Moyers: Calling the Press to Task
Holy Moley! (Thanks Jay Stu!) I "saved to draft" then freakin' "forgot" to finish up on this. Moyer's has been frequently slammed for his Liberalism by the "mainstream" press and, of course, by the White House. I guess they just can't take responsibility for themselves and their failures so they'll blame it all on us debunkers. {sigh}
There are reasons that people refuse to notice when they are being lied to. Bill Moyers has made it his personal raison d'etre to expose the Truth; the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth (well, maybe a little extra on occasion... ;-}) Sometimes the truth has a Right-wing political profile. Sometimes it favors the Left. What too many people fail to acknowledge is the actuality that "Truth" is most often something neither extreme wishes to have known.
In a speech at the National Conference on Media Reform a few weeks back (when I first started this story!) Moyers relentlessly put forth his view that WE are in trouble vis-a-vie the Press. Under the aegis of spreading democracy, our government has continually developed into a Marketing Department for those who already own wealth and power. In the name of variety and "getting the word out", it has repeatedly enlisted, sometimes for CASH, actual reporters to shill for the status quo. For those who would give a different perspective, one not sanctioned and sanitized by the mainstream media's profusion of talking heads (who all seem to appear on every show on television) there is abject dismissal.
Actually, it's even worse than that. The animosity displayed to journalists, such as Moyers, who dare to suggest there is inherent value in information which is not sanctioned by the very people being reported upon, appears to be reaching a fevered pitch. If there were enough of an objective criticism to point out such obvious violations of the sanctity of Freedom of the Press, this animosity might prove futile. As it stands, all that sincere journalists (and us li'l blogger-boys 'n' girls) can do is write our fingers off working for the (hopefully) inevitable backlash.
The natural environment of a diverse society, which usually creates an objective mix of motivations and observers to support and encourage diligent examination and questioning of a country's standing and direction, is, in the current environment, subsumed to the limited number of people and ideologies which have been given their power, if not exactly freely, then at least whole-heartedly by the very people who stand to lose the most from such a concentrated nexus of responsibility: We, the people.
The most plain and beautiful metaphor Moyers uses in his speech is this:
I thoroughly and demonstrably value Liberty and Freedom speech... so I'm not about to violently attack Ari Coulter, er, Ann Fleischer, er... hhhmmm... well, just because they put their own spin on those concepts. When it is so difficult to tell those two apart, then it is apparent that we have a serious problem with The Fourth Estate.
There are reasons that people refuse to notice when they are being lied to. Bill Moyers has made it his personal raison d'etre to expose the Truth; the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth (well, maybe a little extra on occasion... ;-}) Sometimes the truth has a Right-wing political profile. Sometimes it favors the Left. What too many people fail to acknowledge is the actuality that "Truth" is most often something neither extreme wishes to have known.
In a speech at the National Conference on Media Reform a few weeks back (when I first started this story!) Moyers relentlessly put forth his view that WE are in trouble vis-a-vie the Press. Under the aegis of spreading democracy, our government has continually developed into a Marketing Department for those who already own wealth and power. In the name of variety and "getting the word out", it has repeatedly enlisted, sometimes for CASH, actual reporters to shill for the status quo. For those who would give a different perspective, one not sanctioned and sanitized by the mainstream media's profusion of talking heads (who all seem to appear on every show on television) there is abject dismissal.
Actually, it's even worse than that. The animosity displayed to journalists, such as Moyers, who dare to suggest there is inherent value in information which is not sanctioned by the very people being reported upon, appears to be reaching a fevered pitch. If there were enough of an objective criticism to point out such obvious violations of the sanctity of Freedom of the Press, this animosity might prove futile. As it stands, all that sincere journalists (and us li'l blogger-boys 'n' girls) can do is write our fingers off working for the (hopefully) inevitable backlash.
The natural environment of a diverse society, which usually creates an objective mix of motivations and observers to support and encourage diligent examination and questioning of a country's standing and direction, is, in the current environment, subsumed to the limited number of people and ideologies which have been given their power, if not exactly freely, then at least whole-heartedly by the very people who stand to lose the most from such a concentrated nexus of responsibility: We, the people.
The most plain and beautiful metaphor Moyers uses in his speech is this:
I ha’ve always thought the American eagle needed a left wing and a right wing. The right wing would see to it that economic interests had their legitimate concerns addressed. The left wing would see to it that ordinary people were included in the bargain. Both would keep the great bird on course. But with two right wings or two left wings, it'’s no longer an eagle and it'’s going to crash.
I thoroughly and demonstrably value Liberty and Freedom speech... so I'm not about to violently attack Ari Coulter, er, Ann Fleischer, er... hhhmmm... well, just because they put their own spin on those concepts. When it is so difficult to tell those two apart, then it is apparent that we have a serious problem with The Fourth Estate.
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