Public Service Announcement About Corporate News

Five major corporations own almost all of the media Americans consume on a daily basis, and corporations have an outsize impact on national policy. This is just a friendly reminder that in a country run by a corporate elite, corporate propaganda is state propaganda:

If the corporate oligarchs don't want you to hear about something, they can make sure you have very little exposure to it, and bias you against that message when you manage to hear it. If they want/need you to know and internalize something, they can keep sending you that message until you do. The video above is a desperate attempt to keep you away from independent news sources. All while trying to convince you that we live in a democracy, and that that democracy is challenged by unapproved voices, open discourse of topics that have actual bearing on our lives, and independent thinking. It's amazing that those newscasters warn against one-sided news sources and not checking facts without a shred of irony (hello run-up to every war).

This time the propaganda was at the hands of a notoriously right-wing corporation (Sinclair). However, I think the important and scary aspect is the mechanism/effect, more so than the motivation or partisan affiliation. This time it's biased in support of the GOP. Next time it can be biased in favor of the DNC against an independent, left-leaning political candidate or party. The time after that it can be in support of yet another bipartisan war of aggression.

Update

Comments

A view from your shut down

The Daily Dish has been posting reader emails reporting on their " view from the shutdown ." If you think this doesn't affect you, or if you know all too well how bad this is, take a look at the growing collection of poignant stories. No one is in this alone except for the nutjobs in the House. I decided to email Andrew with my own view. I plan to send a similar letter to my congressperson. Dear Andrew, I am a professor of astronomy at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). The CfA houses one of the largest, if not the largest collection of PhD astronomers in the United States, with over 300 professional astronomers and roughly 100 doctoral and predoctoral students on a small campus a few blocks west of Harvard Yard. Under the umbrella of the CfA are about 20 Harvard astronomy professors, and 50 tenure-track Smithsonian researchers. A large fraction of the latter are civil servants currently on furlough and unable to come to work. In total, 147 FTEs...

The Long Con

Hiding in Plain Sight ESPN has a series of sports documentaries called 30 For 30. One of my favorites is called Broke which is about how professional athletes often make tens of millions of dollars in their careers yet retire with nothing. One of the major "leaks" turns out to be con artists, who lure athletes into elaborate real estate schemes or business ventures. This naturally raises the question: In a tightly-knit social structure that is a sports team, how can con artists operate so effectively and extensively? The answer is quite simple: very few people taken in by con artists ever tell anyone what happened. Thus, con artists can operate out in the open with little fear of consequences because they are shielded by the collective silence of their victims. I can empathize with this. I've lost money in two different con schemes. One was when I was in college, and I received a phone call that I had won an all-expenses-paid trip to the Bahamas. All I needed to d...

back-talk begins

me: "owen, come here. it's time to get a new diaper" him, sprinting down the hall with no pants on: "forget about it!" he's quoting benny the rabbit, a short-lived sesame street character who happens to be in his favorite "count with me" video. i'm turning my head, trying not to let him see me laugh, because his use and tone with the phrase are so spot-on.

Mahalo.ne.Trash

Search This Blog