True words. The marketing of our world news is clever and somewhat deceitful. Across the globe there is a similar format and theme. It smells of diversion from facts and great salesman ship.

the main thing that strikes me about this is that she is the daughter of Zbig.  folktruthers narrative about Zbig suddenly seems much more in focus after learning how much power and influence people like this exert in our political arena and therefore actual lives.

Louise…thanks for the re-display of my points. But just as I don’t think pressures from Corporate Advertisers should dictate the content of our news, I don’t think the pressures of consumer spending would change that model. Consumerism has to be taken out of the picture entirely. What we, as consumers, like or don’t like should be irrelevant. What we, as consumers, like to watch or not watch (which, of course, impacts on advertising revenues and therefore news content) has to be made as irrelevant as possible.

An analogy, weak as this is, could be High School students deciding which classes they need to take to graduate based on the popularity of the teacher, ease of the course, content of the course, etc.  The classes can be full, the education process can be fun and engaging, and when Graduation Day comes they will have learned nothing and have nothing to offer their community.

(By political extension, these ignoramouses will vote in favor of an illegal and unecessary war, push for tax cuts for the rich and drink the Republian Kool-Aid against their own best interests.)

Louise, I think you’re reading too much into this visually. She just looks dog tired, and that’s the impression I have when I watch the show.

She almost always looks like this early-morning television thing is wearing her down. She looks absolutely exhausted — even though, as you point out, she seems to remember (out of professional habit) to avoid smearing her TV makeup as she props her weary head on her hand.

Are we talking about the same thing?  Corporations having the same rights as individuals? Remember writing about this topic and some enlightening responses from Canning 4 a while back, on an other article. 

Never heard of Corporate Personhood before, so maybe they are the same?

Greed in the media is just the way they are paid to do the bidding of the ‘elite’. For examples that would be the bilderberg group, the central bankers, the world bank, international monetary fund, the council of foreign relations, trilateral commission, the military/industrial/congressional complex, corporations, lobbyists, bank of england, wall street and many more. These are the places where the really rich people exert their agendas of which the highest priorities are control of a country’s money and control of a country’s media(tv, radio, news/info stations, newpapers, magazines and to maybe a less extent books which besides the internet is where people who seek real news and informtation turn as a reliable source). Just look at Truthdig’s bazaar for some of those books or publications.
As a reward for carrying out the elite’s agendas, the media and corporations have now assumed our, the citizens, Bill of Rights as their own. And if you want to argue that, just try to google FCC board member kathleen abernathy testifying before congress and telling Sen. Boxer that the commerical free speech of the media cannot be denied. If you can’t find it, get Robert Kane Pappas’ documentary ‘Orwell Rolls in His Grave’ where she says this on video.

