Bill Moyers: 'Journalism in Profound Crisis' (Video)

but he's right on target with this address. The nation is rapidly disappearing from most Americans and Moyers pinpoints the cause. He may be the USA's brightest star. I can think of none brighter.

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N/E

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How magnanimous it was of Mr Moyers to come down from his PBS ivory tower (like Pisa, it leans to the left) to share his wisdom with the little people.

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Heroes remain, offering us rays of hope, slivers admittedly, but rays of hope nonetheless. The problem is: rays of hope, as hopeful and beautiful as they are, will not save us. Only WE can save us, we the people. But we are asleep at the wheel, and otherwise much too busy working or playing to be bothered with waking up and tending to the looming crisis, which is theatening to rip apart modern civilisation as we know it and reduce it to a pile of rubble. It was a grand party we've had for the last two centuries, fueled by cheap abundant oil, but alas, the party is over. Hang onto your hats, kids, it's going to be a hell of a ride!

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There will be No cataclysmic 'Armegeddon' it will be a stratedgy of Stealth.This attack began long ago.Gov't, Industry (commerce), Media and the Granddaddy of them All Organized Religion has enslaved mankind. The Shackles have only just beome apparent.A Thnks is owed to this Adminstration and their arrogance and Brazen acts of Treason,War crimes Which have been motivated by their Crimes agaisnt humanity in general.Misinformation has been the Whore they have sent over throughout the ages to distract and delude Us.But this time, we must seize it and Hold it hostage. it is the weakest of them all and their Archilles Heel. They may see it a dispensible ( a minor Tool) But in reality it is through Information their misdeeds are brought to light and without it's assistance their goals can not be desguised. We need only Turn away and this 4th Horseman will Starve, and so will the rest who actually rely on it to provide the 'cover' and sustenance which feeds their enterprises. Lose the life giving approval and attention of the masses and You lose your foundation.I now listen to the Propaganda dispensed by all three with disdain and the utmost suspecion- trying to find the 'Hook'.Case inPoint - the Oil indistry latest Con and Blame game "Do You Own an Oil company?" Then they list 401K,pensions, annuities etc.BS- Most of US have NO say in what our funds are invested in, and those investment never inquire from the Rank & Files thoughts or concerns.Hell they have actively Ignored the citizens of this Country since the'70's regarding Getting Off & Out of the M.E!! I did not bother writing to the Black Blood industry about their 'Blame the Victim' attempt- I wrote to MSNBC. The next time I saw the commercial, it had an tag along- "did You know 2/3 of our Oil comes from N.America?" BS again, if that was true why are they always claiming the price increases are caused by crap that goes on in the ME and the per barrel cost is related tothe Shrinking Dollar.Try to get your Story Straight. WE KNOW Exactly what is happening. there is NO Shortage, there is a run on 'Speculation' and intentionally driving up the price to bloat the bottom line. This is a Crime agaisnt Humanity. This Industry, The Regimes and the Individuals who are playing this game should be Prosecuted for this Highest of Crimes- Get out the REcycled paper Plates- the silver platters are far too good!
Since I have seen and been dismissed by MSNBC to refuse to air this LIE, I refrain from watching it -except my guilty pleasure Keith- I'm a weak person., a work in progress. But I have stopped watching the rest of the 'News' Outlets for quite some time and Only Watch the News Hour to get my daily information.with out our viewership, their ratings will plummet, their 'advertisers' will have no audience, the Ministry of 'Truth' will have no Megaphone.We can Bleed them Dry by just turning away. Only 'Feeding' those who Serve the People,blessing them with our attention.
Some are beinginng to feel the 'starvation' and beginning to 'Ride' back to US. But for some their treatory is too deep and has gone on for too long- So Good bye Mr.Murdock (et al) Your empires base is crumbling below you and it will NEVER be reconstituted.Two ways to Kill the Beast- Lop it's heads Off directly with Prosecution for High crimes or starve them to death by withholding that which they Thrive off of.

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Unless you are talking about the other definition of "a trust", after "anti-trust laws" - a corporate behemoth.

