News media ignores politics at what cost to you?
Written by Michael Vass
You know, of the many things that disturb me about the current Administration and the Democrat-led Congress, the most scary has to be the lack of attention being given to their actions by the major media. Seriously, since the election of President Obama the media has fallen asleep at the wheel. At least if you compare the coverage and criticism given to the last 5 Presidents and Congresses.
Take for example the flip-flop of President Obama. He has stated repeatedly that the Government is not in the business of running various private businesses. Yet he has ensured the firing of a CEO of a car company, taken ownership positions in dozens of banks and 2 automakers, and has traded bailouts for ownership in multiple industries. Which says nothing of the mandates on how several of these once private businesses are going to be run. Yet the media is quiet.
Then there is the on-going flimflam of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She has gone from stating that she always opposed torture and waterboarding, to have been found to have been aware and silent about the aggressive interrogations, to denying knowledge, to deflecting the nature and degree of her knowledge. She has even gone so far as to accuse the CIA of lying – though she still has yet to officially form a single complaint of their supposed actions. Which stinks of covering her ass as she is caught playing polispeak and sucking up to polls. Yet the major news media downplays the entire event.
Hell, the major news media has all but ignored the most obvious of actions by the Obama Administration and the Democrats. I mean President Obama directly told the American public he is going to virtually triple the national debt with his budget, and the major news media didn’t blink. He directly looked out at America and said he is going to spend some $63 billion dollars a year on a healthcare plan, that does not even exist in an outline – and the major media looked away. And when the Democrat-led Congress violated the Constitution by enacting retro-active penalties and destroying the power of contracts, the news media sat quiet.
How is it that all these things are happening in the Government and the news media that loved to assault President Bush is so impotent today? Why would they allow this?
Perhaps the fact that the major news media companies spent millions to elect President Obama has something to do with this. Perhaps the fact that the downtrend in traditional media sources has accelerated with the bad economy, and thus now has them on the line for the next set of bailouts is a factor. Or maybe they just want to be a part of the groups controlling the direction that the Government is taking.
No matter which way you look at it, the result is the same. The general public is being distracted with arguments about American Idol, as liberties and laws are being subverted. This is all in the name of the greater good, but such is the path to Hell paved.
You can’t even say that they are acting in the best interest of the nation, because when President Bush made decisions with America potentially under threat of imminent attack the news media pounded him at ever turn. So it may be more fair to say that they are acting in the best interest of their profits, and political power base, as opposed to the benefit of the nation.
Politics has not been a major issue of popularity in this nation since the late 70’s. And as interest has waned, the size and reach into private lives of the Government has grown. Which is always a bad thing. But it is far worse when the people that are supposed to be helping the public are busy trying to help themselves.
None can serve 2 masters, and do so well. The media is no different. Their division in primary goals lead them to lose ground to the internet. Now they have focused on one purpose, self-preservation at all costs. They have rallied under the banner of Democrats, at an unknown cost to you and me.
Some may think I am making too much of all this. Some may think this is minor. But I will ask you this. If any of these things occurred under President Bush, do you in all honesty think that the major news media would have sat back and said nothing? Since that answer is no, why is it a good thing that they are quiet now?
Hardball swings for the bleachers while NBC serves leftovers
Written by Michael Vass
Things over at NBC must really be bad. I’m sure that parent company GE is screaming that the bills need to get cut down a notch or 3. This has to be the reason why NBC will be replaying the Olympics this weekend.
2 hours of competition that everyone who cared has seen already. All on Saturday. Because Saturday Night Live may be getting better ratings that in several years, but they still suck overall.
If you ask me it’s just a way to save money. It’s far easier to put on a rerun than to have paid original programming. And since America loves to win a night of the wins of Michael Phelps should bring in as many viewers as they normally would get. At half the cost.
But things are not all gloomy. MSNBC’s Hardball lead Chris Matthews might not renew his contract. That’s an extra $5 million a year that can stay in the bank.
I really would enjoy if he gets off the air. I can’t imagine 4 years of Matthews discussing his erection everytime that President Obama speaks. Seriously, he needs to stop sharing. Not that anyone really noticed his bluster. The naysayers will polispeak all they want but Hardball is hardly a ratings winner.
Though the program is up huge in percentages, MSNBC and Hardball still trail badly in total viewers - which is the only thing that really matters. And that is with massive amounts of selling-out to Democrats and rallying for Obama like political cheerleaders.
Now the real question is if Chris Matthews does leave it will be to run for Senate in Pennsylvania. So could he win? I can imagine his slogan now, “I just want to be closer to Obama, please elect me.”
Representative Murtha, and various polls, may state that much of Pennsylvania is redneck, but Matthews is still unpleasant, a sellout, and liberal. I can’t imagine him winning. But I will say this in his favor, he is more qualified than Caroline Kennedy. Yet that isn’t saying much.
So GE is looking forward to a couple of Christmas gifts. And we the public get a retread and a worn old tread at best. Must see TV, I think not.
Newspapers Starting to Learn the Internet Game
For the past 15 years I’ve heard many prognosticators predict the death of newspapers. News to the prognosticators, they haven’t died yet and may be getting stronger. The media industry is getting stronger and the reach is growing.
Here’s the reason. Take a pair of sneakers for example. A pair of sneakers that costs $120 today cost $40 a mere 25 years ago. However, the labor for that pair of sneakers and the materials for that pair of sneakers has not gone up proportionately. Instead as a unit, labor and material costs have gone down. Jobs and labor costs have moved to third world countries and the cost of labor in China and India is cheaper today than it was in the United States 35 years ago. So why has the price gone up? It’s simple, the marketing and advertising costs of like products have gone up 10-fold over the past 30 years. That’s not only true for sneakers but it’s also true for golf clubs, automobiles, golf clubs, fashion clothing and many of the products that we use each and every day.
These marketing and advertising reveneues are easily being absorbed by cable tv and internet properties that didn’t exists a mere 20 years ago. For the newspapers that are understanding this, their web advertising revenues are up significantly.
