Fellow blogger Jotman has made some sharp observations about the crackdowns...
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, New York City reporters described 1) feeling too intimidated to report what the police were doing; and 2) incidents in which police physically prevented the press from doing its job--two characteristics of a police state. A third characteristic of a police state is when news organizations conceal the fact that their reporters are not free to report stories.
Increasingly, journalism in the U.S. amounts to distributing excerpts of interviews with public officials or members of Washington's "revolving door class." Think CNN correspondent Barbara Starr telling viewers what the Pentagon and its corporate partners wants them to hear. Or a retired general tasked by CNN to explain the true meaning of a video the Pentagon has been covering-up. In important respects, U.S. media coverage of police campaigns against citizen protesters has come to resemble the media's coverage of military operations abroad. Nine times out of ten, Americans hear only their own government's perspective on a drone campaign against "terrorists." Needless to say, the militarization of domestic journalism is happening at the precise historical moment when Americans are waking up to the militarization of their local police.Does this happen because journalists have internalized unspoken rules? Or is it the case that the rules were, on some occasion, spoken? Either way, someone in that profession ought to come forward with an expose.
I suppose one could say that Bob Parry has done just that. But I suspect that matters have become much worse. In the (very brief and not very substantive) email dialogue I had with Gary Webb before his death, he seemed to opt for the "unspoken rules" explanation.
Added note: Occupy Baltimore got Karl Rove so flustered he sputtered: "Who gave you the right to occupy America?"
I think those words reveal just how the Bushies really feel about the 99 percent.
21 comments:
"ZOMG! We're so oppressed! We can't camp out in New York City!"
Somebody call a waaahmbulance.
So you're on Obama's side on this one?
"Myiq and Barry, sitting in a tree..."
Maybe Myego2xu is on Mittwit's campaign? He hearts Mormons. I can understand why murphy of PUMAPAC went astray...tho it's not fair for me to say what I know beyond online. Regardless of why, mocking kids who are in debt for doing everything right and have no jobs in sight is just as bad as mocking those unable to even say that much.
Have fun being on the wrong side of history.
The press blackouts and MSM propaganda machine remind me of the former Soviet Union. Pravda (I think) was the state-owned mouthpiece which spewed the "correct" message people were to hear.
It's frightening what is happening now in this country. How ironic is it that this country wants to spread "democracy" to the rest of the world but it's dying (maybe dead) here at home.
Thank God for the Occupiers - they are our only hope. Obama can rot in hell for this.
Suzanne, it's not just "now" and Obama has nothing to do with the coordinated press blackout....there have been many of us following the demise of our "journalism" for years. It's been "coordinated" and sensationalistic before they propped up Zero. My gawd, they went behind the scenes with the Bush family to "undo" his loss of Florida in 2000. Before that, when did anyone see a candidate before enough votes had come in to call the election? That entire election was told from Bush's POV. It was a "narrative" instead of reporting. They did the same with Zero's election, but they also did it with the fake "weapons of mass destruction search" as they ginned up the war in Iraq. And for how long have they favored tabloid sensationalism in lieu of real news? Think back to Monica Lewinski, OJ SImpson, or Nancy Kerrigan.
In answer to Joseph's query whether the groupthink is specifically ordered or unspoken, here's one incident: when we learned John Kerry was conceding before all the people in Ohio had even finished voting, we all ran down to Faneuil Hall to protest. One local news station interviewed me and was shocked at some of the facts I rattled off about that election, and said they'd not heard those things. I said, I know, you've got your narrative, who needs to fact check? After the cameras moved on, the anchor ran back to me and asked, are you saying all the news stations plotted to misreport the news? He was visibly shaken, so I told him I thought it was more likely "group think" --- and that he should try doing his own fact-checking.
Actually myiq, thats a dumb comment.
The income distribution in the US has just hit new extremes. The consumption distribution is that 80% of the consumption is done by 20% of the population. People are questioning whether the institutional arrangements surrounding this are fair. However the system of representative democracy appears to have broken down - its a weird democracy where the majority votes for its own impoverishment. Maybe we can coin the phrase "self-hating middle class americans"?
What we have seen recently is increasing evidence of push back from ordinary americans. There are plenty of things to protest, but mostly their standard of living has been in decline for 10 years now, and their retirements are jeopardised. So we now have ordinary people protesting. In response to that we have seen bog standard attempts at repression. Whats more striking is the limited degree of press freedoms and the limited press reporting. But either way, if you have lived in Russia you would recognise all of this behaviour.
Where do you think these trend is leading?
Tell me you think this has a happy ending? Its just that the historical examples I have seen didnt end well.
Harry
If Obama is behind the crackdowns, you know why. It's an election year, and he doesn't want anything to stand in his way of getting another term.
After all, he has to appeal to his natural constituency of Republicans and those "independents."
Let me repeat myself.
