media corruption and the big six
Jane breaks down the six major corporations which effectively control the news media. We then hit the streets and ask our fellow citizens for their thoughts on the credibility of American news.
tools of action
The Corporation- a film by Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott & Joel Bakan-Watch the film and get involved
Downing Street Memo Take action
Send a letter to your representative to pass a Resolution of Dissapproval HJ Res 79 to limit media consolidation
Start a Blog and find out how to advertise for it
Start an online radio show
Start an ezine
Burn DVDs of any online documentaries or videos that you want to share, and pass them out to your friends, family, and community.
Print out flyers of information that concerns you and leave them around your city in coffeeshops, concerts, libraries, and community centers.
Buy a camera, and start a video blog. Film a documentary or short film about something you are passionate about and spread it around.
Join a Fight Big Media Meetup Group
Support independent news services, periodiclas, and radio
Donate to Project Censored
Join Media Action
Be the Media- steps to starting your own media
AcME Groups- action coalition for media education
Stop Big Media- Act now
Media Matters- action center
Democracy now- get involved
Common Cause Media & Democracy Program
Spark a grassroots firestorm on Media Ownership Rules
Support Low Power FM radio
Tell the FCC: no more media consolidation!
Become a Free Press E Activist
Tell your Representatives to Fight Media Consolidation. Write and Call your Represenatives here
resources
Big 6: CBS (Right click and select "Save Link As" to download.)
Big 6: General Electric (Right click and select "Save Link As" to download.)
Big 6: News Corporation (Right click and select "Save Link As" to download.)
Big 6: Time Warner (Right click and select "Save Link As" to download.)
Big 6: Walt Disney (Right click and select "Save Link As" to download.)
Big 6: Viacom Board (Right click and select "Save Link As" to download.)
Articles
The Trial ofJohn Peter Zenger
PBS-History of the Fairness Doctrine
PBS- Big and Bigger Media
Ted Turner speaks up against Big Media
Deregulation of the Media
Comcast censors criticisms of itself and Rep. Carney
UPDATE: PREPACKAGED NEWS
Fake News and Propaganda: Shaping our Reality
Bush Media Manipulation In Turbo Mode: The Fleecing and Flogging of Americans
Operation Mockingbird: CIA Media Manipulation
Under Bush, a New Age of Prepackaged TV News
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: "Media Isn't Doing It's Job"
1996 Telecommunications Act under Bill Clinton
More Americans are turning to the Web for News
Billions from the Bailout given to Goldman Sachs Bank for Future Salary Bonuses
Bush planted fake news stories on American Tv
Kucinich's Articles of Impeachment
Case for Impeachment Builds,The Downing Street memo
The Guardian- Downing Street has Blair in Firing Line
UK Times Online- The Secret Downing Street memo
Christian Science Monitor- Why has the Downing Street memo been a dud in American Press?
Media Matters- Mainstream media cover up of Downing Street memo
News Dominated Clinton's sex scandal
Kucinish presents case for Impeachment
Washington Post- Bush Administration spends 1.6 billion dollars on fake news
Station Fails to Disclose Video News Releases
Presenting VNR's without disclosure may Violate Federal Law
Mass Media Unleashed- How Washington Policymakers Shortchanged American Public
Fcc on its knees-Mark Fowler and Media Policy
Websites
Constitutional Role of the Media in our Democracy
An Apology for Printers
Big Media Overview with Bill Moyer
Big Media Interlocks with Corporate America
Media RegulationsTimeline
Majority of adults get their information from TV Networks
Colombia Journalism Review-Who Owns What-General Electric
Colombia Journalism Review-Who Owns What- Disney
Colombia Journalism Review-Who Owns What- Time Warner Inc.
