Cheryl Seal writes: "Here at Democrats.com we are clear about what we do: It is COMMENTARY, with links to news articles. We do not, like NBC, AP, or NPR, pretend to present 'objective' journalism while presenting outrageously biased commentary. We ARE outrageously biased commentators and proud of it! In fact, we identify ourselves up front for what we are: DEMOCRATS.COM - as opposed to our Republican counterparts who hide their real agenda beneath intentionally vague, patriotic-sounding titles like 'FreeRepublic,' or 'Citizens United.' We don't pretend to be anything but what we are. Here is a 'mini-course' in some of the propaganda techniques being used by the media and how to spot them."

Anyone who routinely scans multiple sources for news, taking in AFP, BBC, Al Jazeera, the Guardian, US Newswire, and other non-Bush-controlled sources will quickly begin to see the gaping holes in US corporate media coverage. Not only do these holes tend to be uniformly in the interests of G.W. Bush and his campaign, they are systematic: it is rare to find one of the members of the US media cartel breaking ranks and giving prominent coverage (as in not buried on page A22 or C12), to a story suppressed by the others.

Cheryl Seal writes: "Anyone who routinely scans multiple sources for news, taking in AFP, BBC, Al Jazeera, the Guardian, US Newswire, and other non-Bush-controlled sources will quickly begin to see the gaping holes in US corporate media coverage. Not only do these holes tend to be uniformly in the interests of G.W. Bush and his campaign, they are systematic: it is rare to find one of the members of the US media cartel breaking ranks and giving prominent coverage (as in not buried on page A22 or C12), to a story suppressed by the others. There are laws against price-fixing - a practice acknowledged by all as fraud. So why aren't there laws against 'news fixing?' It, too, is fraud."

Here's a brief overview - with grades - of the coverage of the protests presented by the dominant corporate news outlets as of 6:30-7:30 Sunday evening.

Because the media has for so long come to heel everytime Bush or anyone in the RNC whistles, the White House and RNC now figure the media will slurp up anything they serve it, no Qs asked.. in most cases, they are right. But not in Charlotte, No. Carolina! AP: "A TV station here will no longer air a commercial supporting Republican gubernatorial candidate Patrick Ballantine because a newspaper contends the ad's contents are misleading. WCNC-TV of Charlotte stopped running the commercial. The Charlotte Observer, which is cited in the ad... said last week the commercial gives the false impression that the newspaper has endorsed Ballantine, but the paper hasn't endorsed a candidate yet. "I think we have an obligation to not run the ad anymore," said Powell, adding that he contacted Observer editor Rick Thames before making the decision." Kudos to you, Mr. Powell! We wished everyone with that last name would stand up for what is right!

Cheryl Seal writes: "Anyone who routinely scans multiple sources for news, taking in AFP, BBC, Al Jazeera, the Guardian, US Newswire, and other non-Bush-controlled sources will quickly begin to see the gaping holes in US corporate media coverage. Not only do these holes tend to be uniformly in the interests of G.W. Bush and his campaign, they are systematic: it is rare to find one of the members of the US media cartel breaking ranks and giving prominent coverage (as in not buried on page A22 or C12), to a story suppressed by the others. There are laws against price-fixing - a practice acknowledged by all as fraud. So why aren't there laws against 'news fixing?' It, too, is fraud."

BBC: " The journalist once described as the most trusted figure in American public life, Walter Cronkite, is retiring from regular work at the age of 87. From 1962 to 1981, Mr Cronkite was the presenter of the CBS evening news programme, which he made the most watched bulletin in the US. He is quitting his regular newspaper column to concentrate on television documentary work and lecture tours. In his final piece, Mr Cronkite lamented the lack of depth of TV news." Our evening news broadcasts are just a half hour and there are commercials in that half hour, so that the news period is about 17 minutes. I have a great complaint that with the complicated nation that we have and with the complicated world in which we play a role, that is not nearly enough time to handle just the basic news of the day," he said." But time enough to spew the latest simplistic sound bytes issued as "news" from the White House.

US Newswire: "Six global organizations have announced their support for a set of principles designed to foster greater transparency in the dealings between public relations professionals and the media, and to end bribery [which can range from the lure of big-buck advertising or political favors dangled before publishers to 'gifts' to journalists] for media coverage throughout the world. The principles, embodied in the Charter on Media Transparency are that: News material should appear as a result of the news judgment of journalists and editors, and not as a result of any payment in cash or in kind, or any other inducements; Material involving payment should be clearly identified as advertising, sponsorship or promotion [ i.e., no more drug co. 'infomercials' disguised as new]; No journalist or media representative should ever suggest that news coverage will appear for any reason other than its merit..."

It looks like Kerry and Edwards have a chance to break through the Bushmedia's iron curtain at last! In a groundbreaking deal, "all news documents issued to the media and the public by the Kerry-Edwards 2004 Press Office will be distributed via U.S. Newswire. These documents will include press releases, statements, news advisories, schedules, backgrounders and speech texts for the candidates, families, surrogates and staff as appropriate. Said Michael Meehan of Kerry-Edwards 2004: "[US Newswire] has a long history of helping presidential candidates tell their story to the press and the public, and we look forward to having the benefit of their experienced staff and unique technology as we move into a phase in the campaign where voters are increasingly focused on the election." It's a sad commentary when a presidential candidate must struggle to find ways to try to get his info to America! Thankyou, US Newswire for upholding what the American media is SUPPOSED to be all about!

Bush laid an ambush for Kerry this week, one in which the AP obviously colluded. Bush asked: ''My opponent hasn't answered the question of whether, knowing what we know now, he would have supported going into Iraq." Kerry answered he would have still voted to authorize the presidential power to declare war (reason: in a case of impending attack, there may not be time to convene Congress). A.P. and subsequently every other US news outlet reported falsely that Kerry said he would have voted to go to war even knowing there were no WMDs and that the intelligence was wrong. Kudos to the Boston Globe!

NYT: "The Senate voted on Tuesday to repeal rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission that make it easier for the nation's largest media conglomerates to expand and enter new markets. The rules, approved last June by a divided F.C.C., largely removed previous ownership restrictions on media companies. They struck down the rule that in most markets had prevented one company from owning both a newspaper and a television or radio station in the same city. In the largest markets, the new rules also enabled a company to own as many as three television stations, eight radio stations and a cable operator. And they allowed the largest television networks to buy more affiliated stations, although Congress later rolled back that provision."

In the past few months, since Howard Stern started using his show as a forum for first amendment issues and outspoken criticism of the Bush Reich, his ratings have steadily climbed. Reuters: "[Stern] scored major gains in listenership during the winter quarter ended March 31 in the three biggest U.S. markets -- New York, Los Angeles and Chicago... In Stern's home market of New York, he topped all morning drive-time competition with a 7.2 share in total audience, up 22 % from the fall quarter and 18% percent from last winter Stern also returned to No. 1 during the first quarter among New York listeners aged 18 to 34 and 25 to 54. Overall, it was his best showing in the nation's top market since the fall of 2000, according to Viacom Inc.-owned Infinity Broadcasting, which syndicates Stern. In Los Angeles, where he is carried on KLSX-FM, Stern climbed back to No. 1 in the key demographic of listeners aged 25 to 54 for the first time since the summer of 1995."

AP: "A second top editor stepped down from USA Today on Thursday as the fallout from a fraud scandal involving a former star reporter spread. A third told staffers he would be departing soon. Hal Ritter, the newspaper's managing editor of news, submitted his resignation to publisher Craig Moon on Thursday. He had been in that role since 1995 and had worked at the paper since it was founded in 1982. Ritter's departure came on the same day the newspaper revealed the scathing conclusions of an investigation by three veteran journalists into the work of former star reporter Jack Kelley. The panel determined that editors should have looked into concerns about Kelley's work long ago and that poor editorial oversight and a 'virus' of fear helped Kelley continue his improprieties for years. The newspaper's top editor, Karen Jurgensen, retired abruptly on Tuesday."

Steve Rendall writes for FAIR's Extra!: "After exposure to countless similar stories published since January 2002, when Fox was reported to have surpassed CNN in the Nielsen ratings, one might naturally conclude that Fox has more viewers than CNN. But it's not true. On any given day, more people typically tune to CNN than to Fox... How can CNN have more total viewers when Fox has such a commanding lead in average viewers? Conventional industry wisdom is that CNN viewers tune in briefly to catch up on news and headlines, while Fox viewers watch longer for the opinion and personality-driven programming. Because the smaller total number of Fox viewers are watching more hours, they show up in the ratings as a higher average number of viewers."

Media for Democracy reports: "The FCC is on the verge of giving billions of dollars' worth of your public airwaves to large media conglomerates.... This weekend, commercial broadcasters, television news executives, lawmakers and the FCC's five commissioners are converging on Las Vegas.... The event ... tends to be a lobbying frenzy over massive handouts for the industry, at the expense of the public.... Media for Democracy has joined forces with Common Cause, TrueMajority.org, Alliance for Better Campaigns, the Center for Digital Democracy, MoveOn.org and other public interest groups to stake a claim to our airwaves.... [T]ake action on this alert via the web."

Meria Heller loathes Rethuglicans and corrupt corporations as much as anyone on earth and runs the biggest leftist political webradio show on the Net. She's interviewed every liberal you've ever heard of, and she needs your web-vote. "American Candidate" is a new reality show that gives real people a chance to be "People's Candidates," on national TV, instead of the procorporate clones who now rise to the top everywhere. And who knows, we've had actors as Presidents and Governors, and American Idol stars hit the bigtime. Maybe this is a way to get a real people's candidate in office. Go to the linked page to read about Meria's fight against rightwing Corporate rule. Then just click on the 'Support Me' link at the top of the page. The bad guys are already voting for their candidate. So go vote for Meria and pass this on to all your friends who don't like corporations controlling our entire lives, so that we live, breathe (unfree) and die for them.

"Most U.S. news media are experiencing a steady decline in their audiences and are significantly cutting their investment in staff and resources, according to a report issued on Monday (http://www.stateofthenewsmedia.org)... Circulation of English-language daily newspapers has dropped 11% since 1990; network news ratings are down 34% since 1994; late night local TV news viewership fell 16% lower since 1997 and cable news viewership has been flat since late 2001... The report cataloged a striking decline in the number of journalists employed in American newsrooms. There were one third fewer network correspondents than in 1985; 2,200 fewer people at newspapers than in 1990; and the number of full-time radio newsroom employees fell by 44% from 1994 to 2001. Only 5% of stories on cable news contained new information, the report found. Most were simply rehashes of the same facts. There was also less fact checking than in the past and less policing of journalistic standards."

The Project for Excellence in Journalism has released a new study that shows that the US media is not only failing the public when it comes to news coverage, it has lost the public's trust. A few report findings: "The talk and debate-heavy formats of prime-time cable news programs are almost devoid of true reporting, serving instead as a visual form of talk radio; there is little to distinguish the range of topics and treatment given actual stories by the three primary cable news channels - CNN, Fox and MSNBC; Financial concerns have led to the abandonment of strongly reported, written and edited stories in favor of quicker and rougher 'live' updates from correspondents tethered to their satellite trucks. And those live reports, often presented as involving 'breaking news,' typically advance the story little: 'What you're getting is newsgathering in the raw' " - rather than processed, researched stories.

The Hutton report has been condemned by a majority of Brits, including David Kelly's family, as (variously) a whitewash, a sellout, and a collusion between Tony Blair's government and Hutton. Now it seems that this collusion may extend even further: Blair wants to use the report as a pretext for destroying the BBC. The report outrageously placed all blame for David Kay's death on the BBC, which was only trying to do its job in the public interest by probing the Blair WMD claims. The similarity between Blair's efforts to muzzle the BBC and Bush's efforts to stamp all dissent from US media shows just how many freedoms these two despots will sacrifice to stay in power.

"Sanders stated that the Comcast/Disney merger is a direct result of the government's recent authorization of News Corporation's merger with satellite broadcaster DirecTV. 'That merger set a new standard for the integration of production, broadcast, and distribution systems -- a dangerous combination of monopoly market power in any industry and a serious threat to the health of our democracy which is founded on a free and competitive media.' Sanders predicted a new wave of media mergers at the highest levels. 'Media giants will become media titans,' he said, 'The price of admission to the top level of media industry power will now be ownership of broadcast, production, and distribution systems. Ultimately, this means that a few media giants will control almost everything that Americans read, watch and hear. Congress needs to act now to stop this dangerous development.'"

"Stephen Glover, the Daily Mail columnist and one of the founders of the Independent, is making an audacious attempt to launch a new national newspaper," reports the Guardian. "Sources close to Glover have confirmed that he is currently trying to raise millions of pounds to set up an upmarket tabloid, targeting readers fed up with dumbing down in traditional broadsheets. The Independent has rolled out its tabloid across the country and launched a tabloid-only Saturday edition, leading to speculation that it will soon complete the transition from broadsheet sizing, the traditional signifier of quality journalism."

"Congress is having high-profile hearings to debate the crisis in American media. Media concentration? Nope - indecency. Spurred on by Janet Jackson's Super Bowl antics, Congress has decided to try to address the issue of television's 'race to the bottom.' Their answer? Increasing token fines on broadcasters that push the envelope with explicit content. We need your help to get Congress to focus on what's truly obscene: Big Media getting any bigger... Members of Congress are focused on the media today - we've got to tell them what really matters to us. We need you to call your representative in Congress. Urge him or her to co-sponsor House Joint Resolution 72, the resolution of disapproval that would roll back the new FCC rules. We need you to tell them that the real solution to the problems of our media has to address the root cause: the growing concentration of media ownership. Click below for your representative's information and detailed instructions."

"The BBC is taking the Kilroy program off air after presenter Robert Kilroy-Silk sparked outrage with his comments about Arabs," reports the UK Independent. "In a statement, the BBC said it 'strongly disassociates itself' with comments Kilroy-Silk made in his newspaper column at the weekend, and has launched an investigation. Under the headline 'We Owe Arabs Nothing', he branded Arabs as 'suicide bombers, limb amputators, women repressors'. The Commission for Racial Equality has referred the matter to the police. The BBC statement read: 'The BBC strongly disassociates itself from the views expressed in an article by Robert Kilroy-Silk in The Sunday Express of 4 January 2004.' The daily show was due to go out as usual on Monday but will be replaced by an extended half-hour of BBC Breakfast." Meanwhile, here in the US, the Media treats hatemonger Limbaugh with kid gloves, especially in the case of his drug addiction and his hypocrisy.

Fox Kids and ABC Cable Networks hopes to feed millions of kids around the world a steady junk diet of Power Rangers and other "Commercials Disguised as Cartoons" fare. The new media monopoly targeting kids is called Jelix. Execs at Fox Kids and ABC say their shows will reach 137million households in 77 countries in 18 languages. Says the Guardian (with poignant understatement): "The alliance will alarm many people already concerned at the apparently unstoppable march of media globalisation. The subject is particularly sensitive in children's broadcasting, where TV programmes are used as hooks to induce parents to buy merchandise." The corporate media response was typical: They aren't force-feeding consumerism! They are merely offering "choice." Yep - get 'em while their young!