BruSays,

1. The purpose of Corporate News Media is to sell products.

2. Entertainment and Info-tainment sells. Real News doesn’t.

3. Nothing will change as long as the method of delivery remains the same.

~~~

Unless we consumers stop buying products that pay for corporate news!

Re Noah’s Post: “The issue is the Corporate Personhood.”

If corporations are entitled to “personhood” and have the same rights as individual citizens, shouldn’t the same Federal Income Tax Rates be used for both the “corporate citizens” and the non-corporate citizens?  (I’d say the “Single/No Dependent” tax rate would be most appropriate for a corporate citizen.)

And if corporate “citizens” receive stimulus packages and special tax breaks, shouldn’t individual citizens receive stimulus packages and special tax breaks as well? And what is the “personhood” status of a corporation when it resides off shore? Is it still considered a “citizen” of the U.S.?

There is a lot of critical insight into corporate media here, just enough to be dangerous because the MAJORITY of a general public thinks that the Nightly News is the Gospel.
  I will not bore my esteemed peers with a re-wording of the recognition of the inherent bias of main stream media. So called “Journalists” on the nightly news
are hand puppets. Whose hand you may ask? Rupert Murdock most of the time, but there are a few others. They work for other corporations hawking their goods and services that, they would have us believe, we cannot love ourselves without. They also work for governments. 
    Who I would prefer to direct my criticism toward is Mr. Jamison Foser. In case you do not recognize the name, he is
the Almighty Executive Vice President at Media Matters for
America. He is the ultimate reason some of us have directed our
venom at the Hand Puppets. How naive can you be Mr. Vice
President ?
The gloves are off the tentacles man because there was not even a recognition of he fact that all Air Copy has to be approved by an Editor. That behind the scenes Goebbels who perfects the propoganda.
  Message to Media Matters:
If you wish to remain relevant, you must be more accurate in your analysis.
The critical analysis must of necessity go to the source, The
Puppeteers.
It is Naive to pick on the Puppet.

By OSB, February 9 at 3:40 pm

Thanks for the link, I don’t see Moyer’s as much I want and this is certainly informative for me. No way else to slice it, the msm is the huge crux that needs reshaping back into a part of our democracy and hopefully obama can get a program going the will break this conservative ownership and control of the information that the major part of america still get their information and spread it out more and the msm must be made to stay open to all, in short, the hell with monkey ronald reagan and his throwing away of the fairness doctrine, that is what we need brought back to ensure equal thoughts. Is it any wonder that far too many people still think that this is just a small turndown in the economy and that things will get better before the end of the year?

Watch this bill moyers clip.  It is some real talk and not the newspeak you get from the MSM.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/02062009/watch.html

Shrinking the brain through misguided mass media known as MMM, may be all part of the the grand scheme of things.  Since I do not watch TV, as a minority, it probably does not matter to them calling the shots. Some of us will be like the person who was able to leave Plato’s Cave only to be attacked by a mob upon return.  Such is peer pressure. 

Occasionally when I do watch TV, I feel like the character getting a Lobotomy in one Flew Over the Cuckoo ‘s Nest.  Aside from the content,  commercials take up about 30 to 45 minutes for each hour program? Did big brother have ads in 1984?

Passively watching a movie or program on TV, I always feel like the characters are acting, nor do I have any idea who Mika Brzezinski is, sounds like a plumber to me.

Want the clearest view of the current disaster of the american mainstream media? Click on this link:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13062.htm

This is from the dvd ‘Orwell Rolls In His Grave’ which has about as much more on the dvd than you will see at this link. I have found it to be a most important explaination of what is and what has happened to the information people get in america when they rely on their tv, radio and newpapers for information to make the important decisions in their daily lives.

When we turn on the TV to watch the “News” we must remember three things:

1. The purpose of Corporate News Media is to sell products. It’s not to inform or educate the viewer, but to sell them toothpaste, a car, a pain-reliever, etc.
2. Entertainment and Info-tainment sells. Real News doesn’t. No wonder the in-depth, informative and relatively unbiased news broadcasts are on PBS, BBC or similar networks.
3. Nothing will change as long as the method of delivery remains the same. We cannot expect CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, MSNBC (much less FOX) to change as long as they’re directed by the forces of advertising profits, market share, viewer demographics, etc.

What’s hopeful in all this is what TOMACK had to say (9:15 09FEB). Young people don’t depend on Corporate News for their news. No wonder Obama won! There is hope!

With a few (very few) exceptions, these talking heads are spewing the “Corporate drivel” that their masters want them to spew - to “confuse” the American public!  Well hopefully after the disastrous 8 nightmare-ishly looonngg years of Bushco the public has awakened to see exactly how destructive and obstructive the Ruthignikans are! 

These clowns have proved themselves not just incapable of behaving in the “public interest” but of deferring to their Corporate Masters with no independent thoughts!  Their “words” have neither real thought behind them, nor any sign of “logical analysis” to them!  The last time they were independent - Nixon was in power - gee, that speaks volumes!

History has repeatedly demonstrated that we truly do need some kind of responsible system to alert/protect the public when it comes irresponsible news reporting. I suspect if Publitzer and Hearst had been required to pay their fair share of the cost this mess, for example, unethical and/or yellow journalism might have just disappeared:

“Pulitzer and Hearst are often credited (or blamed) for drawing the nation into the Spanish-American War with sensationalist stories or outright lying. . . . The most famous example of the exaggeration is the apocryphal story that artist Frederic Remington telegrammed Hearst to tell him all was quiet in Cuba and “There will be no war.” Hearst responded “Please remain. You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war.”

http://www.answers.com/topic/yellow-journalism

Listening/watching news coverage of the economy and Congressional deliberations about recovery packages makes me want to scream, for just the sort of reasons this article outlines so well.

On CNN I heard a “news anchor” refer to the Obama package as “the so-called stimulus package.”  That’s journalism?!?! 

What it is is pathetic that a national news organization can be so shallow and so wrong about something so important.

AARRRRRGGGHHHHHH .... feeling a bit better now .....

Mika, along with most others on cable and network news, are not journalists, they are copy readers who are given their daily talking points.  They are told what their opinions are to be.  Mika has proven a number of times that she is not the brightest bulb in the lamp and she is willing to be slapped down by her “mentor”, Joe Scarborough.  I agree with Louise, above, who complained that these robots constantly spout misinformation about subjects like the stimulus bill, and go on to discuss “who made his or her argument more successfully”.  For a true reporter/journalist, the point SHOULD be, “what were the arguments, exactly?  Let us set out those arguments and clarify and discuss the merits of each.”  It is unfortunate, but the only way the public will be in a position to decide is for every person to go to every website possible, read as much as possible, go to the stimulus bill and read it oneself (it is printed in its entirety on several sites) and decide what the truth is.  It is a sad fact that we do not have honest, objective reporting. We all must do our own research and investigation and come to our own informed conclusions.  We can no longer rely on the “news” or the “press”.  They no longer exist.  What remains are the talking heads airing dirty laundry and misinformation.  What remains are the copy readers who exist only for those in power (need I say, the corporatocracy?).

I just noticed something. That picture of Ms. Brzezinski.

Most of us, when we are deep in thought, [or trying to appear to be] place our hand on our face, under our chin or at the top of our brow while thinking deeply. Not an unusual thing to do. But if you notice Ms. Brzezinski actually isn’t!

What she is doing is laying one finger carefully across the top of her brow. Avoiding her hair, and avoiding putting her full hand on her chin, face or forehead. Now why is that? The answer is obvious. She cant mess up her hair or risk smudging her makeup. And why is that worth noting? Because it shows where her real thought process is ... on her appearance, not the news!

Great example of one picture being worth a thousand words.

“What you probably won’t see is Mika Brzezinski or Charles Gibson or any other TV reporter suggesting that the tax cuts in the bill are not stimulative and should be stripped—even though they are less effective as stimulus than unemployment benefits and food stamps.”

