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Edited on Sun Sep-12-04 10:15 AM by DeepModem Mom
Our media, I contend, is at this moment engaged in the equivalent of what the Supreme Court did in December, 2000 -- obstructing the democratic, electoral process. They are making it virtally impossible for one of our two major parties to conduct a campaign in a Presidential election. Not only are our issues and the facts of this admiistration's actions and policies not covered in news reports, but what is covered is covered in such a biased and unfair manner that our candidate, and campaign, are seriously impaired through no fault of our own.
Another poster just gave a superb example. Coverage of the Swift Boat Veterans focused on the charges and allegations in the ads. Many veterans came forth disputing the charges, but were covered only in local media. The National Guard allegations, on the other hand, are now ignored, as the story has become a dispute over the authenticity of certain memos. Bush's Guard service is scarcely itself discussed by the media, while persons casting doubt on these memos are covered by the national press.
This turn of events is not what the Founders envisioned when our press was given special Constitutional protection. What the press is doing in its coverage of this campaign endangers the electoral process in this election, and our system itself. One cause of this democratic crisis is the lopsided balance of power that has been achieved by one side, all but cancelling the checks and balances put in place in the Constitution. Another factor is the contempt the faction that has gained such power has for the norms and traditions of American politics. And the effect of corporate control of our media cannot be underestimated.
One of our national parties, and its candidate, has not only incumbency, but almost the entire national press corps as its willing handmaidens, either out of self-interest or abject fear or both. We are forced to rely on grassroots effort, TV ads, some local media, and the net -- not only to attempt to bring important issues to the attention of voters, but to do damage control against the media coverage that amounts to attacks against us as vigorous as those from our opposition.
A democracy without a press acting as the Founders envisioned, a democracy in which the Opposition is not respected and given a fair shake, is a democracy teetering on the brink. The media giants, and the sycophants they employ, believe they act in self interest. My wish is that they would look ahead at where this road they have us on leads, and ask themselves, in very personal terms, if they truly want to leave the nation we have known behind, and travel, with their children and grandchildren, toward the very different one that is surely coming.
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