>I've spent the better part of this afternoon watching the cable news nets,
something I rarely, if ever, >do, and I don't know how any informed person
can stand it...<snip>...Maybe it's age, but I do not >remember it being this
bad when I was a media activist from the mid-80s through the mid-90s.
It's MUCH worse now than it was then. When I saw the US flag somehow plastered on virtually EVERYTHING on CNN starting with the Afghan War; or constantly superinposed in the corner of the screen as part of a redesign of the translucent network logo --- I expected the coverage to be absolutely, aggressively pro-war and dreadful, and it was. Yet another reason: what with another scheduled review of FCC rules and regs coming up, nobody wanted to piss off the Bush Lite Administration. The media giants were hoping to get (and did get) a relaxation of the rules regarding allowable ownership of so many radio & TV signals in a given market (aka, "city" or "town"), and the White House crew was wanting media support of its' wars (aka shameless warmongering). So they gave W's posse what they wanted, if only to avoid their wrath at the FCC.
>Perhaps because I was immersed and thus conditioned to the chest-beating is
why it seemed less >offensive than it is now. But after a few hours of CNN,
Fox, & MSNBC, I'm convinced that our >information elite is seriously
crazy -- and dangerous. Thank God for the Web.
Lucky for us who have Web access, and the time and ability to search out alternative media. A big deal is made about the number of computers in American homes...but I don't think all those computers are online by a long shot.
And you're right. Crazy, dumb as a box of hammers, and all wrapped up in making big advertising revenue to the exclusion of all else, point period and final. Not that that's new, but never before have they been so brazenly open about it and so overtly not giving a crap about anything that might hurt the bottom line.
Maria