It's War. Media War

It's war.

Hundreds of protesters are turning Democratic Town Hall meetings into combat zones in a battle over health care. They are angry, really angry. Barack Obama's healthcare plan, they believe, is going to euthanize Grandma.

I would be angry, too, if they were going to kill my grandmother, wouldn't you? Except, of course, the government is not going to euthanize anybody; the Obama administration, like most family doctors, just want people to prepare advance directives, statements which give people control over their own end of life issues.

But the protesters don't know that. They really believe that the government is going to kill their grandparents.

So mad as hell, they soldier into town halls ready to fight, into forums like the one Rep. Lloyd Doggett held in South Austin, Texas. Elise Hu of KVUE News reported that Doggett's "opponents have become a vocal, viral army."

They are vocal, and they are an army. But their "viral" campaign is aided by a giant radio and TV cheerleading squad. As with the "Tea Parties," Fox News and AM Radio are promoting both the town halls and the lies to tens of millions of unwitting people. No wonder people are upset; trusted voices are scaring them to death. Voices like Rush Limbaugh, on 600 radio outlets, telling them, "as Obama said, they'll give 'em some pain killers, and let 'em loop out until they die." Laura Ingraham, on 300 stations, "Some will call them death camps." Glenn Beck, on 400 more, "Why is there no more discussion than there is on Sarah Palin, and what she said over the weekend that there would be a death panel for her son, Trig? That's quite a statement. I believe it to be true..."

So, average people, shut out of the facts and terrified of the Obama plan, storm into town halls to shout down their elected representatives.

Here's where it gets good: this irate army creates just the kind of spectacle news loves to cover, so the "real" news amplifies the falsehoods way beyond the walls of the hall. The mainstream news no longer takes the time to clarify the facts, but instead becomes an effective PR machine for the right wing war of words. (See more on this phenomena in my Tea Party Story on SueWilsonReports.com.

Meanwhile, President Obama starts a new website to counter the propaganda. David Brock, former Conservative writer and founder of Media Matters, in an interview for Broadcast Blues, told me, "The conservative movement, going back to 1969, has had a coordinated and well-financed attack on journalism in this country....While they claim that the complaint is one of liberal bias...the real goal is to disable journalism from being able to do its job independently and neutrally." Worse, he says, "A lot of the falsehood and misinformation that's coming out of the conservative media is coming out intentionally. In other words, they know they're misinforming people, and that's a significant problem."

The Right has been piling up major victories in this war over the control of information for dozens of years. Dateline 1987: Ronald Reagan dismantles the Fairness Doctrine. 1996: Conservatives rewrite Telecommunications law so they can control the message on almost all the nation's radio stations. 2003: Fox News gets a court ruling in the "Akre/Wilson vs. WTVT" case that stations can legally lie to the public.

In USA Today, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-CA and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-MD write, "Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American. Drowning out the facts is how we failed at this task for decades."

Wake up, Democratic Leadership: We have been at war over facts for decades, and our democracy is suffering because of it. Thomas Jefferson said, "A nation cannot be both ignorant and free." Only you can save us, and it's about time you get into the fight.

 

Follow Sue Wilson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/sueblueswilson

Comments

[Rmath]

Nobody loves disinformation more than the GOP.

[Estreet1964]

I think the televised media has done more to inject misinformation and outright lies into the public discourse than all the right wing blovators combined. They and their cameras wait with baited breath at the town hall meetings ready to go live if anyone starts screaming.

Not only are they guilty of letting these lies and distortions go for the most part unfiltered and unquestioned into the public discourse, but the simple fact that they keep putting it on their air over and over gives all this misinformation legitimacy.

They don't want to give their valuable air time over to facts or good journalism, just screaming and controversy. All heat, no light. It's all about the ratings baby!!

[RRonin]

What people don't get is that the Republicans have been waging war on the news media since Nixon was elected. That has always been part of the gameplan. After Nixon resigned, it became the centerpiece of Republican efforts. They have spent millions of dollars on figuring out how to muzzle and manipulate the media.

[Lam56]

I hate to be pessimistic about this, but I hold out little hope that members of the media not in the right-wing camp have the cojones to relay the truth to the American public. The Fairness Doctrine has served to make the dissemination of the news anything but fair. Factor in the fact that big corporations that have to answer to their shareholders now control television and radio and the probability is even smaller that anyone will come right out and say that "death panels" are bulls--t.

Sometimes I am amazed that Obama managed to get elected, considering what he was up against in the press. But I am not surprised about what has happened since he took office.

Thank God for the independent web news sources like Huffpo--and also for Jon Stewart, Steven Colbert, and Bill Maher.

[pragmaticdallasite]

This article is spot on. This is where the progressive war must be waged. I've been hoping that the media would hold Obama accountable on the public option.....now I'm just hoping they tell people that euthanasia is a lie.

Lowered expectations for the media indeed.

[Harold50]

Be specific.
Who is the Democratic Leadership you want to act?
Name them.

Where are the ads telling the truth on National broadcast TV?
Who is considering a bill to correct the Broadcaster "Truth" Doctrine?

Obama has taken on a big load. Anyone else in Congress stepping up to these challenges?
We Democrats won the election. Lets act like it!

Harold in Vermont

[seanparnell]

Not sure what a "Broadcaster 'Truth' Doctrine" bill is supposed to be, but sounds a little Orwellian to me. Government control of political speech in the guise of ensuring only "truth" is broadcast is about as far away from the First Amendment as one can get.

Sean Parnell
President
Center for Competitive Politics
http://www.campaignfreedom.org

[tothcarp]

When the fairness doctrine was established, it required stations to give equal time to responsible dissenting opinion. Its elimination sparked the creation of non- stop unrebutted political opinion, like Fox news, CNN, etc. This was the idea, to be able to saturate the air with concentrated political crap limited only by money. No bill would ever be presented in a fashion that would allow the government to have a say in what was said on the air. BUT.......would require some un-monopolizing of the air by geograpy. and require stations to be responsible in reporting sources, and attributions as well. An example of this working in todays media would be ,say, when Sarah Palin said Obama was planning to euthanize poor, elderly, and disabled people, those stations that reported it would be required to allow dissenting opinion by an equal, say another gov official. If Fox reported it, Shaun Hannity would not be considered a dissenting voice, but health and human services' Sebella would.

[Rogan]

There's a difference between ensuring "only truth" is broadcast - how could you even DO that? Of COURSE it sounds Orwellian; it would HAVE to be -

Anyway, I was saying: there's a difference between ensuring "only truth" is broadcast, and what we NEED to do, which is, to ensure no one broadcasts lies, presented as truth, or even as news.