I think maybe we blame the MSM too much.

I can read. I can think. I can form an opinion. I don't have to swallow everything that I'm told. I have the internet and I can do research. I have some responsibility for what happens to my country and I need to take responsibility for what it has become.

I watch all networks including Fox. I don't swallow everything I'm told.

not you of course...;-)

to make it the hobby that you and I do and so they aren't aware of how the m$m is manipulating us. Scotty, for whatever reason, is making it apparent to them even if they never read the book.

The m$m is finally showing some shame and it's about G*ddamned time.

Upwards of 75% of the public supported the invasion of Iraq because they believed the propaganda that was being foisted upon them by Bushco via our corporate media lapdogs.

Are all those people numbskulls because they believed what they were told? For trusting that what they were being told was actually true?

The only reason those approval ratings went down was because finally reality became too obvious. The propaganda couldn't disguise the fact that we lost the war, just as it couldn't disguise Bushco malfeasance before/during/after Katrina.

Most entities who have something to sell, whether it's laundry soap or an invasion, understand the science of persuading the public, or certain segments of the public, to buy their "product." Congratulations on being perceptive enough to not have been taken in by the marketing of the Iraq invasion, but there's really no way it could have happened without the able assistance of the MSM.

Here Here...

I think retreating to the MSM critique is partially desperation in the face of complexity, which I can sympathize with. People have to work hard
to survive and I think that can be detrimental to education and perspective.

Overall though, it's become way too tempting to use "the media" as a coverall when convenient -- a cheap argument.

I am especially suspicious of arguments that both "The Right" and "The Left" can throw out there to prove why they are right.

Now clearly, liberals have made critiques of media that are far more interesting and relevant than any conservatives, but even our approaches to
propaganda and corporate ownership have turned into this paranoid monster that has turned some well-meaning people into thinking everything beyond
what they see what their own eyes is controlled. That is simply not true.

http://www.counterpunch.org/stclair06122007.html

"It could have been different. All of the holes in the Bush administration's gossamer case for war were right there for the mainstream press to expose. Instead, the U.S. press, just like the oil companies, sought to commercialize the Iraq war and profit from the invasions. They didn't want to deal with uncomfortable facts or present voices of dissent.

Nothing sums up this unctuous approach more brazenly than MSNBC's firing of liberal talk show host Phil Donahue on the eve of the war. The network replaced the Donahue Show with a running segment called Countdown: Iraq, featuring the usual nightly coterie of retired generals, security flacks, and other cheerleaders for invasion. The network's executives blamed the cancellation on sagging ratings. In fact, during its run Donahue's show attracted more viewers than any other program on the network. The real reason for the pre-emptive strike on Donahue was spelled out in an internal memo from anxious executives at NBC. Donahue, the memo said, offered "a difficult face for NBC in a time of war. He seems to delight in presenting guests who are anti-war, anti-Bush and skeptical of the administration's motives."

The memo warned that Donahue's show risked tarring MSNBC as an unpatriotic network, "a home for liberal anti-war agenda at the same time that our competitors are waving the flag at every opportunity." So, with scarcely a second thought, the honchos at MSNBC gave Donahue the boot and hoisted the battle flag.

It's war that sells.

There's a helluva caveat, of course. Once you buy it, the merchants of war accept no returns."

Their job is to inform, not to sell.

....exists by and for the corporate interest....their propaganda can never be trusted....most people have been trained to believe that the MSM are impartial purveyors of fact....

....Iraq has proven this to be a deadly combination....(are we still in Iraq?)....we can never blame the MSM too much....