Addressing the packed auditorium, Moyers said the work of the media reform movement has "challenged the stranglehold of mega-media corporations over our press" and fostered "alternative and independent sources of news and information that people can trust.

Bill Moyers has done some investigative reporting- the PBS trade secrets special on the chemical industry and their PR technicians was outstanding (http://www.pbs.org/tradesecrets/) but his comments on the media miss some basic issues.

If you really want to know how to gauge media stories, consider these points:

1) First, there are no "independent sources" - there are just sources. There are certainly no "trusted sources" - but there are "untrustworthy sources." Someone can be right ten times and wrong once, or wrong ten times and right once.

2) To judge the accuracy of a story, it helps to know the background, which modern media outlets earnestly ignore. For example, not a single media outlet ran stories on how the U.S. had secretly helped arm Iraq during the Iraq-Iran war, or on how the U.S. intended to steal Iraq's oil (the real reason for the invasion and occupation), or on how Saddam was using his oil reserves to weaken the dollar by going into euros (the U.S. has banned the new Iraqi government from selling oil for euros, as well).

3) The "new and independent" media sources are subject to the same kinds of coercion from their financial contollers as are the traditional media.

4) The media message is coordinated - much of the "independent media" just responds to the corporate propaganda put out by the leading media outlets, from NPR to CNN to ABC to FOX to CBS and NBC - all the same story, same theme, slightly adjusted for different audiences.

The central PR line regurgitated by the corporate media is that "America is a force for good in world affairs" - a blatant lie by any stretch of the imagination. Countries are not "forces for good" - people can do good deeds, certainly, but countries? Are bricks good or evil? Are constitutions good or evil? Is the media good or evil?

What did Goebbels say was the essence of propaganda, of all propaganda? Quote: "Take a complex topic, reduce it to the point where a very small child could understand it, and then repeat, repeat, repeat."

For example, take "globalization" - the childish take is America is Good, thus American Foreign Policy is Good, thus anyone who opposes globalization hates America and is Evil. This is also the corporate media viewpoint.

In reality, the situation is complex, and the chains of colonial control are based on two issues, largely: intellectual property right controls and capital liberalization rules. Those form the basic elements of the global colonial system, which is then enforced by the U.S. globe-spanning military machine.

In short, U.S. foreign policy is best described as aggressive economic warfare against weak nations, backed up by covert violence and, in the last resort, military invasion - all in order to secure control of other country's natural resources and labor pools. This policy is largely supported by the G8 because it fits their agenda as well.

So, there is nothing "sad" about the collapse of the American Empire - regardless of the tears of Travis Smiley at National Propaganda Radio - it should be a very joyful occasion, unless your cash flows come off the backs of child slave laborers in China or somewhere similar.

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Bill in your public relations piece "interview" with him, Bill. You're not kidding that "journalism" is in trouble - starting with you.

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It's pathetic that right-wingers have to use ad-hominen garbage on Moyers. In fact, Moyers does strike me as a bit too professorial and even arrogant. But, who cares? Is he right about media concentration and the media pandering to those in power? You bet he is! Is he right that voices of dissent are being silenced in America? You bet he is! Is his premise correct that the rich and powerful in America (the top 1% that owns 1/2 of America's wealth) control the media and its message? You bet he is! Therefore, on point after point, Moyers is correct. Points which the right wing cannot actually refute because they are all true. So, they attack the man. Sad and pathetic, when that is all you right-winger's have left. But, I have a solution for you, when you have nothing left, it's time to TURN LEFT, as that's where the truth lies, especially on what Moyers brings out!

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I lived abroad for 24 years on different continents and on visits home to the States I would feel mortified by what passed for news. "Pussy Cat up a Tree" trumps war, famine or international politics. Now that I'm back living in the USA, I find the post 9/11 situation even more dire. CNN dumbs down their European version and local news is like a parody. The conglomerization of media is a disaster and online outlets like AlterNet as well as PBS save us from drowning in broadcast crap that is either empty of content or built to deceive.
Sue

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I was unable to listen to the whole speech, what with Moyers taking credit for the Movement

(which has long pre-existed in the Public Access realm - not to be confused with Public TV or Radio which utilizes its fundraising tactics while airing the spin of the embedded ones)

as beginning on his show,

and then I couldn't really get beyond the Pat Mitchell endorsement and the commercial for his son's book and his promise of an upcoming signing session for his book....

