US Media Interests: Champions of Profit, Propaganda and
Puffery
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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