Six on Media: Free the Free Press From Wall Street Plunderers; The Media Got George H. W. Bush Wrong in Life and in Death; Do
philip panaritis
" two-panel cartoon I recently saw showed a character with a sign saying: “First they came for the reporters.” In the next panel, his sign says: “We don’t know what happened after that.”
It was, of course, a retort to Donald Trump’s ignorant campaign to demonize the news media as “the enemy of the people.” But when it comes to America’s once-proud newspapers, their worst enemy is not Trump—nor is it the rising cost of newsprint or the “free” digital news on websites. Rather, the demise of the real news reporting by our city and regional papers is a product of their profiteering owners. Not the families and companies that built and nurtured true journalism, but the new breed of fast-buck hucksters who’ve scooped up hundreds of America’s newspapers from the bargain bins of media sell-offs.
The buyers are hedge-fund scavengers with names like Digital First and GateHouse. They know nothing about journalism and care less, for they’re ruthless Wall Street profiteers out to grab big bucks fast by slashing the journalistic and production staffs of each paper, voiding all employee benefits (from pensions to free coffee in the breakroom), shriveling the paper’s size and news content, selling the presses and other assets, tripling the price of their inferior product—then declaring bankruptcy, shutting down the paper, and auctioning off the bones before moving on to plunder another town’s paper.
American Prospect (12/27/17)
By 2014, America’s two largest media chains were not venerable publishers who believe that a newspaper’s mission includes a commitment to truth and a civic responsibility, but GateHouse and Digital First, whose managers believe that good journalism is measured by the personal profit they can squeeze from it. As revealed last year in an American Prospect article, GateHouse executives had demanded that its papers cut $27 million from their operating expenses. Thousands of newspaper employees suffered that $27 million cut in large part because one employee—the hedge fund’s CEO—had extracted $54 million in personal pay from the conglomerate, including an $11 million bonus."
"The news media always misinterpreted George H. W. Bush. During the 1988 Presidential campaign, many commentators mistook his preppy appearance and goofy manner for weakness. Newsweek ran a cover story called “Fighting the Wimp Factor.” Even people inside Bush’s campaign took this perception seriously. I covered the campaign, and I remember watching Bush prepare for a televised debate and witnessing the late Roger Ailes tell him to stop waving his hands around, because it made him look like “a pansy.”
This was someone who, during the Second World War, enlisted in the U.S. Navy and trained as a pilot. Flying in a torpedo bomber from the decks of an aircraft carrier, he flew fifty-eight combat missions over the Pacific, and during one of them he was shot down. For his service, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. To label him a wimp was ridiculous.
Now, in death, Bush is being misrepresented again (especially on cable television) as a saintly figure and as one of the truly great U.S. Presidents. He was neither. Running for Senate in 1964, he opposed the Civil Rights Act. In the 1988 Presidential race, when he defeated Michael Dukakis, his campaign, under the direction of Lee Atwater, pioneered many of the slash-and-burn tactics that disfigure modern elections. (The racist Willie Horton ad was but one of many misleading attacks that the Bush campaign launched.)"
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"You might think the story was about the Green New Deal, the nascent environmental and social justice agenda that would include a special congressional committee on climate change, championed by incoming Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and endorsed by at least a dozen co-sponsors.
You’d be wrong.
The real point of the 925-word story, by Gannett Washington reporter Ledyard King, was conveyed in the print edition’s subhead: “Policies Could Carry Risk for Leaders of New House.”
Featuring a classic “balance as bias” reporting frame, the piece alternated between dire, scientifically validated descriptions of climate change risks and President Trump’s dismissal of them, and between illustrations of Democratic clout and predictions of the futility of their cause."
The phrase is best known in the 20th century for its usage in the Soviet Union, where Lenin labeled opponents as “enemies of the people.” How curious to see Trump adopting the language of Lenin and Stalin. Any coverage that he does not like he calls “fake news.” He wants his base to disbelieve whatever is reported, unless he tells them it is okay. He wants to be the arbiter of truth and fact. He has the instincts of a dictator.
Trump’s efforts to silence the press is about the most contemptible element of his war against the Constitution and our democracy. When I hear Trump’s mobs chanting “CNN Sucks,” it is disgusting."
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"Assange also has never ending legal troubles. There is a sealed federal indictment against him but the actual charges are unknown as of yet. Assange became an even bigger target than he was all along after Wikileaks published the Democratic National Committee emails which showed the depth of corruption and incompetence of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party. Donald Trump is president in part because of their foolish Pied Piper strategy which promoted the man they thought easier to beat. Russiagate serves many purposes, and excusing the political debacle is at the top of the tawdry list.
It is interesting that the attacks on Manafort and Assange occurred simultaneously. The timing was surely no coincidence. Instead it is part of a long running pattern. Mueller’s decision to void the plea agreement and the slander in the Guardianhave the same purpose. There is a court of public opinion they are trying to influence. They cannot admit that the Russiagate narrative is and will remain unproven. It doesn’t matter how many lies about Assange are debunked, a new one is always waiting in the wings lest the public ask questions about the entire tale."
