by El Zorro Viejo (aka; Jim)

As I watch this year's presidential election unfold, I am struck, as never before, with the media's agenda in all this. Basically, I realize that the media wants that which sells. The media wants controversy, mudslinging and, above all, a tight race. The media does not want to cover dull, boring things like the actual issues involved in the race. They have little or no interest in economics, social liberties or even the justification for war. What the media wants is ad hominem attacks and scandal. They don't want to hear how a boring piece of legislation will make the majority's lives a little poorer and enrich only a relative few millionaires (most of whom have ownership interests in the very media being dicsussed here.)

When the Founders wrote the Constitution, the Free Press they were talking about was the individual who owned the town's printing press. What they were talking about was protecting said press owner from governmental censorship or worse. They were not talking about Rupert Murdoch and Ted Turner and Clear Channel (whoever its owner(s) is/are) and Gannett and...well, you get the picture. What is happening is that a very few sources/individuals are gaining control over the press (e.g. media). In many ways, this is worse than the government having control.

The whole thing with the "Unfit for Command" book is a case in point. If it weren't for Fox and fellow travelers, this book would have died the commercial death it so richly deserves. Instead, it and the lies it tries to promote as "truth" are actually influencing public opinion when all it should be doing is selling to Bush's choir. It is time that the media, or rather the concentration of the media into very few hands, undergo some very stringent examination and, hopefully, revision. Rather than have our news and entertainment media owned by a very few people, I would urge that we limit the number of newspapers, or radio stations, or TV stations, or cable providers, or consumer satellite broadcast sysems one entity can own or rent.

I do have some thoughts about how this could be accomplished, but, before I trot them out to do their turn in the spotlight, I'll stop here and let you, gentle reader*, think about this for a bit. If you agree with me, come up with your own solutions to the problem. If you disagree, come up with cogent arguments against this. Let's try to start a dialogue here.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. ©El Zorro Viejo 2002-2005