Say what you think
By Mike Masterson *** Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
LITTLE ROCK:
Are you as disappointed as I am that so many in the national media fail at exposing the corruption in government the way our First Amendment intended?
Why haven’t mainstream media giants been telling Americans so much of what’s really going on with the members of this Congress and presidential administration since January 2008?
Why do I have to learn most of the documented facts I do about what’s going on from cable news channels, which, like ’em or not, have shown the moxie to ask questions and turn the lights on many coercive deals being done in the dark?
This situation has forced millions away from the mainstream in search of relevant information and answers. Believe I’m mistaken? Check which cable news channels most viewers are watching.
From a business sense alone, the media’s failure on behalf of the First Amendment, the Fourth Estate and the majority of Americans is as bad a business decision as any newspaper or magazine could possibly make. Ask Newsweek . Or try this from the Washington Post earlier month: “Daily circulation at The Post during the first six months of the year declined 10.7 percent, and Sunday circulation was down 9.5 percent.”
Instead of digging deep for relevant facts, I’m seeing news reporters, many like those I worked with years back in cities such as Los Angeles , Chicago and Phoenix, either ignoring significant stories or leading cheers for the ultra-radical members of this administration as well as a Congress that just set a new low in public approval ratings at a pathetic 11 percent.
I’m not alone. Polls show that between 60 and 70 percent of frustrated Americans have similar feelings. Did you catch coverage of that “Restoring Honor” gathering in Washington on Saturday? A photo shot from above the event clearly shows at least 300,000 people. Yet one network news blurb estimated the attendance at 87,000
Should I believe my own eyes or what this network wants me to believe? ’Nuff said about credibility?
I had no problem with the national media when they told us what was up with the George W . Bush administration as long as I felt I was getting truth. I suppose I was foolishly expecting similar journalism with the Barack Obama regime. You’d have thunk a wrinkly news guy of 40 years wouldn’t be naïve.
I look at what’s been inflicted on this nation over the past 18 months without those responsible being held accountable or even asked probing questions by mainstream newspapers and broadcasters. Did I hear the president tell us months ago that his would be the most open and transparent administration in history? So is it? Didn’t he also tell us repeatedly that negotiations over the terrible health care monstrosity would be broadcast on C-SPAN? Were they? Why not?
Didn’t he also tell Americans that bills would be posted online for five days before he signed them?Have they been? What about his personal “commitment” to the people that there would be no more secrecy or lobbyists in the White House? Or that he’d ensure that the legislative process was honest?
Why isn’t the mainstream press aggressively asking about any of this?Why hasn’t it pushed to report the records of Obama’s history like those from his years at Columbia University, Occidental College and Harvard? He is the president, for gosh sakes. Didn’t they pursue similar information about Bush’s history?
What’s in it for the media to cloak on this president’s behalf? And why?
I feel certain that had Bush openly violated the promises I’ve just listed, his feet would have been held to the coals, as they should be. But shouldn’t those who call themselves objective news gatherers cherish the same standards regardless of a fleeting political party’s agendas or, in this instance, a Chicago insider with a background teeming with so many blanks after two years?
All of which leads me again to ask: Why do I and many others like me feel forced to turn to cable news to learn deeper facts about, say, the New Black Panther Party or a president’s suspicious double-speak, hidden agenda or a lengthy chain of badly broken promises?
I have some advice for readers who never asked for it. Don’t be afraid to say and act upon what you truly believe. Check out everything you hear and are told, including from me. Life is fleeting and there’s never been a more crucial moment in our lifetimes to peacefully voice our feelings and thoughts about the enduring damage a relatively small band of self-seeking “progressive” radicals is now inflicting upon all of us.
Don’t fall for the Machiavellian, Alinskyesque ploy of casting you in the false light of an angry racist or bigot because you have sincere and valid questions about your government.Such smearing is part of an any-means to-an-end plan. Life will continue if you openly speak what you believe is true while you have the chance.
Just man up, voice your resolve and ensure that, come Nov. 2, these politicians and their press buddies who have chosen to link arms and kumbaya with an administration and a Congress clearly bent on spending America into her grave will no longer be deciding how we and our children must spend our lives. |
