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General News    H2'ed 8/22/11

Monetizing Politics: Networks Are There To Sell, Not Tell

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Message Danny Schechter

"Nearly every democracy in the world has some kind of mandate for free television time during campaigns. Broadcasters can afford it: profit margins of 30 percent, 40 percent, and even 50 percent are common in broadcasting, according to Paul Taylor, the former Washington Post reporter who serves as president of the Alliance for Better Campaigns. And, since the Communications Act of 1934 was enacted, broadcasters' free and exclusive use of the airwaves has also been conditioned on their agreement to function as public trustees."

Ha!

It's hard not to conclude that their inaction, and unwillingness to reform their own practices, is caused by the industry's own bottom-line greed--- always justified in the name of preserving the first amendment, of course.

The truth is our valiant TV networks are undermining democracy, not bolstering it. These campaigns create jobs for their own pollsters, pundits and partisans. This spectacle does not serve a public deeply disenchanted with sleaze in suits and political corruption,

Instead "monetized election coverage" is a fixture, a part of the problem. The New York Times reports in detail how Rick Perry's high net worth donors benefited financially when state money went, tit for tat, into their businesses. This is not uncommon.

The watchdogs have become lapdogs when it comes to monitoring and disclosing their own agendas and profits.

Who will watch the watchers?

News Dissector Danny Schechter blogs at Newsdissector.com. He directed Plunder The Crime of our Time (Plunderthecrimeofourtime.com) 

 

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News Dissector Danny Schechter is blogger in chief at Mediachannel.Org He is the author of PLUNDER: Investigating Our Economic Calamity (Cosimo Books) available at Amazon.com. See Newsdisssector.org/store.htm.
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