- Newspapers have been around a long time. Dating back
to America's pre-revolutionary and colonial period, editors and publishers
that agitated against the then-British power elite were forced to cease
and desist. Benjamin Franklin's brother, James, was jailed for voicing
his opinion in his newspaper, The New England Courant, which he established
back in 1721. Being sent to prison for what one has written provides ready
evidence of the existence of a free and independent press. Today, the
jailing of journalists has more to do with petty political labels and posturing
than it has serving as punishment imposed by government for informing the
general public of its wrongdoing.
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- Over the centuries, a newspaper mentality, or philosophy
if you will, has evolved on both sides of the news communication effort:
that of the editor-publisher and that of the reader-news consumer. This
philosophy shapes the relationship expected of these two participants in
the communication cycle. And it would appear that the news-producing side
of this social equation has the distinct advantage, as evidenced by such
time-worn observations offering that the one with the printing press and
the larger supply of ink has all the say and will always enjoy the final
word in any argument. But published letters written to the editor, especially
those written by prominent members of society can impose a give-and-take
limitation upon newspaper publishers, even if only on a somewhat limited
basis. The New York Times' publication of former Ambassador Joe Wilson's
editorial rebutting the Bush regime's Niger yellowcake State of the Union
lie is a case in point.
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- The observation that offers the "power of the press,"
or the truism of "the pen being mightier than the sword," reinforces
the notion of journalistic efficacy. The ongoing, continuing political
upheaval and total destruction of our government's intended national purpose
by the administrations of the last eighteen years has been quickly and
effectively deployed because of a virtual absentee press. The Bush disaster
terminating our individual freedoms and converting US to the slavery of
a failed war and its resultant failing national economy can be laid directly
at the doorstep of that profession whose independence, power and judgment
was formerly guarded and protected by our Constitution's Bill of Rights
in its First Amendment. All that now remains of that constitutionally
protected profession is merely a "newspaper mentality."
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- The owners and operators of American newspapers have
always known the outer limits of their power as well as the inherent risks
of pitting the journalistic process founded upon truth and fact against
the government's culture of graft, corruption and abuse. Newspaper publishers
and editors have always understood government's dire need for, and dependence
upon, secrecy and stealth. This marriage of power and risk is also tempered
by the profit motive and the need economically to remain financially viable.
And when the power of the press is pitted against that of government,
both being dependent upon financial viability, government will always come
out ahead because its printing press prints money.
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- On the news consumption side of the equation, the news
consumer-reader is aware of the required professionalism of the press corps
as well as the need for a free and independent source of accurate information
that serves as the public watchdog exposing government fraud, waste and
abuse. And this has been the case for hundreds of years. As newspapers
and journalism have technologically morphed to radio, Movietone newsreels,
television, and now the Internet, the need for a free and independent press
not only continues, but is even more relevant given that technological
advances serve mostly government. As demonstrated by the technology relentlessly
employed by the Bush regime, it is now free and independent government
that commits crimes and illegal constitutional violations against the American
people. It is now the people who are being closely watched, not government.
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- In spite of this conversion, news consumers continue
to employ a newspaper mentality, no matter what technological communication
method is used. Bernard Goldberg has pointed out that The New York Times
remains as the national news gatekeeper for both broadcast and cable TV
news. And even major Internet sites such as the Drudge Report still depend
on the Times' for its dominant roll in adjudicating what news is fit to
report and what is not. The Downing Streetmemo, the Bush regime's pedophile
ring, Alberto Gonzales obstruction of justice in the attorney firings and
his cover-up of Texas government pedophile rings, are all examples of what
the Times' editorial council gatekeepers do not regard as printable news.
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- Until recently, along with the advent of the Internet,
news consumers were totally in the dark regarding this manipulation of
vital information so necessary to ensure and maintain America's constitutional
freedoms guaranteed to each individual citizen. People were totally trusting
of both journalists and journalism in general. In fact, former CBS renowned
anchor and personality, Walter Cronkite, was and probably still is, identified
as "the most trusted man in America." Early TV news anchors
were always males, and if a female broadcast professional was permitted
on an evening TV news program, it would be in the form of "weather
girls" such as Carol Reed or Jean Parr. This is also part of the
newspaper mentality, even though we are speaking of TV news broadcasts.
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- The male "father" image of TV evening news
broadcasters of the past, men such as Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley,
Chet Huntley, Edward R. Murrow, Douglas Edwards, John Cameron Swayze, Howard
K. Smith, and others, have established a tradition that goes back to the
very early days of television. It explains precisely why "pretty,
perky" Katie Couric cannot cut it in the ratings today as a news anchor.
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- The newspaper mentality continues to foster the notion
of a fast fleeting public memory. The assumption on the part of the movers
and shakers of the old establishment corporate mass media is that the public
has absolutely no memory regarding very recent and related events. This
assumption is employed to the media's advantage allowing them to short
circuit current events and shaping and fitting information to their advantage.
Manipulating the public memory in this fashion is of course part of the
mass media's propaganda model. But members of the public who write letters
to the editor can, and frequently do, apply precisely this same principle
to a columnist or other letter-writing editorialist with whom they disagree.
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- Writers/columnist that find it necessary to present a
position over time and in several segments are always at a distinct disadvantage
when attacked by an opponent who pretends, or even earnestly fails to accept,
irrefutable points and arguments offered in earlier efforts. Such antagonists
employ these tactics in hopes that the reader of his published challenge
has not seen earlier arguments that would render the challenger's position
ludicrous by comparison. This deliberate and intended sequential event
or factual disconnect seeks to take advantage of the time factor. The
original article that had been published in the newspaper cannot be readily
recalled. Virtually all the newspapers carrying earlier, irrefutable arguments
will have been discarded and will now require a trip to the local library
to allow re-examination.
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- Thus, sequential event and fact disconnect employing
the time factor is a terrific advantage for the media, and a great disadvantage
to those who wish to oppose what was placed for public consumption. On
the other hand, a courageous writer that offered the necessary fact by
fact, event by event build-up to make a case for what is neither popular
or politically correct, is at the mercy of a hostile media entity that
will not seek to correct such errant challenges. This tactic, along with
the embellishment of allowing deliberately false or misstated cites relating
to that which was offered in an earlier truthful report, provides a disconnect
that lends itself strategically to the propagandization and dumbing-down
of the news-consuming public.
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- Fortunately, this misguided journalistic strategy is
rapidly losing ground as well as its effectiveness. This can be attributed
to the growing popularity of the Internet's alternative media websites,
but even more so to the easily accessible availability of virtually any
and all information via search and inquiry engines. Event backgrounds
to current news and events are now readily accessible via Google and Yahoo.
Everyone surfing the web can now examine history, whether that history
is one day old, or thousands of years old. Discarded newspapers no longer
apply. Encyclopedic and reference material in virtually any and all topics
is now available and readily accessible.
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- Readily accessible historical information allowing analysis,
inquiry, and fact-finding research will support individually derived positions
and arguments thereby negating the ability of the mass media to filter
and manipulate information. It will actually end the newspaper mentality
at both ends of the communication cycle. Alternative Internet-based websites
are offering truth and fact instead of politically correct and politically
biased fiction served up by the mass media as news. And this signals the
end also of the farcical blather from phony politicians. Both politicians
and mass media manipulators are now eyeing the Internet as their greatest
threat, and soon, legislative proposals and initiatives will mushroom.
They will come after us; mark my words while you still can.
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- © THEODORE E. LANG 2007 All rights reserved
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- Ted Lang is a political analyst and freelance writer.
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