roundtable: RE: MEDIA BIAS

roundtable: RE: MEDIA BIAS

RE: MEDIA BIAS

Jeff Briggs (jbriggs@capital.edu)
Mon, 9 Jan 1995 17:08:11 +0500 

Date: Mon, 9 Jan 1995 17:08:11 +0500
From: jbriggs@capital.edu (Jeff Briggs)
Message-Id: <9501092208.AA16597@athena.capital.edu>
To: roundtable@cni.org
Subject: RE: MEDIA BIAS


I agree with Jack Hirschfeld's response to Mike Perry's characterization 
of the New York Times as "establishment left" as being a bit of 
doublespeak (has anyone taken the time to read Herman's "Beyond 
Hypocracy?-It's very germaine to this discussion, germaine to this 
discussion group, and includes a doublespeak dictionary helpful to the 
uninitiated).

     Emotion and frustration and manners and attacks and counterattacks
aside, the basic yin-yang of this roundabout seems to center on whether
or not there is an elite behind the mass media (including PBS), and
whether it is indifferent to content or exercises bias. The objective,
demonstrable fact (verified by study and reading) is that - yes, indeed
there is an elite (GE being a key node as owner of NBC, underwriter of
McGlauthlen (sp)on PBS, as well as funder of think tank pundits who
appear as eminences grises on other networks (from Heritage, Strategic
this and that)), and that this elite has a specific agenda which affects
the coverage its organs gives to world events involving the lives or
deaths of 100,000s of people. The specific event that illustartes this
bias in action is the Gulf War. GE is the largest military contracter.
Much of its hardware carried cameras as it terminated targets and we
ooed and ah-ed and went about our business.

     To my knowledge NBC never promonently featured the 100,000-odd
civilian deaths estimated by the census expert hired by the Pentagon to
estimate civilian casualties, who had the civic moxie to call a press
conference (also not covered) to explain that yes, perhaps the American
people might want to know that these neat video games killed men, women,
and children.

     Then today (1/9) Bob Dole sez:"killing innocent civilians doesn't
sell in this country" re Yeltsin's attck on the Chechins - forgetting
Hiroshima, Dresden, and Bhagdad. Well - you say - this is war -everyone
censors -what do you expect. True enough, but that is an irrefutable, 
verifiable example of how the owners of the mass media keep Americans
ignorant (and very successfully) of the enormity of their censorship
by omission. This is a very important point to understand. If you think
I am biased to cite this, please show me my own bias, and I will
stand corrected.

Jeff Briggs
jbriggs@capital.edu

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