Is it time to declare war on the media ?

I believe it was Armstead who broached this subject a few days ago?? But, it is obvious with every passing day that we have very few friends in the media. We need to put the spotlight on them as much as we possibly can. Their lies and innuendo and suggestive polls are impossible to defeat once they set their agenda. And it appears they have set their agenda.

It is sad that so many people have lost faith in our free press. But we should not think of corporate media as the only "press" in this country. We are part of the "press". Granted, we are "Davids" fighting "Goliath" but we have as much ink as the corporate media does and we have to use it to our advantage. It is just a matter of time until they restrict your voice also. The Internet is in their sights.

How do we fight these so-called "journalists"? We have to continue calling them on their lies and biases. They have to be exposed just as much as do the righ-wingers with their radical policies. They are not our friends. We cannot appease them in hopes they will be "easier' on us. They are our enemies and they are enemies of ou country. Because their interests do not coincide with the people's interest or the interest of this nation. They are capitalist pigs who see nothing but the bottom line.

support alternate sources and keep talking to friends and neighbors

In this environment I do not think a major publisher will take on a manuscript from any of us, unknowns, brock did it, because his name, and his reputation guaranteed sales... I am a writer know the racket

but we need to take this upon ourselves.

Hey and teh first step is... everybody needs to turn the media off, we need monitors, yes, that is what Media Maters (brock) is for. The rest turn the shit off, once the ratings hit so low they can't go any lower and AAR continues to go up, we may see them change their ways, and I do not guarantee it either.

we have to boycott their sponsors and LET THEM (the various media outlets AND the sponsors know it). We neeed to continue and be much more pro-active in determining who is sponsering what and contact all involved. Maybe we could get movone.org involved. I think this could be one of the most important things we can do and we probably should've started a long time ago. This is how they got Dr. Laura off of the air. LET'S DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The media is our Public Enemy # One! Without the media there would be no bush!

All of the media whores must be eliminated (notice I didn't quite say "assassinated").

"Off with their heads!"?

done that way all the time. If enough people threaten to boycott their products they will pull out their ads and $ talks.

to get the specifics? (for examplme, who sponsers Savage?, etc.)

For example, FOX has NFL football. Those could be targeted. And who has the Donald Trump show, The Apprentice? I think that might be an effective start.

I say all channels you dislike then get back in a wk.

It's an "assassination in progress".

He may still win, that's how bad Bush is.

I think he WILL win.

But it has become so painfully obvious how the media is deliberately doing this.

Yes, we need to declare war on them NOW.

Expose their conflicts of interests for starters. Here's one:

proof that Iraq is worth billions to General Electric (NBC's owner)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2369379

I think direct, on-site protesting is neeeded. Go to the corporate headquarters, stand outside their homes, ask folks to discontinue cable services......Go for the jugler......pick one organizatioon, like CBS....don't touch them......let them carry our story.

I saw the tail end of a discussion on c-span the other day where several retired journos were taking calls. A caller suggested that journos be licensed, or be subject to criminal prosecution when they engage in malfeasance.

Well, this set those old men clucking. They said "we have our own sets of ethics" and ways of policing themselves. Ha!

I do agree that licensing would be difficult and the prospect of criminal prosecution of journalists is terrifying.

There are long-term measures that could work, but they are long-term and we have little time to save ourselves from tyranny. These include Fairness Doctrine, development of liberal news outlets, repeal of decisions that allow mergers, etc.

There are only three things that we can do right now, IMO.

1. Develop the grassroots spreading of news and organize it better. The fliers, the bloggers, the stovepipe that allows citizen researchers to get stories developed that are big enough to be picked up on evening news. If some of that Soros money had been allocated to a team whose task was to reach every corner of the Internet with talking points and daily message, a huge impact would have been made.

2. Infiltrate right-wing talk radio. I saw a strategist say it the other day but can't remember who. He said we ought not to allow the monopoly of the people's air waves by anti-American and anti-democratic values and speech. We need to start listening and start talking back. Get up our nerves and wade in with phone calls.

3. I believe that a Peoples Bill of Rights for White House-Media Transparency is the only way the industry can be regulated without any undue fettering of the press. Other industries are loosely governed by Bills of Rights. Think about the Consumers Bill of Rights as a parallel.

I have begun to draft such a document, and have finished the section dealing with access of journalists to the White House. (The threat of denial of access is the major reason journos give for limp coverage of the administration.)

