The Nation comments on our Lapdog Media

The Nation says what needs saying on the many failures of our nation's corporate media in these recent years. I confess I completely missed Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand from The Gray Lady. Those “military analysts” and their ties to the military-industrial complex being jetted about and fed rosy news by the Defense Department ought to not have been missed by a fellow like me that craves information. Maybe it was when I was in Yakima yet I'm appalled that this news got past me. The summary of The Nation's ideas follows ...

There are always honorable exceptions, but the tendency of the corporate press is to serve as stenographer for the powerful rather than the muscular check and balance intended by the country's founders. Rapid consolidation has brought us dumbed-down media, with broadcast and cable networks that rarely challenge the status quo, even as they maintain their monopolistic stranglehold on the airwaves. What do the people get in return? A diet of "news" and commentary with retired generals telling us quagmire wars are going well, former CEOs telling us a sputtering economy is "basically sound" and former political aides telling us presidential campaigns are about lapel pins and made-up scandals. ...

The constant is a major media system that, with all too few exceptions, sacrifices real journalism for access and abandons debate on real issues for manufactured controversy.

I concur and agree with what the piece ends with. They close with

The full Senate and the House should move swiftly to reject more consolidation, but they can't stop there. Congress should investigate the Pentagon's propaganda programs with an eye to determining whether laws were broken, especially regarding the sharing of classified information. Congress should also broaden its investigation into how the Administration and its media allies have politicized communications. And the presidential candidates should stop playing the media's game and start addressing the role Big Media has played in debasing rather than illuminating this historic election.

Given that Senators Clinton and Obama just recently chose to go on Faux News it is obvious that The Nation's last suggestion isn't being followed by Democratic Party "leaders". John Gunn