Last night as I watched the news on CNN I couldn't help but notice the streaming message along the bottom of the screen, drawing attention to the fact that "hundreds" of Pakistani's were demanding that Musharaf resign! Gosh---HUNDREDS? Golly that's a big number folks---that kind of scale is sure NEWSWORTHY! 

However, when nearly 100,000 American's over a 4-day period sign in on  Wexler's website to demand impeachment hearings regarding the charges against Cheney---it goes completely unreported! Editors are putting out the lame story that "impeachment is not news because it has been discredited by the partisan misuse of impeachment against Bill Clinton."

 So does that mean that any part of the Constitution, if one "misused" is forever-more invalidated? There will never be a crime heinous enough to be worthy of impeachment---because once upon a time, partisans misused impeachment for a vendetta? Sure sounds logical to me! 

A few months ago I signed up for Google News Alerts for the word "impeachment." Every day, I open the email they send me to see, what, if any media outlets have published anything on the massive grass roots movement to impeach Cheney and Bush. What I find is usually a few stories from OpedNews or Alternet or some small-town independent newspaper in Vermont, Massachussetts or Florida. Its clear enough to me that the mainstream media are not doing their job as representatives of the 4th Estate. Given this breach of performance, its not an understatement to describe this behavior as "censorship"---the selective ommission of legitimate news for political reasons.

 Therefore, any mainstream media outlet practicing CENSORSHIP in this manner has given up all claims to credibility---they literally do not deserve the trust of the American public. And if that's the case, its time the American public started to boycott the major news outlets to erode the advertising base. A message needs to be sent to the media: if you want us as an audience, start doing your job and stop censoring the news.

I have no idea how to get this started. But if I had a magic wand, I'd make sure that the major media outlets find themselves hurting financially because people no longer consider their product credible.

 Can you believe this is America? I hang my head in shame! Land of the Free? Freedom of Speech? Watchdog 4th Estate? Checks and balances? As a Vision, these are the attributes of America that most citizens love. As an actual state of affairs, I fear we have simply lost the plot. We are in a national trance, having been hypnotized into believing that sh*t is actually Shinola. If we don't get some serious media reform, I'm afraid there is little that can be done to break the trance.

by Abraham007 (6 articles, 36 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 54 comments) on Wednesday, Dec 19, 2007 at 7:49:28 AM

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The most powerful tool mass media has is shaping the information people hear.  By ignoring a story - even if it is a big one - it is "as if" it doesn't exist and people don't care.  The peace marches before September 11th all over this country were huge and yet they were simply ignored in most of the mainstream press.  If you weren't there you wouldn't even know they happened.  The 30 seconds they got on the news made them seem inconsequential.  The same thing is happening with impeachment.  The same thing is happening with all of the important civil liberties legislation.  The good news - people are waking up in large numbers.  They are switching off their television sets and talking to their neighbors.  They are realizing they have been dooped.  

Keep working everyone - write, call, march, act - demand Impeachment Hearings begin at once.

And - ignore the mainstream media - it's "unimportant"!! 

by August Adams (11 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 585 comments [12 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Wednesday, Dec 19, 2007 at 11:36:05 AM

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