Television news curbs its critical coverage of government.

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HANDBOOK OF TELEVISON NEWS EDITING

By

Molly the Robin

My name is Molly and I am an American robin. As I fly over your country, mine too, I see many things. I learned to think by seeing myself in car door mirrors. I am a mother who has had several broods of hatchlings. A fellow wrote about me in Animal Park. He only got half the story right as most people do because you humans think you are not as bad as you really are or not as good as you think you are. The other half I'll have to tell you myself. Well, that's another story.

Now, I have never heard neighbors talk about editing of news in the superpower democracy. Has television news editing become self-censorship shielding and diminishing the impact of government mistakes and blunders?

The television networks have been profitable and it may not be in their interest to provide detailed and legitimate criticism of government, for the terms of its operation could be altered by Congress reducing their profitability. Also access to government officials could jeopardize reporting. One of the most important influences of news editing is how society will change, the pace of change regarding the environment, foreign and domestic policies including war, health care, education and the kind of laws that are enacted. Television news inhibits constructive political change with a docile and indifferent focus on government mismanagement and lapses.

The following are bird's eye examples of news editing observed in a rigged two party system promoted and profited by the television networks.

1. Media conglomerates have arisen to buy television networks; they buy them without any time restrictions or obligation to provide blocks of time for free campaign debates among candidates. Television news is often more a partner or parrot to government than a questioner or examiner or prober, such as (a) not challenging official deceptive unemployment statistics based solely on those receiving unemployment benefits, (b) enormity of financial industry bailout commitment topping $23 trillion dollars and its implications (c) glossing over endemic lobbying linking elected officials and lobbyists for favorable legislation that increases profits or grants often at the expense of the public. The lack of sufficient government regulatory oversight over the financial industry is only briefly reported on network television.

2. There is minimum television news on how the two political parties go to extraordinary measures to disqualify independent candidates who do not meet their criteria for participation. Often everything is politicized from the point of view of the two parties on television news programming and those who fall outside this narrow political party prism are generally excluded from television news programming, the Supreme Court and government officialdom. The two political parties have used their prerogatives of power to designate favorites to retain power through subsidies, grants, contracts and favorable legislation, for example, in the petroleum, agricultural, financial, pharmacy, airline and insurance industries. The American people are sometimes not favorites, for universal health care becomes a financial obstacle and burden that is mishandled to provide medical coverage to Americans while the endless war on terror has unlimited trillions of dollars available to spend. The concept of incessant political favoritism to preserve power is reminiscent of extravagant ancient monarchies bestowing land grants and monopolies which have "the rotten sweetness of corruption"- from the movie The Big Sleep.

3. There has been minimal television news coverage of the huge costs in human suffering of Americans as well as Iraqis and Afghans in these preemptive wars. The body count of dead Iraqis vary wildly and is often ignored. Afghan civilian deaths in the war on terror are mounting without much press coverage. There are 2.5 million Iraqis in refugee camps in Syria and Jordan who are missing from our public air waves and these people have lost everything, now living in tents.

4. The same politically anointed individuals from the "official" political parties and their adherents in the mainstream press are the primary and constant occupiers of television news programming for discussions on domestic and foreign policy. Most Americans get their news from television programming which seldom includes notable critics of U.S. domestic and foreign policy to express their views, such as Paul Craig Roberts, Chris Hedges, Noam Chomsky, Phil Donahue (his cable television show was abruptly cancelled prior to the "preemptive attack" on Iraq), Ralph Nader, David Cay Johnston, Ray McGovern, Cindy Sheehan, Tom Engelhardt and many more.

5. Mexican Drug Cartel Armies. The story of Mexican drug cartel violence along the border makes the news without reporting obvious failures of the U.S. government despite hundreds of billions of dollars expended on intelligence and national security matters since 9/11. In the rush to war in Iraq and Afghanistan the problems of Mexican drug cartels was looming on the border for years, yet a $60 to $80 billion dollar annual civilian national security apparatus either remained mute or enabled the Bush/Cheney regime to embark into the Iraq war, possibly diverting investigations into collective incompetence prior to 9/11.

6. The presumed necessity of the Iraq war was delivered like a speeding bullet on the television networks with little question or query, indicative not of a strong free press, but a compliant one. The U.S. attack on Iraq was initiated with fabricated information because Iraq had no part in 9/11 terrorist act. Was the attack on Iraq a distraction from any impending investigation or questions of security lapses by the Bush Administration for not being able to prevent 9/11?

7. The criminal 9/11 hijacking of commercial airliners into the World Trade Center was preventable. Too many dots were not connected. Permitting box cutters in airline cabins indicated, if not malfeasance, incompetence for many years. The fact that ring leader Atta received a visa extension six months after 9/11 was briefly reported on with no follow-up with television news, ignoring to probe this story.

8. Medicare and Social Security's dual impending insolvency has been hastened and accelerated by the government of two political parties spending the surplus money collected and allocated for these programs on other parts of the government. This information is usually omitted on television news. The money collected is spent and replaced with "IOUs" that have no economic value and can only be redeemed if the government borrows more money. In any other organization, except government, this would be a crime or malfeasance and reported on television news.

9. Many Americans have been arrested by police and secret service for peacefully demonstrating against war. The well known Cindy Sheehan was arrested and removed from the gallery in Congress for only wearing a shirt that said no to war. The harassment of many Americans on the no fly list are reported only briefly in mainstream television news. The perils and threats to freedom and liberty by the so-called Patriot Act and other laws are often ignored by television news programming becoming a well fed partner to government.

10. Many countries now have high speed rail which takes decades of planning and construction while the United States is falling further behind in its development. There has been limited television news coverage of high speed rail around the world and of our own country's continued reliance primarily on air and road travel. Why is the United States so resistant to developing transcontinental high speed rail? Is this an example of auto and airline lobbyists prevailing over elected officials and succeeding in determining national policy by favoring government subsidies of road construction and government airport subsidies over high speed rail planning and construction over the last two generations?

The time has come for the television networks to remove the editorial shield of lessening the impact of news critical of government. Today, conglomerates dictate sameness in the news, often focusing endlessly on celebrities, habitually avoiding delving into facts that challenge government policies, often ignoring vital and essential news, or presenting it fragmented and incomplete.

In my town park we get all the news through bluejays, crows, hawks and even sparrows and believe in the strongest press, not the weakest press money can buy. The hummingbirds always find the tiniest morsels of truth and you can do the same without deleting, minimizing and diminishing critical information on television news.

Authors Website: http://www.amazon.com/Henry-Pelifian/e/B007IUGMY8

Authors Bio:

Henry Pelifian has written many columns and articles on government and current events. He has published a play THOREAU based on the life, works and words of Henry David Thoreau, a war novella and short stories based on his years overseas called Stellar Energies To America and Land of the Tuk-Tuk set in Thailand and Iran.

He served two years (66-68) in the U.S. Army and deployed to South Vietnam for one year from 67-68 and he served in the U.S. Peace Corps in Thailand (75-77). He has an B.A. in English/Drama/Education and an MBA in International Management. He has worked in Thailand, Malaysia and Iran during the Shah's era and he has experience in both public and private sectors.