Colombia Journalism Review-Who Owns What- Viacom
Colombia Journalism Review-Who Owns What- CBS
Colombia Journalism Review-Who Owns What- News Corporations
Columbia Journalism Review-Who Owns What- Clear Channel Communications
Over 50% of Americans don't trust mainstream press
27% of Americans wanted Clinton Impeached
Media and Communication Policy
Wikipedia- Video News Release
Additional Links of Interest:
Project Censored- Media Democracy in Action
Free Press- Reform media. Transform Democracy
PBS- Media Consolidation
Big Media vs. the Grassroots: A status report
Important dates for the Freedom of Expression
Freedom of the Press Timeline
Global Issues- Media Manipulation
Videos
Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon's Hidden Hand
MSNBC refuses to show Building Seven collapse video from Physicist Steven Jones
Fox News reporters fired for telling the truth
Computer Programer admits to building software to rig elections
Video- Kucinich presents 35 articles of impeachment
Book
Goodman, Amy, and Goodman, David. Static: Government Liars, Media Cheerleaders, and the People Who Fight Back. New York: Hyperion, 2006
transcript
Welcome to yourTruth. In this episode we wanted to investigate why corporate news outlets weren't highlighting issues that greatly affect our health, pocketbooks, and our freedom. That's when we heard that the news didn't have to tell us the truth, and that there are no regulations or laws that make news outlets tell us what our corporations, our government, and our decisions makers are doing. Don't believe us?
After learning about the Fox news case, we investigated what the FCC's policy was on news stations or broadcasters distorting or slanting the news. What we found out is that there is no law in place against distorting the news, only a suggestion for broadcasters. The Federal Communications Consumer Facts states: "As public trustees, broadcasters may not intentionally distort the news. Broadcasters are responsible for deciding what their stations present to the public".
Once we knew it's not against the law for corporate news to distort the truth, our next question was could they also be censoring stories from the American public? That's when we found Project Censored, founded in 1976. Project Censored uncovers the top 25 national news stories censored by corporate media. We sat down with Professor of Sociology at Sonoma State University, and current Director of Project Censored, Peter Phillips, to get the scoop.
Stories are being censored to protect corporate interest? But there are hundreds of different channels! It seems absurd to think that all of these channels are conspiring to censor information from the public. That's when we found out that these hundreds of channels, news stations, and other media outlets are all owned by only six corporations. How does this media structure protect and benefit the corporate elite? Let's start at the top.
There are six major corporations, commonly called the "Big Six". They are: General Electric or NBC, Telemundo, Universal pictures, Walt Disney, ABC, The History Channel, and ESPN, Viacom or MTV, BET, and Paramount Pictures, CBS, who in 2004 split from Viacom, owns CBS radio, CBS television, and Showtime, News Corporation or Fox news, the New York Post, Wall Street Journal, and MySpace, and Time Warner Inc. or CNN, Time Magazine, and Warner Brothers.
These six corporations have become the voice for America, but how do they protect the corporate elite? Introducing: the corporate family tree. Every corporation has a Board of Directors and Executives, but the people on these boards don't just serve one corporation. Most of them sit on numerous corporate boards, think tanks, lobbies, institutions, and government agencies.
For example, Lloyd Trotter is the Divisional CEO, President, and Vice Chairman of General Electric, Director or Pepsi CO. and Director of Textron Inc., a weapons contractor. Is there a conflict of interest when a board member sits on the board of a media company and a weapons contractor when we are at war, and when war is profitable to weapons contractors? Could the media be distorting news on genetically modified foods because a board member sits on a media company and one of the largest snack and beverage distributors that uses genetically modified foods?
Another example is Aylwin Lewis, the Independent Director of Walt Disney and Director of Halliburton, the company contracted to rebuild Iraq. Is there a conflict of interest when a person sits on the board of a media company and on Halliburton? Could this media board member be invested in the war?
John Bryson, Director of Disney, is also the Director of Boeing, the world's largest aerospace and military engineering firm that makes missiles, 747's, launch vehicles and more. He is also invested in a number of banks.
Frederic Salerno, Director of Viacom, is also the Director of CBS (both companies are part of he Big Six). Additionally, he is the Director of National Fuel and Gas Company. Did the media properly investigate the gas crisis if one of their board members is invested in the market?
Viet Dinh, is an Executive of News Corporation, and also authored the Patriot Act. Why is a media board member writing government legislation that undermines our civil liberties?
Our final example is Stephen Bollenbach, the Independent Director and Chairman of the Finance Committee for Time Warner Inc. He's also a consultant for Hilton Hotels, a board member of CVC Capital Partners, an investment firm, Chairman of the Finance Committee of Catelius Development Corp., a real estate investment firm, KB Homes, a housing and commercial building developer, and lead Independent Director of American International Group, or AIG, one of the largest insurance companies that caused the collapse of the housing market and prompted the bailout. Could the media be covering up information on why the bailout happened, and on where the projected four trillion dollar bailout money is going?
