Sofia wrote:I watched a segment on CNN wherein it was forwarded that the media annointed Dean. Did they, or did they just follow the story? Should they have given equal coverage to the other Dem contenders? I remember a couple of months when you could see Dean's face plastered all over the big covers...
I wanted to respond to that also, Sofie and nimh...
Dennis Kucinich's response in the last debate (the one Ted Koppel moderated) hit the nail on the head and drove it all the way into the board with one swing. Paraphrasing:
"When we are answering questions about endorsements and polls and money raised, it keeps us from discussing the real issues, which are Iraq and the economy and creating jobs and healthcare for all Americans..."
What the media wants to do shape the context. (It will have some influence necessarily, but like any other unfettered power it craves more and more.) This "feed the beast" syndrome made its appearance early with Koppel opening the debate with those questions about the Gore endorsement, the polls, fundraising or the lack thereof and so on.
(Prior to the debate a C-Span reporter asked Koppel what he wanted to accomplish; his answer was, "keep viewers from dozing off".
)
This is also why we have to wade through the "news" of Michael Jackson, Kobe Bryant, Scott Peterson and so on to get to the real news, and especially the stories that aren't being told (like the brewing scandal of incompetence of the companies entrusted to electronically count our votes, and the stonewalling of the Bush administration relative to the 9/11 commission inquiry.)
Most of the media has abdicated its responsibility to protect and to serve. That noble mission was sacrificed on the altar of increasing quarterly profits. L. Lowry Mays, CEO of Clear Channel Communications, owner of over 1200 radio and 237 TV stations across the US (and organizers of Dixie Chicks boycotts and disc burnings), said this when asked by
Fortune magazine about his corporation's commitment to news gathering and reporting:
Quote:"We're not in the business of providing news and information. We're not in the business of providing well-researched music. We're simply in the business of selling our customers' products."
Our media in this country has become too conglomerated, too incestuously entwined with the Congresspersons who are supposed to also be the peoples' watchdog, and simply too lazy to do what they are supposed to do.
They'll report whatever is good for their bottom-line, which for the consumer of their 'product' is the nutritional equivalent of eating at Mickey D's three times a day.
