- I have been annoyed many times by know-it-alls, both
in the print and electronic media, who have sarcastically dismissed my
suggestions that our nation is both under the influence and control of
a conspiracy, and that the media acts in unison to enable that conspiracy.
But the collective solidarity this past weekend, especially when considering
both regular as well as cable TV network news reporting and journalism,
leaves absolutely no shred of doubt as to the existence of such an unhealthy
political collusion. And although it was painfully obvious to everyone,
both to Internet readers and writers, it is important that this most egregious
act, an act best described as criminal journalism, be both cited and benchmarked.
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- The astonishing and rapid destruction of our nation by
this Bush administration and its Democratic and Republican enablers in
Congress, demonstrates as well that our nation is really under the political
control of only one political party - the War Party. The Cindy Sheehan-inspired
anti-war demonstration of the weekend of September 24 and 25 not only brought
attention to the total absence of the corporate establishment mainstream
media, but also the total absence as well of any representative of either
party from either house of Congress. We now have proof of our one party
system and the media's complicity in enabling the horrific new direction
our government is forcing upon us.
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- Public opinion polls now show that a full two thirds
of Americans, both voters and non-voters, are opposed to the Bush administration's
unjust, unnecessary, unconstitutional and senseless war in Iraq. And although
the war fatalities ascribed to our military dead are offered at around
2,000, there are more than strong suspicions that the Bush administration
is lying about these numbers as well.
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- Those doubting the number of fatalities offered by the
Pentagon cite a possible distinction that military leaders are making by
reporting only those dying on Iraqi soil, and eliminating those injured
in Iraq but dying while in transport to, or while in, medical facilities
outside Iraq. Considering all the lies and falsehoods this administration
used to launch its illegal war, as well as the astonishing and fantastically
lame reasoning for our vulnerability on September 11, 2001, the falsification
of the number of our actual war dead is hardly a stretch.
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- The American media blackout of the 9-24/25 anti-war demonstration
needs to be historically referenced in precisely the same manner as the
5-1 American media blackout of the Downing Street Memo. On June 16, 2005,
I wrote a column citing that date as the ;date of record' for The New York
Times, considering that it is often referred to as 'the newspaper of record,'
and acts as the national gatekeeper for all the American media.
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- Even when evaluating the possibly of a falsified death
count of our military by a repeatedly proven lying and corrupt administration,
the number of dead American military on June 16th stood at 1,700; today,
using that standard, whether falsified or not, our dead are estimated at
2,000, an increase of 300. These dead can be directly attributed to media
complicity with the Bush administration.
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- For had the media honestly, openly and factually reported
the Downing Street Memo, there's an excellent chance that enough outrage
would have been conveyed by a majority of Americans to initiate a serious
movement to stop the war and bring the troops home, perhaps saving some
of those 300 now needlessly lost.
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- Just in this past weekend, simple news coverage by network
TV news outlets would have exponentially empowered the peace movement and
would have launched a massive protest all across America. Only the Internet
serves as the true source of informing the American people, accounting
for the growing majority opposing this stupid Bush war.
-
- What has the network TV blackout of this demonstration
accomplished? The media took refuge by reporting 24/2 the same video footage
of Hurricane Rita over and over, and providing analogy after analogy to
Hurricane Katrina, while offering sparse ticker tape messages at the bottom
of their 'up-to-the-minute' news screens.
-
- It was painfully obvious, at least as concerns network
and cable TV news, that Hurricane Rita was a godsend. This was easily
verifiable by simply spending long periods of time watching the hurricane
coverage, and switching to numerous channels. Other Internet writers have
reported precisely the same experiences.
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- By these blackouts, both of the Downing Street Memo and
the Cindy Sheehan anti-war throng of approximately 200,000-strong, media
complicity, collusion and War Party solidarity are now firmly and permanently
established.
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- © 2005 All rights reserved
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- Ted Lang is a political analyst and freelance writer.
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