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They're doing what? | by Jaz | 2006-11-19 12:55:59 |
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For the TRUTH, check here. | by pseudonym | 2005-03-15 14:37:54 |
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I fail to see the fear mongering | by Elessar | 2005-03-15 15:11:41 |
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<Deleted> | <Deleted> | 2005-03-15 15:50:06 |
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Yes, actually | by Elessar | 2005-03-15 15:56:08 |
| Long post =) |
by pseudonym |
2005-03-15 16:35:03 |
It is a style of news that has become widly popular in the US, simply due to the facts that sensationalism draws ratings. I mean, who wants to hear about a univeristy experiement designed to help addicts? Wouldn't you rather hear what those corupt and morally bankrupt Canadians are legalizing THIS time.
What I don't understand is that none of us have been exposed to this kind of journalism for very long. I have been watching American TV since before I can walk. Hell, we are inindated with it. US TV and advertising is so previlent that when we see specials for fast food on TV, Canadians will ALWAYS check the channel to see if it is avalible here or not. Those Americans who live close to the Canadian boarder will have had somewhat similar experiences only, less so. But it evens out cause they have to put up with our beer adds.. (But they DO get to drink the beer!). I remember when CNN was THE channel to watch for ALL the world news. The New York Times used to be the WORLD's authority, not just the states. So what happened?
Well the easy answer is that media has been increasingly concentrated in a very VERY few hands. Those hands have a marked bias towards the republican party. There has been alot of finger pointing in this direction, but I am not sure if it is entirely warrented. The big problem is that news in the US is run as a business. Now compaire that to the other world news organizations. The two biggest before CNN were the CBC (THE first TV and Radio network BTW) and the BBC. Both these news channels are owned and opperated by their respective governments. What that means is that they are obligated to show ALL sides of a story. They can't just show the stories that benifit them, they can't only show one side. If they did, then their readership could rightfully go to their memebers of parilment, complain and expect to see action! Can you say that about CNN? Or NBC?? Or ANY news organization in the US? The can ignore whole segments of opinion becuase it doesn't PAY for them to show those opinions. They work by ratings and they get those ratings by showing their audiences what they want to see, what draws ratings. They aren't about to rock the boat and posibly lose funding from their sponcers because they said something the sponcer didn't like. This CAN'T happen with the CBC or the BBC as their funding comes directly from tax dollars. It is the whole theory of operation that is different.
I don't know what can be done about this. To be honest, I am one of those Canadians who belives that we should be joining the EU, and distancing ourselves as fast as posible from the "American Empire". From what I can see, the US is heading for a very long fall, and it is going to hit the ground HARD. Unfortnatly, as things stand now, they are going to take Canada with them. Just as Russia has shown us how socialism can be turned to tyrany, so is the US showing us the exact same thing with Capitalism, and the results will be the same. News is big business and it would seem the NEW american model is "For big buiness, by big buiness and of big buiness." Government is becomming more and more irrelevant as laws erroding public controls are passed (This whole fight goes back to the days of "The New Deal" and the group of Technocrats who were hurt by that policy.) And as government becomes more and more taken out of the loop, elections become simply a mater of manipulating public opinion so that the people that business wants to win win. After those in power have won, they happily go on doing what they will, because they know that media will do NOTHING against their own intrests. They will show the public what it wants to see, while those who are REALLY in power, do what they will. Just take a look at the new bankruptcy laws and the alternative tax. Only %20 of Americans earning over 1 million a year EVER pay that tax. Now, that seems strange becuase those are the people the law was written expressly for! Now with the new changes, many MANY more people earning between $70,000 and $200,000 COMBINED HOUSEHOLD INCOME, will have to pay the tax, while the numbers of millionairs who have to pay actually goes DOWN! The bankrupty law change does the same thing. Forcing people who have lost everything becuase of things like medical expenses (Another thing that makes no sense about the US is how %80 of people what public health care but BOTH the democrats and the republicans say there is no "political will" for it) in chapter 13 backrupty, loosing their homes, cars and basicly becoming slaves to the credit card industry for the rest of their lives. Again, the mega rich acctually benifit getting to keep more in the form of huge breaks on investment income tax which isn't looked at by bankrupty courts.
In the US, the media, polictics and big business have merged into a new kind of government. One where individual rights are subject to the "right" of big business to turn a profit. The media just want to keep the cash flowing their direction. |
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