The demise of the Fairness Doctrine has haunted me since 1987, when it was stricken down by Reagan's FCC chairman, Mark Fowler. You may be forgiven if you're not familiar with the niceties of the Fairness Doctrine itself, but you'd have to have been locked in a darkened, sound proof room these last 27 years to be unaware of the the flood of communications woes its repeal has unleashed.
Since then, everything from hate radio to cable news, from infomercials to native advertising, from mere partisan journalism to blatant propaganda have been foisted on us, all masquerading as objective reporting. I could spend an hour on each of these topics and never exhaust them.
For now, though, I want to focus on the one positive aspect of broadcast deregulation, and that is this: Almost nothing you see in the national media is true. In fact, the more stridently mainstream media insists that a thing IS true, the more you may be reliably and comfortably assured that it is not.
"Yes, yes," I can hear you grumbling. "I know all that. What's your point?" Simply this. Since forever, but especially since the first Democratic debate, nearly every national news outlet has fallen all over itself to proclaim Secretary Clinton the heir apparent to the Oval Office, the people's choice and the "most qualified" Democratic presidential candidate.
Now, given that 90% of ALL media in the US is controlled by 6 corporations, and given that Big Media moguls seldom support candidates whose views are not in lock step with their own, you'd think that this widespread and outspoken corporate approval of Mrs. Clinton would be concerning to thoughtful Democratic and Liberal voters. But you'd be wrong. It hasn't been. Not really.
I continue to be amazed at the adulation being heaped on a person who sat on the board of directors of Walmart for six long years, who has exonerated Wall Street and the big banks of any blame for the recent worldwide economic meltdown, who has publicly poo-pooed the notion that repealing Glass-Steagall had anything to do with causing that disaster and who has a history of supporting corporate giveaways and 'free trade' agreements like NAFTA and TPP.
Sadly, with each passing day, it appears that George Orwell was right all along. "The people will believe what the media tell them they believe." I continue to hope that, in this one instance, at least, he'll be proved wrong. I hope, instead, that the scales will fall from the eyes of the deluded, that they will see the error of their ways and recognize Mrs Clinton, talented, intelligent and capable though she may be, for the political poison pill I greatly fear she is.
Comments