There’s nothing mainstream about the corporate media

[Algorem]

http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/7/2008/1632

Harvey Wasserman


February 9, 2008

As we stumble toward another presidential election, it’s never been more clear that our political process is being warped by a corporate stranglehold on the free flow of information. Amidst a virtual blackout of coverage of a horrific war, a global ecological crisis and an advancing economic collapse, what passes for the mass media is itself in collapse. What’s left of our democracy teeters on the brink.

The culprit, in the parlance of the day, has been the “Mainstream Media,” or MSM.

But that’s wrong name for it. Today’s mass media is Corporate, not Mainstream, and the distinction is critical.

Calling the Corporate Media (CM) “mainstream” implies that it speaks for mid-road opinion, and it absolutely does not...

[bigbrother05]

1. TV is geared for viewership

with the majority being 15, that is why so much Brittany, Paris, OJ, Michael Jackson, missing white girl, and then the commercials, the 15 year olds have to have the newest trends.
The sad part is Mom and dad are paying for it, they are the ones with the bucks.
So agree with you totally Corporate Media.
I don't watch

[RuleOfNah]

2. Expensive media.

That's what I try to call it.

[fenriswolf]

3. hence lamestream media

:)

[MasonJar]

4. Spread the word far and wide: corporate media not mainstream media...

a monumental difference in clarification from euphemism to realism.

[OneBlueSky]

5. Amen! . . . I've been using the term "corporate media" for years now . . .

but I'd never really thought out this distinction . . . Wasserman is right on . . . there is nothing mainstream about the so-called MSM -- it's all one big corporate PR campaign designed to advance the corporate agenda and silence all dissent . . . yet it's still where most of America gets its information . . .

personally, I haven't watched a tv newscast or cable talk show of any kind in well over five years . . . I read my local paper only for local news, and I've stopped subscribing to corporate rags like Newsweek . . . I get virtually all of my information from the net, with DU as my base for accessing all sorts of alternative and foreign media that actually talks about real issues and tells the truth about corporate power and greed and what they're doing to the nation and the planet . . .

I long ago tuned out the pissing contest that the fight for the Democratic nomination has become since all candidates daring to speak about the real issues were marginalized into virtual non-existence . . . whether the nominee is Clinton or Obama is totally irrelevant, since neither will end the war, provide universal healthcare, end reliance on fossil fuels, save the country from economic collapse, or stand up to the corporate powers that are responsible for this sad state of affairs -- and that fund their campaigns . . . it will be business as usual, which is the last thing this country needs . . .

the only thing that is going to create fundamental change is an economic and social catastrophe of unprecedented scope . . . right now, everything is being held together by baling wire and chewing gum, and the corporatocracy knows it . . . they're doing all they can to postpone the inevitable, and to securing as much money and power as they can in order to weather the coming storm . . . but no amount of preparation will be enough to insulate them from the disaster in the making that they themselves have created and are continuing to cultivate . . .

no, I'm not optimistic about the future . . . but I AM hopeful, since I've seen human resilience work wonders in seemingly hopeless situations before . . . but there's going to be a lot of pain before humankind comes to its senses and decides to live cooperatively and non-violently -- if that's even possible . . . it better be, because it's the only chance for survival that we have . . .

[bulloney]

6. You're right. The media appeal to people with low IQs, which I hope is not mainstream in the U.S.

But if you were to argue that point with me, I wouldn't have much ammo to rebut your point.