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The Power of the Internet “Movement” News

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The Power of the Internet "Movement" News

Recently, the power of the Internet-based "Movement" news outlets is making it difficult for Corporate media to spin news developments in favor of Bush Republicanism. The Bush Republicans has given huge tax breaks to large corporations that currently dominate mainstream media from newspapers to cable news channels to talk radio. Republicans have severely undermined all anti-monopoly laws and regulations that once insured diversity in broadcast and print media. Corporate control of media played a direct role in the increasing Corporate control of American politics and government.

In response to the pro-Corporate bias and pro-Republican bias of the mainstream media, an alternative Internet-based media has developed. Websites, news services, blogs and Internet talk radio arose out of the grassroots of American politics to provide a more balanced outlook. The movement really started getting serious during the 2000 election. Gore was slandered viciously by the Corporate Media while Bush received very little critical reporting. The bias was obvious.

The earliest movement news outlets discovered by this writer included Democrats.com http://www.democrats.com , OpEd News.com http://www.opednews.com , Buzzflash.com http://www.buzzflash.com , Truthout.org http://www.truthout.org , Political Posts.com http://www.politicalposts.com , Independent Media TV http://www.independent-media.tv , Online Journal http://www.onlinejournal.com and Smirking Chimp.com http://www.smirkingchimp.com . Thousands of websites and blogs have developed over the past 5 years.

Blogs like Off The Kuff.com http://www.offthekuff.com , Mike Hersh http://www.mikehersh.com , Atrios http://atrios.blogspot.com , Daily Kos http://www.dailykos.com, etc. are more recent but important developments. We get critical news and analysis from independent sources not controlled by huge corporations around the clock.

Local communities have developed Internet newspapers like the Alachua Post in Florida http://www.alachuapost.com , the Magic City Morning Star http://magic-city-news.com and the Wyoming Network of community websites. The number of local Internet newspapers is growing rapidly. They are growing in popularity and slowly developing an advertising base. In the next decade, these sites will eliminate the monopoly of local news coverage once maintained by local Republican publishers in hundreds of communities around the nation.

Some communities have combined local newspapers with "movement news" site. One of the best is We Are Michigan http://www.wearemichigan.com. Of course, local Democratic sites have grown dramatically in numbers and content. Sites like the East Bay Democrats http://www.ebaydemo.org have created great news and opinion sections.

The importance of Internet media outlets can be seen in the coverage of Katrina. The Corporate Media has been spreading distorted and sometimes false charges against the Democratic Mayor of New Orleans and Governor of Louisiana. A timeline of hurricane developments and government actions is now widely available on the Internet http://opednews.com/articles/opedne_jackson__050908_timeline_shows_the_d.htm that refutes most of the false claims. The Corporate Media has largely ignored the facts revealed by the timeline. Blogs like America Blog http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/09/governor-of-louisiana-declared-state.html has helped correct false charges about when local Democratic officeholders declared the state of emergency in Louisiana.


Internet writers have explored the attitude of the Bush Republicans toward government that explain their terrible record in dealing with the crisis. Thomas Hartmann wrote You Can't Govern if You Do Not Believe in Government http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_thom_har_050908_you_can_t_govern_if_.htm . Blogs like Alter Net http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/25195 documented the
Bush Administration attempts to keep reporters from reporting on how bad actual conditions are in the aftermath of Katrina. The mainstream corporate media has reported about the censorship attempts of FEMA that is aimed at keeping photos of the dead victims from the American public. Blogs broke the story first just like they did in the censoring of photos of coffins of American soldiers killed in Bush's Iraq War.

The Internet will make it impossible for Corporate Media interests and the Bush Administration to keep information and facts from the American voters. Politicians ignore the power of Internet "Movement" news at their own risk.

Written by Stephen Crockett (co-host of Democratic Talk Radio http://www.democratictalkradio.com ). Mail: 7A Planville Drive, Fayetteville, TN 37334. Email: midsouthcm@aol.com . Feel free to post on your blog or website. Newspapers are welcome to publish as Letters to the Editor, Op Ed, guest editorial or Democratic Voices column
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Stephen Crockett is co-host of Democratic Talk Radio and author of the Democratic Voices opinion column.
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