US Media Interests: Champions of Profit, Propaganda and Puffery

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Does America really have a free press, as we're so proud to boast? John Stanton and Wayne Madsen (no relation to the reviewer) give us reasons to suspect that we aren't much better off than countries whose media are under government control. Even worse, we fail to even notice that America is just teetering on the edge of total censorship. Writing in CounterPunch, the authors provide a list of ways that the media has avoided any news that their corporate sponsors frown upon while keeping vital issues from the public.

Though leftist criticism of the media is nothing new, the authors' citing of recent cases of triteness and bias in news stories, such as the twisting of information about the actions of the U.S. government in its war effort, the way Hollywood gossip finds its way even into 'serious' news, and the tightening corporate ties with media that affect what is reported and what is brushed under the rug, are all proof that this is no time for complacency. 'The only remaining barrier to monstrous U.S. totalitarianism is a sickly and crippled U.S. media, an aggressive foreign media, and the hope that the heretofore somnambulant American public will awaken from its stupor,' they write. But mere complaining is easy, and rather than just dispensing a bitter diatribe about the state of the American press, the authors provide resources to help us learn where our news really comes from
--Julie Madsen
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