A common thread that runs through many conversations at Dkos has to do with the press. The bad reporting, the non-existant reporting, distortions are enough to make one switch to the BBC!
I don't want to list all the crap that CNN, MSNBC and the other networks put out. We all know that drill.
And let's face it: NPR and PBS have become a joke, a twisted sick shadow of it's former self. It is infested with neoconian disease and is rotting from within. People are being "let go" - like Bob Edwards, in favor 'news lite' shows us what NPR thinks about being reputable. The noon time NPR "news shows" are pathetic jokes, with GOP distortions rampant in almost every airing. It's amazing my radio is still in one piece.
Newpapers are just as bad, if not worse, as their distortions hold more sway with the 'thinking people'.
- NYT and Judy Miller anyone? A NYT ombudsman that is a total joke? Maureen Dowd and her cutesy character hacking of Gore and Kerry, holding them up to ridicule? {She has done a great job on both of them, this 'liberal'}.
- Just how many times can one catch WAPO in the act, make them 'retract' and issue their bogus mea culpas and maintain their credibility? How many charts that claim "Democrats as well as Republicans involved in Abramoff scandal" will grace tomorrow's WAPO pages?
- How many more people that just happen to voice leftish or progressive views can be fired or 'laid off' from the LA Times, or the Boston Globe?
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People of conscience that are wealthy and progressive, that care about truth need to put out some cash on the line. It could even make money for them, if it's done right. If it doesn't, well, consider it their debt to society for their working within the nasty crushing machine of 'Capitalism Gone Wild'. They got the $$$ - they owe the rest of the world a little for that - a fair deal?
I was going to post a bunch of names of those entertainers, musicians, sports figures, and others who have money to burn. Some of the wealthy have actively shown support, but it's time to "go the distance" - Step Up and Pony Up.
I'd rather see what everyone for the names, instead of me doing it.
Al Gore cannot remake media all by himself with his new network: media and the news reporting needs to be made over, from the ground up. I'm not talking about Air America or Michael Moore. The change has to start within.
What better place to start than Hollywood?
There has to be an independent broadcast and cable news network, as well as newspapers to back it up that will report, by golly, *the facts*.
It's not correct to replace the distortions and lies of the right with our own set of 'lies and distortions'. That's not what I am recommending here.
What needs to happen is real, honest news reporting. Journalism is needed, not GOP or Democratic Party talking points. The people are crying out for it. Yes, we have AAR and Democracy Now, but face it, these are not going to attract Middle America.
Infrastructure needs to be built, for real honest news reporting from the ground up. Use as a template the best parts of what remains of real journalism - the parts of Knight Ridder, AP, Reuters, NPR/PBS, anything that don't have nasty Rove/Abramoff goo all over it.
Build from those examples; use it as an outline and get it on-line. Now.
I'll watch, and read - if they try. Would you?
Who do you think in the financial, entertainment and private sectors would be willing to invest?
Gotta go .. will be back later to clean this up a bit. Wanted to get it out there before it got too late this evening, and before the SOTC address.