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Shame on the Media

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NBC News sunk to a new low at the Democratic presidential debate last week. We've all grown accustomed to Fox News' normal propaganda, but to see NBC resort to that sort of yellow-journalism was very upsetting. Where are the American people going to turn for news when all the national news outlets are pushing an agenda instead of delivering objective news?

Case 1: Fox News hosted a GOP Debate on September 5, 2007. At the conclusion of the debate, Fox News polled viewers to see who they thought won the debate. Surprisingly, Ron Paul ended up polling 34% leading the other GOP candidates by more then 15%. In an attempt to downplay the poll, not only did Fox News stop showing the results on the screen once they noticed Paul wasn't budging, they also begin airing anti-Paul rhetoric. This took place on Hannity and Colmes, the show that ran post-debate coverage. Once they pulled the statistics supporting Paul off screen, they began showing clips of an argument on the Iraq War between Paul and Mike Huckabee in which they asked viewers if they approved or disapproved with Paul. In this individual case, all of the views disapproved of Paul and approved of Huckabee. They then cut to a different clip from the debate between Paul and Giuliani and did the same exact thing. Fox News did this because they do not want Ron Paul elected as the GOP candidate. By selecting to show only clips where viewers disapproved of Paul, Hannity and Colmes were able to make it seem like he was the least favorable candidate when, in actuality, he won the post-debate poll.

Case 2: At the end of the October 31, 2007 Democratic debate, Tim Russert asked this question to Dennis Kucinich: "Congressman Kucinich, I want to move to a different area, because this is a serious question. The godmother of your daughter, Shirley MacLaine, writes in her new book that you sighted a UFO over her home in Washington state, that you found the encounter extremely moving, that it was a "triangular craft, silent and hovering," that you "felt a connection to your heart and heard directions in your mind." Now, did you see a UFO?" Here is the next question Russert asked to a "respectable" candidate..."I'm going to ask Senator Obama a question, in the same line. The three astronauts of Apollo 11 who went to the moon back in 1969, all said that they believe there is life beyond Earth. Do you agree?" Is it just me or does it seem like Obama got a much more intelligent, serious version of the question? Russert essentially asked both candidates the same exact question: do you believe in extraterrestrial life? Look at how drastically different Russert worded a question to a so-called "viable" candidate as opposed to a so-called "joke" candidate. The most astounding thing is that the reason Kucinich is considered to be a "joke" candidate in the first place is because the news media does not take his candidacy seriously! The question Tim Russert asked Kucinich (in the way he asked it) served only one purpose - to illegitimize Kucinich's campaign and make him look like a Looney Toon so that no one takes him seriously. Just read the question yourself and justify why Russert would ask a question this way. Has Obama never said anything outlandish? Has Clinton never said anything silly in her life? Has Edwards never told his kids that he believes in angels? What Kucinich said about his UFO experience has been echoed by Democratic and Republican candidates alike when they are asked about their close religious connection with God. Why is Kucinich labeled a nutcase for talking about UFO's while other candidates talk about even wackier "mystical experiences" regarding their spiritual beliefs? And why do the media choose to ask questions for the sole purpose of discrediting candidates they don't want to see elected? Shouldn’t that be a question left up to the citizens of the country, not the media?

What Fox News and NBC did is comparable to a scientist who only uses data from experiments that fit her hypothesis. Just like the scientist, news anchors talk about specific things that fit with their agenda. This would not fly in the scientific arena and it should not fly in the political arena either. The media has a lot of power in the United States, more so then in other countries such as England. The American people need to trust the news media to help them make informed decisions. The people should have the opportunity to make their own decisions based on the real news, not the news that the networks want people to hear. Unfortunately, most American citizens are sheep to the system. They don't even realize how much the media manipulates and brainwashes them. In the events leading up to the Iraq War, the media, instead of reporting the actual facts, all decided to support the war effort – lone behold the American public (because they weren’t given the real facts) all supported the invasion based on what the news networks reported. Look what happened as a result. It was all propaganda; fed to the American populace by television, radio, internet, and print media - and people believed it. It all starts with the networks though. If they news networks present genuine news with as little slant as possible, then the American people will be forced into making there own assessments and think for themselves. There is great responsibility given to the press in this country. Once the media and press are disingenuous with the American people, the people have no where to go for information.

As we've seen in the case of Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich, the news networks have an agendas they are trying to push. It is a threat to both fairness and democracy if the news is allowed to continue to operate like a Michael Moore film. We are in desperate need of some sort of "fairness doctrine" to try and set things straight. If we continue down this path America could become nothing more then a bunch of mindless drones dictated to by the powers that be at NBC and Fox. Overall the whole system is broken. There is so much big money in advertising that news organizations can't seem to say no to corporate lobbyists. That’s another topic for a different time though. Either way, something needs to change and fast.

Its time for the American people to wake up and realize how much control the media has over their decisions and its time for the news media to stop undermining our democracy.

-tg

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