On The Media

Mr. Bevelacqua and On the Media missed making a crucial point at the end of this story: Of course some of these analysts are humans with their own, probably conservative opinions... the problem is that these "surrogates" were cherry picked BECAUSE they were sympathetic to the administration! There were many top brass who disagreed, however, and were not chosen for the "surrogate" propaganda campaign. In fact, most who disagreed were shuffled out of the military one by one and never given access to the media. Another critical point that should have been further pressed is the surrogates' connections to defense contractors, which is the most important part of the story, rather than a simple aside.

Thanks again for OTM's critique-LITE. I mean come on guys, this is a huge case of the practice of propaganda by the American government on the American people that is being channeled directly into our living rooms by the Corporate Media.

I received much more informative commentary from Norman Solomon on FAIR (CounterSpin 4/25/08-5/1/08) and Democracy Now (April 22, 2008).

You mean to say the mainstream media relies on the same pool of "official" and "expert" but nonetheless compromised sources? Hardly a surprise. This is how we got into Iraq in the first place - groupthink.

Unless commenting directly on military matters, my ears tune out whenever the news industry turns to these so-called military or defense "analysts." Even the well-meaning ones begin their train of thought from the assumption that using war is a proper means to pursue national interests. They are, understandably, singularly security- and defense-minded, blind to other options and considerations and thus feeding into America's historical and cultural addiction to war.

Hi!

Come on, everybody drank the cool aid and got with the program. There is nothing new under the sun. If you think it is I suggest someone who reads Russian read up on commentary reports from 1980s (Pravda) or Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Army Press) during the Afghanistan adventure. It just the same. Just replace the proletarian solidairty with freedom and democracy. Everything else is the same. Priviet!!!!!!!