Thursday, August 27, 2009

When the news media become propaganda lackeys


I'm disgusted with ABC and - to a lesser extent - NBC for their pathetic, spineless, abject surrender to the interests of the Obama administration and the Democratic Party in the debate over health care.

Not only did ABC air a special in support of Obamacare from the White House - and prohibit opposing voices from being heard during the broadcast! - but it and NBC have now gone even further. According to a Fox News report:

The refusal by ABC and NBC to run a national ad critical of President Obama's health care reform plan is raising questions from the group behind the spot -- particularly in light of ABC's health care special aired in prime time last June and hosted at the White House.

The 33-second ad by the League of American Voters, which features a neurosurgeon who warns that a government-run health care system will lead to the rationing of procedures and medicine, began airing two weeks ago on local affiliates of ABC, NBC, FOX and CBS. On a national level, however, ABC and NBC have refused to run the spot in its present form.

. . .

"The ABC Television Network has a long-standing policy that we do not sell time for advertising that presents a partisan position on a controversial public issue," spokeswoman Susan Sewell said in a written statement. "Just to be clear, this is a policy for the entire network, not just ABC News."

NBC, meanwhile, said it has not turned down the ad and will reconsider it with some revisions.

. . .

[Dick] Morris, a onetime advisor to former President Bill Clinton, said he was particularly troubled by ABC's decision not to air the spot.

"It's the ultimate act of chutzpah because ABC is the network that turned itself over completely to Obama for a daylong propaganda fest about health care reform," he said. "For them to be pious and say they will not accept advertising on health care shuts their viewers out from any possible understanding of both sides of this issue."


There's more at the link.

I don't particularly like or respect Mr. Morris, for a number of reasons: but in this case, his comments are spot on. If a national news network refuses to air both sides of the story, how can it possibly claim to be a 'news' network? It's become nothing more than a propaganda shill for one side of the story.

This is only the latest in a series of reporting scandals, errors and omissions that have plagued most of the US news media in recent years. The lesson to be learned from all of them is simple. If you want honest, accurate news, forget most of the major media outlets. They're partisan to the core - rotten with it.

When I want news, I use a couple of major outlets, then do an Internet search on the stories that interest me, so that I can gather in articles and reports from all sides of the spectrum. When I've read half a dozen different ones, from different perspectives, I'm in a position to glean the core truth of what's happened.

Without doing that, without making that effort, I'd be effectively left in the dark, to be led by the nose by those with ulterior motives - like most of the US news media.

Peter

2 comments:

Crucis said...

This is why Rush Limbaugh calls them, Fox News excepted, the State Media. For decades, they have been increasingly bias towards the liberal and statist agenda. Now, they don't even attempt to conceal that fact. The 1st Amendment, designed to protect the media, is useless now.

The libs are destroying the Constitution a phrase or paragraph at a time. It getting more and more apparent every day.

Anonymous said...

The arrogance and hypocrasy shown by the MSM is breathtaking. Good things will come from this in the decline and fall of many of these networks. It is happening now with the liberal print media and broadcast media is on the same path. The public is not as dumb as these people think, and are catching on. Most of these liberals tend to have in their circle of friends exclusively other liberals so they believe they are in the majority and others must feel as they do. They are the true fools.
Tex