Nothing But Propaganda

[jwoodie]

Yellow Journalism (sensationalism) used to be bad enough, but today's "news" is nothing more than cleverly packaged propaganda intended to sway public opinion. All you have to do is read independent newspapers or watch independent TV news to see not only the spin given to a particular event but the selection of which events are given any coverage at all. Even more disturbing are "human interest" stories which almost always have a hidden message promoting some particular viewpoint.

I urge everyone to consider opposing news sources before discerning fact from fiction.

 

[Pogo]

Yellow Journalism (sensationalism) used to be bad enough, but today's "news" is nothing more than cleverly packaged propaganda intended to sway public opinion. All you have to do is read independent newspapers or watch independent TV news to see not only the spin given to a particular event but the selection of which events are given any coverage at all. Even more disturbing are "human interest" stories which almost always have a hidden message promoting some particular viewpoint.

I urge everyone to consider opposing news sources before discerning fact from fiction.

Always good advice to take one's info with a grain of salt and a second and third opinion.

I'd disagree on the point about human interest stories. Most of the time their purpose is to touch the heart with emotion ------ not, to be sure, out of any sentiment that it's "nice" to do so, but simply and cynically because emotion sells eyeballs. Soap opera sells. Doesn't need to make a point; it makes money. Mass media (as opposed to independent media) doesn't try to push or persuade a particular viewpoint; it tries to sell what sells. It's never going to go out on a limb with a viewpoint that isn't already ripe for mass acceptance. Because that would not sell.

 

[Mr. H.]

Yellow Journalism (sensationalism) used to be bad enough, but today's "news" is nothing more than cleverly packaged propaganda intended to sway public opinion. All you have to do is read independent newspapers or watch independent TV news to see not only the spin given to a particular event but the selection of which events are given any coverage at all. Even more disturbing are "human interest" stories which almost always have a hidden message promoting some particular viewpoint.

I urge everyone to consider opposing news sources before discerning fact from fiction.

What sources would you consider "independent"?

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

Yellow Journalism (sensationalism) used to be bad enough, but today's "news" is nothing more than cleverly packaged propaganda intended to sway public opinion. All you have to do is read independent newspapers or watch independent TV news to see not only the spin given to a particular event but the selection of which events are given any coverage at all. Even more disturbing are "human interest" stories which almost always have a hidden message promoting some particular viewpoint.

I urge everyone to consider opposing news sources before discerning fact from fiction.

You contradict yourself.

If there are "independent" media, then not all media are "nothing but propaganda."

 

[jwoodie]

Examples: NY Times and WS Journal, NBC and FNC, etc. Comprende?

 

[Disir]

Examples: NY Times and WS Journal, NBC and FNC, etc. Comprende?

Are you claiming those are independent?

 

[whitehall]

All news contains political spin. Since the mainstream media is almost entirely liberal the spin favors the administration.

 

[Pogo]

All news contains political spin. Since the mainstream media is almost entirely liberal the spin favors the administration.

Utter bullshit. Oh wait, that's what you just did.

Mass media is first and foremost corporate. Its interest is not in advocating any position save preserving the status quo, which is where they feed. Rather, its interest is profit. And to that end it will present what sells, in a way that sells. Ideology does not sell.

Myths do though. And apparently you're buyin'.

Gullible's Travels....

 

[jwoodie]

Examples: NY Times and WS Journal, NBC and FNC, etc. Comprende?

Are you claiming those are independent?

Independent from one another.

 

[Pogo]

Examples: NY Times and WS Journal, NBC and FNC, etc. Comprende?

Are you claiming those are independent?

Independent from one another.

The WSJ and Fox Noise are the same company.

"Independent" ideally should mean independent of the corporate megastructure that enables a single entity to actually dictate what the news is.

Take Time Warner for example:

HBO/Cinemax:

• HBO Independent Productions/HBO Multiplexes/HBO on Demand/HBO Video
• Cinemax Multiplexes/Cinemax on Demand
• HBO Domestic and International Program Distribution/HBO Films/HBO Miniseries/HBO Sports/HBO Entertainment/HBO Documentary Films
• Picturehouse (co-owned by New Line Cinema)
• HBO International
• HBO Asia (Europe, Hungary, India, Poland, Romania, Brazil and Latin America Group)
• Warner Channel
• E! Latin America
• Cinemax Latin America

Turner Broadcasting System:

• Turner Broadcasting International
• Millennium Media Group
• Chilevisión
• Turner Entertainment Networks
• truTV
• TBS
• TNT
• TCM
• WPCH
• Court TV Original Productions
• TNT Originals
• TCM Productions
• TBS Productions

