(c) AQUILA NEWS 2001
VOLUME 7, ISSUE 10
May 2
Something dreadful is happening in the media. Except for a few magazines, newspapers, and Internet sources, the media is whitewashing Bush's first one hundred days in office. If the voters only pay attention to television news, they are getting a skewed vision of what is really happening in Washington. Robert Parry in his article, Back on Bended Knee, discusses the lack of personal integrity of the journalists who are whitewashing Bush and his cronies. He also mentions the media's disinterest in the scummy behavior of Republicans in the Florida elections, from the disingenuous coverage of the recount after Bush was installed as president, to Jeb Bush's "ballot security" plan that reduced the large black vote in Florida.
This is nothing new, of course; a similar whitewash occurred during Reagan's tenure. Our government supported murderous dictators like Rios Montt in Guatemala in order to push back the Communist menace and journalists brave enough to report it and other equally heinous stories were either fired or discredited. Read Parry's, Lost History.
The conspiracy to hide the truth has become more evident as the media conglomerates like AOL, Time Warner, and CNN have merged and created a monopoly on the news.
It's very discouraging to see the radical difference in news coverage between the Clinton White House and the Bush buffoonery. Granted, Clinton and his sexual shenanigans were much more interesting and financially lucrative than Bushie going to bed at 10 PM and falling to sleep on his pillow named Pilly. However, focusing on Clinton's sexual difficulties was merely a diverting the spotlight from the important issues that he was trying to deal with. Whether it was going after the tobacco industry or the gun manufacturers, trying to get health care for all Americans, or pushing through a tax increase on the wealthy, Clinton was not a favorite with the Bushie boys and the malignant individuals that control them and now our government.
Parry is not the only journalist criticizing the media for it's soft-soaping the Bush leagues. In his article, Pitching Soft Balls:Why are Journalists Going Easy on Bush? Jeff Cohen, writing in the San Jose Mercury News, mentions that Clinton and Carter both got much harsher coverage then Reagan or the present Bushie.
Why is this happening? The Republicans control big business, including big media, that's why, and the Republicans have been practicing media intimidation for years, beginning with the lie that the press, including television news has a liberal bias.
What can be done about the media blackout of true news? Bill Moyers in his recent Nation article,Journalism and Democracy, On the Importance of Being a Public Nuisance (May 7, 2001), discusses the attempt of the chemical industry to discredit a documentary that he was involved in producing for public television. Trade Secrets included proof from the chemical industry's own archives that they failed to tell the public about toxicity levels even though they knew how dangerous specific chemicals were. He mentioned other investigative pieces that he was involved in, and how important it is for journalists to take part in "serious, careful, and honest journalism." Besides supporting honest journalists like Cohen, or Moyers, or Parry, we need to pay attention to all those sources that tell us the truth. Further, if we have any communication skills, ourselves, we must use them to help people tell truth from falsehood.
As we must learn to differentiate between honest and dishonest politicians, we also must learn to tell the difference between truth and lies in the media. If we throw our hands up in frustration and say, like Ralph Nader and his ilk, that there is no difference between Bush and Gore, Evil and Good, truth or lies, we've signed our death warrant. Our society will be completely controlled by selfish liars and our American democracy will be ripped asunder. We might as well be living in the old Soviet Union or the frightening society of A Handmaid's Tale. With the assault on our free elections perpetrated by the Republican Party and the refusal of the media to deeply explore this travesty, we may be on the edge of a closed and totalitarian society already.
Astrologically, this assault on our free press may continue until the year 2022 when the planet, Pluto(who some scientists say is not a planet. Planet or piece of space dust, it still has an intense effect), comes back to the place it was when our nation was born. In the 9th house of religion, publishing, and publicly expressed thoughts, we will either transform the communication industry into a tool for truth or we will allow the intimidation by the evil few to control our collective voice.