Progressives have long wondered why CNN and other TV news media have been so incapable of focusing on real issues and coming to conclusions based on reported facts. Why do they bash Democrats and puff-piece Republicans? The answer is simple. The TV news media are gaming the system for their own profit.

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Progressives have long wondered why CNN and other TV news media have been so incapable of focusing on real issues and coming to conclusions based on reported facts. Why do they bash Democrats and puff-piece Republicans? The answer is simple. The TV news media are gaming the system for their own profit.

TV news organizations are not in the business of providing the audience with the information necessary for them to be well-informed citizens, but rather are in the entertainment business dedicated to making profits. However, in order to be profitable, TV news organizations have, I think erroneously, decided that they must also play the politics game to stay in the black.

Examples of slanted reporting and misinformation abound. Listening to the corporate media denigrate Speaker Pelosi’s recent diplomatic efforts in the Middle East was enough to make Progressives both concerned, and nauseous. From Suzanne Malveaux's “big wet kiss” comment on CNN to the news ticker declaring “Pelosi's bad trip”, and implying collusion with terrorists, the corporate media truly outdid themselves this time.

But if you think about it, the news media have a lot to lose if the American public catches on to their little game. The truth of the matter is that the corporate media enjoys the unregulated and highly profitable news/entertainment environment at play in the United States today, and the way that system is insinuated with political money. Every two years hundreds of millions of dollars flow from political contributors to politicians and their action committees and then on to the news media ad departments. Many news organizations operate in the red until the next election cycle comes around, when the profits begin pouring in again.

Money is always at the forefront of all journalists minds when election years come around, even if they don’t seem sure why the issue is so important to news organizations. They blather on about who is making more money, and what that money race means for the election, as though money could be equated with competence, temperament or any background that might make the candidates suitable for the job in question.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2007/03/thinkagain_campaign_spending.html

Indeed, George Bush was the journalist’s pet candidate in both 2000 and 2004, not because he was qualified to be president, but because, they say, he was more personable than Al Gore or John Kerry. Gore and Kerry never had nicknames for the White House press corp. Backslapping fun on Air Force One being apparently more important to “journalists” than competence or capacity. But behind all that joviality remained the facts that Bush would be more corporate friendly, would cut corporate taxes, and would permit media consolidation.

The corporate media not only have no reason to tell you the truth about how corrupting the influence of money in politics is, they have every reason to keep you in the dark, or at least misinformed. We will never have meaningful campaign finance reform in the United States as long as the news media make dirty money through slanted, sensationalist politicking. It is clearly in their best interest to attack anyone who threatens the current campaign financing system. And that explains the constant attacks on Democrats who might actually bring campaign finance reform laws to the table.

CNN cannot tell you the truth because the truth would destroy the very gravy train that feeds them. Write CNN and tell them you are sick and tired of their slanted reporting, and tell them you are going to boycott their advertisers unless they get back to unbiased reporting. That might actually get their attention.

http://www.cnn.com/feedback/cnntv/

Authors Website: http://www.n-acetylaspartate.com

Authors Bio:

John R. Moffett PhD is a research neuroscientist in the Washington, DC area. Dr. Moffett's main area of research focuses on the brain metabolite N-acetylaspartate, and an associated genetic disorder known as Canavan disease.