Norman Solomon has named the winners of this year's P.U.- Litzer Prizes for 2003 -the worst stinkers to be pawned off on the American public as practictioners of "journalism" in a year of record-breaking media stench. Among the winners: CLEAR CHANNEL's Lowry Mays for Media Mogul of the Year, FOX News for the "More You Watch the Less You Know," Katie Couric as "Military Groupie of the Year," Tom Brokaw for the "Liberating Iraq" award, and CNN for the "Clear it with the Pentagon First" Award. Seems to be a correlation here: the more they make, the worse they stink!

"Sky News has been fined 50,000 [british pounds] over a bogus report from a Royal Navy submarine during the Gulf war, it emerged yesterday. The Independent Television Commission (ITC) imposed the fine and said that the story, by reporter James Forlong, had breached accuracy rules. His report on March 21 this year described the firing of a cruise missile and gave the impression the footage was from the conflict. It emerged, however, in July that the pictures were from file stock and the submarine was docked."

Alexander Cockburn on Democracy Now!: "[Rupert Murdoch] is the most powerful news mogul in the world. He has vast properties in the United States and Australia and Britain and the People's Republic of China... Any time I look at O'Reilly thundering at people about democracy, just remember that Fox spends a lot of its time licking the boots of the butchers of Tianamen square. That's what they do... The whole point of Murdoch, as a good new book by Bruce Paige point out, is that he essentially offers a service to governments, a privatized propaganda service. He says, if you give me regulatory relief, if you give me monopolies as Thatcher had done, as Reagan did, as Bush is doing, I will propagandize in favor of your party. He has absolutely no beliefs except consummate greed and the bottom line. He's a very conservative guy. He is completely cynical in the way that he allocates favor."

From Reuters: "Congressional negotiators on Monday settled a battle with the White House over U.S. media ownership in a compromise that would roll back newly relaxed rules but be less restrictive than the lawmakers originally proposed, congressional aides said on Monday. Lawmakers had wanted to bar the Federal Communications Commission for one year from allowing networks to buy local stations that collectively reach more than 35 percent of the national audience. The compromise, which removes an obstacle to passage of a huge, end-of-year federal spending bill, would now permanently set the cap at 39 percent, House of Representatives and Senate aides said."

LA Times: "Opponents of increased media consolidation, including some influential Republican lawmakers, are vowing to repeal one of the most controversial new FCC rules as part of a massive appropriations bill expected to be passed later this week. But despite some early momentum in both the House and Senate, it appears that the major TV networks - bolstered by the threat of a presidential veto - have made headway in beating back attempts to reinstate a rule that prevents a broadcast company from reaching more than 35% of the country's TV viewers... 'My guess is that it will be dropped,' said a spokesman for House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), referring to a provision that would reinstate the 35% cap. Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, has said repeatedly in recent days that he intends to push to keep the cap, and he predicted that Bush would not veto the legislation in the face of strong support in Congress."

"Alexandra Trustman '07 said it wasn't her idea to ask what one media critic called 'the most ridiculed question at CNN's Rock the Vote.' Her defense, published as an opinions column in The Herald Monday, instantly sparked nationwide scrutiny of the debate and a response from CNN Tuesday morning. Trustman asked eight Democratic presidential candidates whether they preferred Macs or PCs at the Nov. 4 debate held in Boston... Trustman's assertion that CNN planted the debate question has led some to doubt the news network's integrity in how it handled the debate. Although members of the debate's audience who were slated to ask questions were notified in advance of the topic they were to address and the order in which they were to speak, it was extremely unusual for the network to actually plant a question, Washington Post columnist Howard Kurtz said." CNN is owned by AOL-Time Warner. Maybe in the next debate someone will "spontaneously" ask, "Which do you prefer -- AOL or Compuserve?"

Media activists Robert McChesney and John Nichols write, "Media conglomerates must not be allowed to impose their will on the United States and other countries via international trade deals. Media firms are currently lobbying the World Trade Organization and other multilateral organizations to accept a system of trade sanctions against countries that subsidize public broadcasting, that limit foreign ownership of media systems or that establish local content standards designed to protect national and regional cultures. They want similar assaults on regulation inserted into the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas. Representative Sherrod Brown is right when he says Congress should not pass trade agreements that undermine the ability of Congress to aid public broadcasting and protect media diversity and competition."

Charles Dodgson writes, "A few weeks ago, Tom Friedman was mocking the French for proposing 'some kind of loopy symbolic transfer of Iraqi sovereignty to some kind of hastily thrown together Iraqi provisional government' -- a proposal that they could only be advancing, he claimed, because it was doomed to failure, and failure was what they wanted to see. Today, he makes his own proposal: 'There is much talk now about the need for 'Iraqification' of the police and armed forces, so Iraqis can take over for U.S. troops. No question, this is necessary. But it's not sufficient. We could have 100,000 Iraqis in the police and Army and it would not be enough - without one other person. We need an Iraqi leader (or a leadership council) elected as a result of an Iraqi constitutional or political process... This should be our drop-everything priority.' Which is, of course, very different. It was not proposed by the French."

"Reporters Without Borders today publishes its second world press freedom ranking... As in 2002, the ranking shows that a country's respect for press freedom is not solely linked to its economic development. The top 50 include countries that are among the poorest in the world, such as Benin (29th position), Timor-Leste (30th) and Madagascar (46th)... The ranking distinguishes behaviour at home and abroad in the cases of the United States and Israel. They are ranked in 31st and 44th positions respectively as regards respect for freedom of expression on their own territory, but they fall to the 135th and 146th positions as regards behaviour beyond their borders. The Israeli army's repeated abuses against journalists in the occupied territories and the US army's responsibility in the death of several reporters during the war in Iraq constitute unacceptable behaviour by two nations that never stop stressing their commitment to freedom of expression."

Rolling Stone: "'It's time for Americans to get informed, get angry and get active,' says Audioslave's Tom Morello, who joins forces with Steve Earle and Billy Bragg on the politics-meets-music Tell Us the Truth Tour, which kicks off in early November. The Truth shows will feature acoustic and spoken-word performances by the artists, who hope to shed light on issues from media reform to global trade. 'We need to provide an alternative worldview to the one that is squeezed through the very narrow blinders of Fox News,' says Morello, who will be playing without a band... With the 2004 presidential elections on the horizon, Morello is hoping this tour will encourage younger rock fans to think more about larger issues facing the country. 'I maintain my childlike faith that music can change the course of history,' he says." Check out the excellent tour website below.

SF Chronicle: "Federal marshals and reps of the FCC raided a residence on a quiet block in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood Wednesday, confiscating equipment used to operate an unlicensed, low-power FM radio station... No charges have been filed against anyone associated with the station... San Francisco Liberation Radio broadcasts 'radical progressive' political views and independent music programs... In August, Supervisor Matt Gonzalez drafted a resolution supporting the station for its alternative viewpoints... Liberation Radio attorney Mark Vermeulen, who arrived at the station site shortly after the agents did, explained to the marshals that the station had applied to the FCC for a license in 2000 and had never been officially told it had been denied... '[The airwaves are] like the national parks and the seashores, but they have been preempted by vast corporations. In this day and age, to get a legal station on the dial, you have to have millions of dollars to buy one.'"

"Last week the Dalai Lama spoke in New York on the last stop of a U.S. tour where he met with Tibetan exiles in several cities and pressed the Tibetan cause in DC. The New York Times headline was: 'Dalai Lama Says Terror May Need a Violent Reply'. The Times said the Dalai Lama believed 'it might be necessary to fight terrorists with violence and that it was 'too early to say' whether the Iraq war is a mistake.' The next day the Dalai Lama's representative sent a letter to the Times in response. It said that the Times 'gives the misleading impression his holiness is endorsing violence as a way to confront terrorism. I am sure, as many of your readers are aware, his Holiness always advocated nonviolence as the most effective method of dealing with conflict. More specifically, with regard to the war on Iraq his Holiness has publicly issued a statement expressing his opposition to war as the momentum was building towards an invasion'." Check out Democracy Now's talk with the Dalai Lama.

From Common Cause: "OCTOBER 8 is Meetup Day - Please Join Us! With a tough congressional fight ahead, but with some continued momentum from the recent Senate vote, our opportunity to make a difference in the fight over big media is NOW! Please sign up for the Common Cause Meetups in your community to make a difference. Visit http://commoncause.meetup.com (click below) and enter your zip code to find out where Meetups are happening in your area. We need YOU to join with thousands of other Common Cause supporters around the country on October 8 to eat, drink, and discuss how to continue the fight against big media."

From WhiteHouseforSale.com: "On a 3-2 party-line vote, the FCC voted yesterday to approve the purchase of Hispanic Broadcasting Group by Univision, says the Ledger in Lakeland, Fla. The deal has come under fire for creating a Spanish language media empire that could control much of the news and information flowing to the growing Latino market. Noting the controversy, two Democratic commissioners pointed out that, 'The company is aptly named Univision -- 'one vision' -- because that describes what is likely from Spanish-language media from now on.' As previously covered on this Web site, a primary benefactor is Bush Pioneer Jerry Perenchio, owner of Univision. Rep. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) expressly raised the link between Perenchio's contributions and the controversial merger's approval. 'I can only see that partisan vote as one that is clearly, clearly promoted by the White House,' Menendez said."

"Curious about who owns your local media, telephone and cable company? The Center for Public Integrity has created a searchable database that contains basic information on every radio and television station in America as well as every cable television system and telephone company. You can search by company, by call sign or by area. Searchers will find basic information on some of the most important telecommunication companies, including a brief corporate profile and basic financial information. This dataset also includes all industry sponsored trips by FCC officials between May 1995 and March 2003 (including $84,921 in trips by FCC Chairman Michael Powell to places such as Las Vegas, New Orleans, Honolulu and London)."

"The Senate approved a resolution Tuesday to repeal media ownership rules critics say could lead to a wave of mergers and ultimately stifle diversity and local viewpoints in news and entertainment. Defying a White House veto threat, the Senate voted 55-40 to undo changes to Federal Communications Commission regulations governing ownership of newspapers and television and radio stations. Those rules already have been placed on hold by a federal appeals court... Opponents have chosen an unusual legislative path to try to overturn the rules. To succeed, the resolution - called a 'congressional veto' - needs majority approval in the Senate and House as well as Resident Bush's signature. If Bush vetoed the resolution, it would take a two-thirds majority in the House and Senate to override. A congressional veto has been used successfully only once before. In 2001, the Republican-controlled Congress and White House used it to repeal workplace safety regulations [under Clinton]."

"Today, Senators Trent Lott (R-MS) and Byron Dorgan (D-ND) announced new bipartisan opposition to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules that allow further concentration of media ownership. The Senators' announcement comes as the Senate debates a Resolution of Disapproval, sponsored by the pair, which would repeal all of the new FCC rules. A vote is expected Monday.... 'We've gathered 340,000 signatures, with 200,000 of them coming in just two days,' said Eli Pariser, campaigns director for MoveOn.org. 'That's the fastest response rate we have ever had. Americans are demanding that Congress protect their interests, not the special interests.' 'What can't get lost in this debate is the importance of not only protecting the national television ownership cap, but also maintaining the ban on newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership,' said Free Press President Robert McChesney. 'If we lose that, we lose the localism and diversity required by a representative democracy.'"

"The Senate defied a White House veto threat on Thursday by moving closer to approving a measure to reverse [Bush's] drive to allow media conglomerates to grow even bigger. Senate debate opened with backers confident that next week they would win passage of the resolution to rescind recently relaxed media ownership limits. 'This rule opens the gates to massive additional concentration, mergers, acquisitions, fewer and fewer companies owning more and more properties,' said Sen. Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat leading the charge to reverse the rules. A vote scheduled for Tuesday to overturn the media regulations would be the second high-profile defeat in as many weeks for Bush. The Senate voted on Wednesday to block his proposal to redefine overtime regulations in a way that foes say would hit millions of Americans in their pocketbook."

FCC Chairman Michael Powell: "The problem in a society is not concentration and scarcity but actually abundance, fragmentation and hyper competition. There's so much of it the audience is getting fragmented across so many different media that they're very hard to reach and hold onto. When I was a kid, there were three networks. and if you had me you could hold me a while. My kids swing that remote control like it's a pistol, and two seconds into a show, if they are not entertained, you're gone. If there's nothing on TV ... they go play Xbox and if they're bored with their Xbox they go play Playstation and if they're bored with that they go to the Internet. If you're an advertiser chasing my son, you're trying to chase him around this whole electronic sphere. It's because there's so much, because it's so fragmented." So, Mike, you long for the days of three networks? Three - that's still pretty abundant. Why not just one, with programming set by Karl Rove?

"The fight to roll back the FCC media ownership rules is far from over. The Senate Appropriations Committee votes this Thursday evening on the rollback. Intense pressure -- this time through a national phone campaign -- is absolutely critical to our success. Congressional staffers say calls are highly effective. If you are a resident of AL, CA, CO, IA, KY, LA, MD, MO, MS, NV, OH, PA, WI, or WV, your call is to your Senator who sits on the Committee. Your Senator's vote could be the difference between victory and defeat. If you are from another state, your call is to Senator Reid, the only Democrat on the Committee who plans to vote against the rollback. We must continue to pressure Congress, and tell them that we are unwilling to let a handful of massive conglomerates dominate our media. Thursday's rollback vote includes the crucial 'cross-ownership' provision that prevents one conglomerate from owning the major daily newspaper plus multiple TV and radio stations in one town."

Reuters reports: "A U.S. federal court on Wednesday blocked controversial new Federal Communications Commission media ownership rules pending a full judicial review in a major blow to large media companies. In a loss for the Republican-led FCC, the three-judge panel of the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia granted a stay order that prevented the new rules from taking effect as scheduled on Thursday. Critics argued that the FCC rules would concentrate too much power in the hands of media moguls. The new rules were backed by media giants including Viacom, CBS, General Electric, NBC and Fox television networks, none of which had any immediate comment on the stay order. 'Given the magnitude of this matter, and the public's interest in reaching the proper resolution, a stay is warranted pending thorough and efficient judicial review,' the three-page judicial order stated." Give these judges a medal!