With all of this entanglement, do you think there is a conflict of interest? If you want to find out about every board member and their corporate ties, go below the TV to our resources section and click on the Big Six.
It seems like a lot of people don't seem to trust the corporate media. In fact, according to a Harris Interactive Poll, over 50% of Americans said they didn't trust the corporate news. So we wanted to investigate, is there a reason why we shouldn't trust the news? You tell us.
Do you know what a Video News Release (VNR) is? A Video News Release is a video segment created by a PR firm, an advertising agency, corporation, or government agency, and provided to television news stations for the purpose of informing, shaping public opinion, or to promote individuals and commercial products. What is the point of a Video News Release? When a VNR is placed in your 6:00 news program, you believe that your local news station went and investigated the story, interviewed those featured in the story, and uncovered the facts themselves.
In actuality, many VNRs are written and produced by Public Relations agencies, advertising agencies, government agencies or corporations. After creating the VNR to fit their agenda, they pay corporate media outlets to run their VNR, just as they would an advertisement. The difference is that an advertisement shows up during commercial time, where a VNR runs as a part of your local 6:00 news report.
For example, here's a Video News Release created by Multi Vu, A PR Newswire Company that produces and distributes VNRs. This VNR showed up in various news reports. The one we are going to show you was aired on December 19, 2005. Len Rome, the Health Reporter for station WYTV-33, introduces MIMYX.
The television news station made the report look like it was their own, by having Len voiceover the VNR. The news station also omitted important health and safety information regarding the product MIMYX. As a viewer, this tricks your mind because you trust you local news station, and when you see a broadcast like this you want to think that it is an accurate and balanced report. However, if you would have seen this aired as just another commercial, would you trust it just as much? Why would corporate media insert fake news? The Government Accountability Office reported that from 2003- mid 2005, the Bush Administration spent 1.6 billion dollars of the taxpayer's money on media campaigns shaped to fit the agenda of the Bush administration!
The next thing we wanted to find out was if there had been cases where corporate media has hidden or censored information from the public. That's when we came across the report of World Trade Center Tower #7. Did you know that there were three towers that fell on 9/11? The corporate media consistently showed us Towers # 1 and #2 collapsing, but hardly mentioned Tower #7, the third skyscraper that collapsed in on itself but was never hit by an airplane. Although this collapse was shown on the day of 9/11, it was barely mentioned again on corporate news. In fact, corporate news outlets have consistently refused to show the collapse of WTC 7. When it is mentioned, they often turn to character attacks and humiliation of anyone bringing forth a different opinion or viewpoint. Here is a clip of Physicist Steven Jones attempting to show the collapse of WTC 7 on MSNBC.
If these six corporations think that their voice is the only one that matters, then they are shutting out over 80% of Americans who think that there should be a new investigation into 9/11, according to a recent CNN poll.
Another underreported news story from the American corporate media is regarding the impeachment of George W. Bush. Remember when Bill Clinton was caught with Monica Lewinsky? Who could forget with all that press? According to a Pew Research Study, only 27% of Americans wanted Clinton to be impeached for lying about having sexual relations with that woman. But even though such a low amount of Americans cared about seeing Bill Clinton impeached, it dominated the corporate news for about a year.
Did you know that in June of 2008, Representative Dennis Kucinich presented 35 articles of impeachment against George W. Bush? So why did the corporate media never highlight this impeachment case even though over 51% of Americans wanted to see George W. Bush impeached?
In fact, the corporate press barely touched upon the Downing Street Memo, although other world media was calling it a hard case for impeachment. The Downing Street Memo is actually the transcription of a meeting between Senior British government officials that talked about how Bush had made up his mind to remove Saddam Hussein, and that intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy to invade Iraq. The Downing Street Memo was proof of how the Bush administration "fixed" evidence to make their case for America to go to war in Iraq. What is more important, proof of fixing a war, or Britney Spears shaving her head? What is the role of the media anyways? Is it to highlight celebrities, be the mouthpiece for the corporate elite, or be the watchdog for the people of this country?
