Re: MD ill gotten gains

From: Mark Steven Heyman (markheyman@infoproconsulting.com)
Date: Sun Nov 21 2004 - 03:10:39 GMT

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    Hi Sam,

    msh:
    > For example, the only people who were surprised that no WMD were
    > found in Iraq are people who's world views are shaped by the
    > commercial mass media.

    platt:
    Ah yes, a grand conspiracy by the commercial mass media to pressure
    all the world's intelligence agencies to say the Iraq had WMD.
    Absurd.

    msh says:
    Of course what I am actually saying has nothing to do with a media
    conspiracy. In the case of the last war run-up, the WH ignored
    reports from their own intelligence agencies when such reports did
    not support their agenda. The clearest example of this is the
    bullshit reported by Bush in his first State of the Union Address,
    that there was clear evidence that Iraq was trying to buy uranium
    from Niger. In fact, he'd been told months before by the CIA, that
    this "evidence" was derived fraudulently from forged documents. But
    he was so eager to make an Iraq-WMD connection, that he ignored the
    CIA and instead claimed that the information came from British
    Intelligence. The Brits in turn did a lot of hemming and hawing,
    with Blair finally saying that well, it's true about the forged
    documents, but we have other evidence as well. It's interesting that
    no such evidence has been brought forward.

    Sam, FYI, here's a link to a BBC story about this incident:
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3056626.stm

    The corporate media's stenographic reporting from the White House
    was taking government propaganda as fact, and not bothering to
    investigate. Their are a number of reasons for this decision to take
    government and business press releases as reliable sources, stemming
    back to the institutional nature of profit maximization in the
    corporate media.

    Sam, this is all well understood and explained in some of the links
    I've provided. See for yourself.

    > So, again, the obvious answer is that these are not left-wing
    > institutions at all. They are huge corporations, usually part of
    > still larger multi-national conglomerates. It may be that the
    > average reporter or photographer or camera-man leans slightly to
    the
    > left, maybe supporting abortion rights, or cutting the military
    > budget to build more schools or something. But these people have
    > nothing at all to say about what actually shows up on the front
    > page, or is broadcast over the networks. There the view is quite
    > different, and reflects the leanings of the corporate owners.

    platt:
    Many surveys have shown that most owners and editors of broadcast
    news and newspapers are leftists.

    msh says:
    Maybe the guy who owns the Podunk Daily, but not the folks
    responsible for pouring commercial and political disinformation into
    hundreds of millions of households, 24/7. This is nonsense. All one
    need do is LOOK at what is produced by commercial media to see the
    obvious. See for yourself, Sam.

    platt:
    For a view by an insider (not from some ivory- tower professor) read
    "Bias" by Bernard Goldberg.

    msh says:
    I'm not sure which ivory-tower professor Platt is tacitly slandering
    now but, by all means, read Goldberg, along with McChesney, Solomon,
    Bagdikian, and all their supporting references and evidence, and see
    for yourself.

    I'll leave you with this: The reason the Myth of The Liberal Media
    refuses to die is that it is constantly resuscitated and invigorated
    by the right-wing pundits who truly do dominate the airwaves. You
    gotta appreciate the irony.

    Best,
    Mark Steven Heyman (msh)
    --
    InfoPro Consulting - The Professional Information Processors
    Custom Software Solutions for Windows, PDAs, and the Web Since 1983
    Web Site: http://www.infoproconsulting.com

    "Thought is only a flash between two long nights, but this flash is
    everything." -- Henri Poincare'

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