And it certainly does go a long ways in explaining the intensity of the anti-Bernie corporate media bias. As one person commented, "Neoliberalism is on dialysis and all its benefactors are hurriedly looking for a kidney. They hope it’s Biden, if not there are many other candidates. Even if Trump wins, not as big a problem as having Bernie. After all one kidney is still better than none."
From this piece, and which illuminates the truth of what I have been learning over many years now: "The press’ mission is to inform the citizenry and flag abuses to power, not promote special interests. When citizens blind themselves to a news organization’s corporate entanglements, and trust the outlet to be truthful anyway, it is, to put it mildly, extraordinarily naïve."
Turning to independent resources with zero funding from the powerful is essential to the well-being of us all and the viability of a habitable planet.— Molly
Given that "90% of the United States' media is controlled by five media conglomerates," the top executive at many news outfits is likely the CEO of a multinational corporation.
by
As
Sen. Bernie Sanders (CJR,8/26/19)
has recently noted, corporate ownership of media interferes with the
core societal function of the press: reporting and investigating key
issues at the intersection of public need and governance. And nowhere
is that more critical than when it comes to climate. Due to their
corporate conflicts of interest, trusted news authorities have
diverted us from our primary responsibility—assuring a viable
habitat for our children and grandchildren.
As
a journalist who has worked both inside and outside of establishment
media, I see influence as embedded in a corporate media culture
rather than in isolated cases of CEO dictates. It happens in little
ways, such as how an interviewer frames a question, and in big ways,
like the decision to exclude a topic, a person or a group of people
from the airwaves.
Like
most US companies, news organizations are hierarchies, which people
who have worked in corporate offices can readily understand. Given
that “90% of the United States’ media is controlled
by five media conglomerates,”
the top executive at many news outfits is likely the CEO of a
multinational corporation. The word comes down from the business
execs to the company’s division chiefs, as seen in countless movies
(like the 1976 classic Network).
This was how it was when I worked on primetime national news
at CBS in
the 1990s.
On
the inside, it wasn’t easy to see organizational bias, when job
security and team work required overlooking it. The response to the
heavily promoted primetime news pairing of two well-known anchors
exemplified how news personnel learn to toe the line. The two anchors
had zero chemistry, but no one mentioned it, as if an unwritten code
had been instantly internalized. This dragged on for two years,
pulling down the network’s ratings.
Higher-ups
would never offer editorial staff direct input on content. That’s
what the executive and middle management were for. Would these
managers confide to their staff that the big guns gave them a certain
direction? No. Whatever it was, they would present it as their own,
and it would be adopted....
No
business, no matter how sizeable, should have the right to subvert
the actions and political choices necessary to address climate, as
well as the activated movement capable of assuring that at long last
we do what needs to be done. The only sane response is to support the
movement, and the independent media outlets that provide a platform
for ideas, facts, studies, polls, policy initiatives and disclosures
outside the corporate media frame—and to overhaul the media to
address this unfair use of public airwaves for gain and compromise as
the world burns.
These
are excerpts. Please go here for the full
article: https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/09/17/incredible-belief-corporate-ownership-does-not-influence-media-content?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR0lZr3blS2lSTCKLAS3Ccbl_XOble_T-NdmDhfuI2e94zVu3VjHDct629A
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