"The fight to roll back the FCC media ownership rules is far from over. The Senate Appropriations Committee votes on the rollback this Thursday. Intense pressure - this time through a national phone campaign - is crucial to our success. One call is all it takes. The [FCC's] attempts to quietly relax media ownership rules and unleash monopoly mega-media on our TV, radio, and newspapers are stalling for the first time in history. Why? Because over 2.3 million Americans spoke up to prevent media monopoly and put media policy into the public spotlight. It comes down to a trio of key bills in the next 2 weeks. We must tell Congress that we are still unwilling to let a handful of massive conglomerates dominate our media. Thursday's rollback vote includes the crucial 'cross-ownership' provision that prevents one conglomerate from owning the major daily newspaper plus multiple tv and radio stations in one town." Calls needed from AL, CA, CO, IA, KY, LA, MD, MO, MS, NV, OH, PA, WI, and WV.

"Today, thanks to Noam Chomsky and his fellow media analysts, it is almost axiomatic for thousands, possibly millions, of us that public opinion in 'free market' democracies is manufactured just like any other mass market product - soap, switches, or sliced bread. We know that while, legally and constitutionally, speech may be free, the space in which that freedom can be exercised has been snatched from us and auctioned to the highest bidders. Neoliberal capitalism isn't just about the accumulation of capital (for some). It's also about the accumulation of power (for some), the accumulation of freedom (for some). Conversely, for the rest of the world, the people who are excluded from neoliberalism's governing body, it's about the erosion of capital, the erosion of power, the erosion of freedom. In the 'free' market, free speech has become a commodity like everything else - justice, human rights, drinking water, clean air. It's available only to those who can afford it."

Stan Moore writes: "When watching the corporate-dominated media in America, any intelligent observer suffers inevitable anguish and disgust. All major media are essentially the same in terms of personnel, format, even timing of subject matter in each broadcast. Whether male or female, white, black, or of some other ethic ancestry, media broadcasters are virtual clones of one another. Personnel are well-dressed and impeccably groomed, handsome in appearance and all trained to use certain gestures, including facial expressions and nods of the head to imply knowingness and understanding. But once the tongues start to move and the words are heard, it becomes very clear that the minds of media broadcasters are so shallow as to be almost comical."

"The controller of BBC1 launched an unprecedented attack on Rupert Murdoch yesterday, calling the media billionaire a 'capital imperialist' who wants to destabilise the corporation because he 'is against everything the BBC stands for'. Lorraine Heggessey said Mr Murdoch's continued attacks on the BBC stemmed from a dislike of the public sector. But he did not understand that the British people 'have a National Health Service, a public education system' and trust organisations that are there for the benefit of society and not driven by profit. Her controversial comments...are believed to be the first time a senior BBC executive has publicly attacked the motives of the media tycoon. They follow an intensification of anti-BBC rhetoric from Mr Murdoch's side. The BBC has been alarmed by the increasingly close relationship between the Government and Mr Murdoch's British newspapers, at a time when the BBC's relationship with New Labour is strained as never before."

Cheryl Seal writes: "Lazy journalist syndrome has spread like a virus through America's newsrooms, rendering hundreds of reporters and editors useless to the cause of journalism, as if they were flat on their backs with the flu. In fact, journalistic laziness is one of the most critical problems facing the nation. Why? Because these are the 'good men doing nothing' of whom Thomas Jefferson warned -the indifferent majority who may ultimately allow 'evil to succeed.' If these currently ineffective journalists, even those on the bottom rungs of the ladder, were to persistently do probing research, consistently ask tough questions, doggedly present crucial facts, and diligently follow through on leads, then the sheer critical mass of this effort would poke a hole in the corporate armor and allow the rotten matter to erupt into public view."

Brian Cloughley, columnist for New Zealand's The Scoop, explains why he converted from "leagues to the right of Genghiz Khan" to become a liberal: "Washington and London tell us lies and that these lies are accepted and resold by people who should know better... The people we should be able to trust have been lying outrageously to political and journalistic nodders, who happily passed the lies on to us without question and even with embellishment." Like Cloughley, we must oppose not just the people who invent the lies, but the lazy and/or corrupt media that pass them along unchallenged.

The UK Guardian reports: "Four years ago, Bhutan, the fabled Himalayan Shangri-la, became the last nation on earth to introduce television. Suddenly a culture, barely changed in centuries, was bombarded by 46 cable channels. And all too soon came Bhutan's first crime wave - murder, fraud, drug offences. Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy report from a country crash-landing in the 21st century."

Joe Conason writes: "Walking into my favorite saloon the night before last, I ran into an old friend (and superb reporter) who works on the New York Times metro desk. Everyone at the paper believes Raines and Boyd have to go, he said disconsolately. Now that hope has been fulfilled, presumably to the great relief of the staff of the world's most important newspaper. I wish both paper and staff well, but I have to wonder whether Joseph Lelyveld, appointed as the interim executive editor, will be any great improvement. As editorial page editor Raines bore a great responsibility for the Times' errors and excesses during the Clinton era, from Whitewater to Wen Ho Lee, yet Lelyveld carries just as much baggage with the same labels. Sometimes he seems thoughtful about that troubled era; other times, far less so."

"A staff reporter for The New York Times committed frequent acts of journalistic fraud while covering significant news events in recent months... The widespread fabrication and plagiarism represent a profound betrayal of trust and a low point in the 152-year history of the newspaper. The reporter, Jayson Blair, 27, misled readers and Times colleagues... [NYT Editor Howell] Raines, who referred to the Blair episode as a 'terrible mistake,' He repeatedly quoted a lesson he said he learned long ago from A. M. Rosenthal, a former executive editor. 'When you're wrong in this profession, there is only one thing to do,' he said. 'And that is get right as fast as you can.'" Hey Howell, you're way behind! We're still waiting for apologies over the dishonest reporting by Jeff Gerth (Whitewater and Chinagate), Stephen Labaton and Neil Lewis (Whitewater), Katherine Seelye and Maureen Dowd (for consistently smearing the Clintons and Gores), and William ('indictments are around the corner') Safire.

"The diagnosis: acute news bulimia. The symptoms: mass gorging on a news story and then purging. It's always one story at a time, The Story. The War. The Space Shuttle Columbia. The Rhode Island nightclub fire. The DC snipers. The Elizabeth Smart case. The Laci Peterson affair. Monica. Chandra. Jon Benet. Columbine. And I have already forgotten at least three other recent big ones. They've been purged. We have become gluttons for The Story. It is served around-the-clock, in huge portions. The biggest purveyors are the cable news channels that serve one story at a time, 24/7. There is always a full menu of side dishes to serve with The Story: experts, commentators, former something-or-others, victims, friends of victims, friends of the victim's friends, and psychologists who help us feel the right things about The Story."

Garrison Keillor writes (4/8/03) that Seymour Hersh "got into journalism after he flunked out of law school. [In the late 1960's he got a tip] that American soldiers had massacred an entire village in Vietnam, killing all the men, women, and children. He followed up on it and broke the story of what is now known as the My Lai massacre. At first ... the major media outlets still wouldn't touch the story. Finally, Hersh wrote about a witness of the massacre... who believed that he and the other soldiers had committed an evil act and would be punished by God. [The witness] was interviewed on the nightly news and the My Lai massacre became common knowledge in America. Hersh won the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the story." Colin Powell lied and covered up My Lai, just like he lied about Iraq's WMD. Who do you believe? Seymour Hersh, or the Bush-Rove den of thieves?

For the second time, Al Jazeera has been bombarded by US forces. A coincidence no doubt, like the fact that their English language website has been suppressed by denial of service attacks.

Marc Fisher writes, "AM talk - Rush, Dr. Laura, Hannity - targets middle-aged white guys. Surprise: They tend to be conservative. But FM talk - Howard Stern, Tom Joyner, Chicago's Mancow, Don and Mike in Washington, Tom Leykis in Los Angeles - scores with young men, guys who like their radio on the risque' side, with a bulging menu of sex jokes and a powerful message that this is America and you can do whatever you want. Hint to Democrats: You may not like to admit this, but these are your voters... Shock jocks are this country's progressive talkers, ranting for hours on end on behalf of civil liberties, sexual freedom, the rights of the little guy against the nation's big corporations and institutions (and - sorry, Dems - against affirmative action). They may not share Limbaugh's fascination with electoral politics, but on the issues that divide this country into red and blue, they are every bit as popular and powerful as the supposedly unchallenged conservatives."

This terrific "screen capture" from a recent CNN telecast. CNN's caption says it all about the quality and insight CNN has brought to the state of broadcast journalism, especially as CNN has moved from Ted Turner to Time Warner and now AOL under Steve Case and Walter Isaacson... So this is where Americans get their news?

Craig Linder and Brooks Boliek write for the Hollywood Reporter: "An FCC investigation into media industry consolidation has been hampered because key sources fear they will lose their jobs if they come forward, commissioner Michael Copps said...In a speech at New York's Fordham University, the Democratic member of the FCC said that some consolidation opponents believe they will be fired, disciplined or demoted if they speak out against the looser ownership caps that many large media conglomerates are seeking. 'There are media professionals with strong feelings about the downsides of consolidation for the American people who are afraid to speak for fear of retribution," he said. "We need to find a way for them to be heard.'"

"Former AOL Time Warner vice-chairman Ted Turner... unleashed his famous tongue again yesterday, criticizing the growing likelihood of a U.S. attack on Baghdad... 'We got all the bombs and they don't have very much but a few guns. It's the high-tech wealthy Western nation against the Third World country; it's kind of a foregone conclusion that we'll win. It's a question of how many civilians get killed over there -- that's what worries me,' Mr. Turner said. 'We're trying to get one man, right? And we're going to kill tens of thousands of people to get him. It seems like a pretty inefficient way to do things.' Mr. Turner compared the heavy-handed approach to dropping a nuclear bomb on Washington in an effort to neutralize the two snipers who terrorized the U.S. capital region last fall." Speaking of CNN, he said "I'd love to get it back. I just don't see how I can make it happen." Hey Ted - call Barbra Streisand and start a NEW Democratic Cable Network!

Media executive are coming to grips with a disturbing fact: they will lose a ton of money during W-ar, because advertisers don't want their products featured alongside human carnage. During Gulf War I, ABC, CBS, and NBC lost $25 million EACH DAY. In one week after 9-11, News Corp. (FOX) lost $100 million. So why are the network anchors so palpably lusting for war? (That means YOU, Paula Zahn!) It all comes down to a 2-way battle between CNN and FOX to claim supremacy of the airwaves. In reality, neither network will emerge as the winner, since Americans don't believe anything BushFeld says, and will therefore turn to the Internet to learn the truth.

From FAIR: "The review of media ownership rules underway at the Federal Communications Commission will have an enormous impact on the future of broadcasting and on media diversity. The FCC is considering repealing or altering a number of key rules that limit media consolidation. But you wouldn't know any of this from watching network television news. Media companies stand to gain a lot from a relaxation of the ownership caps. So it is no surprise that NBC/General Electric, ABC/Disney and CBS/Viacom have all filed comments with the FCC. It's what they haven't done that is more troubling: None of the big three networks have found the story worth reporting in depth... Encourage the nightly network news programs to report on the proposed rule changes at the FCC...Contact: ABC World News Tonight, PeterJennings@abcnews.com, NBC Nightly News, nightly@nbc.com; CBS Evening News, evening@cbsnews.com."

"I am writing to you today to comment on Docket No. 02-277, the Biennial Review of the FCC's broadcast media ownership rules. In promoting its supposed goals of fair competition, diversity and local voice in today's media market, I strongly believe that the FCC should retain all of the current media ownership rules now in question. These rules serve the public interest by limiting the market power of the huge, dominant companies and players in the broadcast industry. I do not believe that the studies commissioned by the FCC accurately demonstrate, or even attempt to demonstrate, the negative effects that media deregulation and consolidation have had on the diversity of our media. While there may indeed be more sources of media than ever before, the spectrum of views presented has been severely limited..." Sign this important letter to the FCC!

Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel write, "Without much notice, the federal government is moving toward the most sweeping change ever in the rules that govern ownership of the American news media. This shift could reduce the independence of the news media and the ability of Americans to take part in public debate. Yet because of meager press coverage and steps taken by the Federal Communications Commission in its policy-making process, most people probably have no idea that it is taking place... The precedent in radio is telling. Since the rules on ownership of radio were last relaxed in 1996, the two biggest companies went from owning 130 stations to more than 1,400. The F.C.C. chairman, Michael K. Powell, has scheduled only one public hearing, in Richmond, Va., on the proposal, and the public comment period will close at the end of this month. It is a small and brief opportunity, but one that the public should seize if it cherishes an independent press."

WashPost reports, "Over the next few months, [the FCC] will begin to fundamentally alter the nation's communications and mass-media landscape, rewriting a broad swath of rules that affect the choices consumers have for getting online and the variety of television and radio programming they watch and hear... The rules in question govern how much telephone companies need to open their lines to competitors for local phone and high-speed Internet service, set restrictions on how many TV and radio stations can be owned by one company, and determine whether a company can own both newspapers and TV stations that serve the same community... With the stakes high, the corporate owners of three of the nation's major TV networks came together yesterday to call on the FCC to abolish its ownership rules. Viacom Inc., which owns CBS and the Paramount movie studio, joined with News Corp., owner of the Fox TV network and the 20th Century Fox studio, and NBC/Telemundo" to promote monopolization.

Frequent flyer Michelangelo Signorile noticed that airports only broadcast CNN's "Airport Network," which didn't cover the Wellstone crash - or other airline-unfriendly stories. When Signorile inquired, he was first told: "We don't show sensitive materials like that. We use our discretion. If it is something that is specific to the airline industry, something that is particularly upsetting or disturbing to travelers, then it's not shown." But the spokeswoman quickly called back to say the network does cover crashes, but does not "air graphic video of airline crashes of commercial or private aircrafts." Signorile concludes, "it seems like the modern airport, more and more, is John Ashcroft's wet dream for how the entire society should become, everywhere: identification checks, massive security, machine-gun toting military guys, x-ray machines, surveillance cameras and, now, controlled media."

Time writes, "Sherron Watkins is the Enron vice president who wrote a letter to chairman Kenneth Lay in the summer of 2001 warning him that the company's methods of accounting were improper. In January, when a congressional subcommittee investigating Enron's collapse released that letter, Watkins became a reluctant public figure, and the Year of the Whistle-Blower began. Coleen Rowley is the FBI staff attorney who caused a sensation in May with a memo to FBI Director Robert Mueller about how the bureau brushed off pleas from her Minneapolis, Minn., field office that Zacarias Moussaoui, who is now indicted as a Sept. 11 co-conspirator, was a man who must be investigated. One month later Cynthia Cooper exploded the bubble that was WorldCom when she informed its board that the company had covered up $3.8 billion in losses through the prestidigitations of phony bookkeeping." Whistleblowing is suddenly "in" - so when will the media blow the whistle on the Bush-Cheney neo-fascist regime?

