16 November 2009
By Stephen
Lendman
Today's major media journalism is biased,
irresponsible, sensationalist reporting that distorts,
exaggerates or misstates the truth. It's
misinformation or agitprop disinformation masquerading
as fact to boost circulation, readership, viewers, or
listeners, and on vital issues lie about or suppress
uncomfortable truths to provide unqualified support
for state and/or corporate interests - to the
detriment of the greater good that's always sacrificed
for profits and imperial aims.
As a result, major media sources produce a daily
propaganda diet and what Project Censored calls "junk
food news," and get most people to believe it. In
their landmark book, Manufacturing Consent, Edward
Herman and Noam Chomsky explained the "propaganda
model" that controls the public message by "filter(ing)"
disturbing truths, "leaving (behind) only the cleansed
residue fit to print" or air.
Today the media is in crisis and a free and open
society at risk at a time fiction substitutes for
fact, news is carefully controlled, dissent
marginalized, and on-air and print journalists support
powerful interests as paid liars, or what famed
journalist George Seldes (1890 - 1995) called
"prostitutes of the press."
As a result, imperial wars are called liberating ones.
Civil liberties are suppressed for our own good. Major
topics go unaddressed or are misrepresented.
Government and business interests are endorsed
wholeheartedly. America is always called "beautiful."
Beneficial social change is considered heresy. The
market works best, we're told, so let it, and
patriotism means supporting lawlessness and corporate
outlaws by shopping till we drop.
The New York Times - Its Lead Role in Distorting and
Suppressing Truth
For many decades, The Times has been the closest thing
in America to an official ministry of information and
propaganda masquerading as real news, commentary and
analysis.
Its unmatched clout once got media critic Norman
Solomon to call its front page "the most valuable
square inches of media real estate in the USA;" most
everywhere, in fact, because its reports are widely
circulated and followed globally.
The Paper of Record has a long history of:
-- supporting the powerful;
-- backing corporate interests;
-- endorsing imperial wars;
-- supporting CIA efforts to topple elected
governments, assassinate independent leaders, prop up
friendly dictators, secretly fund and train
paramilitary death squads, practice sophisticated
forms of torture, and menace democratic freedoms at
home and abroad. For decades, in fact, some Times'
foreign correspondents were covert Agency assets.
Others today likely are as well as other prominent
fourth estate members.
The Times management is also comfortable with:
-- Washington and corporate lawlessness;
-- an unprecedented and growing wealth gap;
-- Wall Street banksters looting the federal treasury;
-- a private banking cartel controlling the nation's
money;
-- unmet human needs and increasing poverty, hunger,
homelessness, and despair for growing millions in a
nation run by rogue politicians who don't give a damn
as long as they're re-elected;
-- a de facto one-party state;
-- deep corruption at the highest government and
corporate levels;
-- democracy for the select few alone;
-- sham elections; and
-- a deepening social decay symptomatic of a declining
state, yet The Times management won't use its clout to
expose and help reverse it.
Of course, the same applies throughout the corporate
media, the only variance being audience size, the
ability to influence it, and the special impact of TV
news and talk radio to arouse their faithful. Plus
their power of round-the-clock persuasive repetition.
Examples of Journalism, New York Times Style
After a Washington staged February 29, 2004
middle-of-the-night coup ousted democratically elected
Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, The Times
March 1 editorial lied by:
-- stating he resigned;
-- saying sending in Marines to abduct him "was the
right thing to do;"
-- claiming they only came after "Mr. Aristide yielded
power;"
-- blaming him for "contribut(ing) significantly to
his own downfall (because of his) increasingly
autocratic and lawless rule....;" and
-- accusing him of manipulating the 2000 legislative
elections and not "deliver(ing) the democracy he
promised."
In fact, he's a beloved democrat first elected in 1990
with 67% of the vote, ousted by a US-supported coup
months later, returned to Haiti in 1994, then, because
he couldn't succeed himself in 1996, ran in 2000 and
was overwhelmingly re-elected with 92% of the vote.
Today in exile, the great majority of Haitians want
him back but paramilitary occupiers, under orders from
Washington, won't let him.
