholarly works wouldn't make it past the most
base level of peer review. Their work is based on faulty science, all the while arguing against established peer reviewed work. My prime example: The Far right's attack on well established worldwide science on global warming. How can we trust this
editorializing in the news, when we are not privy to any opposing opinions? Arggh!!! I am not a self hating American. I love America!!! I love the country that was built on the exchange of free ideas. I am now told that I hate America. I am now
told that I am Un-American. I am now called a "comforter to the enemy." I now call those who engage in this inane rhetoric, My enemy. I am a American. I will stay to fight for what I know to be my right to dissent, to question authority, to rabblerouse
for change. That is my right as a American.
Being away from all of the US media, with the exception of reading e-mail a
few times, was a welcome relief. I spent a lot of time reading The Guardian,
the UK's best newspaper, which set me to thinking, why do we not have a real
news media anymore? When I was growing up, the thought of injecting opinion
into the news was nothing but heresy. News was reported as it happened.
Just the facts.
In the last 20 years, we have seen the media consolidate, due to a inept FCC,
and become more timid, instead relying on entertainment to drive sales,
thus abdicating its public responsibility. We no longer get news, but opinion
disguised as news. No longer do we see a agnostic press that will let its readers decide what they are to think on any given issue. It's maddening. I used to think that I was crazy, but more and more the news validates my thinking. My thinking
is that the media has lost any and all moral authority. Lies and misinformation abound. I will not give you instances, as they are too abundant to mention. David Brock's book, "The Republican Noise Machine:Right-Wing Media and How It Corrupts Democracy" is a incredible primer on what exactly has happened. The corporate media is destroying America. The once "fair and balanced media," has slid into the mire of unnamed sources, innuendo, misinformation, and outright lies. More and more
we see sources coming from the far right, without any citations of the corporate and conservative think tanks that are paying their salaries. They are cited as "scholars." Many of their quote scholarly works wouldn't make it past the most
base level of peer review. Their work is based on faulty science, all the while arguing against established peer reviewed work. My prime example: The Far right's attack on well established worldwide science on global warming. How can we trust this
editorializing in the news, when we are not privy to any opposing opinions? Arggh!!! I am not a self hating American. I love America!!! I love the country that was built on the exchange of free ideas. I am now told that I hate America. I am now
told that I am Un-American. I am now called a "comforter to the enemy." I now call those who engage in this inane rhetoric, My enemy. I am a American. I will stay to fight for what I know to be my right to dissent, to question authority, to rabblerouse
for change. That is my right as a American.
