{"id":276,"date":"2006-11-05T12:19:44","date_gmt":"2006-11-05T19:19:44","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=276"},"modified":"2007-05-11T13:23:05","modified_gmt":"2007-05-11T20:23:05","slug":"and-the-winner-isthe-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=276","title":{"rendered":"And The Winner Is…The Media"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
So long as we have corporate media monopolies married to political powerbrokers in government and on K Street, we will never have truly free elections. <\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

As the American electorate’s chest heaves with exhaustion, gasping for that second wind to propel it across the finish line of this year’s electoral marathon, the handicappers are already setting up shop to declare victories or to justify whatever it is they decide to call non-victories. There will be celebrations and wakes and scores of prognosticators heralding their prescience no matter how far from reality their predictions actually fall.<\/p>\n

But there is one contestant in this game that can pump its mighty fist in the air regardless of polling outcomes.<\/p>\n

When all is said and done, The Media will have banked<\/a> over $2 Billion.<\/b> Of course, the final numbers are not in and this estimate doesn’t even include spot cable buys, not to mention last minute surges that are expected on all sides.<\/p>\n

If a campaign can be analogized to a war, then the media are the war profiteers. Fox is the Halliburton of the press corps – GE (owner of NBC\/Universal) is the…well, the GE. They benefit no matter who wins or loses. In fact, it is in their interest to incite division and to escalate the conflict.<\/p>\n

They have been doing this in some obvious ways. The hype surrounding the Mark Foley and John Kerry events was purposefully orchestrated to fuel controversy and to roil the electoral landscape. Partisans on both sides help to propel these tangents, but despite their varying levels of significance, none of these issues have parity with Iraq, the economy, health care, global warming, etc. Yet they are given prominence due to their tabloid appeal.<\/p>\n

As the prospects for each candidate and party fluctuate, the players need to react, and this is generally done by purchasing more ad time. The media doesn’t particularly like a blowout because it results in the failing candidate either abandoning the air war or the candidate’s supporters abandoning the candidate, leaving no budget for the battle. So the press chips in keep the race close.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile the public suffers the fate of all civilians in wartime. They are beaten and battered and left in a heap along with the other victims of collateral damage. It is never the people’s interest that is served in war, but the interests of the war mongers and their powerful benefactors. The people suffer through these air wars and become disgusted and demoralized. That is actually part of the media’s wartime stategery. A little known fact about negative ads is that they are not intended to tarnish an opponent (that’s just gravy). Their purpose is to suppress turnout so that campaign strategerists are left with a smaller, more manageable, voter population to influence and get to the polls.<\/p>\n

So long as we have corporate media monopolies married to political powerbrokers in government and on K Street, we will never have truly free elections. They just feed off of each other and enrich each other at the expense of democracy. The media needs to be corralled into a role wherein it educates and informs citizens. And public financing of campaigns is imperative if we want to remove the influence of corporations from politics.<\/p>\n

This is the paramount battle of our generation and we are presently losing. The media will grow stronger as a result of the massive infusion of campaign spending it is enjoying this year. But it isn’t invincible and the fight is worth fighting. I do not consider it hyperbole to say that the future of our country rests on the outcome and if that isn’t motivation, then I guess I’ll just have to buy some more airtime to convince you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So long as we have corporate media monopolies married to political powerbrokers in government and on K Street, we will never have truly free elections. As the American electorate’s chest heaves with exhaustion, gasping for that second wind to propel it across the finish line of this year’s electoral marathon, the handicappers are already setting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,1,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-media","category-general","category-scandalous"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-4s","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":40488,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=40488","url_meta":{"origin":276,"position":0},"title":"HUH? Fox News Doofus Thinks that the Democratic Women at the State of the Union Like Trump","author":"Mark NC","date":"2\/6\/2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Anyone who has spent any time watching Fox News is well aware that it is a blatantly biased mouthpiece for conservative Republicans in general and the President in particular. It is often referred to (by me) as \"State TV\" because of its devoted support for everything Donald Trump does and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fox News Friends","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/foxnews-friends-trump.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/foxnews-friends-trump.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/foxnews-friends-trump.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8221,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=8221","url_meta":{"origin":276,"position":1},"title":"GOP Voter Suppression Struck Down By The Courts Again – That’s 7 Straight Victories So Far","author":"Mark NC","date":"10\/16\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This election cycle has been stained by some of the most cynical and anti-democratic legal maneuvers ever perpetrated on the American public. Over the past few years, in states where Republican governors assumed power, they quickly set about abusing their position in order to corrupt the democratic process and deny\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election"","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36777,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=36777","url_meta":{"origin":276,"position":2},"title":"Rachel Maddow Starts 2018 With Commanding Lead Over Sean Hannity and Fox News","author":"Mark NC","date":"1\/17\/2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Washington politics in 2018 so far promises to be a rollicking ride with unrelenting foolishness and embarrassments from the White House. In a few short days Donald Trump has managed to insult El Salvador, Haiti, and the entire continent of Africa. His former campaign chair and White House chief strategist,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rachel Maddow","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/maddow-hannity-sad.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/maddow-hannity-sad.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/maddow-hannity-sad.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":501,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=501","url_meta":{"origin":276,"position":3},"title":"Another Runaway Quarter For MSNBC","author":"Mark NC","date":"7\/4\/2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The 2nd quarter of 2007 (PDF) has delivered another in a string of victories for MSNBC. The network's growth of 50% over its 2006 performance far outshines CNN (4%) and Fox (5%). The chart below tells the story for the past four quarters. While still in third place, there is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":60461,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=60461","url_meta":{"origin":276,"position":4},"title":"GOOD NEWS: Super Tuesday Shows Biden and Democrats Far More Popular and United than Trump and MAGA","author":"Mark NC","date":"3\/6\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Super Tuesday has come and gone and, as expected, the leading presidential candidates of both the Republican and Democratic parties won the majority of their party's delegates. Donald Trump and President Joe Biden prevailed in the respective races and will likely go on to become the nominees in November. Click\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election"","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"Joe Biden, Donald Trump","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/biden-trump-baby-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/biden-trump-baby-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/biden-trump-baby-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":319,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=319","url_meta":{"origin":276,"position":5},"title":"NCMR2007: Are You Prepared For Success?","author":"Mark NC","date":"1\/14\/2007","format":false,"excerpt":"You might expect that the closing session of the National Conference for Media Reform would present rousing speakers that reaffirm the previous days experiences - the information, inspiration and connections - and act as a catalyst to provoke impassioned and sustained activism. That expectation was met. But one speaker, Van\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}