Following Hugo Chavez's December 1998 election, The
Times Latin American reporter, Larry Roher, wrote:
Regional "presidents and party leaders are looking
over their shoulders (concerned about the) specter
(they) thought they had safely interred: that of the
populist demagogue, the authoritarian man on horseback
known as the caudillo (strongman)" taking power.
Ever since, Times writers consistently:
-- turned a blind eye to Venezuelan democracy;
-- bashed Chavez as "divisive, a ruinous demagogue,
provocative (and) the next Fidel Castro;"
-- said he "militarized the government, emasculated
the country's courts, intimidated the media, eroded
confidence in the economy, and hollowed out
Venezuela's once-democratic institutions:" common
conditions during decades of pre-Chavez rule that
columnist Roger Lowenstein falsely said exist now in:
-- calling him anti-capitalist for sharing his
nation's oil wealth with the people by providing
essential social services, and for lifting the most
needy out of poverty; and
-- denouncing his making foreign investors pay their
fair share.
Lowenstein backed the aborted April 2002 coup by
calling Chavez's ouster a "resignation," then saying
Venezuela "no longer (would be) threatened by a
would-be dictator."
Post-/911, the Times played the lead role in taking
the nation to war by highlighting the "day of terror"
and saying the "President Vows to Exact Punishment for
'Evil.' "
In the run-up to the Iraq war, Judith Miller was a
weapon of mass deception with her daily front page
Pentagon press release columns masquerading as real
news, later exposed as manipulative lies, but they
worked.
Following the September 15, 2009 Goldstone Commission
report, a same day Neil MacFarquhar column suggested
that Israel's "disproportionate attack" followed Hamas
provocations, so perhaps it was justified. While The
Times gave Judge Goldstone op-ed space, it:
-- published scathing letters denouncing his
"one-sidedness" and a September 18 piece saying "the
Obama administration said (today) that a United
Nations report accusing Israel of war crimes in Gaza
was unfair to Israel and did not take adequate account
of 'deplorable' actions by the militant group Hamas in
the conflict last winter."
The paper then imposed a near-blackout on its news and
editorial pages to bury the story and kill it through
silence - never mind its importance in documenting
clear evidence of Israeli war crimes against a
civilian population.
National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Broadcasting
(PBS)
Founded in 1970 as an independent, private, non-profit
member organization of US public radio stations, NPR
promised to be an alternative to commercial
broadcasters by "promot(ing) personal growth rather
than corporate gain (and) speak with many voices, many
dialects."
Having long ago abandoned its promise, and given its
substantial corporate and government funding, NPR is
indistinguishable from the rest of the corporate
media, just as corrupted, and consider its former
head, Kevin Klose.
He was president from December 1998 - September 2008
and CEO from 1998 - January 2009. Earlier he was US
propaganda director as head of the Voice of America (VOA),
Radio Liberty, Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia,
Worldnet Television, and the anti-Castro Radio/TV
Marti, so he fit easily into his new role.
On January 5, 2009, Vivian Schiller succeeded him as
president and CEO. Her official bio says she was
previously with "The New York Times Company where she
served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of
NYTimes.com."
She'll oversea "all NPR operations and initiatives,
including the organization's critical partnerships
with our 800+ member stations, and their service to
the more than 26 million people who listen to NPR
programming every week." Most don't know they're
getting the same corporate propaganda and "junk food
news" or that
NPR calls itself "public" to conceal its real agenda,
and why critics call it "National Pentagon or
Petroleum Radio" with good reason.
Created by the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) calls itself
"a private, nonprofit corporation created by
Congress...and is the steward of the federal
government's investment in public broadcasting. It
helps support the operations of more than 1,100
locally-owned and-operated public television and radio
stations nationwide, and is the largest single source
of funding for research, technology, and program
development for public radio, television and related
online services."
Like NPR, it's heavily corporate and government funded
and provides similar services for them. Under George
Bush, former Voice of America director Kenneth
Tomlinson was chairman of CPB's Board of Governors
until an internal 2005 investigation forced him out
for repeatedly braking the law.
On September 16, 2009, a CPB press release announced
that "The board of directors (of the CPB) today
elected Dr. Ernest Wilson III (as) chairman and
re-elected....CEO Beth Courtney (as) vice-chair."
Wilson previously held senior policy positions as
Director of International Programs and Resources on
the National Security Council. He was also Policy and
Planning Unit Director for the US Information Agency
and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).
