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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dayuhan who wrote (18417)	12/2/2003 10:10:29 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793914

You don't like Fox? Hey, get rid of it! Buzz Machine Blog Howard Dean, media meddler : Howard Dean says he'd "break up" media companies. This is the worst of political pandering: Big media companies have been made into the boogeymen du jour and so he announces he'll go after them. No legal basis. No constitutional justification. Just because they're there. Drudge gives us a pretty damned scary transcript of Dean's appearance on the Chris Matthews show: "The essence of capitalism, which the right-wing never understands -- it always baffles me -- is, you got to have some rules," Dean explained to Matthews and students at Harvard. MATTHEWS: Well, would you break up GE? (APPLAUSE) DEAN: I can`t -- you... MATTHEWS: GE just buys Universal. Would you do something there about that? Would you stop that from happening? DEAN: You can`t say -- you can`t ask me right now and get an answer, would I break up X corp... MATTHEWS: We`ve got to do it now, because now is the only chance we can ask you, because, once you are in, we have got to live with you. (LAUGHTER) DEAN: No. MATTHEWS: So, if you are going to do it, you have got to tell us now. (CROSSTALK) MATTHEWS: Are you going to break up the giant media enterprises in this country? DEAN: Yes, we`re going to break up giant media enterprises. That doesn`t mean we`re going to break up all of GE. What we`re going to do is say that media enterprises can`t be as big as they are today. I don`t think we actually have to break them up, which Teddy Roosevelt had to do with the leftovers from the McKinley administration. Dean explained how "11 companies in this country control 90 percent of what ordinary people are able to read and watch on their television. That`s wrong. We need to have a wide variety of opinions in every community. We don`t have that because of Michael Powell and what George Bush has tried to do to the FCC." Matthews continued: "Would you break up Fox?" (LAUGHTER) MATTHEWS: I`m serious. DEAN: I`m keeping a... MATTHEWS: Would you break it up? Rupert Murdoch has "The Weekly Standard." It has got a lot of other interests. It has got "The New York Post." Would you break it up? DEAN: On ideological grounds, absolutely yes, but... (LAUGHTER) MATTHEWS: No, seriously. As a public policy, would you bring industrial policy to bear and break up these conglomerations of power? DEAN: I don`t want to answer whether I would break up Fox or not, because, obviously (CROSSTALK) MATTHEWS: Well, how about large media enterprises? DEAN: Let me -- yes, let me get... (LAUGHTER) DEAN: The answer to that is yes. I would say that there is too much penetration by single corporations in media markets all over this country. We need locally-owned radio stations. There are only two or three radio stations left in the state of Vermont where you can get local news anymore. The rest of it is read and ripped from the AP. MATTHEWS: So what are you going to do about it? You`re going to be president of the United States, what are you going to do? DEAN: What I`m going to do is appoint people to the FCC that believe democracy depends on getting information from all portions of the political spectrum, not just one. Translation: He's going to meddle in news. He's going to decree who can and can't own media outlets. He's going to break up companies for sport and political pandering. He's not concerned with the First Amendment. He's not concerned with the realities of the media business today (if you don't allow some level of consolidation, then weak outlets will die). Yes, I work in big media. But I don't own it. I just work in it because I love news and media and I cherish the lack of government involvement in media in this country; I cherish our freedom of speech; I am a First Amendment absolutist. I do not want to see government meddling in our free speech. This isn't Europe, Howard. Not yet, anyway. buzzmachine.com

To: Dayuhan who wrote (18417)	12/2/2003 10:33:15 PM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793914

"All TV news is bullshit; the medium demands it. Fox is no less distorted and biased than CNN; it's just a different bias." I don't completely agree. Yes they are all biased. At least FOX regularly has the liberal POV right along side the conservative POV. That is rarely, if ever, seen on CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, MSNBC or CNBC. For them, it's the liberal POV most of the time, with the occasional neutral POV. FOX gives viewers a more complete picture even when it is not pro-conservative, rather than the consistent use of half truths & distortions that permeate most other media outlets. What I like about FOX is I don't find them reporting utter BS as fact, like "imminent threat", the 16 words in the SOTUA (Iraq’s quest for uranium), "quagmire", "bogged down", "no plan", "no exit strategy", ET AL. FOX reported all of these things, but also reported the facts surrounding them that debunked each one. Not so for CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, & CNBC. And FOX reports news worthy things like the memo RE: Iraq/Al Qaeda link, the memo showing Democrats risking national security & abusing the traditionally non-partisan Senate Select Committee on Intelligence for purely political purposes & the memo showing the shenanigans by Democrats in their zeal to thwart President Bush's judicial nominees. Where are ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN & CNBC on those issues? It's as if they don't exist. The fact that liberals hate FOX is that they are used to having their news consistently presented with a liberal slant. Now we have a media outlet that presents the conservative POV right along side of the liberal POV & often it ain't pretty when facts & reality trump slant & distortion. If that makes you & your peers uncomfortable, then stick to outlets that report what you want to hear.

