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For reporting that is an embarrassment to the profession of journalism, and for being beholden to corporate paymasters rather than the citizens of America.
We had to be convinced that the entire mainstream media (with
some exceptions, such as the McClatchy
Newspaper company) merits
being named Media Putz of the Week. After all, BuzzFlash intended
the "honor" to be bestowed on individuals.
However, BuzzFlash reader Carl Totton of Burbank, California,
made such a compelling case, we had to agree with him.
Here is what Carl had to say:
"I love the Putz of the Week column. All of these are
truly (un)deserving. I think that the caption called Honorees
should
more accurately be labeled (un)honorees, for these putzes
surely have no sense of honor and only shame themselves to
get big
bucks.
"I would like to nominate the Mainstream National Media
as a whole for the Media Putz of the Week. On a daily basis,
the
national media avoids serious inquiry, passes along White
House and GOP talking points as gospel truth, and refuses to pursue
through proper investigative journalism the real news and
the malfeasance of the administration and their cronies.
"That is the only reason Bush and Cheney are still in
office and have not been removed through investigation, impeachment,
and imprisonment as the war criminals that they really are.
Both would likely be on trial in The Hague by now if the
national media were doing their job properly. If the national media
were really doing their job, it is unlikely that the country
would have let the Supreme Court install Bush and Cheney
by stealing the election of 2000 in the first place. That was
where the media first demonstrated that they were pawns of
the corporate world and not willing to stand up for democracy
and the rule of law.
"So, for all of these reasons and many more, the U.S.
National News Media richly deserve the Media Putz of the
Week distinction,
if not of the decade. They are working on a lifetime achievement
award for dissimulation and dishonesty. Shame on them, some
Fourth Estate!"
In fact, the corporate mainstream media has set a frame for
at least 20 years that generally mirrors the message points
of the national Republican Party. Yes, media in the large urban
areas may reflect so-called liberal social values, but they
frame the political news in the terms that the GOP generally
sets out.
That is because the mainstream media shares the Republican
interest in corporate tax breaks, media deregulation, and the
loosening of anti-trust enforcement, among other mutually beneficial
economic interests.
Rarely does one find "the story behind the story" in
the mainstream media. For example, when the NIE was released
on Monday indicating that the Bush Administration had been
duping us about Iran working on a nuclear bomb at this time,
we could only find Seymour Hersh discussing why it had been
held up for nearly a year -- and why it might have been suddenly
released on Monday. If Cheney and Bush had suppressed the NIE
findings for months -- which they did -- that would be quite
a story wouldn't it? So where is it emphasized in the mainstream
media?
Reporters in the corporate press know that they are on a short
leash and not to dig too far, otherwise they might upset the
White House -- and that would mean likely financial retribution
against their corporate parents. It's just something that is
wired into the corporate culture of the modern media.
So, BuzzFlash reader Carl Totton, we couldn't agree with you
more. The December 6 BuzzFlash Media Putz of the Week Award
goes to the entire
corporate mainstream media, because big
journalism is now just big business with a pencil and a stenographer's
pad -- or make that a laptop that knows how to download White
House news releases and print them out as the truth, without
any effort to get the story behind the story.
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