Beth Courtney is a George Bush appointee, a past
chairman of the board of America's Public Television
Stations and present CPB vice chairman. Currently she
also serves on the boards of Satellite Educational
Resources Consortium, the Organization of State
Broadcasting Executives, the National Forum for Public
Television Executives, and the National Educational
Telecommunications Association along with other
appropriate credentials for her re-appointment.
In its May/June 2004 "Extra" report, FAIR (Fairness &
Accuracy in Reporting) asked "How Public Is Public
Radio? Writers Steve Rendall and Daniel Butterworth
quoted past head Kevin Klose saying:
"All of us believe our goal is to serve the entire
democracy, the entire country."
Not according to FAIR on "every on-air source quoted
in June 2003 on four of (NPR's) news shows: All Things
Considered, Morning Edition, Weekend Edition Saturday
and Weekend Edition Sunday." Each guest was classified
"by occupation, gender, nationality, and partisan
affiliation." Combined, 2,334 sources from 804 stories
were quoted.
FAIR found that NPR relies on the same dominant
sources as the major media that include government
officials, professional experts, and corporate
representatives nearly two-thirds of the time.
Spokespeople for public interest groups accounted for
7% of total sources, and ordinary people appeared
mostly in "one-sentence soundbites."
Male guests outnumbered women about 4 - 1, and those
quoted most often came from the same elite categories
as men.
Overall, NPR represents the same dominant interests as
the major commercial media - conservative,
pro-business, pro-war, pro-Israel, and very much
against the public interest while pretending to
support it.
FAIR analyzed PBS's flagship NewsHour guest list and
drew similar conclusions. Like NPR, it's ideologically
right and usually censors progressive content and
public interest programming. In a 1990 NewsHour
evaluation, FAIR compared its content to ABC's
Nightline and found that it presented "an even
narrower segment of the political spectrum." It then
conducted an October 2005 - March 2006 analysis of all
of its programs, got similar results, and determined
that NewHour is even more ideologically right than NPR
that tilts far in that direction itself.
FAIR concluded that NPR and NewsHour content
"overwhelmingly represent those in power rather than
the public" they're obliged to serve. While
masquerading as public programming, they betray their
listeners and viewers by offering the same propaganda
and "junk food news" as the dominant corporate media.
Considering their funding sources, what else would
they do.
An October 6 NPR story is typical of most others. It
charged Hugo Chavez with "Targeting Opponents For
Arrest." Reporter Juan Forero claimed "dozens of
university students" went on hunger strike outside OAS
headquarters in Caracas on September 28 along with
others "across the country....in support of Julio
Cesar Rivas, a student who was arrested during an
anti-government demonstration in August...."
Rivas is the coordinator and founder of Juventud
Activa de Venezuela Unida (United Active Youth of
Venezuela - JAVU). Earlier, he was part of a staged,
violent street protest against Venezuela's new
Education Law. The government says JAVU acts as "shock
troops" in opposition protests and is liberally funded
by the National Endowment of Democracy (NED),
International Republican Institute (IRI), and US
Agency or International Development (USAID) to disrupt
internal Venezuelan affairs. It's a familiar scheme,
repeated numerous times in the past, to discredit and
disrupt the Chavez government in hopes of eventually
ousting it.
JAVU has about 80,000 members in most Venezuelan
states, and its blog site calls for bringing down the
government and supporting the Honduran military coup.
Rivas was released on September 29, but must appear
for trial. He's a Washington-funded provocateur,
charged with resisting arrest, instigating crime,
conspiracy, inciting rebellion, damaging public
property, and using "generic" weapons.
While in custody, Venezuela Public Defender Gabriela
Ramirez assured him in person that his full
constitutional rights will be protected. Street
protests still continue and have been countered by
pro-Chavez ones calling for "peace and tolerance."
According to the Federation of Bolivarian students'
Carlos Sierra:
Opposition "students are being used and manipulated by
the top leadership of the irrational opposition,
which, via the (dominant) media, send them to generate
violence and terrorism in the country" much like on
previous occasions.
But according to NPR's Forero, Rivas was "sent to one
of Venezuela's most infamous prisons" where other
government opponents are held as political prisoners.