~~~

The obvious might be that these “reporters” are stimulated to push for a package that might line their own pockets, but I think that’s to simple.

First I don’t think they’re smart enough to babble and do personal financial gain in their heads at the same time. Kinda like patting themselves on the head and rubbing their tummy at the same time. They can’t do it. [Although they are very good at patting themselves on the head.] So I think they rely heavily on babble being fed to them. Probably from hard-right propagandists and probably for free. And I don’t think they’re smart enough to even realize they’re repeating propaganda.

And I don’t think they’re smart enough to understand expressing personal views is not reporting! In short TV “journalism” is not an ism. In fact for the most part it doesn’t exist. TV “journalism” is cheap [as in tawdry] entertainment.

Now I convess, I daily channel hop, just to make sure the world is still there.

And just to get my daily chuckles

I occasionally laugh out loud if I watch Charles Gibson. Just seeing his self-important all wise manner and carriage is funny! Impossible to keep a straight face watching what Gibson obviously thinks he is while listening to Gibson expose himself for what he actually is!

CNBC is another source of idiots feeding us bad information. All the “Market experts” screaming at each other while trying to explain to us something they can’t explain to themselves!

I laughed out loud one day watching one of them bristle with indignation when a “visiting” journalist challenged her view on the outcome of the election.

“That upsets me,” Ms. smart [dumb] blonde observed. “Of course it does,” came the response, “your guy LOST!”

The entire panel fell silent ... actually went blank-faced for a brief moment. It was obvious none of them, not one, could think of something to say to that challenge. Then suddenly they all began talking at once! That’s when I started to laugh. Such fun watching the experts lose their hold on the issue! Such fun seeing them exposed for the repub toadies that they are!

