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September 20, 2008 at 05:22:01
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: "Media Isn't Doing Its Job" by sherry clark Page 1 of 2 page(s) |
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Transcript from timeless speech given by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on May 2, 2004 (first anniversary of George W. Bush's declaration of 'Mission Accomplished'). Slightly edited for ease of readability. We need a press that is doing its job, and it isn't, that is why we have the principle problem with democracy. There's two big failures. One is all the corporate money that's going into our election process, and the second failure is that we have a negligent and indolent press in this country that has simply let down American democracy. (Applause)
And you know, I travel all over the country and I hear people talking still about the liberal media.
(Laughter)
That's what Joseph Goebbels used to call the big lie. If you just keep saying it and saying it and saying it; people begin believing it. There's no liberal media in this country. What do we have? We have the Nation's magazine, Mother Jones, Rolling Stone. We have Pacifica Radio, Air America, and you know, you have these two guys, and that's pretty much it! But we have a right wing media in this country, and if you look around, that's where Americans are disproportionately getting their news.
The Pew Foundation recently did a survey that shows that 30% of Americans now say their primary news source is talk radio, which is 90% controlled by the right. 22% said cable news, mainly FOX news, 10% said Sinclair Network, which is the largest, most right-wing network in our country, and it is run by a former pornographer who requires all 75 of his local affiliate stations to take a pledge that they will not report critically about this president, about the war in Iraq or a number of other issues.
Only 11% of Americans now read papers, where you still can get some relevant news--at least occasionally, but the rest of us get our news primarily from the traditional corporate owned media: ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN which have no ideology except their own pocketbooks. And that ideology is almost always coterminous with the ideology of the party in power, but particularly the Republican party. Because they are in support of all these corporate consolidations.
These are huge companies that have all kinds of subsidiaries that are looking for licensing deals, concessions from the government and they're not going to say something that offends them. You look on network television, and there's no liberal equivalent of John Stossel or Glenn Beck or Robert Novak or Sean Hannity, or Bill O'Reilly or any of these other guys.
Okay, you've got Alan Combs...(laughter) but that show-it's the Harlem Globetrotters and Combs plays the part of the Washington Generals. His whole job is to lose every argument. Here's what he said when President Bush declared 'Mission Accomplished': "Now that the war in Iraq is all but over, shouldn't the people in Hollywood that opposed the president admit they were wrong?"
That's from our GREAT liberal voice in the American media.
This devolution of the American press began in 1988, when Ronald Reagan abolished the Fairness Doctrine.
(Applause)
We had a rule in this country that was passed in 1928 at the dawn of commercial radio that was called the Fairness Doctrine, and that rule said the airwaves belonged to the public, that broadcasters can be licensed to use them, but only with the proviso that they be used to promote the public interest and to advance democracy.
There were three requirements of the Fairness Doctrine:
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| 8 comments |
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It may be much worse the RFK Jr. thinks
The main stream media is owned by big corporations and are doing a job of controlling how citizens view the nation and the world. Some think the msm are just not doing the investigative reporting because of the cost cutting needed to keep them alive; but it may be that the executives are picking and choosing what gets investigated and what spin is put on a story to create a specific point of view. I believe that freedom of the press is intended to make sure that polititians do not pull the wool over the eyes of the public; but instead the press is knowingly and delibertly misleading the public. by Philip Pease (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 209 comments [11 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, Sep 20, 2008 at 9:34:11 AM  (0+)
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Bullsh*t, it is all here on the FKN news!
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=kkQ6IqVdcJ0 by Wolfie (9 articles, 0 quicklinks, 33 diaries, 1208 comments) on Saturday, Sep 20, 2008 at 12:30:48 PM (0+)
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Crook media has always driven the getaway car for the rich.
Crook media has always driven the getaway car for the rich. Crooks specialize in force and fraud. Crook media handles the fraud. by John Hanks (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1760 comments [39 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, Sep 20, 2008 at 12:42:30 PM (0+)
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Proof
I would submit that Mr. Kennedy's support of Barack Obama for president is proof positive that the media isn't doing its job. by Catlover (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 85 comments) on Saturday, Sep 20, 2008 at 2:19:51 PM (0+)
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Reply: No Tanning Beds Needed In Panama
And while you and your's are safely escaped to Panama, please offer a prayer for the rest who remain behind to do what real activists do: risk jail, limbs and death to fight the evil that has taken over our country. by Robert Arend (24 articles, 30 quicklinks, 21 diaries, 240 comments [22 recommended, 1 rejected]) on Saturday, Sep 20, 2008 at 5:40:42 PM (0+)
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Kennedy article
This is a very useful piece. With the Kennedy name on it, I'd like to see it as a call to action for media and journalism schools. The US is awash in such schools and I see it a as their job to fight, hopefully professor led, in their area of expertize the corruption of the future employment world their students plan to enter. The same for business schools, pharmacy schools, etc by mike rubbo (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 3 comments [2 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, Sep 20, 2008 at 3:53:29 PM (0+)
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What If
JFK Jr was still around. His plane crash in 1999 was suspicous. Word is he was planning to run for the Senate which would have positioned him well for a 2004 or 2008 run. Obama and McCain. With choices like these, thats proof democracy no longer exists except in name. Sort of like Irans democracy, where the Supreme Council determines who can run for President, and the citizens vote for their choice. The MSM today is just looking like an extension of Northcoms psychological operations unit. Controlling peoples perceptions and reality. Troops returning from Iraq will for the 1st time get a designated assignment to Northcom, a homeland tour of duty, and will begin training on October 1 to intervene if needed in the US to control civil unrest or help with any emergencies in the homeland. This was reported in Army Times, if not in the MSM. http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/army_homeland_090708w/ That should make us safer. Doesn't bode well for the National Guard, but then, most of their equipment is in Iraq anyways. Obama was quoted recently as saying he thought the next war we choose to fight, all of us should go to war, implying he would bring back the draft. This is the change we want?. "“ And I think it’s important for the president to say, this is an important obligation. If we are going into war, then all of us go, not just some.” by pft (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 601 comments [7 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, Sep 20, 2008 at 7:38:05 PM (0+)
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Media, the fourth branch of government
We Americans used to take smug pride in knowing that the former Soviet population, (and many other repressed peoples), were raised on a steady diet of government approved propaganda. The interesting difference is that they were largely aware of it. by Michael McCoy (7 articles, 1 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 487 comments [26 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Sep 21, 2008 at 4:51:56 AM (0+)
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