One of the silver linings of this economic depression is the collapse of mainstream media companies and the creation of internet blogs along with citizen journalism. While this media shift is ongoing and certain, a question arises - Will the government, in further effort to keep their political-financial-media power in tact, bailout big media?
Does the News Industry Deserve a Bailout? That was the headline in a recent article written in Time Magazine. Written by Douglas A. McIntyre, the article argues “the strategic value of the print media comes from the centuries that it has served as a check and balance to the central government both in the United States and elsewhere.“
The article goes on to say “Politicians have every reason to want to see print media fail. That can be said tongue in cheek, but too many governors and congressmen have lost jobs after newspaper investigations to make the relationship between Fourth Estate and politicians a comfortable one. A neutered press would benefit a number of elected officials.“
I wonder what a “neutered press” would look like? Would they peddle optimism even while the economy was collapsing? Would celebrity gossip become newsworthy? If the government wanted to loot the United States treasury and bailout their campaign contributors on Wall St, would a “neutered press” fail to demand answers or, even worse, scare the American people into submission? Would this neutered press allow the government to use 9-11 as a tool to occupy the middle east, while ignoring the cries of first responders and families of 9-11?
I’ve often said that I do not follow the mainstream news for information, I follow it for the lie. Establishment news organizations such as Time magazine should be followed only to figure out what it is they are trying to sell. “They” meaning the Washington “In” crowd of government, lobbyists and mainstream reporters.
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