Regarding CNBC, I think they have earned and deserve a good share of the blame for the financial crisis! Feeding prejudicial crap into the minds of loyal viewers who understand what’s going on even LESS than THEY do! And that’s going some! Because these idiot “reporters” understand only one thing ... THEIR paycheck!

~~~

“So far, the news media’s coverage of the stimulus debate has consisted largely of repeating false Republican spin and pontificating about which side has been making their arguments more successfully (all the while ignoring the media’s own role in aiding the GOP.)”

~~~

With the NOTABLE exception of Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow. They have both clearly explained economic stimulus versus tax cuts, several times. Which is probably why those two shows are the ONLY two which actually beat projected numbers for last month! The rest of them tanked ... badly! And those poor folks who program those various “tanking” slots are all scrambling trying to figure out why no-ones watching!

Golly whiz! Maybe the viewing public is actually SMARTER than their so-called news guys!

Since much of what the public sees on TV news is often closer to fiction than fact, I think the public is entitled to and networks should be required to use legal disclaimers.  Something like along the lines of this might do:

This TV News program is not intended to reflect actual facts.  Any misuse or misrepresentations of actual facts on this program are for entertainment and/or political propaganda purposes only.

I think I’ve got this straight-

Basically, as far as TV news is concerned, if you give money to rich people it’s called stimulus, and if you give it to poor people its called welfare.

If you give money to rich bankers to keep their fraudulent investment firms afloat long enough so they can hand out lavish bonuses, it’s called stimulus.

If you give money to poor people to buy food, stay in their home, get health care, and maybe even get an education, or job retraining,  it’s called welfare.

Stimulus is good welfare is bad. Got it?

That’s TV News Reality for you. It’s a real reality check for me, because I don’t have cable TV, so I generally don’t see these shows. Usually I encounter them through articles such as this. It explains a lot. While I know this type of propaganda is going on, I usually don’t experience it directly.  It’s good to be reminded of it. It helps me keep things in perspective.

The stimulus bill will help the people, the TARP funds will screw the people, and vice versa for the rich.

My three children, 26,23, and 20, rely almost completely on the web, NPR, and selected newspapers for their “news” (chips off the old block). They tell me that the majority of their friends in college—and out—do the same.
Forever the optimist, I’m hoping the landscape of national news veers away from tv in the future. Or at least it gets better because of the competition. 

I’m hoping…

Revelation:  Pretty faces spew ugly lies.

I totally concur with this articles assessment. “So called” journalist’s such as Ms.Brzezinski are just another reason why staying aware of current events (politics, foreign policy, etc.), mainly by utilizing the TV for the facts is a waste of time. I feel that the stations (who employ these liars) utilize these degenerates to keep Americans confused.

It would be so nice if these people “actually” did there job, by reporting the facts…..just the facts! Again there strategy is to keep people confused and so again they are simply worthless, and a disgrace to the “Journalist” profession. These of course are my personal opinions, opinions based on the facts. I must add to my comment that I highly respect “Keith Olbermann” and his show Countdown! I feel that he is one of the very, very few that promotes the truth, and puts the “facts” right out there; of course “real fact’s” is not debatable.

Mika Brezinski, has every right to be wrong. And wrong she is on most every account. That is why there is an off switch, or channel tuner on each TV set that is made.  So that we don’t have to listen to the likes of someone like Mika.
I have one question for her, Where did you get your economics degree, and every other degree that you need to be spouting off on the range of subjects that you hold forth on.
Is it just me, or are the pundits growing more and more obtuse as time goes on?  I see no reason that a TV personality/pundit should be listened to more than
someone who is an expert in any given field. Yet listen we must to get to the real news, if one can call what is on the Main Stream Media news.
Surely, there are much better things to do with one’s
time than to listen to a bunch of know-nothing pundits, who can speak about any subject with the authority that is granted them be the networks that they appear on.
Given the sad state of affairs of the MSM, one could venture to guess, that there are not more than 50-100
sheeple that hold forth on most of the news today.
That is why I read my news, on the internet and do not watch TV, even for the “entertainment value,” anymore.

Mika should not be on the air.  She offers nothing but ridiculous, inflammatory and false comments.