Sunday January 28, 2007, 9:19 am
Please visit the Independent Lens website for more in-depth info.....http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/democracyondeadline/index.html

Monday January 29, 2007, 11:39 am
open your eyes america!

Tuesday January 30, 2007, 2:19 am
*Deceive, Inveigle, Obfuscate* ----- The X-Files

Tuesday January 30, 2007, 6:52 am
Thanks for posting this, Patt! From the PBS/Independent Lens website:

Who Owns the Media?

Like all reliable watchdogs, the media are expected to bark, but when its many-faceted voice is owned by a small number of corporate masters, concerns about its willingness to keep barking arise.

The trend of media conglomeration has been steady. In 1983, 50 corporations controlled most of the American media, including magazines, books, music, news feeds, newspapers, movies, radio and television. By 1992 that number had dropped by half. By 2000, six corporations had ownership of most media, and today five dominate the industry: Time Warner, Disney, Murdoch's News Corporation, Bertelsmann of Germany and Viacom. With markets branching rapidly into international territories, these few companies are increasingly responsible for deciding what information is shared around the world.

There are also major news organizations not owned by the “big five.” The New York Times is owned by the publicly-held New York Times Corporation, The Washington Post is owned by the publicly-held Washington Post Company and The Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times are both owned by the Tribune Company. Hearst Publications owns 12 newspapers including the San Francisco Chronicle, as well as magazines, television stations and cable and interactive media.

But even those publications are subject to the conglomerate machine, and many see the “corporatizing” of media as an alarming trend. Ben Bagdikian, Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, former Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at UC Berkeley and author of The New Media Monopoly, describes the five media giants as a “cartel” that wields enough influence to change U.S. politics and define social values.

Internet Ownership

Originally, the Internet was the champion of free thinkers, embraced as a liberating force from corporate owned media. But over time even online news sites joined radio, television, newspapers and magazines as properties of the small handful of media conglomerates.

In raw numbers, 80 percent of the top 20 online news sites are owned by the 100 largest media companies. Time Warner owns two of the most visited sites: CNN.com and AOL News, while Gannett, which is the twelfth largest media company, owns USAToday.com along with many local online newspapers.

What we should be most concerned about, Bagdikian says, is the narrowing of choices, because that removes from voters the full spectrum of views and information with which to choose its government—a dangerous trend that threatens democracy itself.

Tuesday January 30, 2007, 11:15 am
Deomocracy? It's gone, friend. It's all a stage show now.

Friday February 2, 2007, 7:02 pm
Bush and assoooooooooo....should be replaced long time already!!!!

Friday February 2, 2007, 7:37 pm
It's quite sad how people with power don't use it for the better of their fellow human kind. Much like an aristocracy, the American Government has chosen who says what and where. This issue isn't limited to Iraq but could possibly cover a huge range of topics. All of which the American people are blind to.

Friday February 2, 2007, 8:57 pm
how many yrs. later do they speak out? better late than never, thanks to the many people they feel will now stand behind them, YOU. i only hope when i heat is higher you will stand!

Saturday February 3, 2007, 6:51 am
I've known this for a long time. ITs all Bush lies and propaganda! The most scary and infuritating part to me is that the press is NOT doing its job as as a defender of our consitution and eclaration of independence which is to keep tabs on the governemt and always tell teh truth to the citizens so that the citizens can take action!

I am very disappointed in cingress fro nto doing its part as elected officals to protect the American citizens from the lies and propaganda of the Bush adminstration!

Saturday February 3, 2007, 5:13 pm
People are starting to wake up, I wish every american could see this.

Sunday February 4, 2007, 8:00 pm
I've believed for a long time that the government controls the media. They want to keep us 'scared'. There are so many things that could be 'fixed', yet they go on unfixed. There really is almost no good news anywhere the common media is. NPR is awesome at reporting things you don't see on tv, which I believe is the one of the ways that 'comforts' people to some degree. Could it be that subliminal messages are flashed on the tv? Seems to be a tv in almost every room of households, living room, kitchen, bedroom and even sometimes bathrooms. Something is going on and it needs fixed, yes there are way too many people not seeing what is really happening. Wake up America!

Tuesday February 6, 2007, 4:22 am
Just astonishing how twisted he is...

Monday February 12, 2007, 3:13 pm
Iran: NYT Repeats History, WaPo Rewrites It . . . . . The echo chamber has kicked into high gear on the "proof" that Iran has been sending weapons into Iraq. Here's how this latest propaganda campaign evolved, and how two of our most "trusted" news sources enabled it. . . . . There's More...

Friday March 23, 2007, 2:27 pm
It's exposed now. Our government is seriously in need of a stray jacket. They're like a toddler with dark troubling ideas in their mind having their own secret perogative and agendas with no one around them knowing it. It's pathetic how people in this country are only given what's put out on the bulletin board but not what in the file cabinet.