This might help explain the media blackout of Bernie. This 2003 documentary discusses the history and influence of corporate media during elections and in politics in general. Bernie appears in six or seven clips for a total of 5 minutes. I transcribed his statements below so you don’t have to view the whole thing.
Synopsis: The media is the most powerful special interest in Washington and controls when a politician appears in the news. The fourth estate which used to be a check on political abuse has become part of the abuse. The media is controlled by a handful of competing corporations, not answerable to the people. Politicians may try to regulate media but the corporations in turn buy the politicians.
That is the gist of this documentary. It is over 10 years old, nonetheless the song remains the same. Arguably it has just gotten worse. At the end of the movie they have the foresight to warn about media consolidation on the Internet.
Don't let the YouTube title fool you. The film is not 3 hours long - it has a runtime of 84 min. It's worth watching if only to make you mad about the 2000 elections all over again. It talks about Jeb's role in the Florida fiasco. Thankfully he doesn't seem to be a viable candidate at this point.
As a side note, I want to point out that during the MSNBC forum with Rachel Maddow, she asked Bernie what his dream job would be and he replied, “President of CNN”.
(via CNN) After laughs -- both inside the room and in the media filing center -- Sanders added, "If I was president of CNN, trust me, the way media deals with politics would radically change.The American people, I think, increasingly understand that corporate media is prepared to discuss everything 24 hours a day, seven days a week except the most important issues facing the American people," Sanders said Monday during a town hall in Conway. "Increasingly what media sees campaigns being are soap operas and football games, rather than a serious discussion about the serious issues facing America."
Americans might have a much different relationship to politics if there was more exposure to the sausage making. I think Bernie just wants us to be aware and pay attention to what's going on in Washington DC no matter who we decide to support and vote for. It’s increasingly difficult to make an informed decision about our governance with the way issues are spun or outright dismissed by the media.
Here's Bernie speaking the truth in 2003 just as he is today. Some of these clips won't make sense unless you watch the context before and after.
(9:50-12:20) The truth of the matter is that increasingly, what we see, what we hear, and what we read is being controlled by fewer & fewer large multinational corporations. People don't appreciate this. In the last days of the Soviet Union you had dozens of newspapers, dozens of magazines, all kinds of radio & television stations. The only problem is that all that media was controlled by the Communist party or the government of the soviet Union. We are moving in that direction.
That is a very dangerous development for those us who believe in a vibrant American democracy. When polls tell us that fewer and fewer people understand the political process. What the media does is trivialize what goes on sensationalizes it, makes it entertainment rather than saying look the function of the media is to educate you to live in a democracy which is pretty serious stuff.
In terms of the political process you ask yourselves what are the most important issues facing our country? Why is it... simple question.. with all of the growth in technology, with all of the wonderful globalization and free trade, all of that stuff, all of the increases in education... Why does the average American work longer hours for lower wages than was the case 25 years ago? Simple question. Do you think it's seen on television very often? What about the morality of 1% of the population owning more wealth than the bottom 95%?
(14:51-16:00) Forget about forgetting - they don't know. They don't know. I picked up my local paper today. Yesterday there was a vote in the House of Reps. which passed, which would if it carries into law, will provide hundred of billions of tax breaks to a handful of families in this country. It wasn't mentioned in the paper. The repeal of the estate tax - half of the benefits of that repeal will go to the richest 1/10th of 1% of the population. ALL of the benefits will go to the wealthiest 2% of the families in America. You got that? 98% of the families do not pay one nickel in Estate tax. I walk down the street a couple of months ago and a guy comes up to me and says, "Bernie I'm really angry at you." Yeah, why are you angry? "I've got $20,000 in the bank and I want to leave my money to my kids and why are you stopping me from doing that? $20,000? That guy's not going to pay one penny in Estate tax. People don't know that. So what they do is they poll. They got very good pollsters and you play off the general ignorance of the population. To people who don't know much, "Death Tax" sounds pretty good. "Everybody who dies you gotta pay a huge tax to the federal government." Not true!
(16:52-17:27) If a member of Congress gets an appropriation for $58,000 in order to put some funding into a house or something in his community it's liable to make it to the front pages. "Congressman Jones gets pork! - $58 thousand for this stupid project". Headlines. But when you spend hundreds of billions it is more likely that the hundreds of billions will not be covered than the $58 thousand.
(26:45-55) Rupert Murdoch - You all know Rupert right? Rupert is one of the smartest and most dangerous people in this country.
(30:36-30:58) You have reached the stage in American politics - and I'm not kidding you - where the issue is not a debate over ideas, OK "You have a point of view, I have a point of view". Who should that person support? That's what Democracy is about. The issue is whether ideas at all matter. To interviewer: You look like a nice fellow. Nice wife. You have any kids? Interviewer: I have two. Bernie: OK. Why wouldn't I want to vote for you?
(37:17-39:00) Many people are not aware that when you watch television you are watching a program produced by a large multinational corporation that has enormous conflicts of interest. General Electric has made it a very proud part of their policies that they are going to move jobs from the United States to China, to Mexico, anyplace in the world where they can get cheap labor. This suggests obviously that GE is deeply concerned about our trade policies. Over the years GE has done it's best not to pay taxes or to pay as little as they can in taxes, taking advantage of all kinds of corporate welfare tax loopholes. Suggests very strongly that GE has an interest in tax policy. GE is a major polluter therefore they're concerned about weakening environmental policies. Obviously it's not just GE it's the same thing with CBS or ABC. The conflicts of interest are enormous and the result is certain issues are talked about and certain issues are not talked about.
(39:58-40:37) In my entire political life not one reporter has ever come up to me and said, "Bernie you know the average worker is today working longer hours for lower wages than 25 years ago. What the hell are you doing about that? Why do people have to work 50 or 60 hours a week?" Never been asked to me. Because those are questions that the reporters are not allowed to think about. People say "well do you think Bernie there is a conspiracy Jack Welch is on the phone with every reporter with NBC telling them what to ask? Well of course not. What goes on is there's a framework of thought which you are allowed to have. It goes from here - it goes to there. (motioning a small gap between his hands)