24 June 2015

THE USA MASS MEDIA

THE USA MASS MEDIA
© Farouk Asvat

     The media in the United States is completely puerile and parochial, to put it mildly:

NPR: is now a Neutered Public Radio.  

PBS: is a Proscribed Broadcast System (PBS) which is also largely patriotic - as so many of its programmes are sponsored by the Koch brothers, Boeing and General Motors.  So it is hardly likely to be critical of the United States. 

BBC America is absolutely putrid - one news programme for instance spent 20 minutes on some sports field that was still using the old flip-over boards to display the score. 

ABC
CBS
NBC
     are all more concerned with local issues, meaning completely regional community issues, rather than even a perspective of events in America - every evening its about cops raiding some place, somebody being arrested, somebody being charged, about a forest or building fire in the vicinity - always only about the city the station is situated in; inevitably ending with some piece about health; about what the latest study shows: how donuts may be good for you - find out why at 11; or about fats being bad for you - find out why during our prime time news, and of course finally rounding off with some cute piece about a baby or a pet.  And the weather is always read out as if the network was actually dispensing rain or sunshine or fog for the next day or week.  During the weeks of the Baltimore killing and the protests, there was hardly a mention of the events - on any of the regional news broadcasts. 

     Democracy Now is the only North American medium (radio broadcast & internet site) that covers international issues and examines local and world events with a critical perspective, (though it too devotes a large proportion of programmes to its American audience - nowhere in the world are people so concerned about the finer points of the law, and it seems especially about paying their taxes and obeying the minutiae of the law) - this applies especially to its liberal audience, which considers itself rather radical and well-informed. 

     BBC World Service no longer broadcasts to the USA on shortwave, medium wave or fm.  One can only receive it via satellite or the internet.  But of course BBC World Service has also deteriorated substantially since the first war against Iraq, and even more so after the invasion of Iraq, Afghanistan and the Muslim world in general.  (Of course, the initial reason for setting up the BBC by the British government was to control the strikes and the left in Britain).  

     Al Jazeera has been prevented from broadcasting its multimedia site over the internet - this by AT&T - which has refused to relay the programmes, as has all the other carriers.  (Remember Chile - where AT&T also had a role in overthrowing the elected government of Salvador Allende).  AT&T stopped carrying Al Jazeera just before the military coup in Egypt that overthrew the elected government of the Muslim Brotherhood - just a few days after John Kerry visited Egypt and handed over 2 billion US dollars to the army - and not to the elected government.  All the elections and referendums endorsed the Muslim Brotherhood, making it quite obvious that the people supported the Muslim Brotherhood by a clear majority (- elections monitored and confirmed as legitimate by international media, organisations and observers). 

     Most Americans , especially those considering themselves enlightened or liberal or who read a lot, just do not seem to have the capacity for critical thinking, and are easily duped by the official version dished out by the regime via the supposedly free media.  This was especially evident when so many supposedly well-informed liberals found the military coup in Egypt completely justified! as explained by the mass media. 

     During the Glasnost / Perestroika period initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev, Russian journalists visiting the United States, especially the offices of the New York Times, Washington Post and the main networks, commented: at least in Russia we know we have censorship. 

And of course MSN, Google and Yahoo all prioritise the absolutely banal, irrelevant, lowest common denominator nonsense as news. 

     So where is the democracy? and where is the free speech? 


© farouk asvat

          SILENCE IS A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY. 

work in progress
posted 24.06.2015
original composed: 2012.

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© farouk asvat.  All rights reserved.

Farouk Asvat asserts his moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means whatsoever, or transmitted in any form or any means whatsoever, mechanical or electronic, including recording, printing, photocopying, or via any computerised means or media, including the internet.  This publication shall also not be stored in a retrieval system.  And the writing shall not be sold, lent, hired, resold or circulated in any form or binding or cover other than that in which it is published,
without the prior permission of the author in writing.

Permission to publish or reproduce the writings in any format can be obtained from the author.

Reproduction of this work without permission, except for scholarly & nonprofit purposes,
is liable to a payment of 10, 000 ren men bi or US$ 1,500.

farouk asvat can be contacted at: farouk.asvat@gmail.com

[] please check out my blogs @:

farouk asvat - poems: www.faroukasvat-poems.blogspot.com



books by farouk asvat: www.faroukasvat-books.blogspot.com

[] also link up on:





amazon kindle author @ www.amazon.com/author/faroukasvat

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