Today's Crime Against Democracy:/**Corporate Media Control*

*/Today's Crime Against Democracy:/*
*Corporate Media Control*

Between media consolidation and the loss of the Fairness Doctrine,
corporate "mainstream news" media can no longer be trusted to serve the
public interest. Instead, mainstream media newsrooms are subservient to
the profit and political motives of their corporate owners and
advertisers. No longer can Americans rely on mainstream news to devote
airtime to controversial matters. Deregulation has allowed the so-called
"liberal media" to transform into an almost purely "for-profit"
enterprise. "News" programs now lack real journalism and feature instead
infotainment, meaningless celebrity fanfare, and spectacles designed to
sell products not to inform the public. Worse, instead of providing
checks and balances on our government by doing investigative journalism
and truthful reporting, mainstream news media simply spew the talking
points and infomercials given to them by government communications
operations.

Recent election coverage demonstrates why Americans cannot rely on the
controlled corporate news media for the truth. For example, at 2:20 AM
the morning after the night of the 2000 Presidential election, Fox News
(www.commondreams.org/views06/1026-27.htm
<http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1026-27.htm>) declared George W.
Bush the winner in Florida by mistake. If true, Bush would win the
Presidency. Like lemmings, without any basis for confidence, all of the
other news networks echoed the erroneous Fox claim that Bush won Florida.

In fact, the vote count at the time of the projection showed the
election was too close to call, and all the networks eventually
rescinded their calls. But this did not happen in time. Al Gore had
called Bush and conceded. A post-election analysis by a consortium of
media outlets showed that if the Supreme Court had allowed Gore's
request for a recount to be conducted, Gore would have won Florida--and
the presidency--by anywhere from 42 to 171 votes.

This creeping consolidation and co-opting of the media---including dovetailing the entertainment and news toward a political end---has been a huge problem since it began accelerating. Each deal is bigger and bigger, swallowing more and more while driving smaller competitors out, creating a terrible momentum.

Anyone reading "futurist" novels of yester-year must be having shivers like I am....

:scared:

There is a reason they were written into the Constitution.

nt

E-voting and voter registration: The vendors
Who's building the gear that's running the show?
http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9004583&pageNumber=3

Robo calls to make voters upset; disinformation to minorities to reduce minority votes; flagrant malfeasance by officials
and poll workers- huge amount documented in 2004 and 2006; are they going unprosecuted again?


• Republican "fake phone call" scandal spreads - now in Philly too - LINK - They're doing it across the country - Kansas, NH, and now PA. This is the Republican October Surprise, launched in November. It's to cheat, pretend that they are Democrats calling voters and then piss the voters off so much that they don't vote for the Democrats.
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/15898729.htm
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/republican-fake-phone-call-scandal.html


• What Is The FBI Doing? - LINK - An Essay in Pictures

Automated GOP calls may break N.H. law - LINK - The National Republican Congressional Committee acknowledges that its automated phone program on behalf of a local congressman may violate New Hampshire law, but said that it would continue, despite opposition from local party leaders. (there candidate was behind in polls) http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/11/05/automated_gop_calls_may_break_nh_law/


In 2004 there were widespread systematic illegal dirty tricks in many counties of many states documented telling
minority voters that their precincts had been changed. This in conjunction with new rules put in place by Repub officials prior to the 2004 election meant that the minority provisional votes would not be counted, reducing official minority vote. But this is highly illegal carrying long jail times, yet though it was known who was responsible, none were prosecuted. What have ethics and the legal system come to in the U.S.?

www.flcv.com/dirtytrk.html

K&R

started it by getting rid of the Fairness Doctrine, but Bill Clinton and the Telecommunications Act did a lot of damage. WE MUST get control of our own airwaves. We've seen how dangerous it can be. If we did anything I would want it to be this. AND get rid of the machines and fix our elections.