Chavez "has been jailing dozens of key opponents -
some of them students, some of them veteran
politicians" in citing unnamed "human rights groups
and constitutional experts (claiming) Venezuela is
increasingly singling out and imprisoning its foes in
politically motivated witch hunts."
Forero didn't mention that Rivas fomented violence.
Others arrested also broke the law. No one is a
political prisoner, and all Venezuelans get fair and
equitable trials, unlike in America where real
political arrests, prosecutions and convictions happen
regularly against innocent targeted victims - a topic
NPR and PBS won't touch except to vilify them publicly
on-air.
Nor do they report truthfully on Occupied Palestine.
On October 12, 2009, on NPR's Morning Edition,
reporter Renee Montagne practically extolled Israeli
racism in stating:
"There is a new enemy for some Israelis: romance
between Jewish women and Arab men, (so) vigilantes
have banded together to fight it." She means from
"Jewish settlements" that "have sprung up (in)
traditionally Arab" East Jerusalem, but won't admit
they're on stolen Palestinian land.
NPR's Sheera Frankel joined a patrol, implied Arabs
are inferior to Jews, and suggested they pose a danger
to Jewish women and girls. She described vigilantes on
the lookout for "Arab-Jewish couples (to) break up
their dates," suggesting it's the right thing to do,
but never questioning the legitimacy of settlements,
vigilante violence in East Jerusalem, its lawless
disregard for the law, or great harm to innocent
people. Instead she called "mixed couples a growing
epidemic" of miscegenation - typical of NPR's racism
and one-sided support for Israel.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ)
The WSJ is Dow Jones & Company's flagship publication,
now a News Corp. one since Rupert Murdoch bought it in
August 2007. Stating its ideology up front, it says it
supports "free markets and free people" as well as
"free trade and sound money; against confiscatory
taxation and the ukases (edicts) of kings and other
collectivists; and for individual autonomy against
dictators, bullies and even the tempers of momentary
majorities."
In October 2007, FAIR bemoaned the Murdock takeover
because of his "penchant for using his holdings as
vehicles for his personal (views) and business
interests." Earlier FAIR and the Columbia Journalism
Review criticized its editorial page for inaccuracy,
extreme bias, and dishonesty.
The Journal is unapologetic in saying its philosophy "make(s)
no pretense of walking down the middle of the road.
Our comments and interpretations are made from a
definite point of view....We oppose all infringements
on individual rights, whether (from) private monopoly,
labor union monopoly or from an overgrowing
government.(We're) not much interested in labels but
if we were to choose one, we would say we are
radical."
Radical can be revolutionary and beneficial when it
backs fundamental progressive change and reform.
Webster defines it as:
"marked by a considerable departure from the usual and
traditional: extreme; tending or disposed to make
extreme changes in existing views, habits, conditions,
or institutions; of, relating to, or constituting a
political (or perhaps business) group associated with
views, practices, and policies of extreme change; (or)
advocating extreme measures to retain or restore a
political state of affairs" such the radical right
represented by the WSJ's management and editorial
writers.
Critics agree that they're on the far right extremist
fringe, a supporter of voodoo economics, tax cuts for
the rich, a staunch defender of executive privilege,
and disdainful of anything to the left of their views
as witnessed daily by some of the most outlandish,
one-sided, pro-business commentaries countenancing no
alternatives, with the rarest of rare exceptions
showing up to make the paper look fair, which it's
not.
Consider editorial board member Mary O'Grady in her
weekly Americas column on "politics, economics and
business in Latin America and Canada." Her extremism
is unmatched. Her style is agitprop; her space a
truth-free zone; her language hateful and vindictive;
her tone malicious and slanderous; her style
bare-knuckled thuggishness; and her material
calculating, mendacious, and shameless. Yet she's a
WSJ regular and an award-winning op-ed writer, but
surely no journalist according to Webster's
definition:
"writing characterized by a direct presentation of
facts or description of events without an attempt at
interpretation."
O'Grady fails on both counts. She's a kind of print
version of Fox News' Glenn Beck, who promotes himself
on glennbeck.com looking arrogant in a uniform
reminiscent of the Nazi SS.