Let's look back at this past year and then we can decide what really failed. First, the election: add the elected Senators, Reps and Governors combined,and the Democrats picked up seats. Second, Homeland Security: Bush wanted nothing to do with Homeland Security, yet, the Homeland Security bill is about to pass. Third, Iraq: Bush said he didn't even need Congress, yet there was a vote in Congress, a vote in the UN (which is what the Democrats have always said) and now Bush doesn't talk about a regime change anymore. Fourth, Harvey Pitt: bailed out, and took his chief accountant with him. Were these Democratic failures? The media makes it sound like the Democrats didn't do anything right for the past year, yet as you can see, the Democrats with a minority in the government still led the way on all of these issues. So much for the "liberal media" lie.

"While the Republicans and conservatives continue to pour billions of dollars into building a national media infrastructure...the Democrats and liberals continue to do next to nothing. [Well-meaning pro-Democratic Web sites have only a tiny fraction of the reach of the well-funded conservative organizations supporting George W Bush and other Republicans.] Though much of the post-election criticism has been centered on the Democrats' supposed lack of a message or effective messengers, a more important realization is that what the Democrats most lack is a media infrastructure for getting out a message and protecting their messengers from the ugly attacks that the conservative media is able to generate. Unless that recognition becomes a chief lesson learned from Nov. 5, the Democrats and the liberals can expect a continued erosion of their political influence in a United States that is connected more than ever through national media."

Freepers were hoping that the reason "Centre Daily Times" executive editor Bob Unger left his post last week was backlash over Unger's decision to drop Ann Coulter's meanspirited, bigoted column from the paper. After all, the Freeper brigade mustered 60 some-odd letters pleading for Coulter's reinstatement (no doubt all form letters supplied by the Heritage Foundation and/or Coulter!). But no, says, publisher Henry Haitz. Unger's departure has nothing to do with the removal of the Coulter infection. Despite it's lingering stench, it will not be returned and he supports the Unger decision to disinfect. It's interesting to note that the letters supporting the disinfection have been pouring it at a rate of 20 per day, proving that most folks feel the world's a better place without "eau d' Coulter."

"The international journalism pressure group Reporters Without Borders has published a list judging 139 countries on their respect for press freedom. At the top of the list are Finland, Iceland, Norway and the Netherlands. North Korea, China and Burma are at the other end of the scale. The US' 17th place was lowered because of the number of journalists arrested for refusing to reveal their sources, the report says. EU member countries score well in the list - except for Italy, ranked 40th. Elsewhere, the organisation places the Palestinian Authority (82) higher than Israel (92) in terms of press freedom. Israel's ranking was hurt by what the pressure group claims are "a large number of violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights" in the West Bank and Gaza." - BBC

Jackie Spinnerwrites: "Congress has Congressional Quarterly, Roll Call and the Hill. The military has Stars and Stripes and Defense News. But publisher Daniel Leeds doesn't think Karl Rove and his fellow executive-branch bureaucrats have enough to read. So on Sept. 30, Leeds and his D.C-based Public Sector Media plan to launch the Federal Paper, a weekly newspaper aimed at the 'people, politics and business of the executive branch.' 'When you look at government as a whole, there has been no weekly newspaper for the top decision-makers within the government,' Leeds said. 'There has been no publication for the most politically powerful.'...'(Bush) likes to talk about running the government like a corporation, but there's no internal communication. There's nothing everyone can read that will feel familiar to them.'" Gee, aren't we silly for mistaking FOX News, the Washington Times, Washington Post, and the NY Times for Karl Rove's xerox machine!

American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition, defines 'civil liberties' as follows: fundamental individual rights, such as freedom of speech and religion, protected by law against unwarranted governmental or other interference. The key word here is 'unwarranted'... In a country where freedom of the press and freedom of speech have always been fiercely guarded rights, post 9/11, Americans - including many journalists - seemed to defer to the perceived wisdom of government as we barreled into a war with Afghanistan, a country with none of its own citizens in the driver's seat on any of the hijacked planes... As the issue of national security reached a frenzied pitch, many American journalists appeared to impose gag orders on themselves and stayed away from any tough questions for the George W. Bush administration. 'It's the government's instinct to not tell people the facts and it's the media's job to dig harder and not roll over when someone says, 'no comment.'"

On Thursday (1 pm ET / 10 am PT) Meria will be interviewing Peter Buckley. Hear Peter's FIRST HAND account of being locked in a cage with other protesters during one of Bush's appearances in Oregon. To make it more impressive, this man is running for CONGRESS (www.meria.net). Greg Palast will be Phil Donahue's guest Thursday night, September 5, 2002 on MSNBC at 8 PM ET, 11 PM ET and 3 AM ET on Friday September 6. The topic will be Jeb Bush.

Helen Thomas chatted with Phil Donahue about Bush, Iraq, civil liberties and more. On Bush Jr.: "...the religious right... knows they've got the president [sic]... It's unprecedented to have a religious office in the White House. It really breaks down the wall of separation of church and state." Asked why the American public appears to be so immobile and silent, Thomas responded in a word: "Fear. Fear of being called unpatriotic... The chipping away of our civil liberties is unprecedented. Even in World War II, I never saw anything like that in Washington or any of the wars. I think that people are standing mute, and I remember the rabbi in the March on Washington program. He said that the greatest sin of all in the Nazi era was silence. He had been in a concentration camp for many years. People have got to, they must speak up now or forever hold their peace... You don't want to be on the wrong side. You don't want to be considered unpatriotic if you question or dissent..."

Alternet's Don Hazen writes, "There's a new election just around the corner, and Phil Donahue is the candidate who deserves your vote. In fact, all of us who are interested in watching stimulating television and hearing independent voices and fresh points of view on corporate TV should tune into MSNBC on July 15 at 8:00 p.m. and weeknights thereafter, to vote with our remotes. We'll be giving the message to TV executives that there is an audience for unconventional television programming with a decidedly progressive edge that is far beyond what they imagine. The new Phil Donahue show that debuts next Monday is up against the heavily watched O'Reilly Factor on right-wing Fox News Channel, and a new show on establishment CNN featuring familiar face Connie Chung, who was just snagged from CBS for $2 million a year. This contest is the clearest national political race since the muddy results from Florida in 2000."

"What a time it is -- in this new dawn of 'corporate responsibility' -- to be writing a daily journal online... George W Bush, the ultimate American insider, has no desire to discuss the ways he made his millions. And his impatience with such impertinence is beginning to show. Reading from an aggressive text prepared by Karl Rove, Bush tried to strike a tone of command within moments of stepping to the podium... But the ordinarily docile White House press corps [didn't buy it]. Bush has offered varying accounts over the past decade of his dealings as a Harken director... 'I still haven't figured it out completely,' Bush shrugged on Monday afternoon. In other words, everybody was responsible for his failure to observe the securities laws except him. It sounded a bit tinny [when he said] that his very favorite theme is 'a renewed sense of [personal] responsibility.' " You Go, Joe!

"So, dearest Helen,...where is the 'skeptical press' that you assure us is our legacy from Watergate? Are these wonderfully skeptical reporters hidden deep inside Mystery Mountain with Bush's 'Shadow Government,' scouring their notebooks for evidence of presidentially adulterated words? The private muttering that takes place among reporters and columnists, in their favorite watering holes, hardly qualifies as professional skepticism. When I survey the current crop of journalists, I see a fawning herd of patriotic but stupid stenographers, decorating White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer's fantasy prose with red white and blue bunting. The pressroom flag flappers dutifully report the Generalissimo's 'great victory over evil' in Afghanistan, as if something had actually been accomplished, something besides the replacement of one gang of warlords with a more pipeline friendly team of tyrants." So writes George Lewandowski for YellowTimes.org.

Once again, NY Times columnist Maureen Dowd leaves us dumbfounded - like the duck in the Aflac commercials listening to Yogi Berra. She quotes a "friend" saying: "And now all our worst paranoid nightmares are coming true. We wake up in our 50's and our enemies from the 60's have crept back into power. And we were the empowerers, because we've turned into the same selfish people we thought we were against. We forgot to be suspicious." Hey Maureen - maybe your "friend" forgot, but the 53 million Americans who voted for Al Gore and Ralph Nader did NOT. So why don't you pick up the telephone and call some Americans who are PAYING ATTENTION to the Bush dictatorship, and are fighting it every single day? E-mail dowd@nytimes.com

"Movie star Susan Sarandon has launched a scathing attack on America's morning TV chat shows while appearing on one of them - because hosts focus on gossip and not real world issues. The four hosts of magazine show 'The View' had no idea the outspoken actress would be on the attack when they invited her to join them as a guest [on 6-4-02]. And when she criticised them about the level of gossip mongering on the show and was asked, 'If we didn't talk about that what would we talk about?' by host Joy Behar, she blew up. A furious Sarandon said, 'Maybe what's happening in Burma with civil rights or something more substantial than poor Winona Ryder and what's allegedly happening to her... Sarandon then switched her tirade to news organisations in America - and urged people to look for alternative news sources, rather than depend on the major channels. 'People are interested in issues. There are alternative news sources but you really have to look for it.'" Like Democrats.com!

Wonder why the mainstream media fails to cover important topics and perspectives? "Wall Street will shape what Main Street sees, hears and reads so long as publicly traded media corporations have got to return fat margins to profit-hungry investors, a panel of editors and reporters declared… That state of affairs, while not new, is becoming more intense as companies cut spending and staffing levels to squeeze out profits, especially in recessionary times… The upshot: Quick and cheap celebrity gossip, gruesome snippets on accidents and crimes, and fluffy features about cute pets usually drive out costly, complex reporting on politics and economics, creating the media equivalent of a sugary, junk-food diet... Newspapers, once viewed as a public trust partially exempt from the rules that govern other businesses, are now simply businesses, akin to selling pork bellies... Yet when media outlets do first-rate investigative work, the public often loves them." So writes David Armstrong.

Greg Palast begins round 2 of his book tour to discuss his new book, "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy." Wednesday June 12: Los Angeles, 2 PM at Skylight Books... North Hollywood, 7 PM at the Beverly Garland Hotel...Saturday June 15th: 5 PM in the Oakland Hills...Sunday, June 16: San Francisco, 7 PM at Mission High School...Monday June 17: 7 PM at Sonoma State University...Tuesday June 18: Portland, 3:30 PM at Powell's Bookstore; 7:00 PM at the First Unitarian Church... Wednesday June 19: Eugene, 6 PM at Tsunami Books; 7:30 at McDonald Theatre... Thursday June 20: Vancouver, BC , 7:30 PM at the IWA Hall...Friday, June 21: Bellingham, WA, 11:30 AM at The Majestic; Bellevue, WA, 6 PM at Barnes & Noble...Saturday, June 22nd: Seattle, 4PM at the Seattle Independent Media Center; 7:30 PM at Town Hall Seattle...Other appearances: Washington DC, Baltimore, New Orleans, Toronto, Houston, Austin...

Hooray for MediaWhoresOnline.com! They are doing an outstanding job of getting under the skin of the whorocracy - so outstanding, in fact, that Salon.com published a long feature trashing MWO, accusing it of two unexpiable sins. First, MWO encourages its readers to use indelicate language. Ohmygoodness! Has Salon visited freerepublic.com or lucianne.com lately? Second MWO adamantly insists on believing that Clinton WAS the victim of a Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, and that Bush stole the Presidency. C'mon Salon, wake up and smell the coffee!

"The perversion of technology for killing and oppression has certainly been dramatic, but our very language has been perverted and no longer serves to defend us from takeover by fascism. Fascism has succeeded by controlling the dialogue, limiting the flow of certain kinds of information. It will not be from the politicians, but from the artists, those who dare to think beyond the prescribed limitations, that the way toward the future will be revealed. It will begin with the artists, ignite in the heart of the population, and then the politicians will follow and do what they are forced to do. It is time for a new democratic revolution. It will begin with an alternative media. It is now happening, facilitated primarily by the Web. But the ideas, once freed, may travel through any media. We are at the brink. We must decide whether we will have a democratic or totalitarian future." So writes David Cogswell.

Eric Alterman, MSNBC's only progressive columnist writes, "I hate the word 'blog' but I like the format, particularly as a writer. (What's not to like?) ... All I can promise you is that it will reflect my obsessions: with the actually conservative leanings of the so-called 'liberal media'; with the self-satisfied stupidity of the so much of the punditocracy; with the appalling lack of historical, economic, and sociological context of even the best U.S. reporting; with the never-ending wimpiness of the Democrats, with the perennially self-defeating obsession with holier-than-thou moral purity of so much of the Left; with the amazingly insane views regularly put forth by the Congressional Republican leadership and certain members of the Bush Administration (Thanks, Ralph); with the musical greatness of Bruce Springsteen; with Jews in general and Israel/Palestine in particular; and with lots of movies, music, plays, etc, so I can keep up the flow of free stuff." You go, Eric!

"A few years ago, an outfit called Investors Real Estate Development announced it was planning a cemetery amusement park, featuring gaudy memorials designed by artists, roller coasters, a souvenir shop, and refreshments at "Dante's Grill." The Associated Press picked up the story in October 1999, as did the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Herald, and a number of smaller papers, magazines, and broadcast news outlets." All were duped. None dug deeply enough to detect the truth beneath the scam. The same thing has been happening with the press in its relationship to the Bush Administration since 2000. Will the current revelations be a wake up call? Or will the "cemetery rollercoaster ride" provided by Bush continue unchallenged?

John Stanton and Wayne Madsen write in Online Journal, "A crisis without precedent is underway in the United States. And its consequences will be far graver than those wrought by the U.S. presidential election of 2000 and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The collapse of the Jeffersonian 'free and uncensored press' in America endangers the liberties of all Americans and, arguably, citizens from all walks of life around the globe. As the U.S. prepares to invade Iraq... the only remaining barrier to monstrous U.S. totalitarianism is a sickly and crippled U.S. media, an aggressive foreign media, and the hope that the heretofore somnambulant American public will awaken from its stupor... With incest in the U.S. media as flagrant as it is -- combined with its subservience to the current U.S administration and military -- is it any surprise that events are scripted to suit the outcome of the U.S. economic and national policies?"

Reporters assigned to cover Ari Fleischer's speech at a Texas synagogue were stopped at the door, and reporters who did make it in were told to leave. White House spokesman Fleischer was invited to deliver an "off the record" talk about "a day in the life" of a White House official. "Ari was very surprised," White House spokeswoman Anne Womack said. "It's nothing that Ari asked him [the rabbi] to do. It's a case where maybe someone who doesn't work around the press was trying to protect Ari."

Writes Bridget Gibson: "Each day my television delivers my dose of pornography. It comes unbidden into my home, filling the air with all the lurid details of someone's misdeeds and twisted perversions. It weaves its dirty little stories into the breakfast, lunch and dinner table of the American public. It tosses its nasty blanket over the news. It is presented by the well-groomed men and the sassy blonde women with their painted faces. The hard sell of sex and the hard shell of distraction are the mighty obfuscation of anything that may truly affect the viewer. The thin veil that would normally separate the public from sexually explicit material, the censorship ratings that prevent the viewing of the underage or innocent, does not apply to the news."