I just kinda wandered away.

If you consider that a segment on Mister Rogers Neighborhood on the subject of CONFLICT was removed from the cycle of the re-runs, because it was deemed (by the PBS Powers That Be) too - what? - pertinent? It touched on the subject of War and Peace? Fear and Reconciliation? - you will understand the extent of the censorship by powerful corporations, reaching into the realm of Children's Television. It's O.K. to sell the tasteful toys of Children's Television Workshop, mind you, on "public" television, but it's not o.k. to air subject matter which will infuriate or thrill or give food for thought to the Littles of this generation and their brainwashed parents.

Sorry, Bill. You are becoming what you say you despise.

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Reading the comments on this post confirms how much trouble this country is in. Denial abounds. When people hear the truth they don't recognize it. As Chalmers Johnson has said, Dr. Jerome Corsi has said ... and many others, it's all over, there ain't no going back to what America used to be 30-40 years ago.... AND, "What you don't know CAN kill you." - Bill Moyers

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Well think Spanish American War. The press in this country and most countries glorifies war and nationalism and the flags were created for warfare. Germany didn't invent propaganda, it has been there as long as the press. It is a stretch of the imagination to even say it is getting worse. It is getting more important to realize and relate to because we run the increasing risk of destroying the ability of our planet to harbor life itself much less the human race. Like Martin Luther King said our choice isn't between violence and non-violence but between non-violence or non-existence. This is not a new problem, it's an old problem that is getting more and more dangerous.

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The Hallmark of a Profession is a 'Code of Ethics'.

So why is it that 'journalists' don't have one?????

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as the weasels there are helping the Fox steal from this country.

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The deterioration of the media has resulted in the deterioration of the public discussion. We no longer connect the dots to see how policies that apply to one group of people impacts all of us. We don't think beyond soundbites we are fed, or analyze what we're being told. Even our progressive media has lost the ability to put issues into perspective, telling the whole story so that we can understand the long-term consequences of our policies.

Consider our welfare "reform". The Dem. Party, under B. Clinton, that took an ax to the New Deal. The New Deal gave ordinary people a real chance, shrinking our economic disparities (now among the world's worst) to historic lows. Our "failed welfare" greatly increased employability and productivity, resulting in increased health, education, skilled labor and general quality of life. The New Deal created the wealth that we once had, making us a world leader. But since Reagan, we've allowed the public discussion to be hijacked. Clinton turned the poor into a massive bottom wage temp help force; connect the dots to see how this has crushed unions, dissolved workers' rights, and resulted in the deterioration of wages for all US workers. Instead of calling on our fellow citizens to wage a national workers' strike, we hold up the people working 16 hours a day at bottom wages as an ideal.
Think about this: As a result of B. Clinton's welfare "reform", and in only ten year's time, the life expectancy of our poor fell below that of some Third World nations, and the infant mortality rate among our poor now rivals that of the Third World. Our social policies are killing people. The progressive response has been indifference. We support an agenda (welfare "reform") that violates the international human rights standards that we claim to support(UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights). But we can't connect the dots between this support, and the fact that we don't apply those rights to our poor, and the media has an interest in not connecting the dots for us.

A generation ago, when people still remembered the Great Depression and the impact of the New Deal, the idea that we would call an anti-New Deal candidate a "liberal" would have been inconceivable. Today, we call Barack Obama a liberal, in spite of his support for the corporatist anti-poor agenda. There will be no easing of the concentration of wealth, and poverty will continue to increase. I plan to vote for Obama, myself, but have no illusions that he will restore human rights, fair wages, and simple human decency to the public discussion, much less to policy.

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