The real enemy in all this is not the republicans, Wall Street or Obama-crats. The real enemy is the print and broadcast "journalists" who convince Joe and Jane Sixpack to vote against their self interests. Corporate America only gets away with this because the voters are brainwashed by the ministry of propaganda known as The Fourth Estate.
Bush the Lesser left office after stinking up the joint with an approval in the high twenties. That group is a lost cause that no amount of reasoning will sway. They are your typical conservative AM talk radio audience. That leaves 70% of us who if given the truth would vote accordingly. The problem is delivering the facts to them through the filter of the commercial media outlets.
Yeah, myiq, nothing to see here, move along now. The only whining I see, is yours. I guess maybe you are hoping to join the 1% then? Good luck with that.
I have little doubt that the Obama administration is behind this police state crackdown in some way or another. I suspect this will get uglier in the future.
Joe.....Great comments on what's happening with OWS.
I don't understand why NYPD is erecting barricades restricting the movement of so many people and using such aggressive and imho dangerous police tactics. Nor do I understand why they are attempting to keep the MSM (not that they would do anything but kiss WS ass)from transparent reporting. It's as if they're attempting to incite OWS so that they can execute a violent crackdown. I've been watching LSV all day, the coverage is spotty but not bad and far superior to what the MSM is doing (which is basically nothing)
Me, too, ANonoMouse....livestream....9,000 marching now looking to catch up to students and unions joining them soon. Eventually I'll peek in to see how CNN is mangling the story.
Joe.....I hope you're watching the live streaming video of the OWS march that's unfolding right now, 11/17/11 3:35 Central time.
UNBELIEVABLE!!!
So annoying to watch CNN coverage. they are harping on how 6 officers were hurt....there's your boo-hoo moment. And they completely misrepresent that the protesters were breaching the barriers to get back inside Zuccotti Park. Bong. wrong. The police let them in, they beat the crap out of anyone who pushed the barriers out, and then locked them IN to make brutal arrests. But hey. Why send cameras there and show and report the facts?
I think those that have criticized the Tea Party should think again. Both groups are generally saying the same thing.
We'd all do well to get together and hold our money on "Black Friday". THAT would send shivers through the US gov't, the media and Wall Street.
BTW, it was interesting watching today as I saw all kinds of people. Not the folks in the park. That was unsustainable and the rallied people whi didn't want any part of that. It was interesting watching those with Ipads and all the technology, then small cardboard hand written signs. I heard the Chief of Police of Philadelphia was arrested in New York today while demonstrating. Is that true?
prowlerzee, why are you watching CNN?
You know that they and the rest of the medial jackals aren't going to report the truth.
The only reason you should be watching any news broadcast is to make note of the sponsors so you don't buy their goods or services.
prowlerzee...excellent comments, especially about what has been the demise of journalism in the MSM in both print and TV. When you look at it from your point of view, you actually see what you're saying, It has been for the last 10 years or so.
Watching it on LSV was a bit harsh and chaotic for me, but you did see it unfold as it unfolded. No opinions but your own...how refreshing!
Thanks, photolady! Now that I think back, I didn't say "groupthink" to that anchorman, I said "echo chamber." Either way, it has to be group think in an echo chamber clouding the minds of those "reporting" our "news" these days. How desperate do you have to be to agree to wasting the brief on-air time between a gazillion commercials with "questions of the day" such as "Would Jesus join the Occupy protests?" (A real CNN question the other week.)
Oh, and Mr.Mike, I force myself to watch a little CNN to see how they're misreporting events. It's maddening but needs to be done.
The livestream was interesting because it's raw news...you see the guy with the camera go to the scene where a protester was bloodied, and talk to enough witnesses for the story to emerge. You see in real time: the one I was watching started at 7 am and I finally turned it off at 7 pm, and I wasn't watching it the entire time, but could hear it and I think in all that time, the kid had one smoothie! Now there is someone dedicated to covering an event!
Oh, and glennmcgahee --- I agree with you re Tea Party. It may have been co-opted or orchestrated, but the people joining it were just people, definitely part of the 99%--- the Occupiers say those people are welcome, but recently I've been seeing a lot of trash talk about Fox News and Tea Partiers. It's an uphill battle to explain that tribal potshots hurt both sides. I do know that if the MSM covered Occupy in the way they covered the Tea Party, the ranks would've massively increased by now.
glennmcgahee, you asked if a Philly police chief was arrested....I think he's a retired officer, but yes. He was there and he was arrested...and as Joseph posted in his next post, instead of reporting something like this the news media went to a lot of trouble to find "stories" on how "inconvenient" OWS day of action was. Here's a very interesting interview with the officer, in which he predicts his arrest...he knew he'd be targeted. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocdnl4XlTOU&feature=player_embedded
Careful clown.....Your slip is showing!
It didn't take long for the mask to slip did it?
The clown is part of the Kiss the whip movement.
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