MEDIA, ARE THEY REALLY REPORTING NEWS ANY MORE?
Does the media really tell us the truth? Report the news? Or do they use news as entertainment and to push their own agenda? After listening to a Thom Hartmann program the other day on FSTV where he discussed legislation that contributed to the lack of news reporting on television, I wanted to dig a bit deeper into this issue. After all, don’t you see the extreme coverage that D. Trump is getting which is much more than the other candidates?
In the beginning of television news reporting there were 100’s of individually-owned companies who reported the news. Then in 1987 when Reagan signed the Fairness Doctrine, individual companies decreased substantially to only a few. Today there are only a few corporations that own most all of the networks combined! What happened to deregulation? Who is controlling the news? Those corporations! (See the timeline below for the legislation over time.)
When the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was passed, I was working for the local telephone company. We received more information about this legislation than the average citizen. Also, we felt the personal impact as our company was divided and myself and my coworkers had to choose which company for which to work. We experienced many changes and saw many companies come and go. Perhaps it has lowered costs for consumers in some ways, but personally I feel the quality of our products has gone down. Telephones that used to work forever (manufactured by Western Electric), now last only a couple of years. So if the telephone industry was broken up, how come the media went the other direction and is now controlled by so few? I don’t know the answer other than corporations are having more and more power, especially with the Citizen’s United case of recent times. We must reverse and amend the Constitution to say that corporations are not people and money is not speech!
Consequentially, reporting true news is now second to entertaining us. They provide ‘reality TV’ programming. Corporate money and greed take center stage in advertising and programming. The sensational news goes to the top of the stories reported. Even the so-called more progressive stations have been taken over by conglomerates and many programs have been booted off the air including many great commentators like Al Sharpton and Ed Shultz. There is little true news being reported and little that I even care to watch anymore. Perhaps the ‘dumbing’ down of America has actually worked now! Many people don’t seem to want to watch honest discourse, but instead just want amusement and entertainment. Thank goodness for PBS stations and ones like Free Speech TV! It’s also a myth that the media is controlled by liberals; quite the contrary if you look at the ownership and the programming. I used to enjoy watching Meet the Press years ago and now it has become so conservative that I rarely tune in.
Although I agree that most people have busy lives and they want the main the bullet points. I do too. However, I want the truth; I don’t want to see blood and gore necessarily, but I want to know what is happening around the world. I want to see factual news reported succinctly. Lately the local news is only filled with shootings and car accidents and you are lucky to hear about a minute of international news. Foreign countries seemingly know way more about our news and our candidates than we do! And most of them are laughing at us! I hear that Al Jazeera and BBC do a good job with news reporting.
One of first moments of awakening was watching Michael Moore’s movie, Fahrenheit 911, in the theater several years ago. In this movie, Moore shows what happened to the United States after September 11; and how the Bush Administration allegedly used the tragic event to push forward its agenda for unjust wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He showed news clips in this movie that I had never seen before; the media chose not to report critical details to us! I happen to be one of those who believes there was much more to 911 than we were told; case in point building 7 collapsing when there was no reason for it to go down. Check out the recent film on PBS, “Demolition of Truth.”
If you read my former blog about how I learned about health topics and became skeptical about the products and foods we are sold, my same critical thinking applies to what we are told politically. It appears the media decides who our candidates should be, or who they find more interesting to show on television. We are led to believe we have only two choices, two candidates, two parties for which to vote. Even one candidate is not covered as much as the other. In truth, there are many candidates running this year…. near 2,000! At least 4 candidates top the polls and I feel all of them should be included in the national debates. In fact, 1992 was the last time you saw a third party participate in the debates! Is that true democracy or control? The League of Women voters stopped their sponsorship in 1988 because the two major parties wanted too much control. It was taken over by a private company even though the League had provided good debates since 1960. These are two interesting articles:
http://lwv.org/press-releases/league-refuses-help-perpetrate-fraud and
https://www.fairdebates.com/history.html.
“Now that you know the “official” Presidential Debates are run by a private organization comprised of representatives from ONLY the two major parties; and that candidate participation in the debates is dependent upon achieving a score in polls that don’t even have to include all the electable candidates’ names” please consider joining the fight for fair debates. There is a petition online to sign https://www.fairdebates.com/petition.html and http://www.jill2016.com/openthedebatespetition.
Also, do you think we aren’t controlled by the media and advertising? Think about the commercials you watch like food and oil and gas. Who is paying for them? The vast majority are paid for by the company promoting the product and many do not give the full truth! Buyers beware! The oil and gas companies would have us believe that fracking is completely safe; it’s been around for 60 years. It has been around that long, but they fail to tell you that the procedure has been altered and now it is much more dangerous to our health, our water, and the plants and animals that are near the sites. Plus it uses tons of our precious water; a commodity that will likely become more precious than gold in a few years! I have met people who have been affected by living near fracking sites. Cereal companies fail to tell you that their products are made from GMO’s and contain a great deal of sugar. Even the government came up with the food pyramid which caused a great deal of damage to our health. It has been revised a bit, but the truth is we do consume too much protein, fats and grains. I will not mention the junk and fast food commercials as that should be self-explanatory.
My hope is that you will look over the chart below, sign the petitions mentioned, read labels, question the news that is reported for its truthfulness or turn to other aforementioned stations for your news. Support the publicly-controlled stations and don’t believe everything you see or hear on the major stations. Check the facts and become informed….elections actually begin when the ballots go out in October. Be sure to vote your own conscious and investigate your choices; there are more than two candidates! Isn’t it time we had more parties and better choices? Any thoughts?
