> Oh there was the Woodward & Bernstein moment but the establishment
> had already turned on Nixon, and after it was over, Katharine Graham
> said "never again."
>
> So I'm still not clear on what the good is that's set against the
> concentrated bad.
I agree; I don't remember (and my memory goes back slightly further than yours) when this fabulous Garden of Free Media Eden existed.
Seems to me that left folks have been complaining about manipulation of public opinion by the "malefactors of great wealth" forever. My understanding of the FCC's decision is that its impact on the American public's political opinions will be marginal.
What is more important is how leftists can appeal to more of the public than we have been able to do so far. Chairman Powell did make one interesting point, I thought, namely that the vast majority of the public, who are quite free and will continue to be free to seek out whatever sources of information they prefer, seem to prefer to tune in to the outlets owned by the big corporations. Just as most Americans eat white bread instead of 7-grain sprouted wheat, and burgers instead of tofu. It seems to me that our job (not an easy one, for sure) is to try to make our "7-grain, tofu" political ideas more appealing to the public than the mass media; if we can, they will turn to the information sources that peddle our ideas, just as we go to those sources.
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org _____________________________ Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. - Groucho Marx