To: Dayuhan who wrote (18417)	12/3/2003 12:43:48 AM
From: greenspirit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793914

Steven, I'm curious, I seem to remember you saying quite a few times you don't watch television. So how can you make a judgement regarding which networks are biased, and which are not?

To: Dayuhan who wrote (18417)	12/3/2003 1:04:03 AM
From: greenspirit	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 793914

Here is a typical NBC interview. Please show me one interview from a FOX show which demonstrats this same kind of bias. Couric Cues Up Clinton’s Talking Points, Assumes Worst in Iraq mrc.org Assuming the worst and matching your guest’s agenda. When Senator Hillary Clinton appeared Monday morning on NBC’s Today after returning from a trip to Afghanistan and Iraq, Katie Couric’s first question didn’t consider the possibility that maybe things in Iraq look better on the ground than they do from afar on TV, as many other visitors have observed. Instead, her first question to Clinton: “What are your impressions of the situation in Iraq? How bad is it, in your view?" And instead of pressing Clinton about the feasibility of her mantra about “internationalizing” the situation by bringing in the UN, a policy which would hasten the U.S. retreat from Iraq, Couric worried about how the Bush policy may lead to a premature withdrawal: "Well let me ask you about that exist strategy because it's been controversial. The notion of having caucuses and indirect election rather than direct elections has been criticized by the head Shiite cleric and many obviously Iraqis or Shiites. Do you think an exit strategy is being crafted at, at, sort of, the risk of not establishing a true democracy in Iraq?" Couric set up the December 1 segment with Clinton, and Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed who accompanied her on her trip, both of whom appeared via satellite from Capitol Hill: “On Close Up this morning Iraq. Democratic senators Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Jack Reed of Rhode Island have just returned from a trip to Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Senator Clinton and Senator Reed, good morning to both of you. Senator Clinton let me start with you if I could. As we've been reporting on Sunday there was a massive firefight between U.S. and Iraqi forces resulting in the reported deaths of 46 Iraqi fighters still wearing the uniform of Saddam's Fedayeen militia. What are your impressions of the situation in Iraq? How bad is it, in your view?" Couric’s second question: "Well Senator Reed, since Senator Clinton brought that up, what, how are the soldiers, how are U.S. forces holding up given the fact that November was the bloodiest month since so-called, major combat operations ended with more than 70 U.S. soldiers killed. What was your sense of morale?" Couric, MRC analyst Geoffrey Dickens noticed, next cued up Clinton: "So Senator Clinton, what's the solution then?" After Clinton talked about bringing in the UN to “internationalize” the situation, Couric simply wondered: "Do you think the Bush administration would be recep-, excuse me, receptive to that?" Couric moved on to Bush’s surprise trip: "Let me ask you though about the President's visit to Iraq over the weekend to Baghdad, his surprise visit on Thanksgiving Day. Not surprisingly it's been getting mixed reviews depending on one's political views. Some have, have praised the President and said this was a huge morale boost for the troops who badly needed it and others have said it's basically the President was staging a positive photo-op to boost his popularity. Where do you come down on the President's visit, Senator Clinton?" After Clinton’s “good but” answer, Couric stuck to pitching up another softball: "Well let me ask you about that exist strategy because it's been controversial. The notion of having caucuses and indirect election rather than direct elections has been criticized by the head Shiite cleric and many obviously Iraqis or Shiites. Do you think an exit strategy is being crafted at, at, sort of, the risk of not establishing a true democracy in Iraq?" Couric’s last question once more simply cued up some Clinton talking points: “We're about out of time, Senator Clinton. What are your major, and Senator Reed. But, but I know you wanted to talk specifically about Afghanistan. So quickly, if you could. What are your major concerns about what is going on in Afghanistan right now?"