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Mark Heide
04-08-2003, 10:11 PM
I have been complaining on this forum about censorship in the press. Basically, what I have noticed is the major media just reporting what the federal goverment tells them are the facts without questioning why. I do not see this happen with local politics in local news, but at the federal level I see a overall biased support for what the federal government tells reporters.

I'm not proposing a consiricy theory concerning recent events. But, what I am proposing is that these major media companies lobby the federal government for favors and in turn have to provide favors for the government. To provide proof of this is extremely difficult. But, I have provided a few links to articles that will maybe help to inform those of you who are interested in having a press organization decide for itself what it should report.

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20011022&s=20011011miller

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020107&c=1&s=miller

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020304&s=miller20020221

What I believe is happening in this country is we getting our media censored by major corporations instead of government. If we continue on this path, I believe that we will be losing freedom of free speech.

There are more articles to read at the www.pbs.org/now (http://www.pbs.org/now) site on this subject. Currently, none of the mega media corporations are reporting these issues to the public, because they are trying to have the FCC resind the current laws with a vote on June 2, 2003.

Mark

Jimbo
04-09-2003, 12:08 AM
Mark,

I used to think you were kidding about this censorship fetish. Now I realize you are not only serious but correct. How are we as individuals able to counteract this unfair stoppage of the free flow of information? This problem is only likely to get worse as time goes on.

Mark Heide
04-09-2003, 09:02 PM
Jimbo,

The FCC is requesting public comments, so click on the link below and make one:

http://www.fcc.gov/ownership/

After clicking on that link click the following ECFS Express to leave a comment.

I had decided to use the current reporting on the war and summitted the following:

"I am concerned that the citizens of the United States are unaware of the possible conflicts of interest between corporations and broadcast media. Here's a link to a story posted on the www.fair.org (http://www.fair.org) site that demonstrates why a company like General Electric should not be even allowed to own one television station.

http://www.fair.org/press-releases/iraq-censorship.html

It appears that corporations are censoring their employees that report the news. With the recent events many are afraid to report any anti-war story for fear of losing their job or being accused of being a traitor.

The reason why I specifically mention General Electic is they are a provider of weapons systems for the US Military. This demonstrates the conflict of interest between the people that are suppose to be reporting the news. How can a weapons system manufacturer be anti-war or even express an anti-war viewpoint?

Myself and many of my friends feel that the BBC World News and other foreign sources are much better at providing news about America than America itself.

Something needs to be done before Americans are ruled by the interests of corporations bottom lines. We need more regulations to give the airwaves back to the public for the freedom of this nation."

You may not agree with my opinion, but I choose the anti-war issue because broadcasters decided to report only 17% anti-war stories as compared to 83% pro-war stories. The percentages are from www.fair.org. (http://www.fair.org.)

Good Luck

Mark

MMMMMM
04-09-2003, 10:30 PM
"I used to think you were kidding about this censorship fetish. Now I realize you are not only serious but correct."

He's quite correct that it exists, but vastly incorrect when he equates it with the degree of censorship which existed in the Soviet-era newspaper, Pravda, or with the official Iraqi news media--as we have just seen;-)

"How are we as individuals able to counteract this unfair stoppage of the free flow of information? This problem is only likely to get worse as time goes on."

The answer to this question Jimbo is quite simple: just start your own news media company!

Cyrus
04-10-2003, 02:28 AM
"The answer to this question is quite simple: just start your own news media company!"

Starting your own media outlet is not as simple as it used to be in the days of Benjamin Franklin. Concentration of ownership is never good news - and when it happens in the media sector, it's the worst news of all! That's because the media is the people's last hope of being informed (even informed about other sectors becoming oligopolies). Diversity of opinion is essential.

Having said that, I believe that the internet opens new roads for the expression of ideas. A lone individual can put up a website and inform the world at one click of the mouse. (OK, more than one click!) Citizens should be against any and all kinds of internet censorship and against any measures that make it more difficult to access the net or to create a website.