Freedom of the press

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BonosSaint

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We have the most powerful laws in the world protecting freedom of the press. But does it matter when our media is owned by an evershrinking number of companies who control what news is fit for us?
 
I'll give you a case in point. Most of the newspapers in our area are owned by Times Shamrock and it appears there is some connection there also with two of our local affiliates. A local Congressman (won't say what party because it doesn't matter in the context of this thread) got caught with a bimbette--not that it matters except when he trots out his happy family for election time. Not one paper owned by Times Shamrock or two of the local stations covered this at all (although Times Shamrock papers do cover the other party's peccadillos.) When residents of the congressman's district were interviewed, many of them had no idea of what was going on (even though the episode involved a police report). Now I have no problem with any individual newspaper refusing to report on this. My problem is when every news outlet in the area owned by this company did not report on it, it tells me this conglomerate is controlling local news. Dangerous.
 
BonosSaint said:
But does it matter when our media is owned by an evershrinking number of companies who control what news is fit for us?

That's why we have to make a voice. There are very few speaking for me today. Problem is apathy gets the best of us. It's the case of the little man vs. the bully. It's easy to say I can't make a difference they have a tank and all I have is a slingshot. But there's alway the story of David and Goliath.

Actually today at the U2 concert I was thinking about the plight Peal Jam had with Ticketmaster, it was a fight they lost but it's a fight worth fighting and it saddens me that others didn't get behind them. It's the same way with media.
 
BonosSaint said:
My problem is when every news outlet in the area owned by this company did not report on it, it tells me this conglomerate is controlling local news. Dangerous.

Can you say "1984"? This is a very prevalent problem today. When these huge corporations run media corporations, they choose what scandals and things get investigated. For example, when there was a new telecommunications bill that was being passed in congress that essentially gave these big corporations more media power, in all of the large news stations combined (NBC, ABC, FOX....), they showed a total of like....ten minutes of news on this bill all combined. They pick and choose what we see based on the special interests of these large corporations.
 
I also think media is lazy sometimes. They all report on the same things, just different spins. There is so much more going on, but they all have to go for the same stories. When we really think about it we're very uninformed.
 
You have to be bemused when you have to go to news sources in other countries sometimes to find out what is happening in US.
Sometimes I laugh (wryly) when we have all these wonderful freedoms (and the idea of them are wonderful) held up to us as beacons when all we really do is pay lip service to them when bragging about what we bring to the world and how much better we are.

Even the "underground" newspapers are owned by these conglomerates now.

No hard news.
No followup.
Spin instead of objectivity.
Government commercials being presented as news.
The cult of the celebrity.

Maybe that's what should have been investigated instead of somebody saying "fuck" on TV.

Hey, it's our fault. We want the bread and circuses. We like being complacent. We like being told what to think. We're not too far from totalitarianism while pretending we are the freest
country in the world. I think sometimes it is beyond apathy. I think too many of us are buying into this wholesale.

(I was very proud of Pearl Jam and Ticketmaster).
 
BonoVoxSupastar said:
I also think media is lazy sometimes. They all report on the same things, just different spins. There is so much more going on, but they all have to go for the same stories. When we really think about it we're very uninformed.

Media is lazy, more than anything. We have a generation of journalists now who are afraid to go out into the field and look for stories. Rather, it's easier to sit in the newsroom and listen to the police scanner, or wait for the national networks to give them a feed.

After working in news now for the last month or so, I really do think it is laziness over any larger corporate conspiracy, although FOX News (as in its local broadcast network affiliates that have news) does have a history of creating false news. A court case determined that inventing news is not illegal.

Melon
 
People are lazy.

We have a free press. We tend to gravitate towards the polished entertaining news programs (the "big corporation controlled media")

We can seek out additional sources of news and evaluate - but generally are not willing to invest such time.
 
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