HAVE POLITICAL ELECTIONS BECOME AUCTIONS?
by Steve Thompson, editor of Freedom From the Press
(Jan. 18, 2010) — Are politically-based television and talk radio programs open and inclusive to all viewpoints?
Do the names Thom Hartmann, Rob Kall, Richard and Kate Mucci, Laura Flanders, William K. Black, Michael Parenti or Ravi Batra sound familiar?
The answer to the first question is “yes.” Without money to feed the media, the average citizen has a difficult if not impossible task of winning an election. Exceptions are few and far between. Fact: Jesse Ventura became Governor of Minnesota on a $300,000.00 bill. I raise this issue because of information I obtained while watching Conspiracy Theory on TruTV. During a recent episode of this weekly show, Governor Ventura said, “Soon after becoming governor, I was summoned to the basement of the Minnesota Capitol where I was questioned by a cordial and respectful gathering of over 30 CIA agents. What they wanted to know was how did I win the 1998 election as an Independent?”
Note: To date, Jesse Ventura is the highest-ranking Reform Party winner since it became a political party in 1996. Fact: Since 1996, the mainstream press has shown little, if any, interest in covering the mission, principles or candidates of the populist Reform Party of the United States of America.
To answer the second question, since 1992, I’d say talk radio has swung right of center. Independent or left of center radio shows are few and far between. Political television programming has taken on more of a corporate approach rather than left or right. What’s good for corporations makes the nightly newscast or is political fodder for the Sunday morning political shows.
The fact that few have ever heard of the names listed in question 3 makes my point. Professional broadcasters such as Thom Hartmann have earned a spot to host a political news or opinion show for a major network. The fact that none of the mainstream broadcasters want populist opinion entering into the public debate proves my point of media bias and internal media corruption. With the exception of Lou Dobbs, the same absence of progressive or independent hosts in mainstream radio exist, and it isn’t because of lack of talent or lack of demand for populist/progressive content.
In essence, the mainstream media is in the business of dumbing down America’s body politic. In a republic, this reality has worked to weaken or eliminate the “consent of the governed” from the entire political equation.
Do America a favor: send this page as a link to everyone in your inbox. And Google the names in question 3 for the populist truth and nothing but…
[Reprinted with permission from http://freedomfromthepress.net/free-fair-and-balanced/]
Agree with the author’s points. The Democrats keep pushing their Fairness Doctrine but we have many media outlets such as NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS Bloomberg that are left of center and we could argue that this doctrine could be used to require other viewpoints have 50% control of the programming or some fair and balanced policy that is deemed acceptable by those who have not been represented. Maybe this change can be modeled after affirmative action to make it more politically correct.
It should be noted that Ventura broke away from the Reform party after being elected. The Reform party refused to support his campaign. They were a top down organization not interested in a grass roots movement. When Ventura broke away the Minnesota Reform party became the Independence Party of Minnesota. The IPMN has maintained major party status for 16 years and had become a fixture in Minnesota politics.
I’m very proud of the people of the state of Minnesota. Unlike most states the people of Minnesota aren’t easily swayed by the corporate propaganda machine of ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX and NBC News. As for the Reform Party, grassroots supporters from all 50 states were betrayed by Ross Perot. Following the infamous Playboy interview, national Reform Party leaders took it upon themselves to publicly attack Governor Ventura without the consent of Reform Party members from coast to coast. I personally pleaded for Governor Ventura to take control of the national party and convert it to a bottom up national organization. Governor Ventura, for whatever reason declined to respond to my plea. That said, it’s not to late to save America from the tyranny, oppression and injustice that’s firmly in control of American government at every level. The leadership of IPMN can play a vital role in this process by contacting the newly elected RPUSA chairman Mr. David Collison. The Reform Party of 2010 is a majority rule bottom up political machine that will only obtain greatness with the hard work and dedication of those who want to save America by protecting and strengthening our U.S. Constitution. Please, do our nation a favor, go to reformparty.org and become apart of a national populist solution to fix America and prosecute those who work to destroy her. A tyrants greatest fear is democracy itself. We The People have all the power if we choose to set our differences aside and unite as one… Steven Thompson, former state chairman of the Reform Party of Washington state.
“With the exception of Lou Dobbs, the same absence of progressive or independent hosts in mainstream radio exist, and it isn’t because of lack of talent or lack of demand for populist/progressive content.”
sort of ruined the article with that statement
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Mr. Charlton replies: Regardless of whether one agrees with the author, his point is true, that corporate American controls the media. I tend to think that the populist view of America is decidedly not progressive at all, its traditional; even conservatives fail to realize how much “conservativism” is really a form of slow moving progressive socialism. What conservatives advocate today is very similar to what President Kennedy advocated 50 years ago. So what kind of conservatism is that?
Yes , you do make very good points.
It may be that my bias is hindering me from seeing the facts in this case, but the way it looks to me is that on tv, there is a good market for right of center news to go along with the left of center news on most channels. I think fox news is the proof of that.
On the other hand, I’m just not sure at all that someone is preventing left of center programs from getting on the radio out of bias. Air America went bankrupt and many other left of center programs have tried and failed to garner ratings. It looks very much to me like the market is open and that those programs just haven’t cut the mustard. And that’s the point I was trying to make about his statement.
But I do agree with you that conservatism is being gradually degraded.
A true conservative member of Congress wouldn’t accept a lifetime pension when his country is 12.4 trillion in debt. A true conservative wouldn’t spend hundreds of billions of dollars that America doesn’t have to bailout corrupt and greedy corporations. At the local level, a true conservative would never support public financing for sports stadiums or golf courses. In Washington state, conservatives support public financing of shopping malls and provide large tax breaks for a publisher of a daily newspaper who also owns an NBC affiliate television station. The RNC and DNC are one in the same. Perhaps that’s why Indian tribes give equal donations to both? The real political division in America should be between the populists and the elite.