The Media is a Sounding Board for what is to Come « Covering Delta

Glenn made a point during his 30 min speech that I thought was quite insightful, and that I happen to agree with. While speaking about the establishment media, Glenn pointed out that the very structure of these organizations – that they are part of large corporate conglomerates – breeds a type of deference to and adornment of authority. This lapdog mentality can be seen in the way that modern journalists act as unapologetic mouthpieces and publicists for the establishment.

Case in point, Bill Keller, Executive Editor of the New York Times, who gleefully admitted during a BBC interview in November 2010 that the NYTimes clears any controversial evidence it may get from sources with the US government first before it publishes it. The host of the show was so shocked by Keller's admision that he asked for clarification:

KELLER:  The charge the administration has made is directed at WikiLeaks: they've very carefully refrained from criticizing the press for the way we've handled this material . . . . We've redacted them to remove the names of confidential informants . . . and remove other material at the recommendation of the U.S. Government we were convinced could harm National Security . . .

HOST (incredulously):  Just to be clear, Bill Keller, are you saying that you sort of go to the Government in advance and say:  "What about this, that and the other, is it all right to do this and all right to do that," and you get clearance, then?

KELLER:  We are serially taking all of the cables we intend to post on our website to the administration, asking for their advice.  We haven't agreed with everything they suggested to us, but some of their recommendations we have agreed to:  they convinced us that redacting certain information would be wise.

ROSS:  One thing that Bill Keller just said makes me think that one shouldn't go to The New York Times for these telegrams — one should go straight to the WikiLeaks site.  It's extraordinary that the New York Times is clearing what it says about this with the U.S. Government, but that says a lot about the politics here, where Left and Right have lined up to attack WikiLeaks – some have called it a "terrorist organization."

Likewise, the same impulses that work to corrupt the integrity and independence of journalism today are identical to those that have pacified the population in the United States at large. If you want evidence of this, look no further than the immunity of wall street and government officials from prosecution of the most blatant forms of fraud, as well as all sorts of civil rights abuses including kidnapping, rape and torture. These are not just rumors. These are allegations that have appeared in mainstream publications by well respected journalists like Seymour Hersh, Jeremy Scahill, Robert Fisk, Matt Taibbi, etc. How can crimes of this magnitude go unpunished, let alone the alleged perpetrators never even be tried in a court of law?

The answer, in my view, has much to do with the citizenry's deference to the power elite, and fear of what prosecuting these authority figures would mean for their own fragile conception of self. Such actions would require the citizenry at large to take responsibility for life and liberty into their own hands. Exposing our "leaders" to criminal proceedings that could very well lead to life sentences or even the death penalty would challenge the notion that there is some benign sovereign who is there to care for us and to make sure that everything will be ok. This is the mentality that you would expect to see in children, but not in self-relient adults.

Fortunately, as the social circumstances in this country become more and more absurd, an increasing number of people (still the minority) are demanding that their rights as sovereign individuals be respected, and are prepared to wrestle power away from the establishment in favor of a more equal playing field. The media space may just be where this dynamic is most clearly on display, but I contend that its vector emanates from the society at large, and that this call for more freedom and individual responsibility will only grow moving forward.

I am thankful for people like Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill, Matt Taibbi, and other members of the real media, who are more interested in telling the truth than in ingratiating themselves with the power elite. They give the rest of us motivation to continue exposing the falsehoods and the propaganda in the face of escalating criminality and seemingly hopeless legal inertia. Share this: Print Share