A bit of history. Until the end of WW2, the authority to credential WH correspondents was in the hands of the peer group itself, the WH Correspondents Association. Then that authority was transferred to the WH press office. The WH has full control over access. Until this presidency, there has been little problem with this system. But now we see a WH that intimidates the press at every turn, threatening and punishing reporters, and ultimately cowing them and skewing reporting. This must end. Authority for credentialing must be returned to the profession itself. The WH press office must have NO AUTHORITY over those who ask questions on behalf of the people.

A parallel. Access of journalists to Congress is codified in law. A People's Bill of Rights for White House-Media Transparency would effect the same protection to White House reporters from intimidation.

Anyway........I'd like to be able to develop the draft fully and to promote the idea widely. Anyone who is interested in the project may DU-mail me.

I will, particularly, want to to see an UNCOMPROMISING liberal media network made up of newspaper, magazine, radio,television, cable and the internet asap. I am pissed that democrats have not seen this as something that should have been started years ago when the media unfairly pummeled Clinton and then proceeded to do same to Al Gore.

e-mails do little. phone calls do little more.

BUT

faxes carry a little more influence

BUT

paper letters carry the weight of 100 other communications!

It only takes a few minutes more to print out your message, put it in an envelope and put a stamp on it. For five minutes and 37 cents, your message to the media carries the weight of 100 messages.

Think about it.

but I don't think I'm clear on the reasoning behind it. Could you explain it? There may be a few others out there that don't get it too. Thanks.

Turn to the independent media for your news. When you see something there not covered by the corporate media, write them and tell them about it. If the corporate media keeps getting messages asking them why they won't cover what people read in the independent media it will force them to confront the fact that their conservative ways will lose them viewers/readers. That's one way to appeal to their profit motive and be better informed in the process.

I want a march on the media and a black out day but we need to pick a date.

My Father went back into the hospital a few days ago and I haven't been able to help work on the webpage and we can use some help.

We need help registering our webpage and people are more then welcome to help out with the details. "fightmediabias.org"

We can start by seeing to it that everyone reads this:
http://www.tompaine.com/print/journalism_under_fire.php
It's long but worthy. Realize that we are the warriors.

If everyone on DU were to print 20 copies of each of the flyers at

http://somnamblst.tripod.com and give copies to 19 friends who support Kerry and ecah person had 100 copies of each flyer made at kinkos and then hit the street distributing them we would have guerilla marketing and probably also viral marketing.

when he was publicizing F9-11 on the networks. Just call them on it. Live. All Dem Representatives on corporate news shows should call them on their crap AS IT IS OCCURRING, as well as past instances of it. It can't be edited out if it's live.

Look how Matt Lauer was forced to defend himself and back down after Kitty Kelly pulled that "you golfed with former Pres. Bush, Matt, you know how charming he can be...."
And you're right -- it does have to be done live. And EVERYONE shoud do it -- all the Dems -- so they just can't shut out say, a Howard Dean or someone else with real balls.

first to say Bull Shit.

on that one.

Sheee-it, mon, he should be in prison already for outing Valerie Plame. Or Rush Limbaugh? He should be in prison for drug-dealing/illegal drug consumption. There are dozens more evil fascist bobble-heads in the media that need to get creamed and humiliated.

Cable companies, must by law, offer a basic basic service that they will not tell you about. Usually runs about $14 to $16 a month, and gives the networks, cspan channels and amc. You must ask for it - it will absolutely not be offered.

Amend your service to this basic offering and when they call and call and call to get you to re-up, tell them loudly and often that until they offer a channel that equals faux for us, the liberals, progressives and democrats, they will not ever get a cent more from us. NOT EVER! It can be done! We will win.

This is where boards like this and the internet as a whole comes in; as the number of people watching TV continues to dwindle and more and more people go online to get their news, we can (and will) make the difference right here.

The polls don't worry me because so many people who aren't being polled ARE going to vote and vote Kerry; online grassroots support are not only the wave of the future but are here right now.

This election will revolutionary in the sense where a good chunck of those voting (and voting Kerry)will never be on the radar screen of "the media" and their "polls". I'm convinced of it.

Where do I sign up?

On edit: Does this count?
www.freepress.net

.....and we HAVE BEEN fighting back for a while now. Will Pitt, Bev Harris, Walt Starr, TruthIsAll, Rezmutt and far too many other DUers to mention have been on the front lines gathering truth from many sources and getting it out with the help of other DUers. We just need more of us to get better at it. :)

Perhaps a class in "How to use Google, 101" is in order?

Like the Heritage Foundation and the CATO Institute? They generate spew that is cited by the media whores in their stories. Why do they have tax exempt status when they so clearly have a political agenda?