"The grim toll of attacks on press freedom - three weeks of Israeli occupation of Palestinian towns: 7 journalists wounded... 4 journalists detained... 15 journalists arrested... 60 journalists targeted by gunfire... 20 journalists roughed up or threatened... 20 journalists who had passports, press cards or equipment confiscated... 10 Arab media offices occupied or ransacked... 1 journalist deported. The policy of the Israeli authorities towards the international media, especially Palestinian journalists, must be condemned for what it is: a massive, deliberate and conscious violation of press freedom and an unprecedented low in the history of Israel." So declares Reporters without Borders (Reporters sans Frontieres).

"PLEASE stop listening to any radio station that does not provide live, local programming! Encourage your friends and colleagues to boycott commercial radio, unless you KNOW it is live and local. If you're not sure, just call the radio stations and ask. Be nice and chatty and tell them you listen all the time so they'll tell you the truth when you ask if the radio station has announcers here in your town or if they're on a satellite or recorded (voice-tracked). If they're not local, please don't listen anymore! If nobody listens, advertisers won't buy ads, and we'll eventually get our LIVE and LOCAL radio stations back!" So writes talk show host Wendy Wilde.

In a decision that bodes poorly for a healthy press in Alaska, two of the three columnists at the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner have been fired. The main target was Dan O'Neill, a respected researcher whose columns exposed a secret plan to test Scud missiles at the U of Alaska. The commotion this caused resulted in a proposal to restrict classified research on campus. Columnist Gary Moore, an Alaska Native critical of the Native corporations, may also have annoyed the local powers. The surviving columnist, Judy Kleinfeld, is a conservative married to a Reagan-appointed judge. Kelly Bostian, the managing editor, said the stable of regular columnists had dwindled, and it was too hard to recruit locals willing to write for meager fees, so he will invite guest editorials. This is barely credible: most newspapers have both regular columnists and op-ed columns, and lots of articulate people in Fairbanks would love to see their names in print. Express your outrage to letters@newsminer.com

"The Meria Heller Show exposed the story about Fox News contacting the owner of www.Hollywoodpulse.com which is a satirical website, without checking their FACTS (once again) and running an interview with him based on a COMEDY website that was mistook for a real 'scoop.' The interview with Ray Richmond is an eye opener for all people who still may be watching Corporate News on television. All shows are archived for relistening 24/7, check out true real life interviews with people in the news to find out what's really going on nationally and globally." See Meria's archive, especially for her interview with Gerard Ungerman, the producer of the outstanding documentary 'Hidden Wars of Desert Storm,' The film exposes how Bush Sr and the CIA covertly armed Saddam Hussein and set the stage for the invasion of Kuwait. PLUS, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) will be on Monday! Kucinich is one of the few brave politicians speaking out against the Bush regime.

Phil Donahue, a nine time Emmy winner and proud liberal, will be returning to the television airwaves in late spring or early summer with a nightly topical program on MSNBC. The show will air at 8 p.m. ET on weeknights. MSNBC is moving its nightly news hour with Brian Williams up to 7 p.m. ET. "Hardball" with Chris Matthews will air at 9 p.m. and be shown exclusively on MSNBC and no longer on CNBC. Ashleigh Banfield's news report will be at 10 p.m. ET and Alan Keyes' talk show, which has done poorly since its debut this winter (as we predicted!), will be at 11 p.m. ET. MSNBC's ratings have suffered in the first three months of 2002, thanks to Kooky Keyes.

Greg Palast, author of "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy," is the investigative journalist who exposed the criminal Florida voter purge. Greg is living in exile in England because no US media outlet will pay him to expose Republican crimes. Palast has planned a busy USA tour: Tuesday 3/19 in Santa Monica, CA; Wednesday 3/20 in San Diego; Saturday 3/30, Monday 4/1 and Tuesday 4/2 in New York City; Wednesday 4/3 in Washington, DC; Thursday 4/4 at the University of Iowa; Friday 4/5 in Chicago; Saturday 4/6 in Oak Brook, IL and Chicago. Let Greg know how much we appreciate his hard work!

"James Carville and Paul Begala, key players in Bill Clinton's rise to the presidency in 1992, were named Wednesday as new co-hosts of CNN's revamped version of 'Crossfire.' Carville and Begala will square off against current conservative 'Crossfire' co-hosts Robert Novak and Tucker Carlson, starting on April 1, in an expanded version of the long-running political debate program. In addition to its new lineup, the program will grow to an hour-long format and will air live from an auditorium at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. The new format will make 'Crossfire' the only nightly live talk show with an audience on television. 'James Carville and Paul Begala are two of the most electric personalities in politics,' said Teya Ryan, the executive vice president and general manager of CNN/US." All we can say is one word: Weeeehawwwww!!!

We stopped reading the NY Times Magazine once it began featuring Andrew Sullivan, the rightwing misogynist liar. But the Magazine made the News when the Times admitted that Michael Finkel fabricated parts of his 11-18-01 article, "Is Youssouf Malé a Slave?" The Times, to its credit, admitted the lie and fired Finkel. But we were struck by this declaration: "The Times's policies prohibit falsifying a news account or using fictional devices in factual material." We're AMAZED to learn that the Times has an official policy against lying. Where is this posted? And how do we report lies - like the stories claiming Bush won Florida? At a minimum, the Times should have a publicly-identified Ombudsman like the Washington Post. Right now, writing the Times is like writing the Bush administration - no coincidence, since a visitor to the Times is greeted by two huge pictures of Bush being sworn in as Commander-in-Thief. Write Executive Editor Howell Raines, letters@nytimes.com

The media oligopoly - News Corp. (FOX), GE (NBC), Viacom (CBS), Disney (ABC), and AOL Time Warner - got their massive reward for helping B%$# steal the Presidency. The Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit has ordered the FCC to reconsider rules prohibiting ONE media monopoly from owning ALL broadcast and cable TV. Of course, B%$#'s FCC, led by Michael Powell, can't WAIT to shred this rule. Soon, the US will have ONE media monopoly, no doubt controlled by the evil Rupert Murdoch. What is the solution? Here it is, in 3 easy steps. 1) Tell Congress to AUCTION broadcast licenses, so the media monopolies have to PAY to pollute our airwaves with their corporate lies. 2) Tell everyone you know to subscribe to Democrats.com News, the only source of TRUTH about American politics. 3) Throw out your TV - it will be nothing but violence, pornography, and lies, and you won't need it any more!

The NY Times published a stinging attack on Pentagon propaganda: "Plans being developed by the Pentagon's Orwellian new Office of Strategic Influence call for planting false stories in the foreign press and running other covert activities to manipulate public opinion. Such a program would undermine rather than reinforce the government's broader efforts to build international support." That's all fine and good, but the NY Times is fully engaged in the propaganda business itself - hiding the truth about 9-11, pretending George W Bush is anything but Dick Cheney's puppet and a corporate tool, adamantly refusing to report on the demonstrations against EVERY appearance by Bush administration officials, and covering up the Stolen Election of 2000. The Times will NEVER have any credibility until it admits that AL GORE WON.

Salon's newest columnist, Ben Fritz, has exposed a MASSIVE Washington scandal - that a politician (in this case Fritz Hollings) spiced up his story without double-checking each of his facts. If we banned every politician who exaggerates, there would not be a single politician remaining of any party anywhere in the world. That's what politicians DO for a living! Ah, but journalists are supposed to adhere to a higher standard of accuracy, right? Here's what Ben says about himself: "Ben Fritz (ben@spinsanity.org) is the co-editor of Spinsanity, the nation's leading watchdog of manipulative political rhetoric." Talk about spin!!!!! At this stage in his tender young career, Ben Fritz is the nation's leader in exactly one thing - promoting Ben Fritz. Hey Ben, if you want to expose the lies of politicians, type the word "Bush" into our search engine, and get to work. Then try Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, Rove, Lott, Helms, Hatch, DeLay, etc. etc. Drop us a note in a few years :)

"Michael Kinsley, a pioneering figure in Web publishing, stepped down yesterday as the editor of Slate, an online magazine he conceived. Mr. Kinsley, who has edited Slate, owned by Microsoft, since its founding in 1996, will continue to contribute as a writer but said it was time for someone else to lead the enterprise." That leaves a huge vacancy for a muckracking editor. Imagine what journalistic achievements would be possible with the backing of the richest man in the history of the universe. Hey Bill, you can hire the whole Democrats.com news team!

On Meet the Press (2/10/02), Tim Russert urged the CIA to hire mass murderers, saying, "You have to get down and dirty." He also urged the US to let foreign governments torture Afghan prisoners on our behalf: "Could the United States allow another country to interrogate in their way and we would simply be observers?" Tim, we are OUTRAGED by your advocacy of wholesale violations of human rights. Let's explain this issue in terms even YOU can understand: could we send YOU to an Al Qaeda camp to find out whether it's true that NBC's boss, Jack Welch, ordered the NBC election desk to call Florida for Bush at 2 a.m. on Election Night, in order to help FOX steal the Presidency for Bush? If that doesn't appeal to you, why don't you go to The Hague to help Slobodan Milosevic prepare his defense for mass murder?

"Lazy journalist syndrome has spread like a virus through America's newsrooms, rendering hundreds of reporters and editors as useless to the cause of journalism as if they were flat on their backs with the flu. In fact, I would have to say that laziness is one of the most critical problems facing the nation. Why? Because these are the 'good men doing nothing' of whom Thomas Jefferson warned -- the indifferent majority who may ultimately allow 'evil to succeed.' If these currently ineffective journalists -- even those on the bottom half of the Totem pole -- were to persistently do probing research, consistently ask tough questions, doggedly present crucial facts, and diligently follow through on leads, the sheer critical mass of this effort would poke a hole in the corporate armor and allow the rotten matter to erupt into public view at last." So writes Cheryl Seal in Part 3 of The Making of the Corporate Media.

”The future of our entire media and communications system, including the Internet, is now literally up for grabs. The major media industries -- cable and broadcasting and newspapers -- have been lobbying the Federal Communications Commission, the Congress, and litigating in the courts, in order to be able to grow larger, more powerful, unencumbered. So the ability of the media system to really support a diverse and wide range of competing content, both commercial and non-commercial, is in doubt. The major media companies are aggressively lobbying the FCC to end safeguards, which have for decades ensured some diversity of ownership. The [FCC] is also poised, because of cable industry lobbying, to end the traditional policy of open access to the Internet, which places now the Internet in jeopardy." So warns Jeff Chester in an interview with TomPaine.com.

Through the pen of Norman Solomon, Mark Twain reviewed Ken Burns' documentary. "I was not as whitewashed as Aunt Polly's fence. The movie included this statement that I made: 'I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land.' However, the audience of 21st century modernists would not have been unduly injured to hear words from my pen like these: 'Who are the oppressors? The few: the king, the capitalist and a handful of other overseers and superintendents. Who are the oppressed? The many: the nations of the earth; the valuable personages; the workers; they that make the bread that the soft-handed and idle eat.'"

"With an invincible, better-than-two-thirds majority, and backed by a supportive audience of more than 500 listeners and activists, the reformers on the interim Pacifica National Board made a clean sweep of many of the serious issues affecting the network at its three-day meeting in New York... The new majority was assured of a free hand when only three representatives of the old majority showed up at the meeting. Wendell Johns resigned by fax before the meeting and Dick Gregory did not appear, leaving Marion Berry, Bert Lee and James Ferguson to carry the opposition. It wasn't enough, since the nine former dissidents could always manage a two-thirds majority -- a requirement under the settlement of the lawsuits." Congratulations to all of the pro-Democracy champions who saved the only progressive radio network in the country!

"When the government grants free monopoly rights to TV spectrum, for example, it is not setting the terms of competition; it is picking the winner of the competition. Such policies amount to an annual grant of corporate welfare that economist Dean Baker values in the tens of billions of dollars. These decisions have been made in the public's name, but without the public's informed consent. We must not accept such massive subsidies for wealthy corporations, nor should we content ourselves with the 'freedom' to forge an alternative that occupies the margins. Our task is to return 'informed consent' to media policy-making and to generate a diverse media system that serves our democratic needs. In our view, what's needed to begin the job is now crystal clear--a national media reform coalition that can play quarterback for the media reform movement." So write Robert Mcchesney and John Nichols in The Nation.

"Today again fear threatens reason. Aliens are imprisoned for months on the flimsiest of grounds. The attorney general of the United States moves to punish people on the basis of secret evidence, the Kafkaesque hallmark of tyranny. Recently F.B.I. agents went to a Houston art museum and, on suspicion that it was promoting terrorism, scrutinized a work that showed a city skyline burning. I am an optimist about America. But how can I maintain that optimism after Vietnam, after the murder of so many who fought for civil rights, after the Red scare and after the abusive tactics planned by government today? I can because we have regretted our mistakes in the past, relearning every time that no ruler can be trusted with arbitrary power. And I believe we will again. The hard question is whether our commitment to law will survive the new sense of vulnerability that is with us all after Sept. 11." Mr. Lewis' column will be missed.

Last year, Time chose George W. Bush as their "Person of the Year," following his successful Theft of the Presidency. (Of course, they didn't quite put it that way.) We believe Tom Daschle deserves the award this year, for making Democrats that majority in the Senate and fighting off some of the worst proposals of the Bush administration. And when Daschle's Senate office was attacked with anthrax, he showed true character by keeping the Senate open for business. You go, Tom!

David Potorti, who lost his brother James in the World Trade Center, perfectly captures the establishment's contempt for dissenting voices. "On October 8th, as most Americans rose concerned and curious about the military action taking place on the other side of the globe, NPR's Morning Edition host Bob Edwards asked Cokie Roberts to weigh in. 'Leaders of Congress were quick to issue a statement in support of the military action in Afghanistan,' he said. 'Were there any dissenters?' 'None that matter,' she replied. It's a jaw-dropping statement when you think about it, one that says nothing and yet says everything... Are the militaristic responses to the terrorist attacks likely to endanger the lives of more American civilians? None that matter. Will the war on terrorism endanger the civil liberties of Americans at home? None that matter. Will bombing Afghanistan cause any significant improvements in the lot of the innocent Afghan people? None that matter."

Ever since TV News gave way to Infotainment, news coverage has become increasingly absurd. Now CNN has negotiated an interview with Osama Bin Laden, and awaits his video reply. Right wing media critic Brent Bozell says, "One finds it absurd to believe that if CNN existed 60 years ago, it would give an audience to Adolf Hitler or Emperor Hirohito, who ordered the attack on Pearl Harbor." But if we had competing cable news networks back then with 24 hours to fill, who knows? Maybe Bin Laden will find a hip-hop producer to tape a rap reply: "My name's Osama, and you think I'm a goner, but I'm still tickin', and you're gonna get a lickin'." Just think - then CNN/Time/AOL could sell the tape through its entertainment division!