Update: Just out is an article by Jill Stein: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/06/jill-stein-presidential-debates-undemocratic-gary-johnson and it appears Fox news may be imploding?!
http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/mediatimeline.html
| 1941 | Local Radio Ownership Rule, National TV Ownership Rule enacted. A broadcaster cannot own television stations that reach more than 35% of the nation’s homes. |
| 1964 | Local TV Multiple Ownership Rule enacted, prohibiting a broadcaster from owning more than one television station in the same market, unless there are at least eight stations in the market. |
| 1964 | Local TV Multiple Ownership Rule enacted, prohibiting a broadcaster from owning more than one television station in the same market, unless there are at least eight stations in the market. |
| Local TV Multiple Ownership Rule enacted, prohibiting a broadcaster from owning more than one television station in the same market, unless there are at least eight stations in the market. | |
| 1975 | Newspaper/Broadcast Cross-Ownership Prohibition enacted. Bans ownership of both a newspaper and a television station in the same market. |
| 1981 | Reagan Administration deregulation under the leadership of FCC Chairman Mark Fowler. Deregulatory moves, some made by Congress, others by the FCC included extending television licenses to five years from three in 1981. The number of television stations any single entity could own grew from seven in 1981 to 12 in 1985. (Museum of Television and Radio) |
| 1985 | Guidelines for minimal amounts of non-entertainment programming are abolished. FCC guidelines on how much advertising can be carried per hour are eliminated. |
| 1987 | “Fairness Doctrine” eliminated. At its founding the FCC viewed the stations to which it granted licenses as “public trustee” — and required that they made every reasonable attempt to cover contrasting points of views. The Commission also required that stations perform public service in reporting on crucial issues in their communities. Soon after he became FCC Chairman under President Reagan, Michael Fowler stated his desire to do away with the Fairness Doctrine. His position was backed by a 1987 D.C. Circuit Court decision, Meredith Corp. v. FCC, which ruled that the doctrine was not mandated by Congress and the FCC no longer had to enforce it. (Full history of the Fairness Doctrine) |
| February 8, 1996 | President Clinton signs the Telecommunications Act of 1996. It is generally regarded as the most important legislation regulating media ownership in over a decade. The radio industry experiences unprecedented consolidation after the 40-station ownership cap is lifted. Clear Channel Communications owns 1200 stations, in all 50 states, reaching, according to their Web site, more than 110 million listeners every week. Viacom’s Infinity radio network holds more than 180 radio stations in 41 markets. Its holdings are concentrated in the 50 largest radio markets in the United States. In 1999 Infinity owned and operated six of the nation’s Top 10 radio stations. |
| January 2, 2003 | Comments on media ownership due to the FCC. Viacom (owner of CBS and UPN), General Electric (owner of NBC), and News Corporation’s Fox Entertainment Group, among others, file a request with the FCC that all media ownership rules be eliminated. They argue that the rules are outdated in the internet age, when average Americans have access to media through countless forms and outlets. (WALL STREET JOURNAL, January 3, 2003 – “Media Companies Seek End to All Ownership Rules,” by Yochi J. Dreazen) (Read the comments filed.) |
| February 17, 2003 | The Project for Excellence in Journalism releases a five-year study of local television news, “Does Ownership Matter in Local Television News?” They found that TV stations owned by smaller media firms generally produce better newscasts; are better at local reporting; produce longer stories ; and do fewer softball celebrity features. The study concludes that … “Changes that encourage heavy concentration of ownership … In local television … By a few large corporations … Will erode the quality of news Americans receive.”LA Times, February 17, 2003 – “Smaller Stations Fare Better in Local TV News,” by Edmund Sanders, ) |
| February 27, 2003 | FCC holds its only official public hearing on media ownership rules in Richmond, VA. Chairman Powell and the other four commissioners make statements, panels discuss diversity, competition, and localism. Panelists include television and radio executives, journalists, academics, union representatives, media advocacy groups, and economists. (Press release, program, and presentations) |
| June 2, 2003 | The FCC revised its limits for broadcast ownership (read Media Ownership Rule Changes) but multiple parties appealed this decision. The cases were consolidated and assigned to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which stayed the effective date of the new rules. |
| July 23, 2003 | The House voted 400-21 to approve a spending bill that included a provision to block the FCC decision to allow major television networks to own up to 45% of the country’s viewers. The Bush administration has voiced opposition to the attempt to rescind the FCC ruling. |
| October 8, 2003 | NBC said it would purchase the entertainment arm of Vivendi Universal for $3.8 billion. See what the “Big Six” own now. |
| November 5, 2003 | A letter signed by 208 members of Congress is sent to House Speaker Dennis Hastert requesting the full House be allowed to consider the resolution of disapproval passed in the Senate on September 16, 2003. Read the letter. |
| November 24, 2003 | In a last minute deal Senate Republican leaders and the White House compromised on the TV station ownership cap. It was increased just enough to allow Viacom and News Corporation to keep all their stations (39% limit). |
| December 8, 2003 – January 22, 2004 | Omnibus spending bill incorporating the ownership cap adjustment passed first by the House on December 8, 2003, and by the Senate on January 22, 2004. |
| January 6, 2004 | At the Smith Barney Citigroup Global Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications Conference, Sumner Redstone, Chairman and CEO of Viacom remarks that “2004 will be a breakout year for Viacom.” Media reporters speculate that 2004 will be a year of mergers. |