Media Scoundrels Wage War

by Stephen Lendman

They're in lockstep with US imperial policy. They support its dark side unapologetically.

They're propaganda bullhorns for wrong over right. They're de facto Washington house organs.

Readers and viewers are irresponsibly cheated. They're willfully misinformed. They're treated like mushrooms. Well-watered and in the dark.

Everything they most need to know is suppressed. Truth is systematically buried.

Doing so blocks accurate news, information and analysis. Managed news misinformation substitutes.

All rubbish all the time persists. It doesn't rise to the level of bad fiction. It gives Big Lies new meaning.

MSM press freedom is pure fantasy. Why anyone follows their reporting, they'll have to explain.

Increasing numbers are opting out for good reason. Cable news channels are losing viewers.

Major newspapers and other publications are going bankrupt. Social media have many more followers than MSM.

Outrageous reports like the Wall Street Journal calling America "Freedom's Indispensable Nation" explain why.

Its editors find new ways to turn truth on its head. They shamelessly call US power "crucial to liberty."

It's responsible for more misery to more people over a longer duration than history's worst dictatorships. None match its ruthlessness.

None its horrendous human rights record. None its barbarity. Its lawlessness. Its self-righteous hypocrisy. Its threat to humanity.

Not according to Journal editors. Pax Americana prevented global war for two generations, they claimed.

It's been ongoing since Truman violated international and constitutional law. In various theaters globally.

Ravaging one country after another. Killing tens of millions. Creating unspeakable human misery.

Journal editors call it "progress," "freedom," "an historic achievement," "statesmanship." Where would today's world be today "without American leadership," they ask?

Perhaps peace and stability would arrive. Permanent wars on humanity would end.

America's empire of bases would vanish. Token force strength at most would replace overpowering military might.

Nations would be safer to live in. Fear of mushroom cloud denouement would subside. WMDs might be eliminated.

Rule of law principles would mean something. Demilitarization makes anything possible. Imagine a world at peace.

Imagine economic development replacing belligerence. Imagine it potentially lifting all boats.

Don't expect Journal editors to explain. Or other MSM scoundrels. MInd-numbing misinformation proliferates. Big Lies substitute for truth and full disclosure.

It's longstanding MSM policy. It mocks legitimate journalism. It does so disgracefully.

It turns increasing numbers of readers and viewers away. Maybe they'll all opt out one day.

What better way to make them all go away. They're a machine for the destruction of truth.

They're a cancer affecting everything they touch. They're worst of all when America goes to war or plans one.

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) provides an important service. It's a vital media watchdog.

A credible one. It exposes media misinformation, bias and censorship.

It promotes truth and full disclosure. It does so because it matters. More than ever now for sure.

On September 29, it headlined "TV Generals and Precision Bombs: Corporate Media Go to War."

"Want to know what corporate media look like when they're reporting for duty," it asked?

Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer is one of many MSM scoundrels. Viewers tuning in get all rubbish all the time.

In times of war, from a parade of Pentagon generals, administration officials, congressional hawks and former CIA operatives.

Peace promoters aren't welcome. They're consistently shut out. On September 28, Schieffer previewed his guests, saying:

"We will get the latest on (America's latest war) mission and what it entails from Deputy National Security Adviser Anthony Blinken, retired General Carter Ham, former Pentagon official Michele Flournoy and former Deputy Director of the CIA Mike Morell."

Getting it from Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Daffy Duck, Goofy and Pluto would be preferable.

Schieffer's weekly lineup gives diversity a bad name. He's not alone.

Martha Raddatz's same day ABC This Week reported from Bahrain. It's home to America's Fifth Fleet.

It's run by one of the region's most brutal dictators. Police state terror is official policy.

Fundamental freedoms don't exist. Raddatz didn't explain. Her segment was a US Navy infomercial, said FAIR.

"These sailors understand their jobs are critical," she said. Waging war on invented enemies wasn't explained. Or doing so to replace independent government with pro-Western stooge ones.

"We watched these men and women assemble bombs, putting together a 500-pound precision-guided weapon capable of leveling a building, and above them, the bombs were loaded onto aircraft bound for the war zone," she continued.

"(T)he deck of an aircraft carrier is an incredibly dynamic place."

(T)hroughout this deployment, there has not been a single serious mishap and well over 250 missiles and bombss have been dropped on Iraq and Syria."

Doing so lawlessly wasn't explained. Media scoundrels promote might over right.

America uber alles. Whatever it says goes. Opposition views aren't welcome.

Raddatz featured a former military official like other hosts. According to FAIR:

"(F)or the sake of diversity, (he) was balanced later on by throwing softballs to a current military official:

Raddatz: "And we are now back on land, and joining us now is Vice Admiral John Miller, who is the commander of US naval forces for Central Command and the commander of Fifth Fleet here in Bahrain."

"Admiral Miller, let's start with what you really have accomplished with those air strikes."

FAIR touched the right nerve, saying:

"When government officials launch an ill-defined war based on dubious claims about a threat to the 'Whathomeland,' you might hope that would be the time for reporters to aggressively examine and question government claims."

"But corporate media see things differently. War time is when TV screens are full of former generals and hawkish politicians, and reporters are busy transmitting official claims."

It bears repeating. Truth is consistently shut out. It's verboten on MSM news programs.

On September 24, CBS news reporter Bob Orr regurgitated Pentagon Big Lies, saying:

Its officials said US "bombs and missiles hit every intended target."

FAIR: "When have they ever said any(thing) different?"

When have they admitted mistakes? When have they explained why America really goes to war?

When are readers and viewers told what they most need to know? When do facts substitute for fiction?

Truth for propaganda Big Lies! Responsible journalism for rubbish!

Unacceptable/outrageous programming is daily fare.

It's standard operating procedure. It's longstanding. It blocks out what's most important to report. It's duplicity writ large.

Selling war takes precedence. It's glorified in the name of peace. It rages against one country after another. It's official US policy.

Media scoundrels march in lockstep. Doing so enlists public support. Famed US journalist Walter Lippmann coined the phrase "manufacture of consent."

It's a euphemism for mind control. In 1917, George Creel first used it successfully to turn pacifist Americans into raging German-haters.

It works the same way now. In 1916, Woodrow Wilson was reelected on a pledge of: "He Kept Us Out of War." Straightaway, he planned US involvement.

In April 1917, he established the Committee on Public Information (CPI or Creel Committee). It operated through August 1919.

Its mission was enlisting public support for war and undermining opposition sentiment. It was tougher then without television.

It worked like it does now. Propaganda manipulates public minds effectively. Australian-born social psychologist Alex Carey helped pioneer how it works.

His seminal work is titled, "Taking the Risk Out of Democracy: Corporate Propaganda versus Freedom and Liberty."

He said "The twentieth century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: the growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy."

It's verboten. America tolerates none at home or abroad. It wants nothing compromising its service to monied interests. Or its imperial agenda.

It wants free rein to carve up whole continents for profit. To exploit people worldwide. At home and abroad. Turning workers into wage slaves.

Removing independent governments. Replacing them with pro-Western vassal ones.

Eliminating all potential rivals. Stealing world resources. Cracking down hard on nonbelievers. Creating a world unfit to live in.

Waging wars based on misinformation, deception and Big Lies. Enlisting public support perhaps impossible otherwise.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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