"Although Herblock would eventually be synonymous with The Washington Post, the truth is he was an established superstar before he got here. Eugene Meyer bought The Post in 1933, and a dozen years later still had a struggling newspaper on his hands. In a bold play for attention, he hired the sharpest and most audacious cartoonist in the country... Herblock hit Washington like a slap in the face. He perceived the heavy domestic price Americans would have to pay for the dawning Cold War, in both fear and loathing. Herblock drew fear as a looming, ugly and recurrent specter representing the atomic bomb – and soon came a much larger, uglier brother, the H-bomb. As for the loathing, Herblock dubbed that 'McCarthyism...' His three crucial achievements [were] the campaigns against [pre-WW II] isolationism, McCarthyism and Nixon. Fourth would be his early, humane and typically forceful support for the civil rights movement."

When Bill Maher's show "Politically Incorrect" was on the ropes, who came to his defense? Democrats, of course. So how did he show his gratitude? On Wednesday's show, cartoonist Ted Rall spoke for millions of Americans when he declared, "But it's so hard to take anything from the Bush administration seriously considering that they didn't win the election. Did everybody forget." Naturally, the show's right wingers attacked Rall. SO which side was Bill Maher on? "That's so September 10th. It really is." Hey Bill, here's the simple reason why we'll NEVER get over it, not matter how many times we get attacked by terrorists: if they don't COUNT our votes, why should we bother?

"In the wake of September 11, many critics have voiced concerns about the narrow range of debate in the corporate media. Now the U.S. government is considering decisions that could reduce media diversity even further. But while some congressmen, the Newspaper Association of America and other groups representing big media companies are urging the Federal Communications Commission to drop ownership rules, and while the station owners of the National Broadcasters' Association fight to keep some restrictions, where is the voice of the public, the consumer?" So writes MediaChannel.org.

You won't find many issues that unite Arianna Huffington, Buzzflash.com, and Matt Drudge. But here's one! As Huffington writes, "we need your help if we are to stop ABC from canceling 'Politically Incorrect.' A small group of zealots have intentionally distorted comments made by Bill Maher, and succeeded in putting the show's future in jeopardy. If you agree that we can simultaneously rally around the flag and allow dissent and free speech to flourish, please email comments directly to ABC at netaudr@abc.com."

In their effort to squeeze every last drop of prime time drama out of the NY tragedy, the media is releasing sensational, but often false, information. For example, news people claimed erroneously that a potential survivor had been in contact with the outside by cell phone and that as many as 15 people were trapped alive in a store. Other media outlets reported falsely that five trapped firefighters had been rescued from the rubble - but only two were actually trapped. Mayor Rudolph Guiliani was angered, and said this misinformation "can be very dangerous and emotionally damaging." Public outcry against the running of footage showing falling bodies - an image that may now unnecessarily haunt the dreams of young children for years to come - caused most stations to stop running the spectacle.

Maureen Dowd writes, Bush's "fanfare for the common man rings hollow, given that Bush Inc. is refusing to turn over documents to Congress about the secret deliberations of Dick Cheney and energy lobbyists cooking up their drill & spill energy plan and is knocking down regulatory hurdles, further pleasing Big Energy, Big Media, Big Oil, Big Tobacco, Big Telecom and Big Weapons Manufacturers. A majority of Americans did not elect W. A majority of voters didn't even elect him. A new book about Florida and the Supreme Court decision... is titled 'The Accidental President.' His real constituents are the corporations that gave him $100 million, the biggest political haul in history. In 'Network,' the crazed anchor Howard Beale reveals on the news one night that his network has been bought by a corporation and that corporation is being bought by a consortium of banks and insurance companies controlled by the Arabs. Think of how mad Howard Beale would be today." That's exactly how mad WE are!

Rupert Murdoch is a megalomaniac with a grudge against anyone more progressive than he is, which is just about everyone. He has worked hand in glove with the American corporate right to push the "freemarket" (as in profit worshipping) agenda. Now he is on the brink of infecting China with his venom by broadcasting TV via satellite into a southern Chinese province. This is in keeping with a scheme of the Baker Institute (one of Bush's top advising bodies) that calls for getting commercial television to the Chinese ASAP so the Asian masses can be systematically hooked on western consumerism. So intent on getting his foot in China's door is Murdoch that he has for some time been engaged in "one of the most impressive feats of protracted grovelling that has been seen since Iago," to quote Gwynne Dyer of the "Jordan Times."

I predict that within five years, there will not be a single free TV station in this country [I wasn't referring to the costs there], they will all be owned by fascists. From this point, there is no turning back. It's time for Democrats, and those who don't want to see wall-to-wall HATE-TV to take a stand.

Are you sick of the media? Here's some excellent advice from columnist Norman Solomon: "If you want to stop worrying and love the media, a change in approach might be all that's needed. For starters, here are a few suggestions for watching television and listening to the radio: Cultivate a short memory; Don't resent flagrant manipulation; Get accustomed to brevity in news coverage; Be grateful for the news provided by "public broadcasting"; Ignore the commercials on noncommercial broadcasts; If the language of a news report sounds slanted, don't linger over the implications; Do not wonder too much about what's missing and why; Take a media outlet's word for it; Don't let media conflicts of interest disrupt your credulity; Forget that the nation's broadcast frequencies have been expropriated by companies supplying little but garbage; Above all, don't keep in mind that corporate media giants are special interests. And remember to have a good time as a satisfied media consumer."

highest award for oily slant in journalism, the coveted Slippery Slope, for their coverage of the disappearing budget funds. Instead of focusing on the budget, the Post focused on the Democratic REACTION to the budget! "Shrinking Surplus is Budget Battle Cry," reads the headline. The ensuing article blathers Limbaugh-style about how the Democrats plan to use the budget problem as political attack fodder and are "seizing on news that this year the government will need to spend Medicare payroll taxes to pay for defense, education, and other federal programs - and could even begin tapping Social Security payrolls." Note how writer Glenn Kassler cleverly fails to suggest that Bush might be discrediting his own policies by his actions - It's the DEMOCRATS that are discrediting him, of course! We hear Kassler is now shooting for a job at "Weekly World News."

According to Maureen Dowd, CNN's Walter Isaacson "dismisses the idea that he is being especially solicitous of Republicans. 'We've talked to a dozen folks with a wide variety of views to be part of our commentary mix,' he said. 'But CNN will remain scrupulously nonpartisan and non-ideological. My theory is we're in a period in which the 90's partisan battles have receded and things are less bitter and there's less shouting on TV.'" LoL! Isaacson obviously hasn't been watching enough of his arch-rival, FOX. But Isaacson's flirting with Rush Limbaugh has not helped his cause. Instead, CNN's identity crisis has left Dowd calling it the Cable/ Clinton/Communist/Chandra/Conservative/Christian News Network.

Last week, we reported that CNN's news chief, Walter Isaacson, went to Capitol Hill to kiss the ring of House Whip Tom DeLay (R-TX), the most reactionary politician in America. Many of you wrote Isaacson to complain, and here is his reply: "The reports you read are trying to make something out of little. I was in Washington and went to Capitol Hill to meet some people, particularly House leaders, that I'd never met before. I listened to what they had to say about CNN. I also dropped in on or ran into a few Democrats. I am not trying to tilt CNN one way or the other, or asking for advice on how to tilt it, or getting into any ideological wars." But in reality, CNN is negotiating a contract with Rush Limbaugh, the man who brought ideological war to the airwaves. In other words, Isaacson lied to us. Write isaacson@aol.com and tell him - SAY NO TO RUSH AND THE RADICAL RIGHT!

WEVD-NY is one of the few remaining liberal talk show stations, home to great hosts like Bill Mazer, Alan Colmes, and Sam Greenfield. But now the station's owners - the publishers of The Forward, a liberal Jewish newspaper - have made a deal to sell the station to ABC, which will switch the format to ESPN sports talk. Tell the FCC to reject the license transfer!

"Increasingly, the U.S. news media is helping to create a confused, cynical and disinformed electorate, what is sometimes called Tabloid Nation. That, in turn, is posing a more fundamental threat: to the nation’s 225-year-old experiment in self-government. No democracy - no rational society - can long endure when the electorate is denied reliable information about the important issues before it. There is a need today for a response commensurate with the gravity of the threat. One of the first elements of that response should be a media flagship that can rally the tens of millions of Americans who feel shut out by today's sneering punditry and vacuous journalism. With the hundreds of channel openings available on satellite and cable - as well as the new video potential of the Internet - this flagship logically should take the form of 'a superstation for democracy.'" So writes Robert Parry, Editor of Consortiumnews.com

The Telecom Act of 1996 unleashed the most intensive deregulation and media consolidation in US history. Clinton, alas, naively imagined that deregulation would lead to increased competition and private investment, diversifying media. Instead, the Act has lead to the loss of diversity, loss of jobs, and loss of creativity and indepedence. Nowhere is this trend worse than in radio where now just two companies, Clear Channel and Infinity, dominate the U.S. commercial market. And, as these are major corporations, guess where their allegiances lie? Is there any wonder that radio is now overstuffed with rightwing windbags spewing hatred and propaganda hour after hour?

"It’s not often you get to see the Establishment live on television. But there it was during the televised funeral of Washington Post publisher Katherine Graham." So writes David Corn, who exposes the outrageous hypocrisy of anti-democrat Henry Kissinger's eulogy for Graham's democratic values, as well as the Washington Post's subordination of journalism to US intelligence agencies.

AOL's web newsite was the hands-down winner for our first "Slippery Slope" award for slanted, oily journalism for its unending offering of corporate-slanted pap. Now we wish to reward the good guys, too. Thus, the winner of our first "High Road" award for conscientious mainstream journalism goes to Dan Rather. Dan has struggled to keep the CBS nightly news from falling completely into the corporate abyss. His coverage of international news and solid priorities shown by his choice of lead stories sets CBS apart from the network pack. (Watch NBC and CBS back to back some evening, and you will be stunned by the difference) Dan's most recent high note: refusing, despite editorial pressures, to cover the Condit story because it was based not on fact, but rumor. (He finally ran one short bit this week due to overwhelming pressure, but has refused to make it a nightly fest like the other news outlets). Congrats, and keep the faith, Dan!

Norman Solomon recalls Katharine Graham's much-touted autobiography, "Personal History" much less kindly than her current lyrical eulogizers. "While devoting many pages to her warm friendships with top U.S. government officials and business tycoons, the book expresses no concern that the Post has been serving the political and economic agendas of corporate elites. The autobiography has little use for people beyond Graham's dazzling peers [among whom was corporate/political criminal Henry Kissinger]. Even activists who made history are mere walk-ons. In her book, the name of Martin Luther King Jr. was not worth mentioning. For a book so widely touted as a feminist parable, 'Personal History' is notably bereft of solidarity for women without affluence or white skin. They barely seem to exist in the great media executive's range of vision. If Katharine Graham 'always spoke truth to power,' then journalism and history are lost in a murky twilight zone."

"Maybe it's just me – but is anyone else suffering from acid reflux disorder from having to swallow the bile of Bush Republicanism? I hardly know where to begin this rant of random convulsions and vomitous-interruptus! Someone tell me why the so-called 'media' can discover every detail of the D.C. Police investigation into Chandra Levy's disappearance – but cannot unearth a simple list of Cheney's secret White House meetings? Or where GW was during his AWOL days? Or why Jeb Bush protects and promotes Cynthia Henderson?" So writes John Cory in Buzzflash. We might add - has anyone in the media actually seen Dick Cheney since he allegedly returned to work on July 2? (Forget about those official White House photos of Cheney allegedly fly fishing on July 8.)

If the tables were turned and Al Gore had stolen the Presidency, we know for sure what HIS 100 day reviews would be like, and it wouldn't be Hershey's Kisses. "In the aftermath of a controversial Electoral College victory that many claim was illegally handed to him by an activist Supreme Court, popular vote loser Al Gore has reached the benchmark hundredth day of his beleaguered administration. Faced with an implacable Republican Congress that was already drafting articles of impeachment as he was being sworn in, a hostile press corps that is scornful of his legitimacy, and a grass roots conservative uprising that requires him to hide within a bulletproof bubble whenever he appears in public, President Gore is faced with an uncertain political future." So writes BuzzFlash Contributing Writer David Podvin.

"In an unbelievable indication of how the White House manufactures news, the AP apparently ran a story that detailed Dick Cheney's Monday morning activities in the White House, in the past tense, more than six hours before a later story indicated that he actually arrived at the White House. BuzzFlash was alerted to this inexplicable reflection of the White House spin machine by a BuzzFlash reader who read it a bit after midnight on Sunday." This could have been attributed to a reporter just using the wrong tense -- but the fact that the AP provided a lame explanation raises more questions: "A spokesperson for the Associated Press told Buzzflash that the Washington Post got the time wrong for the posting on the article discussed below, but it also appears on Yahoo and Newsday with the same time posting of 1:26 EDT."

As the tide of public opinion pulls further away from the self-proclaimed rightwing "moral majority" (which in fact is but a very vocal minority), conservative talkshow hosts and newscasters are reacting. Suddenly, EVERYTHING is a leftwing conspiracy, not just every national problem since the Louisiana Purchase -- but also the personal failures of the rightwing newsies as well. Taking refuge in their shrinking media corners with them are their rightwing GOP counterparts (Tom Delay, et al.) desperate for an easy forum from which to spew their vitriol. (UPDATE: Response to LJBK from Dems.com Reader Nancy Kuhn)

As the quality of news being pumped out by the corporate newspaper companies spirals steadily downhill and the salaries (not to mention job security) of reporters remain disproportionately low, the CEOs of these outfits are raking in Exxon-style big bucks. Last year, the heads of 12 publicly held news companies. each hauled home an average of $3.6 million. Some of these bloated barons did better than others. For example, Washington Post Co. chairman Donald E. Graham really brought home the bacon at $4.4 million.

NY Times "reporter" Frank Bruni has been Bush's favorite media whore since he began covering the Presidential campaign. But Bush's trip to Europe seems to have finally clued Bruni in to the fact that Bush lies about everything all the time. Hey Frank - you still have time to redeem yourself! When will you report that Bush stole the election? And when will you report that angry protesters meet Bush wherever he goes right here in the USA?

In an interview with the Boston Globe, Molly Ivins said Bush is "going around hugging a lot of trees right now, but never underestimate how far to the right Bush and Rove really are. Bush's total worldview comes out of the Midland Petroleum Club. Somebody once asked him why he ran for Congress in 1978, and Bush said, 'Jimmy Carter was president then, and I felt like he was bringing European-style socialism to the US.' Believe me, only an oilman from Midland could see Jimmy Carter as a European-style socialist." Read the full interview, including good news about her health.

For the past two years, a clique of Pacifica radio board members has been waging war on their own listeners and programmers. On June 13, this clique appointed Ken Ford as Pacifica chair. Ford is an official of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), which was also in the news this week when another NAHB official threatened to kill US Senator James Jeffords for switching parties. Tell the NAHB to get out of the wrecking business!