Consider O'Grady's support for the Washington-backed
June 28 Honduran coup ousting a democratically elected
president. It was followed by months of mass arrests,
disappearances, killings, targeting the independent
media, suspending the Constitution, declaring martial
law, and threatening the Brazilian embassy's
sovereignty where President Manuel Zelaya took refuge
after returning.
In one of her many pro-coup articles, O'Grady (on July
13) headlined "Why Honduras Sent Zelaya Away." In a
"perfect world," according to her, he "would be in
jail in his own country right now, awaiting trial. The
Honduran attorney general (part of the coup regime)
has charged him with deliberately violating Honduran
law and the Supreme Court (stacked with pro-coup
justices) ordered his arrest in Tegucigalpa on June
28," the day of the coup.
"But the Honduran military whisked him out of the
country, to Costa Rica," to save itself the
embarrassment of jailing a democratically elected
leader whose lawful actions were endorsed by the
majority of Hondurans wanting progressive
constitutional change and a president willing to give
it to them.
Yet according to O'Grady, "Mr. Zelaya's detention was
legal, as was his official removal from office by
Congress....Besides eagerly trampling the
constitution, Mr. Zelaya had demonstrated that he was
ready to employ the violent tactics of 'chavismo' to
hang onto power. The decision to pack him off
immediately was taken in the interest of protecting
both constitutional order and human life."
In fact, Zelaya neither espoused or practiced
violence, and his call for a public June 28 vote on
whether to hold a referendum for a new Constitutional
Convention at the same time as the November elections
lawfully asked for a "yes" or "no" on one question:
"Do you think that the November 2009 general elections
should include a fourth ballot box (the other three
were for candidates) in order to make a decision about
the creation of a National Constitutional Assembly
that would approve a new Constitution?"
According to Article 5 of the 2006 Honduran "Civil
Participation Act," government officials may hold
non-binding inquiries (referenda) to determine popular
support for proposed measures. Gauging sentiment for a
National Constituent Assembly for a new Constitution
is legal.
Yet in her June 28 article titled, "Honduras Defends
Its Democracy," O'Grady falsely claimed Zelaya planned
"a constitutional rewrite (following) a national
referendum" only the Congress can approve. In fact,
Zelaya called for a vote to assess public sentiment,
pro or con, on whether Hondurans want a Constitutional
Convention, an act no different from a public opinion
poll that's perfectly legal or should be anywhere. But
according to O'Grady, Zelaya "decided he would run the
referendum himself." It's typical O'Grady truth
reversal that earns her weekly space on the WSJ's
op-ed page.
The BBC's Long Tradition As An Imperial Tool
State-owned and funded, it's tradition is long,
unbroken, and disturbing as the world's largest and
most influential broadcaster reaching global audiences
in 32 languages. From inception in 1925, it's been
reliably pro-government and pro-business, or as its
founder Lord Reith wrote the establishment: "They know
they can trust us not to be really impartial." Neither
he or his successors disappointed on topics mattering
most, including war and peace, corporate crimes, US-UK
duplicity, labor rights, democratic freedoms, human
and civil rights, social justice, and Western
imperialism.
They're consistently distorted, suppressed,
marginalized or ignored throughout decades of
misreporting despite claiming "honesty (and) integrity
(is) what the BBC stands for (because it's) free from
political influence and commercial pressure."
As a propaganda service, its record is
uncompromisingly anti-union, pro-business, and
dependably safe for Whitehall and its allies. It
moralizes Western aggression, bashes independent
democratic leaders, and cheerleads for the powerful at
the expense of providing real news and information for
millions believing BBC is credible. For over eight
decades, it's record is solid and predictable -
betraying the public trust to reliably serve the
powerful. The tradition continues.
Prominent TV Demagogues
Among the many, consider a select few. For example,
CNN's Lou Dobbs, "Mr. Independent" he calls himself.
Critics use more descriptive terms, yet according to
his loudobbs.tv.cnn.com bio:
He's "anchor and managing editor of CNN's Lou Dobbs
Tonight (and also anchor of) a nationally syndicated
financial news radio report, The Lou Dobbs Financial
Report...." In addition, he writes a weekly CNN.com
commentary, is an author and award-winning
"journalist," most recently in 2005 when "the National
Academy of Television Arts and Sciences awarded (him)
the Emmy for Lifetime Achievement" for serving the
usual special interests nightly on prime time TV.
