A small group of elites determines what ordinary people do not see or hear.
Legendary broadcast journalist Bill Moyers has said: “We’ve got to get alternative content out there to people, or this country’s going to die of too many lies.”
Moyers is an American journalist and political commentator. He served as the White House press secretary under the Johnson administration from 1965 to 1967. He was a director of the Council on Foreign Relations, from 1967-1974. He also worked as a network TV news commentator for 10 years.
Recently Moyers was asked what the corporate media means for US democracy:
“It means that virtually everything the average person sees or hears, outside of her own personal communications, is determined by the interests of private, unaccountable executives and investors whose primary goal is increasing profits and raising the share prices. More insidiously, this small group of elites determines what ordinary people do not see or hear. In-depth coverage of anything, let alone the problems real people face day-to-day, is as scarce as sex, violence, and voyeurism are pervasive.
“So if we need to know what is happening, and Big Media won’t tell us; if we need to know why it matters, and Big Media won’t tell us; if we need to know what to do about it, and Big Media won’t tell us; it’s clear what we have to do. We have to tell the story ourselves.”
The above is an extract from a recent story in Common Dreams.
And more from James Rozoff on social media:
A nation run by bankers will never be out of debt.
A nation owned by weapons manufacturers will never know peace.
A nation that allows a small segment of its citizens to write the laws will never know justice.
And if these elements own the media, we will never know the truth.— James Rozoff Author (@james_rozoff) December 31, 2019
See also: Most political colonies have come to an end. But a colonial mindset continues in the media.
John Menadue is the Founder and Editor in Chief of Pearls and Irritations. He was formerly Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet under Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser, Ambassador to Japan, Secretary of the Department of Immigration and CEO of Qantas.