The most shocking part of CNN's livestream of the Democratic Party debate on Tuesday were the commercials. The advertisers included Lockheed Martin touting the incredibly costly, but dubious F-35 warplane; the New York Stock Exchange showcasing supposed "corporations with a heart;" some "too big to fail" Wall Street banks and investment firms, and a large insurance company. These are the folks who paid the salaries for Anderson Cooper and his colleagues. These are the corporations who paid Time-Warner for the debate--that would be the same Time-Warner that is a huge contributor to Hillary Clinton's campaign.
It was jarring to hear Bernie Sanders decry the control of American politics and Congress by Corporate America and Wall Street and warn against injecting our military into foreign quagmires--and then be switched to the ads from a defense contractor and Wall Street itself!
What was even more jarring is what happened after the debate. Within hours after CNN's focus group, by a 75% vote, chose Bernie Sanders as the winner of the debate, CNN's pundits were out in full force declaring Hillary Clinton the winner instead. Now comes news that CNN is repeatedly deleting postings by citizens upset with CNN for declaring Hillary Clinton the winner despite the focus group results favoring Bernie Sanders.
Jarring? Yes. Surprising? On reflection, No. Just follow the money.
The United States desperately needs Bernie's political revolution.
1:19 PM PT: Update: Based on several comments, I need to explain that the discussion about the advertisers at the beginning is designed to illustrate that the concept of "the Corporate Media" extends beyond the corporate owners to include the corporate advertisers. Together, through mass media, corporate owners and advertisers have a unified interest in keeping government under control instead of making corporations accountable to the public through government. Bernie Sanders opposes corporate control of government, and made that case while being in the very "belly of the beast" on Tuesday night. The main point of the diary is the last one: CNN acted on behalf of the unified corporate interest in controlling government when it had its pundits declare Hillary Clinton the winner after its own focus group, by a wide margin, declared Bernie Sanders the winner.