As you read through the linked "AP Code of Ethics," try not to laugh too hard when you come to choice parts such as "should vigorously expose wrongdoing, duplicity, or misuse of power, public or private" or "should uphold the right of free speech and freedom of the press". Even funnier, "should strive for impartial treatment of issues" and "should not give favored new treatment to advertisers or special interest groups." If the AP and other media sources EVER actually followed any of these ethics, we wouldn't be in the current national mess we're in, with an illegal "plant" in the White House trying to undo every freedom we've acquired in 200 years. The fact that the AP lists such ethics - even as "lip service" proves the press DOES know the difference between real journalism and the pap they crank out at present.

Reporter Kelly Campbell of the "Potomac News/Manassas Journal Messenger" newspaper was arrested, handcuffed and hauled to jail this week after making an elementary school principal in a conservative community uncomfortable with her questions. The reporter was inverviewing Princ. Karen Spillman about the school's controversial biology class project in which baby ducks were sent home with students to see if they would learn to follow students as if they were mother ducks. The class had angered several wildlife groups. "You can't haul a reporter off the jail just because you don't like the quesdtions she's asking," says the papers exec. ed. Susan Svihlik. We suspect such incidents reveal the "trickle down" effect the Bush administration is having on the attitude of public officals toward the press and free speech in general. Shrub's message, through his recent actions: If you don't like someone's message, you can just have them roughed up and bodily ejected - even if they are legally protesting or, in Campbell's case, just doing their job.

After a self-proclaimed "Christian soldier" in Roanoke walked into a gay/lesbian bar in Roanoke, VA last September and shot 7 people -- killing one -- the "Roanoke Times" did what a good, honest newspaper should do. It opened up the topic of gays in the community in an in-depth series aimed at fostering greater tolerance and understanding. Although the paper expected a backlash, they were shocked by the viciousness of many of the attacks. But, like a good, honest newspaper, the editors did not back down. Instead of vowing to avoid such topics in the future, the editors took constructive lessons for the handling of later sensitive topics. We congratulate the editors and writers for reminding America what real journalism is all about: truth and courage.

On June 11th, Jan Lentz -- one of the Florida Four arrested in Tampa -- was interviewed on the Meria Heller Show about the first amendment violations of Jan and other anti-Bush protestors. On June 12th, Robert Kunst of the Oral Majority spoke more on these violations, the stolen election and future protests. Also interviewed was Maurice Rosas, another of the Florida Four arrested in Tampa for an 8 1/2 x 11" sign! On June 14th, Meria will be interviewing Phillip Berg, the attorney petitioning for both disbarment of the Supremes and an investigation of Voter Fraud in 2000. All shows are broadcast live and then archived at the website. On June 20th, Lou Posner of Voter March will be interviewed about the Pro Democracy Convention in Philadelphia.

So far this year, 17 journalists around the world have died in the line of duty. These brave men and women were REAL journalists, not to be confused with the "talking heads" on CBS, CNN, FOX, etc., or the desk jockeys who man most American news desks, all of whom spoon up a pathetic imitation of real news every day. The martyred writers were killed in retaliation for daring to tell the truth, or as a way to prevent them from revealing the truth. These are today's real heroes - people willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for free speech for all. We are deeply grateful for their efforts and grieved by their loss.

When "Washington Post" reporter Howard Kurtz threw out the question "Is the media giving Bush a free ride?", the proverbial doo-doo hit the fan and our readers started shouting, loud and clear. Problem was, none of their letters made it into the main "letters to the editor" section. So we promised that their voices would be heard here at Democrats.com!

TJ Walker is an outstanding liberal commentator who hosts his own national talk radio network. This week, Walker interviewed Bob Fertik about Democrats.com. He also interviewed Danny Schecter of MediaChannel.org, who is producing a documentary on the Stolen Election. Check it out!

Hey Maureen - New Yorkers elected Hillary Clinton to the Senate by over 739,424 votes. Compare that to Shrub, who lost by 543,895. Hillary's not a shark -- she's a Senator. But you're definitely a piranha. There, wasn't that bit of name-calling enlightening? C'mon Maureen, can't you find anything worthwhile to write about?

Once reporters fought fiercely to uncover hot stories, digging fast and hard and doing the legwork (remember Woodward and Berstein?). Twenty years ago, papers would have been all over Bush and the fixed election like hornets on honey. Now many towns have a single newspaper, most likely owned by the same conglomerate that owns the paper in the next town. The drive to be the first and best is just not what it used to be and, as a result, neither are the stories.

On May 30, Meria Heller intereviewed Gregory Palast of London BBC TV & London Observer. Palast discussed the NON energy crisis in the US and California; Bush's paybacks to his oil buddies and supporters; the WTO and the stolen election. On May 31, Meria opened her show with Robert Kunst of the Oral Majority with the latest on the protests against the stolen election and what you can do to make your voice heard. Listen to the archives!

On May 6, Washington Post reporter John Harris admitted that the media is giving Bush a free ride. On May 7, the Post's Howard Kurtz invited letters on this topic. Boy, did our readers weigh in!

Two great situations threaten our democracy - the seizing of power that eclipsed the will of the majority, and the growing "information gap" between those who have access to accurate information and those who do not. Many citizens are not aware of the investigative reports and analyses that are telling the full story of the coup-like tactics that were used to install into power a president and an administration that was not elected by a majority of American voters. The Democracy Chronicle will inform, inspire, engage, and motivate isolated Democrats, liberals, and progressives to participate in reclaiming and restoring our democracy. Check it out!

Hillary Clinton has devoted most of her adult life to public service, including massive investments of time and effort into children, education, and health care. Contrast that with Shrub, who has devoted his entire adult life to drunkenness and greed. Somehow, Maureen Dowd can't see the difference - because Hillary had the audacity to call herself a feminist while letting her husband get the glory. If there's any explanation for Dowd's blind rage besides pure jealousy, we sure can't find it.

"The biggest lie fed the American people by conservative pundits is that the United States is dominated by the 'liberal media.' As if Rupert Murdoch, Michael Eisner, General Electric, Time-Warner AOL and Viacom are owned and operated by liberals. Not only are these folks ultra-conservatives, but the people they hire to voice their opinions are so far to the right, they give independent journalism a dirty name. No, my friends, the corporate media is in the hands of right-wing kooks parading as moderates and pushing the political envelope further and further to the right... We are sterilizing the news in this country and every media company is in lock-step making certain that corporate America's interests are protected against reporters who would challenge them by broadcasting the truth." So writes the San Francisco Examiner.

Eric Alterman writes in The Nation, "the niche economics of Net publishing has spawned a number of sites that manage to combine sensible politics with humor and enthusiasm. Most are tiny operations run on love and charity, largely dependent on their communities of readers for information and support. As such, they have remained pretty much invisible to the mainstream media." His favorite sites include Democrats.com, mediawhoresonline.com, bartcop.com, buzzflash.com, american-politics.com, and bear-left.com. We're proud to keep such outstanding company!

"In the parallel universe inhabited by The Wall Street Journal's strange editorial writers, there is now a vast left-wing conspiracy to smear Ted Olsen, Bush's nominee for solicitor general, because he may have been involved with the Arkansas Project. According to the Journal, the 'Arkansas Project' was an exercise of The American Spectator's First Amendment rights. That's one way to describe it. I thought it was a multiyear, multimillion-dollar effort featuring a number of dubious characters who were funded by a reclusive right-wing billionaire in order to destroy Bill Clinton." So writes columnist Molly Ivins.

Many young reporters dream of working at the "Akron Beacon Journal," where solid reporting has continued to be the bottom line through nearly a century of political and ecomic windstorms. Now the Beacon, owned by the ever-expanding Knight-Kidder empire is being forced to accept a new kind of bottom line - corporate profit margins. For the first time in its history, the news has been sacrified to cold cash for the big boys at the top, in the form of several reporter layoffs. At a goodbye party, veteran reporters chanted "You faceless corporate hacks! What kind of witless dolt are you?" Right on!

In the first 100 days of the Bush administration, says the Project for Excellence in Journalism, "Television news coverage was less judgmental than eight years before [at the start of the Clinton administration]. Fully 62 percent of stories about Bush were neutral in tone, compared with 48 percent eight years earlier... The percentage of negative stories dropped by half (from 30 percent to 16 percent)."

In Sunday's paper, Washington Post reporter John Harris said the media has gone soft on Bush. "The truth is, this new president [sic] has done things with relative impunity that would have been huge uproars if they had occurred under Clinton..." Now the Post's Howard Kurtz wants the opinion of Post readers: "Are the media giving Bush an easier time than Clinton, or is Harris way off base? Drop us a line at kurtzh@washpost.com, and be sure to include your name and city." Let's give Kurtz an earful!

NY Daily News' conservative columnist Mike Barnicle has a history of plagiarism. MediaWhoresOnline.com has caught him yet again, this time stealing from a TV ad. C'mon, Mike - give it up and get a real job!

Why is the media "on bended knee" to Bush, and ignoring our incessant protests? Washington Post reporter John F. Harris gives a very simple answer - it's all OUR fault. "But there's no denying that we give more coverage to stories when someone is shouting... Democrats are not likely to give as good as they got. They simply aren't as well organized. And they are not shouting as loudly." OK folks, now we know what to do - START SHOUTING ABOUT BUSH! And, while we're at it, let's call the editors and writers of every paper across the U.S. and tell them where they can look to find REAL news and REAL shouting: right here at Democrats.com!

Did you know that May 3 was World Press Freedom Day? No? Well maybe that's because the decidedly less-than-free U.S. mainstream press didn't bother to report the event. But then, maybe that's because they were too busy figuring out how to make Bush look good - a daunting project that takes up most of their time and energy!

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) writes, "The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) is moving to weaken or eliminate two of the few remaining broadcasting rules that protect some degree of media diversity. On April 19, the FCC voted 3-1 in favor of eliminating the "dual network" rule, which had prevented one television network from buying another. This rule change will immediately benefit Viacom, which will be allowed to own CBS and part of the UPN network. The other rule, expected to be lifted or amended in a matter of weeks, is the "cross ownership" rule, which prohibits a company that owns a local newspaper from owning a television station in the same market." Join FAIR in sending a letter of protest to FCC Chair Michael Powell.

"Barbra Streisand is offering to get her friends involved in buying our own Liberal network. I believe she can do it! I believe we need one." Sign the petition.

Investigative reporter Greg Palast, who exposed the Florida felon purge scandal, has produced a documentary that is being carried on the PBS series "The Calling." As a result of calls and e-mails from grassroots activists, a number of PBS affiliates have scheduled the show (see the growing list at http://gregpalast.com), but a few are still hesitating. You can get Palast's show on the air - and have fun while you're at it - by playing the "Media Un-Twister."

"The national news media can't make up its mind if George W. Bush is Gary Cooper, John Wayne or a reincarnation of John F. Kennedy in the Cuban missile crisis... In the apt description by author Mark Hertsgaard, Washington journalists were 'on bended knee' before Ronald Reagan -- and pretty much stayed there under George H.W. Bush. Now, the journalists are back on their knees before Bush's son." So writes Robert Parry in Consortiumnews.com.

Barbra Streisand continues to point the way for Democrats. Gloria Borger of US News says Streisand "wants to put together a group of Democrats to buy a cable-TV network so they don't have to watch Republican talking heads. 'Everybody told her it was nuts,' says one well-informed source." We don't think it's nuts - we think it's absolutely urgent and essential to give America's Democratic majority a voice on cable TV, which is entirely dominated by the corporate right. Barbra, we're behind you 1000%!

"'That's My Bush!' is out of the bag, and the result will make people howl one minute, cringe the next. It's a schizophrenic experience, to be sure." So writes Dianne Holloway of Cox News Service.

"The modern right in America learned in the 90's that absolute power is best achieved through careful seduction rather than heavyhanded force -- at least as a first resort. They prefer to attempt to make Americans believe they chose the agenda they are now forcing through with the full knowledge it was rejected by America in November -- because, should the truth be told by the media and should busy Americans become too aware of what is happening, they might put up a fight." So writes Jennifer Kelly in MediaWhoresOnline.com

"White House spokesman Ari Fleischer hasn't been shy about telling reporters when he thinks their stories are wrong. And some of them say he's playing word games to discredit stories that are right." Even more troubling is how Fleischer's office pressures news outlets when their photographs don't promote the Rove-approved Bush image.

Roll Call's Stuart Rothenberg should disclose what he's smoking. He is utterly convinced - beyond ANY shadow of a doubt - that Shrub is actually making decisions. He says "the idea that Vice President Cheney is somehow 'really' running the country is almost too ridiculous to entertain." Sorry Stuart, your idea that Bush has any clue at all about his Administration's policy decisions is what is utterly ridiculous. And you'd know that, if only you smug Washington journalists asked Shrub to explain - in his own words, without Dick Cheney or Karen Hughes moving his lips - his policies on reimposing the global gag rule, rejecting new arsenic standards, opposing action on global warming, and cutting child abuse prevention. Frankly, Stuart, we DO give a damn - and you should too, if you care about your children's future.

Long before he lent his name to the president in the NBC drama "West Wing," Josiah Bartlett served as president of New Hampshire, a post known after 1793 as governor. He was one of the leading physicians of his time. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was chief justice of his state.

In a 2-hour PBS special called "Trade Secrets," Bill Moyers took on the chemical industry for decades of lies about its harm to people and the environment. When the chemical industry denounced Moyers, he proudly stood his ground. "I consider myself in good company to be attacked by the industry that tried to smear Rachel Carson when she published Silent Spring. As its own documents reveal, this is the industry that kept from its workers the truth about what was making them sick; that opposes the right of citizens to know what is polluting their communities; that manipulated its own science to hide the hazards of chemicals; that spent millions of dollars to buy political influence, carve loopholes in environmental law, and create a regulatory system that it controls. The people who watch TRADE SECRETS will decide for themselves who is guilty of malpractice."

"Imagine that while Bill Clinton was president, Secret Service agents had gone to fetch Chelsea Clinton's boyfriend from jail, where he'd been arrested for public drunkenness. One could imagine days of righteous indignation on talk radio and pundit television about misuse of the Secret Service and the lack of dignity surrounding the Clinton family." So writes media critic Jeff Cohen of FAIR.

You've probably read about David Horowitz's efforts to raise a ruckus on college campuses by asking their newspapers to print an ad lambasting the notion of reparations for slavery. What's his real goal? To raise money of course.

"Not content to wait for criminal investigations to play themselves out, and more interested in playing an oddly personal game of gotcha, the press, in its pardon coverage, reflected an era when narrative became king--and if certain facts had to be omitted to keep a conspiratorial story line afloat, then so be it... Was it any surprise that while those newsroom changes were unfolding, television news ratings decreased, daily newspaper readership shrank and pollsters discovered that journalists were among the least trusted professionals in the country? The insular and arrogant Beltway news business is broken because too often it refuses to let the facts get in the way of a good story." So writes Eric Boehlert in The Nation.