In June 2004, he also won "the Eugene Katz Award for
Excellence in the Coverage of Immigration from the
Center for Immigration Studies for his ongoing series
'Broken Borders,' which examines US policy towards
illegal immigration." Little wonder in an August 2006
article, this writer called him CNN's Vice President
of Racism. He's also a paid liar and in America wins
awards.
In May 2008, a Media Matters Action Network report
titled, "Fear & Loathing in Prime Time: Immigration
Myths and Cable News" highlighted undocumented Latino
hatemongering by Dobbs, Bill O'Reilly, and Glenn Beck,
each claiming:
-- an alleged connection between undocumented Latinos
and crime; in fact, clear evidence shows they're no
more likely to break laws than American citizens;
-- how they exploit social services and don't pay
taxes; in fact, undocumented immigrants are
ineligible, without proof of legal status, for
Medicaid, food stamps, State Children's Health
Insurance (SCHIP) and welfare; they do pay income,
payroll, property, sales and other taxes and are
entitled to public education; according to the
National Academy of Sciences, immigrants provide a net
annual gain of up to $10 billion to US GDP; according
to Rand Corp. economist James P. Smith, the "net
present value of the gains from those immigrants who
arrived since 1980 would be $333 billion."
-- the "reconquista" myth about a supposed Mexican
plot to take over the US Southwest; and
-- an epidemic of Latino voter fraud that, according
to Dobbs' incessant drumbeat, puts America's
"democracy absolutely in jeopardy."
He also propagates the myth that undocumented Latinos
caused an increase in US leprosy (or Hansen's
disease). In an on-air April 2005 report (among
others), correspondent Christine Romans quoted
"medical lawyer" Dr. Madeleine Cosman saying:
"We have some enormous problems with horrendous
diseases that are being brought into America by
illegal aliens (including) leprosy...." Romans added
that, according to Cosman, "there were about 900 (US)
cases of leprosy for 40 years. There have been 7,000
in the past three years."
According to a May 2007 "60 Minutes" report, the
National Hansen's Disease Program (NHDP) of the
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reported
that "7,000 is the number of leprosy cases over the
last 30 years, not the past three, and nobody knows
how many of those cases involve illegal immigrants."
NHDP added that from 2002 - 2005 (the timeline of
Cosman's claim), only 398 cases occurred. To that,
Dobbs responded: "If we reported it, it's a fact."
Founded in 1971, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)
is internationally known for its activism against hate
groups and scoring legal victories against white
supremacists. It says Dobbs regularly features
inaccurate racist reports and features anti-immigrant
hatemongers like:
-- Glenn Spencer, head of the anti-immigration
American Patrol, whose web site highlights
anti-Mexican vitriol and the idea that Mexico plans a
secret takeover of the Southwest;
-- Joe McCutchen, head of the anti-immigration Protect
Arkansas Now group, that Dobbs calls "a terrific group
of concerned, caring Americans;"
-- Paul Streitz, co-founder of Connecticut Citizens
for Immigration Control, who once denounced Mayor John
DeStefano, Jr. for "turning New Haven into a banana
republic;"
-- Barbara Coe, leader of the California Coalition for
Immigration Reform who routinely calls Mexicans
"savages;" and
-- Chris Simcox,
co-founder of the Minuteman Project and a leading
anti-immigration figure.
SPLC explains that Dobbs "doggedly explores and
supports the anti-immigration movement (and) won't
report salient negative facts about anti-immigration
leaders he approves of...."
Instead, he falsely claims that:
-- "just about a third of the prison population in
this country is estimated to be illegal aliens;"
-- states have been "overwhelmed by criminal illegal
aliens;" and
-- US borders are "unprotected" allowing "criminal
illegal aliens (to) murder police officers."
In 2007 alone, the connection between illegal
immigration and crime was discussed on 94 episodes of
Lou Dobbs Tonight, and dozens more focused on an "army
of invaders," immigrants not paying taxes, draining
social services, and threatening our white Anglo-Saxon
culture.
CNN reporters Casey Wian, Bill Tucker, Kitty Pilgrim
and others present a steady diet of subtle and overt
racism to incite viewers to believe it. Through
constant repetition, it propagates the myth, and
according to the Media Matters Action Network report:
Dobbs "is hailed by the entire spectrum of immigration
opponents, from the reasonable to the unreasonable.
