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#1
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( OT ) Coffee taalk with Bill Moyers
http://www.independent.com/cover/Cover953.htm
extract The mainstream news media, Moyers laments, has taken a dive at a time when the power of the Republican Party has never been more absolute and more morally bankrupt. As a result, public discourse has been reduced to a scream-fest dominated by such unabashedly conservative media giants as Fox, Clear Channel, and Sinclair, who’ve become “echo chambers” for the Bush administration, if not outright propagandists. ***** ‘I never took him as a compassionate conservative. I’m a Texan. I saw what he had done to Texas and I knew he would do to the nation what he had done to Texas. And by God he’s done it.’ — Bill Moyers ****** Q)In your parting shots prior to going off the air, you accused conservative news outlets like Fox of being a propaganda arm of the administration — or at least a vast echo chamber. These outlets are incredibly popular though, bringing to mind Al Capone’s famous line, “I’m just giving the people what they want.” So when you look at the ratings, why shouldn’t we conclude that Fox and O’Reilly are what the people want? R)I don’t dispute that. It’s certainly what the people who watch that want. I’ve never challenged that. They’re giving their ideological audience what that ideological audience wants. They bought into a belief system that can’t be challenged by any evidence to the contrary. ***** I think mainstream journalism has been driven to the lowest priority on the scale of values of the mega media companies that own them. Journalism and the news business don’t always mix. And we now have big media companies that own the journalistic organs and that’s not their top priority. When Michael Eisner says he doesn’t want ABC news covering Disney activities you realize there’s a chilling effect on corporate journalists that proscribes their boundaries. With a few honorable exceptions, you cannot count on the big media companies to put journalism above other values in their hierarchy of values. There was a study done a year ago in which one-third of the journalists who responded said they were asked to kill stories that were offensive to the clientele of their corporate bosses. So you have a very neutered mainstream media, and you have a powerful ideological megaphone in Fox News and talk radio for the right wing. So there’s an imbalance today and the right wing has the dominant megaphone in America. **** RE Bush )I never took him as a compassionate conservative. I’m a Texan. I saw what he had done to Texas and I knew he would do to the nation what he had done to Texas. And by God he’s done it. He’s turned the environment over to the polluters, he’s turned the courts over to big business, and he’s turned the schools over to the religious right. I was not fooled by his prevarications and his camouflage and his deceits. **** But all that was out there in plain view. How do you account for this? There are always a lot of people who prefer the comfortable lie to the uncomfortable truth. In this case, a majority of voters knew exactly what you’re saying, yet voted for him none the less. They did so for one of two reasons. First, Bush had America scared to death. And fear was the dominant issue in that campaign, not moral values. Second, many of Bush’s supporters buy into the belief system that he and his allies have propounded. And in that belief system — which is supported by Fox News and talk radio — no evidence to the contrary can be permitted. Ideologues embrace a worldview that cannot be changed because they admit no evidence to the contrary. ---- It’s a weird phenomenon. I’d also say conservatives have never been more politically dominant and more intellectually and morally bankrupt. Because of that they can keep their troops believing the Big Lie. The Big Lie is that the threat of Al Qaeda is greater to us than the threat of low wages, environmental pollution, the growing inequality in America, or the terrible failure of the Bush policies on schools. People just didn’t want the uncomfortable truth to disturb the comfortable lie. |
#2
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How absolutely hilarious. Bill Moyers complaining about what he considers
biased news staions. I guess he forgot he was senior news analyst for CBS and PBS news. Sour grapes. The guy is just ****ed that we no longer have to depend on the 3 TV networks for our news on the tube. |
#3
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JimH wrote:
How absolutely hilarious. Bill Moyers complaining about what he considers biased news staions. I guess he forgot he was senior news analyst for CBS and PBS news. Sour grapes. The guy is just ****ed that we no longer have to depend on the 3 TV networks for our news on the tube. He's 70 years old and retired -- how does the number of news outlets affect him? The only one mentioned by name was Fox, with a not so subtle reference to the one Disney owns. |