There used to be many laws in place that made it illegal to own more than one division of media in the same market. For example, if you owned a television station in San Diego, it would be illegal to own a radio station, newspaper, or another television station in the same city. The hope was that this would create a diverse and unbiased distribution of information.
According to federal law in the Communications Act of 1934, the airways were seen as public property. Commercial broadcasters were licensed to use these airways under the condition that the broadcaster served "the public interest, convenience, and necessity". This is like us having the privilege of a driver's license. If we go around crashing into cars and being a hazard to the public, we get our license revoked. Those were the guidelines that the 1934 Communications Act established.
During Reagan's administration, Mark Fowler became the new Chairman of the FCC, and had a few different ideas on the role of media. He said, "Its time to move away from thinking of broadcasters as trustees and time to treat them in the way that almost everyone else in the society does- that is, as a business… The perception of broadcasters as community trustees should be replaced by a view of broadcasters as marketplace participants."
He was able to persuade Congress to loosen the reins on Communications laws. What laws were changed? Guidelines for minimal amounts of non-entertainment programming were abolished. FCC guidelines on how much advertising could be carried per hour were also eliminated. Most importantly, The Fairness Doctrine was eradicated, which required the media to cover contrasting points of views. The FCC also used to require that stations perform a public service by reporting on crucial issues in their communities.
Wow, all these changes happened within seven years? Unfortunately, it didn't stop there. When Bill Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996, all of the original principles the FCC had put in place with the Communications Act of 1934 became null and void. This new Act allowed the corporate consolidation of our media, leaving us with what we have now: six corporations controlling every major media outlet. This consolidation doesn't allow for free speech, viable democracy, or any other new media outlet to have a chance on the market. The point is to make more profit. How does this affect us as citizens? Like we said before, the original role of the media was to act as our watchdog and as our liaison. The media's accomplishments were measured by performance on the basis of public welfare, not profit. The media cannot be treated as just another product because the influence over people is just too significant.
On the other hand, how does this affect us as consumers? Well, when the media is run as a business, they are competing to develop new products, watch costs, issue stocks, and gain larger market shares just as any business would. Their end goal is to get us to buy more. The idea is that we, as consumers, will regulate the marketplace and force companies to behave in the way that serves us best (like supply and demand). What have we been demanding from the media? We have forgotten that we ultimately run the media, and if we demand a change, then our government can step in and reinstate the laws that were once there to protect our free press.
The first thing we must decide is on what kind of news we want. Do we want corporations to give us news that's informative, balanced, and accurate? Or do we want news that will shock our senses to distract us from the real issues that are affecting our lives? Before you decide, ask yourself this. If we were an informed public, would we have allowed our tax dollars to bailout bank executives who use the bailout money for their own personal benefit? If we were an informed public, would we still be at war? Would we even have gone to war? If we were an informed public, would we allow ourselves to be lab rats for the genetically modified food producers?
Knowledge is power, so let's demand our power back. Let's demand the truth. Here's a story about a man that got his power back. Imagine leaving your home and country in the hope of making your dreams come true. You sail across the ocean to a land of freedom, equality, and opportunity: the land of America. This is the story of John Peter Zenger. Zenger arrived in America hoping to live a life free from the control of the British monarchy, but he found that in this new land there was still the same corruption and control. Zenger spoke out, and started the New York Weekly journal to remind his fellows that the old system of colonial rule didn't have to control their lives anymore. He distributed papers to everyone, encouraging them to take a stand and fight for their independence. His voice was so strong, and his use of the press was so effective, that when our Founding Fathers created the Bill of Rights, they made sure a free press was established as part of the First Amendment. The Founders knew that in order to protect the best interests of the people, a free press was essential.
Now we know that one person has the power to make a difference, so what can you do? If breaking up the corporate consolidation of our media is important to you, please help the House of Representatives pass Resolution of Disapproval 79 to limit further media consolidation. Just visit our tools of action section below the TV to find out what else you can do. You can also find your own truth about everything we say, don't take our word for it! Go below the TV to the resources section and come to your own conclusion. You can also support and start your own independent media. We have an opportunity right now to break free of the system and start our own N3TWORK For the People, By the People. Are you in?
