Can We Really Trust The Media

Galley: The kitchen in a ship or aircraft. (also galley proof) A printer's proof in the form of long single-column strips, not in sheets or pages. [ORIGIN: galley from French galée denoting an oblong tray for holding setup type.]

Today July 22, 2010 marks the 35th anniversary of my mother’s death. It seems like a very long time doesn’t it. That was 1975. The Viet Nam War had just ended in April and Watergate was slowly becoming a memory. On August 8,1974 Richard Nixon had resigned the office of President of the United States. The civil rights movement had become a household and accepted word. Amid a firestorm of scandal media and alleged corruption it seemed there was a light at the end of the tunnel we all wanted America to begin the healing process. What we did not know was the corruption was only beginning, it is cropping up where we never thought to watch for it. It was like a cancer in the very news outlets we as Americans had always felt we could trust.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/articles/080974-3.htm

http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/nixon.htm (Nixon Resignation)

Over the years there has been one charge after the next of unethical reporting in the media. It seemed to really begin as a pattern during the Viet Nam War. Many would argue, and I would not discount, that it began in the Civil Rights movement. The one element I would point out with regards to that argument is with the Civil Rights movement we had footage on the news that could not be censored or argued. Water canons are water canons and protesters being sprayed with 150+ psi are hard to argue with. With Viet Nam it is a given that we were not getting an accurate report of the war from day to day due to the sensitive nature of the debate. While Nixon was President the war was covered as though it were his war and not one started in a Democratic Administration. The same applied with the Civil Rights movement. The coverage and history of Civil Rights led the viewer to believe that it was the Democrats that were leading the charge. It was quite the contrary. The Democrats were the ones filibustering and fighting it all the way.

Quote:

Civil Rights

"Texas Senator Lyndon Baines Johnson, who had been a Russell protégé, moved Civil Rights legislation through the Senate in 1957. It was the first such legislation passed by Congress in 80 years. Russell and others formed a "Southern bloc" of senators opposed to legislation giving equal rights to blacks. This bloc voted against the Civil Rights legislation of 1964 and 1965, the programs of Johnson's Great Society, and many judicial nominations.
As chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, Russell oversaw virtually every aspect of funding of the U. S. Government. His opposition to the Vietnam War meant tough going for his old friend Lyndon Johnson, but Johnson prevailed."

(http://ngeorgia.com/ang/Richard_Brevard_Russell,_Jr.)

This was allowed to happen because the elitist media felt that the citizenry needed to be lead as opposed to being informed. During the Reagan Administration the media argued the benefits of tax cuts on the economy. Jimmy Carter had left the economic situation in the country in shambles and the media wanted no part of Reagan’s recovery and tax cut plans. In response they simply reported what they felt the citizenry needed to hear very little of that being accurate.

In the end, Reagan got his policies through a very hostile and Democratically dominated congress. The recovery was slow starting but when it did take hold it was convincing enough for the electorate to give Reagan a second term.

During the Clinton administration passes were given out like parade candy to Clinton. A perfect example was the Monica Lewinsky scandal. The media was all to set on sweeping this one under the nearest rug. However during his administration Newt Gingrich was not afforded the same passes from the media. Gingrich also had an affair, (though not while discussing foreign matters on the phone, in the oval office) but the media reaction was not that of issuing a pass as they had with Clinton but crucifixion. In the end without significant persuasion Gingrich admitted his wrongdoing and resigned as speaker of the house. This action snuffed the medias attempts to discredit him and left Clinton looking like an even bigger scoundrel.

During the Bush administration another incidence of blatant bias occurred with Trent Lott. At the 100th birthday party for Strom Thurmond, Trent commented on Thurmond’s history. Much of the comment was reported out of context and inevitably Lott resigned. Senator Robert Byrd was a segregationist as were most white politicians of that era. However, when Senator Byrd died recently he was touted as a hero in the media. The media said sure he was in the Klan but it is OK now because he had changed yet that same logic was not applied to Strom Thurmond nor was it allowed in Trent Lott’s case. Keep in mind Trent Lott was never a Klansman nor was he ever a segregationist; he simply commented on an old man who had been. If the same media brush were used on the Democrats, dozens would have to resign tomorrow after their comments at Byrd’s funeral.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2010/01/09/sen-reid-trent-lotts-resignation-2002-he-had-no-alternative

http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=59337

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=885211 (Audio Record)

There are hundreds of similar and documented incidents throughout the last 50 or 60 years where media bias has been irrefutably present. Some of those incidents were arguably objective but in many cases they were blatantly unethical distortions or misrepresentations of the truth.

Recently, there was an incident of unethical behavior not only in the media but all the way up in the Justice department. In the 2008 election two members of the New Black Panther Party were videotaped immediately outside of a polling station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They were well within the restricted area that surrounds all polling stations in a Federal Election. The two were indicted and were to stand trial with the Prosecutors holding a seemingly open and shut case. With little or no warning the Justice Department instructed the Prosecutors to drop the case and release the New Black Panthers from any further liability. The questions in normal circles would be, #1 why and #2 if these were Klansmen or Skinheads would the same justice apply? The overwhelming response to the later question is absolutely not. This leaves the other question; why? The Justice Department claims lack of evidence. All of this in the wake of a very unscripted and very incriminating videotape.

Various news outlets claim that the intimidation was alleged. But how can something on videotape clearly occurring be alleged? Later another video recording was recovered of one of the two men claiming that the Black man must kill White babies. (Paraphrase) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIrKtoHYPsE)

Many media outlets have given the entire story back page coverage or have avoided the story altogether. However some have gone so far as to claim that The Bush administration did the same thing. The incident occurring with the Bush administration D.O.J. may have been similar, however one would be hard pressed to find in within either Justice Department that would support that argument. An ethical argument to made here would be if the cases are similar does poor judgment in on necessitate poor judgment in the other.

More recent occurrences of unethical media include the argument around payroll taxes for the rich. The media neglects, repeatedly, to point out that “The Rich” as they refer to them, is anyone whom pays taxes. They also fail to point out that the largest groups of employers are the very people the wish to raise taxes on. The logical conclusion that one could draw form this common sense approach is that by taking more money from employer’s leaves less money to hire employees.

What will it take for America to finally realize that the mainstream media is not the trusted institution it may once have been? Has the country become so complacent, lacking such diligence, as it would take to simply verify any given story?

I pray we do not have to loose all of it for a select few to realize that what they wanted would cost them everything. I hope the Americans will see what could not possibly happen is already on its way to becoming what we wished we had not ignored.

CGD