#4
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JimH wrote:
How absolutely hilarious. Bill Moyers complaining about what he considers biased news staions. I guess he forgot he was senior news analyst for CBS and PBS news. Sour grapes. The guy is just ****ed that we no longer have to depend on the 3 TV networks for our news on the tube. To quote Moyers "There are always a lot of people who prefer the comfortable lie to the uncomfortable truth" Seems to fit several in this newsgroup. |
#5
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"Jim," wrote in message ... JimH wrote: How absolutely hilarious. Bill Moyers complaining about what he considers biased news staions. I guess he forgot he was senior news analyst for CBS and PBS news. Sour grapes. The guy is just ****ed that we no longer have to depend on the 3 TV networks for our news on the tube. To quote Moyers "There are always a lot of people who prefer the comfortable lie to the uncomfortable truth" Was he referring to Dan Blather, Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, the crew at CNN, the crew at CNBC, the crew at PBS news...or himself? |
#6
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JimH wrote:
"Jim," wrote in message ... JimH wrote: How absolutely hilarious. Bill Moyers complaining about what he considers biased news staions. I guess he forgot he was senior news analyst for CBS and PBS news. Sour grapes. The guy is just ****ed that we no longer have to depend on the 3 TV networks for our news on the tube. To quote Moyers "There are always a lot of people who prefer the comfortable lie to the uncomfortable truth" Was he referring to Dan Blather, Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, the crew at CNN, the crew at CNBC, the crew at PBS news...or himself? My bet is on the part you cut "Seems to fit several in this newsgroup. " |
#7
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"Jim," wrote in message ... JimH wrote: "Jim," wrote in message ... JimH wrote: How absolutely hilarious. Bill Moyers complaining about what he considers biased news staions. I guess he forgot he was senior news analyst for CBS and PBS news. Sour grapes. The guy is just ****ed that we no longer have to depend on the 3 TV networks for our news on the tube. To quote Moyers "There are always a lot of people who prefer the comfortable lie to the uncomfortable truth" Was he referring to Dan Blather, Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, the crew at CNN, the crew at CNBC, the crew at PBS news...or himself? My bet is on the part you cut "Seems to fit several in this newsgroup. " Could be....Krause, Bassy, b(ubble) b(rain), jps, DSK.....and you.....to name a few. ;-) |
#8
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On Mon, 28 Feb 2005 22:13:21 GMT, "Jim," wrote:
The mainstream news media, Moyers laments, has taken a dive... He could have stopped right there. It's been taking a dive for a long time, but the word took a while to penetrate. It wasn't until people started seeing a little more of the real news (both sides) that they realized what they were missing. Yup, lots of folks like seeing the real thing and making their own decisions. You, Jimcomma, should try it. You might like it. |
#9
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On Mon, 28 Feb 2005 22:52:42 GMT, "Jim," wrote:
JimH wrote: How absolutely hilarious. Bill Moyers complaining about what he considers biased news staions. I guess he forgot he was senior news analyst for CBS and PBS news. Sour grapes. The guy is just ****ed that we no longer have to depend on the 3 TV networks for our news on the tube. He's 70 years old and retired -- how does the number of news outlets affect him? The only one mentioned by name was Fox, with a not so subtle reference to the one Disney owns. All of the rest were mentiones under the heading 'mainstream news media'. Remember, that's who took the dive. |
#10
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On Mon, 28 Feb 2005 22:54:15 GMT, "Jim," wrote:
JimH wrote: How absolutely hilarious. Bill Moyers complaining about what he considers biased news staions. I guess he forgot he was senior news analyst for CBS and PBS news. Sour grapes. The guy is just ****ed that we no longer have to depend on the 3 TV networks for our news on the tube. To quote Moyers "There are always a lot of people who prefer the comfortable lie to the uncomfortable truth" Seems to fit several in this newsgroup. There are several in this newsgroup who like to see both sides of a story and reach their own conclusions. Sometimes the truth is uncomfortble, sometimes it's pleasant. |
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