"The biggest problem with documenting all of the atrocities committed by the illegal junta currently squatting in the White House is simply where to begin. One person cannot cover it all. Every new day brings up some new tidbit of corruption or incompetence that makes one, after a time, resort to using Dorothy Parker's old telephone greeting: 'What fresh hell is this?'" So writes Tamara Baker in American Politics Journal.

"Have any of these poor besieged conservatives flipped through their cable channels? Are they blind or do they see Bill O’Reilly and a dozen other clones savaging anyone who dare call himself or herself left of center? Have they taken a look at the political leanings of the radio talk show hosts who have virtually taken over the AM dial? Are they deaf, too?" So writes Capital Times columnist Dave Zweifel.

Remember those photographs of Communist leaders that the Kremlin used to publish. If a prominent Politburo member suddenly fell out of favor or was executed, he would be airbrushed out of the picture. That must have been some job, airbrushing those photographs at the whim of party leaders. BuzzFlash is certain conservative columnist Bob Novak knows the feeling. That's basically his job nowadays for the Busheviks. Of course, Novak's Bushevik superior is the infamous Karl Rove. Rove would accept it as a challenge to try and convince you that cutting off your legs would help you because it would get you closer to the ground to scavenge for spare change. He’s that kind of guy....

Remember those photographs of Communist leaders that the Kremlin used to publish. If a prominent Politburo member suddenly fell out of favor or was executed, he would be airbrushed out of the picture. That must have been some job, airbrushing those photographs at the whim of party leaders. BuzzFlash is certain conservative columnist Bob Novak knows the feeling. That’s basically his job nowadays for the Busheviks. Of course, Novak’s Bushevik superior is the infamous Karl Rove. Rove would accept it as a challenge to try and convince you that cutting off your legs would help you because it would get you closer to the ground to scavenge for spare change. He’s that kind of guy....

Columnist Gene Lyons writes, "What stopped the pardon frenzy wasn't mere lack of evidence. That never put a damper on a Clinton hate-fest before. For once, GOP strategists had enough sense to quit while they were ahead - another sign of Bush II's clever political instincts--and before the public started heeding stories about Bush I's far more suspect use of pardon power that began to show up here and there. Also interesting was how Washington pundits who'd screeched about the Marc Rich pardon for weeks shut down like a treeful of starlings after a shotgun blast. Boom! Silence." We love this guy!

Folks, it's all over. Under new chair Michael Powell (Colin's son), the FCC has given the green light for media giants to buy up every station they can get their hands on. Just like airline deregulation is expected to produce 3 oligopolistic airlines, so too will all mass media end up in the hands of the 6 mass media giants (GE, Westinghouse/CBS, Viacom, Disney, Time-Warner, and FOX).

Our saintly journalist, Joe Conason, took a trip into the mind of William Safire. (We hope that Joe wore protection.) And what do you know, Bill Safire actually realizes that he is a bald faced liar! The guy just can't help himself. Poor Fella!

Don't expect George Will to comment on the indictment of Yvette Lozano in the Debate Tape investigation. After all, Will was a key accessory to a similar crime twenty years ago - the theft of Jimmy Carter's debate books. "Will looked at the Carter briefing materials and then helped coach Reagan for a crucial debate with Carter. Promptly after the debate, Will went on 'Nightline' to praise Reagan for a 'thoroughbred performance.' Viewers had no way to know of Will's involvement in prepping Reagan for the debate." But what do you expect of another "family values" conservative hypocrite, who left his wife with their downs-syndrome child?

An upcoming issue of Brill's Content reports that CNN White House reporter Jon King sent an e-mail to CNN executives expressing his disgust for Larry King's obsequious performance at the Bush inauguration. "Today I watched in shame and horror as Larry King not only was master of ceremonies at a Bush inaugural event, but also...as he shamelessly rushed on stage to hug the president-elect." Apparently, many at CNN are unhappy with the whorish ways of the network, especially with its right wing take-over by AOL's Steve Case -- a Bush supporter and Ayn Rand fanatic. We have also been disgusted with Larry King's suck-ups to the worst of the right wing -- including Ken Starr, Linda Tripp and Katherine Harris.

FOX news anchor assaults woman with his car. That's news to us. How come FOX didn't lead their evening news with this item? Just wondering.

Chris Matthews is perhaps the best example of a once respected journalist who developed an addiction to money and had to feed his habit by becoming a media hooker. How can the guy look at himself in a mirror in the morning? Matthews makes a pimp look like an upstanding citizen.

Two former Marines, living in Alaska, have a radio talk show devoted entirely to guns, where they get to rip those who favor gun control, liberal judges and Democrats. Their station manager predicts, "in a year or so they can go up" on the satellite.

Al Gore invited Rupert Murdoch to his Columbia journalism class. Students report that the exchange was polite and courteous. Gore did not ask any tough questions of the right-wing propagandist, whose media empire smeared Gore throughout the last campaign. Murdoch denied any impropriety in the hiring of Bush cousin John Ellis to call the election, which led to the bogus "Bush Wins" headlines that deprived Gore of the public support he needed for a recount. Murdoch was being either disingenuous or delusional when he declared, "I challenge anybody to show me an example of bias in Fox News." Please Rupert...you're killing us...can you at least wait until we stop RFLOAO?

Sex workers don't pretend to be paragons of virtue, but the anti-Democratic media establishment believes it's fighting on behalf of God, when it is simply fighting for Mammon. That's why they deserve to be called whores, and why MediaWhoresOnline.com is such an outstanding site. We're supporting their "Be Kind to a Non-Whore Week" - write a letter to those few true journalists who stand up for the truth!

What do media powerhouses Chris Matthews, Steve Roberts, Michael Kelly, James Stewart, Wolf Blitzer, and the New York Times have in common? They repeatedly slam the Clintons with reckless disregard for the truth.

Is FOX as bad as you thought? You bet. But the worse news is it's working in brainwashing the viewers who come to FOX for their non-political (entertainment) programming. Can the Democrats and progressives launch a television network counterattack? Not without mega, mega bucks.

You might think that this series of questions is over the top. But after you read the following excerpt from a "columnist" for a "mainstream" conservative publication, you will surely change your mind. John Derbyshire writes for the National Review, one of the "venerable" conservative sites. But, in an effort to show that its disease process is as advanced as its rabid online brethern, the National Review has abandoned all pretense of being a "balanced" conservative publication. Instead, it exhibits the same advanaced stages of pathology seen in its upstart counterparts such as NewsMax.com. In the following essay, Derbyshire revels in his loathing for -- hold on to your seats -- Chelsea Clinton. What's more, in a Hannibal Lechter moment, he implies that members of "cockroach" families should be "taken out" by the state.

A Washington Times reporter who still steadfastly claims that Clinton and his entourage looted Air Force One is implying that Bush is a liar. How could he insult HIS president that way? Good question.

"If you want real news about what is going on in the USA, you will probably have to turn to the BBC, CBC or ITN, because you aren't going to be getting it through the American media; and that is a real 'whiff of fascism' for you." So writes Dane Cobb, the Mountain Monk.

Many Democrats.com and BuzzFlash.com readers despair of influencing the wildly slanderous anti-progressive slant of the media. But you can make a difference. In time, we can whittle away at the Big Lie. But it takes commitment and a sustained effort. In the end, there is no alternative to determination -- and success.

The NY Times ran a front-page story by Richard Berke attacking the Democratic Party as being "distressed, discouraged, and depressed." Richard, read our electrons: We're ANGRY! We're angry that the election was stolen by the Republican Party and the Supreme Court. And we're furious that the corporate media, including the NY Times, was an active participant in stealing the election, and now covering up the theft of the Presidency. And we're going to be even ANGRIER when the media recounts are completed and PROVE that Gore won Florida. Richard, next time you want to know how Democrats feel, come visit Democrats.com!

"The Senate Ethics Committee has cleared Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-New York, from any alleged ethical violations surrounding her $8 million book deal she signed shortly before being sworn in to the Senate, sources told CNN Wednesday." Hey, not so fast! Now that you've had your fun - we'd like you to look into Ethics Committee member John McCain's book deal. Then, you absolutely must delve into UnPresident Bush's book deal - and if puppetmaster Karen Hughes got her fair share as ghostwriter. What about the elder Bush's book deals? While you're at it - it is certainly worth investigating the millions Reverend Moon has paid George Sr. and Barbara for speaking at stadium events and other activities. Next, you should look into Richard Mellon Scaife, Ted Olson and the Arkansas Project. This will lead to a necessary probe into the many Regnery book deals for anti-Clinton hatchet jobs by Ann Coulter, Barbara Olson, Bill Gertz, Gary Aldrich et al. What about going back over Newt's bloated deal with Rupert Murdoch - and Murdoch's juicy deals for Starr Stenographer Susan Schmidt and spacey Peggy Noonan?

ABC's John Stossel may be the most unscrupulous reporter in American journalism. He simply lies about the facts to promote the corporate agenda. Once again, FAIR has caught him in the act.

Ted Cohen, a reporter for Maine's Press Herald, was suspended for refusing to travel on icy roads to cover a turnpike accident. Cohen had already filed a report based on his interview of the State Police Turnpike Commander. Although Cohen's union contract stated that “an employee may choose not to perform an assigned task if the employee has a reasonable apprehension of death or serious injury”, Cohen's editor suspended him for a week without pay. Cohen claims that this was payback for his blowing the whistle that the Press Herald had spiked the Bush DUI story.

The Democrats are going to face an uphill battle from here on out. We are not just up against the Republican party, we are also up against a systematic, highly-effective campaign of misinformation conducted by their guard/attack dog: the corporate media.

Yes, you can. Here's a site that's dedicated to exposing the Bush/Republican bias of CNN. If you're honked about CNN, give them a visit. Now, who's going to start a ProjectFOX site? Step up to the plate, brave Democrats!

Just take a look at some recent covers of the New York Post. Ol' Rupert isn't just using FOX news to insinuate a hard right way of thought into the American public. He's using the New York Post as a print and Internet megaphone to slash away at the Democrats. Just call him the Freddy Krueger of the media world.

until the freedom of the press is wrested away from the clutches of corporate interests, the true majority--liberals and moderates--will face a disproportionately uphill battle. I believe a push should be made by the Democrats now on Capitol Hill to create legislation that will insure the separation of press and corporate interests as surely as the Constitution has insured separation of church and state. As it stands now, thanks to the lack of separation between the former, there may soon be a lack of separation between the latter.

Zack Exley sure knows how to use the Internet to get attention. Zack created gwbush.com, which got Shrub so angry that he threatened lawsuits and screamed "there ought to be limits to freedom!" He created countercoup.org to protest the stolen election, and launched protests in 150 cities. He recently created CNNdN.com ("the financial crash network") to parody CNNfN's endless profitbabble, and guess what - he's being sued by the world's largest media conglomerate. You Go, Zack!!

CNN won a temporary restraining order against Zack Exley for his CNNdN "fantasy" site. The site will be down for 10 days while a federal judge reviews the merits of CNN's case. Zack responded with his typical puckish humor: "I'm barred from going within 500 yards of CNN headquarters, Ted Turner, as well as any airport television broadcasting CNN or CNNfn. I feel like a very bad man." But Zack now has some heavy backup from the Center for Internet and Society of Stanford Law School.

The media just can't stop bashing Clinton, regardless of the truth. NPR's Scott Simon joined the Clinton-bashers recently, which blew J.M. Prince's gasket. You go, J.M.!

Meria Heller is a teacher, counselor, communicator, and environmental maverick who speaks out on behalf of the planet, humanity, human rights, social injustices, planetary destructions, ecological disasters, and life itself. She spoke with Bob Fertik of Democrats.com and Lou Posner of VoterMarch.org on a recent show. Listen to the archive, and get to know a vibrant voice of the alternative media.

Rupert Murdoch, Commander-in-Chief of the Fox News Station, the loudest right-wing propaganda machine on cable, wants even more power. According to The Guardian, "Murdoch is desperate to get his hands on DirecTV - part of the General Motors group -- because it is the only satellite operator in the US with more than 9 [million] subscribers." But GM is balking, and "the recent drop in News Corporation's share price appears to have raised serious doubts about linking up with Mr. Murdoch." Let's hope his bad luck continues, leading to the dismissal of Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Sam Shepard, and every one of Foxs' so-called Fair and Balanced anchors and reporters. This article shows the depth of Murdochs desire to control right-wing spin. "Sky Global is seen as Mr. Murdoch's attempt to match the recent audacious moves of AOL, Time Warner, Vivendi and Seagram, who have all made bold bids for the global media market."

"Looking at Peggy Noonan now, I think back to the night during the early 80's when I got a phone call from a long lost high school friend who called to tell me in a horrified voice----"Peggy Noonan's writing speeches for...Reagan!!!" But I already knew the mystifying news and the call only took me back 20 years when Peggy Noonan was just a small town pain in the ass instead of a national pain in the ass."

Former Democrats are now making boat loads of money trashing the leaders and ideals of their former party. Check out this satirical piece: "Has the Democratic Party provided you with an invaluable start to a lucrative career in the exciting world of politics? Being a parasitic ingrate, are you now willing to stab your benefactors in the back in order to reap even more handsome returns as a talking head foil for the right wing? Will you now oppose every single principle that you ever espoused so that you can become a member in good standing of the chattering class? At Stephanopolis, Caddell, O'Donnell, and Matthews, we can provide you with valuable empirical insights on how to turn amoral treachery into COLD HARD CASH!!!"

Those of you lucky enough to have a Pacifica radio station need to take an important action to save Pacifica from its insane Board of Directors, which seems determined to destroy the stations. Add your name to 3,420 listeners who are suing the Pacifica Board.

Tis the season for Ho's, like Tim Russert and Cris Matthews. Media Ho's are non-gender specific, just take a look!

To complete the media's supporting role in the Bush Coup, Time Magazine slobbered praise over W and named him "Person of the Year". As a matter of definition, this is ludicrous because W is not a person, but simply a joke. Cancel your subscriptions to Time and tell them (letters@time.com) W is not your President and never will be.

"The fix was in. The election was stolen with the blessing of the Supreme Court that appointed George W. Bush puppet-elect. And of the media spinners who say we should make nice-nice about it, Time magazine has delivered the supreme affront in naming the thief "Person of the Year." To William Bennett, that perverse purveyor of poppycock, who asks, "Where is the outrage?" this is the OUTRAGE!" says Bev Conover of Online Journal. The Outrage is right here at Democrats.com.

Every once in awhile, its a kick to see how the pundits stand on the election. These people get paid a lot of money to have opinions, even if it seems that most of the time they all think alike. So what's the latest conventional wisdom from the land of the talking heads?