Turner Sports:

• Picturehouse (co-owned by New Line Cinema)
• NBC / Turner
• Turner Sports & Entertainment Digital Network
• Bleacher Report
• NCAA.com
• March Madness Live
• PGA.com
• NBA Digital (joint venture with the NBA)
• NBA TV/NBA LEAGUE PASS/NBA Mobile/NBADLEAGUE.com/WNBA.com etc.
• Universal Wrestling Corporation (Formerly World Championship Wrestling)

TBS, Inc. Animation, Young Adults & Kids Media (AYAKM) division:

• Cartoon Network
• Adult Swim
• Boomerang
• Cartoon Network Studios
• Williams Street
• Adult Swim Video
• Cartoon Network Video

CNN News Group:

• CNN U.S.
• HLN/Headline News Productions
• CNN en Español/CNN Latino
• KBEH (co-owned by Viacom)
• CNN International
• CNN Radio
• CNN Originals/CNN Digital Network/CNN.com/CNNMoney.com website/CNN Mobile/CNN Newsource/CNN ImageSource/CNN Wire
• iReport

Turner Private Networks:

• Airport Network
• AccentHealth Waiting Room Television Network
• Turner Inflight Services
• Amtrak Acela Network
• Dealer Entertainment Network - with TCG Enterprises, Inc,
• The Checking Network

International:

• TCM & Cartoon Network / Asia Pacific
• Cartoonito
• TNT Latin America
• Pogo (not me, an animation TV channel in India)
• Retro
• Space
• MuchMusic Latin America
• I.Sat
• HTV

Joint Ventures:

• Cartoon Network Japan (Via Japan Entertainment Network, a joint venture with Itochu)
• CNN+/CNN Chile/CETV/CNN-IBN/CNNj/CNN TÜRK/CNN.co.jp (Japanese)
• n-tv
• Zee Turner Ltd (India)
• BOING

Internet:

• The Smoking Gun website
• Crime Library
• TheFrisky.com
• GameTap
• CallToons
• Play On! Powered by ACC Select
• Super Deluxe
• TNT Overtime
• Toonami Jetstream
• SI.com
• PGA Tour.com and PGA.com
• CNN Pipeline
• NASCAR.com
• Bamzu.com

Warner Brothers Entertainment:

• Warner Bros. Consumer Products
• Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures
• Warner Bros. Pictures International
• Warner Bros. International Cinemas
• DC Entertainment
• DC Comics
• Mad Magazine
• Vertigo
• Also includes Warner Brothers Records and subsidiaries, half ownership of the CW television network, and the largest film production company in the world.

Warner Bros. Pictures Group:

• New Line Cinema
• New Line Home Entertainment
• New Line Television
• Turner Entertainment
• Warner Bros. Pictures
• Castle Rock Entertainment
• Warner Independent Pictures
• Warner Bros. Studios

Warner Brothers Television Group:

• Warner Bros. Television (see this link for just a sample of its output)
• Warner Independent Pictures
• Warner Bros. Studios
• Warner Bros. Television Group
• Warner Bros. Television/Warner Horizon Television/Warner Bros. Television Distribution
• Witt/Thomas Productions
• Warner Bros. International Television
• Telepictures Productions

Warner Bros. Animation:

• Hanna Barbera
• Looney Tunes
• Kids' WB!
• The WB

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group:

• Warner Home Video
• Warner Premiere
• Warner Bros. Family Entertainment
• Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
• Monolith Productions
• NetherRealm Studios
• Rocksteady Studios
• Snowblind Studios
• Surreal Software
• TT Games
• Turbine, Inc.
• WB Games

(source: Wiki)


That is one fuck of a lot of influence on what people see, hear, read, seek for entertainment feel about and interpret their world, and not in any way confined to our own borders (and somehow we still have blind wags worried about what the government can do while this monstrosity sails right over their collective head )

Anyway, obviously that's a gargantuan octopus of interdependent forces under a single umbrella -- and there are half a dozen of those with similar structures: Television, radio, internet, cable, book publishing, comics, newspapers, billboards, even sports arenas under one entity, who together control virtually ALL of our information flow. That is anathema to democracy.

 

[PoliticalChic]

Examples: NY Times and WS Journal, NBC and FNC, etc. Comprende?

Please don't leave out the Washington Compost:

"Here’s what we’re up against: the Washington Post lies outright, describing Senator William Fulbright as “a progressive on racial issues.” Fulbright was a full-bore segregationist, voting against the 1957, 1960, 1964, and 1965 civil rights bills."
Coulter, "Mugged," chapter 12