You know, I've always thought America was the land of the free, home of truth in our government, free of deceit and lies. I recall vividly how we were taught the contrast between ourselves and our news freedom with that of the so-called "red curtain". How naive I've been. Today I happened to take a look at Al Jazeera's web site for English. I was curious to see what they had to say about OBL fully expecting a strong bias against anything American.
What a shock. Unless I have suddenly lost all capability at reading comprehension, I found the articles incredibly refreshing, and I read everything they posted about OBL. Not once did I see any bias whatsoever. No democrat or republican spin. No commenator opinion. Just the facts, pure and simple. No attempt to try and tell me what to think. I then took a look at CNN, ABC, and Fox. In every case I was peppered with commentator attempts to mold my thinking. Clearly a political bias on all three sites. Frankly, I was pissed at the realization that a foreign news service appears to be more "American" than our own.
I had the same prejudices against them. But then I saw their feeds during the Egypt uprising and, after that, in Libya. They were accurate and unbiased. They've been kicked out of Egypt, Libya and, probably, Syria. Good credentials, if you ask me.
I'm sure that now you realize this, you will be outraged that the Bush administration targeted Al Jazeera, and killed their journalists.
Meanwhile, here at home, the Bush administration was busy bribing journalists like Armstrong Williams who reported favorably on No Child Left Behind.
There's a reason why US media sucks, and it's sucked for a long, long time. It's dominated less by journalism than public relations efforts.
-- Modified on 5/6/2011 9:59:32 AM
Yes, my awakening has genuinely occurred and the feelings I have of betrayel are real. I find myself now wondering if the minority of doomsayers who predict the fall of the US might have it right. I ponder the fact that our country is now fairly evenly split with conservative vs liberal points of view and seemingly no potential for that to change. Over recent times and looking ahead I see a constant swing of conservative folks coming to power and having their way, only to then be kicked out by liberals who now have their way, and on and on... The result if near stagnation with one group undoing what the previous group did. Meanwhile, countries all around us are moving forward, becoming more and more prosperous while we muddle about with no clear path forward only a conspiracy to outflank the opposite party. I'm really disappointed.
which has gotten particulary egregious over the last 20 years.
As for U.S. decline ( & some may this see as simplistic ), I think the country has been in a long downward spiral since JFK was assasinated.
Just look at all the journalists who viewed Potemkin villages and came back to the US with glowing praise for the USSR in the midst of the Ukrainian genocide.
I think that, for the most part, certainly since before my father's father was born, "journalism" in this country has really been a form of brainwashing and political advocacy.
But think about it. Most of the areas served by Al Jazeera aren't Jeffersonian democracies. In a democracy, controlling information is controlling political power. Though places like China and some places in the Middle East definitely have censorship; overall, the news is just the news because even if you don't like the government, you can't do anything about it because you are basically a disarmed peasant whose only right is to die if you make too much noise.
The birth of the public relations industry in the early 20th century is where all this got it's start. Propagandists like Edward Bernays knew that in a democracy, in order for someone to be in control, you must "regiment the public mind every bit as much as an army regiments the bodies of its soldiers."
Once you understand this, you can then pursue coarses of intellectual self-defense. Or, as Willy likes to put it, sharpening your bullshit detector.
everyone should take a long hard look at our news. main orgs 'fawn' all over BHO! sad to see such action. news ain't anywhere near what it has been...to include those overpaid readers! not good for the USA.
Right! That's why Fox News, the most-watched network, fawns all over Obama's ass! Oh, yeah, and all those Obama lovers on the radio like Limbaugh, Savage, etc., etc. Why do you right wing-nuts have such a persecution complex.? But thanks for posting. We need a replacement for dumba_boy, who is feeling abused and threatening to leave in a sulk. You are not quite as stupid, but you'll do. Hmmm...actually, it's hard to say which of you is dumba-er. If I was as adept with photos as Priapus I'd add a picture of the stars of "Dumb and Dumber." Just picture it...
i dont know what media market you are in but in LA we have several conservative AM radio but also 1 "progressive" (that self descriptor has always seemed more than a little self-aggrandizing but...) station. What's an interesting excercize is to toggle back and forth between the "poles" and listen to each's arguements.
trust me, "rightwingers" dont hold monoploy on persecution complexs...
jesus christ. We already have someone who's main purpose here is to disparage others on this board. His name is GaG, and he's much better at it than you. If you'd like to turn this board into a "I know you are, but what am I" sort of thing, have at it, but I come here to debate politics and religion. Just sayin...
All bow down to Willy, the god of "What's Approprite to Comment Upon" on the P&R board! Get over yourself and stop preaching about how to post. Hey, here's an idea: put out a list of "Willy's Dos and Dont's" so we'll all know what proper comportment is. That way we can all avoid violating your high standards for posting (LMFAO!). I'm sure nuguy will appreciate it, too, just like I'm sure he appreciates your leaping to his defense. Willy, you are just sad.
got other news sources like BBC. Our News organizations has become new style of soap opera. We had actual journalists in the old days, today we have experts (self appointed or anointed by news channels). Exactly the reason, I do not go CNN, Fox, CNBC web sites. These sites are for those who doesn't have ability of critical thinking and are out of touch with reality hence, the proliferation of conspiracy theories.
News papers are also going that way, we have liberal and right wing news papers. They have to be, to make money. They are all going broke.
Next is the blog, you can put any shit up and people seem to flock to it and believes it is news. Blog site needs traffic to make money from advertisers. Then there is dumb ass CEO's like AOL's who $25 million or so to buy Huffington Post. She is smiling at him thinking, fool, how did you ever become a CEO?