And the degree to which extremist elements see (him)
as an ally indicates at the very least that they
believe he is helping their cause" because they feel
he's a populist crusader.
Yet according to a July 30 New York Observer report,
recent Nielsen data showed that after Dobbs began
reporting (on July 15) that Barack Obama's birth
certificate was fraudulent (an apparent stunt to
increase ratings), his viewership dropped
significantly - 15% overall and 27% in the valued 25 -
54 age category.
Fox News Channel (FNC)
When it debuted in 1996, one of its on-air hosts said:
The "Channel was launched (because) something was
wrong with news media....somewhere bias found its way
into reporting....Fox....is committed to being fair
and balanced (covering) stories everybody is reporting
- and....stories....you will see only on Fox."
Later the Columbia Journalism Review said several
former Fox employees "complained of 'management
sticking their fingers' in the writing and editing
stories to cook the facts to make a story more
palatable to right-of-center tastes." But it hasn't
hurt ratings.
As of Q 1 2009, FNC was the second highest rated cable
channel in prime time total viewers. CNN ranked 17th
and MSNBC 24th. The O'Reilly Factor has been #1 rated
on cable news for 100 consecutive months and gained
27% more viewers year-over-year. Glenn Beck increased
90% over the previous year. Overall, FNC topped CNN
and MSNBC combined in prime time total audience.
Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) said "Fox's
signature political news show, Special Report with
Brit Hume (now with Bret Baier) was originally created
as a daily one-hour update devoted to the 1998 Clinton
sex scandal." In the past year, it gained 39% more
viewers.
As for accuracy and being "fair and balanced," FAIR
(in summer 2001) called FNC "The Most Biased Name in
News," yet according to Murdoch in March 2001:
"I challenge anybody to show me an example of bias in
Fox News Channel."
In FAIR's Seth Ackerman article and later ones, FNC's
blatant manipulation of the news is exposed. For
example, Bret Baier's "Political Grapevine" is a
right-wing "hot sheet" featuring a "series of gossipy
items culled from other right-wing" sources. It and
other reports are blatantly partisan propaganda
against "liberal media bias," progressives,
environmentalists, anti-war activists, civil rights
groups, and others to the left of their views.
According to FAIR, the commentary on political
punditry programs like The O'Reilly Factor, the Sean
Hannity Show, and The Beltway Boys is so slanted that
it's like watching "a Harlem Globetrotters game
(knowing) which side is supposed to win."
FNC's Bill O'Reilly
His official bio calls The O'Reilly Factor "a unique
blend of news analysis and hard hitting investigative
reporting dropped each weeknight into 'The No Spin
Zone." He also hosts a syndicated radio show, writes a
weekly column carried in over 300 newspapers, and
authored several books that according to New York
Times writer Janet Maslin were "either (done) with a
collaborator or (O'Reilly) was born with a
ghostwriter's gift for filling space with
platitudes...." With good reason, Maslin called him
"one of the most controversial human beings in the
world...."
In an October 2008 report titled "Smearcasting," FAIR
called him an "Islamophobe" for spreading "fear,
bigotry and misinformation" along with 11 other
popular figures, including Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity,
Michelle Malkin (another FNC regular), David Horowitz,
and Pat Robertson.
After 9/11, FAIR said O'Reilly proposed attacking a
list of Muslim countries "if they did not submit to
the US - starting with Afghanistan."
On air he said:
"The US should bomb the Afghan infrastructure to
rubble - the airport, the power plants, their water
facilities and the roads....If they don't rise up
against this primitive country, they starve, period."
Iraq must also be destroyed he said, and "the
population made to endure yet another round of intense
pain." As for Libya, "Nothing goes in, nothing goes
out....Let them eat sand."
FAIR called his penchant for attacking Muslim
countries "an O'Reilly trademark", and "his disregard
for Muslim civilians is matched by the anti-Muslim
sentiments he frequently expresses on both his
nationally syndicated radio show, the Radio Factor,"
reaching 3.5 million listeners, and his top-rated FNC
show.
Some of his hateful comments include saying:
-- areas of London are "just packed with just dense
Muslim neighborhoods, which breed this kind of
contempt for Western society. Why do they let them
in;"
-- "We're at war with Muslim fanatics. So all young
Muslims should be subject to (special) scrutiny,
(saying it's not racial, just) "criminal profiling;"
-- "the most unattractive women in the world are
probably in Muslim countries;" and
-- in Iraq, he blamed killing on Islam: "They're all
Muslims, and they're doing what they do. They're
killing each other. And they're killing Americans."
O'Reilly is equally racist about Latino immigrants
with frequent comments like:
"The extreme elements in this country want open
borders, blanket amnesty, and entitlement for foreign
nationals who have come here illegally, and generally
want to change the demographics in the USA so
political power can be assumed by the left. That is
the end game." He also argues that "Low-skilled
immigrant labor costs the taxpayers today $19,000 to
(subsidize) people who are using the hospitals (and)
the education system....These are rock-solid stats,"
but O'Reilly won't say from where.
They're blatantly false and may be from a May 2007
Robert Rector/Christine Kim (right-wing think tank)
Heritage Foundation paper titled, "The Fiscal Cost of
Low-Skill Immigrants to State and Local Taxpayers."
O'Reilly spreads daily misinformation, innuendo, and
hateful demagoguery to millions of his daily faithful.
Like the others above, they're paid liars delivering
what passes for today's major media journalism. It's
why so much of the public is misinformed and the
reason more hate groups than ever proliferate.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC),
they numbered 926 in 2008, up from 602 in 2000 and are
"animated by the national immigration debate." Since
Obama took office, they're also driven by their hatred
of a black president, exacerbated by a growing
economic crisis that's easy to blame on the
undocumented and a non-white head of state.
These groups are ideologically vicious and extremely
dangerous when motivated by racist right-wing media
commentators reaching far larger audiences than more
saner voices drowned out. It's more evidence of social
decay and the urgent need for change.
The Right-Wing Media Attack ACORN
Founded in 1970, ACORN (Association of Community
Organizations for Reform Now) "is the nation's largest
grassroots community organization of low and moderate
income people with over 400,000 member families
organized into more than 1,200 neighborhood chapters
in about 75 cities across the country."
As the nation's preeminent community organizing group,
it backs a living wage, opposes predatory lending and
foreclosures, supports affordable housing, better
public schools, welfare reform, voting rights,
rebuilding New Orleans, and other social and economic
justice issues.
For many months as a result, right-wing extremists
have tried to discredit its successes online and
through the media. Led by Fox News, Lou Dobbs, and
others, it's accused of financial corruption, massive
voter fraud, and other indiscretions, mostly
fabricated to destroy the group's credibility, cut off
its funding, and harm other community organizing
efforts. However, compared to corporate fraud and
abuse scandals, ACORN's occasional missteps are minor,
insignificant, and undeserving of inflammatory media
headlines.
Nonetheless recent news stories featured false
accusations that ACORN engages in prostitution
nationwide. The supposed evidence came from two
right-wing filmmakers (Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe)
posing as prostitute and pimp, conveniently videotaped
for airing. In prime time especially, Fox News, Lou
Dobbs and others featured it nightly.
On September 14, Dobbs reported "another pimp and
prostitute scandal at the left-wing activist
organization ACORN. For the third time, ACORN workers
for the left-wing advocacy group (got) caught on
hidden camera breaking the law. Now calls from
Congress to investigate and cut off public funding are
growing."
According to Fox News Bill O'Reilly, "With more than
30 criminal 'convictions' on its resume, the
organization cannot be trusted." Based on no credible
evidence, other FNC reports accuse ACORN of "operat(ing)
as a criminal enterprise," including prostitution,
running a prostitution ring, filing false documents
with taxing and other government authorities, bank
fraud, violating immigration laws, transporting women
and children to America for immoral purposes, and
impairing the welfare of minors.
More evidence of reprehensible innuendo, distortion,
deceit, and misinformation from major media paid
liars. It's why web sites like this one gain
followers.
Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre
for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and
can be reached at lendmanstephen.blogspot.com. Also
visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and
listen to The Global Research News Hour on
RepublicBroadcasting.org Monday - Friday at 10AM US
Central time for cutting-edge discussions with
distinguished guests on world and national issues. All
programs are archived for easy listening.
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