Cheryl Seal
Re: Rightwing corporate writer Cliff Kincaid
Wed Oct 22 12:34:31 2003
152.163.252.163

One of my pet peeves as an honest journalist (who has never taken a penny for my political writing, by the way, and never claims to be "unbiased") are corporate phonies posing as honest, unbiased journalists, along with the phony sites and publications they work for. Cliff Kincaid is a case in point. His site Accuracy in Media (AIM) is so rightwing and pro-corporation that it may as well retitle itself "Republicans for Monsanto and ExxonMobil" or something more accurate like that. Yet they call themselves an "unbiased" media watchdog and dedicate themselves to trying to continue to spread the myth of the "liberal media."
OK, Cliff -- if the media is so damn liberal, why in all but THREE of every single presidential election since World War II has the "liberal media" endorsed a Repbulican candidate -- not only that, but with TWO publications out of every THREE pushing a Republican? Why is it that out of the top 30 political talk shows of the past 10 years, only two can be described as liberal? Why is it that the "liberal media" overwhelmingly supported the illegal war in Iraq pushed by the rightwingers, while suppressing all news about any "liberal" protests? Why is the same media is still suppressing the truth about the conditions in Iraq - the number of horrible injuries to our troops, the scandalously pathetic way they are now being treated on being sent home, broken and sick? Doesn't sound so damn liberal to me.
I have a thousand times more respect for leftwing or rightwing sites and publications that come right out and identify themselves that way instead of hiding behind phony titles of "unbiased" and being propped up by corporate dollars.
As for the Washington Times - Kincaid's other affiliation, it is owned by the Rev. Moon, a good pal of the Bush clan, who keeps the paper artificially rescucitated by pumping millions of his own money into it to make it appear more successful than it is -- money Moon gained through his "corporate religion" and all its multi-billion-dollar holdings.
But then, Kincaid is only acting on his master's orders. Bush, now that his control over the media is finally starting to weaken, is trying to revive the "liberal media" myth all over again as we head into election 2004. And, of course, Kincaid is reviving the McCarthy-era bogeymen: note how he manages to work "communists" into the first line! Classic propaganda. Must be nice to have such well-paid propagandists...er, "journalists", on call at your command, eh?

The facts about the media (some of which I stated above) can be found in depth in the book "Drive By Journalism: the Assault on the Public's Need to Know" by Arthur Rowse. The media being so "liberal" (harhar), Rowse had to go to a small but courageous independent publisher in Maine to keep the book from being deep-sixed. He has gotten NOT ONE REVIEW in a major publication. Rowse is a REAL journalist, who was speaking out on media manipulation by politicians back in the McCarthy era. He is so well respected for his integrity and vigilant oversight of the media that every year, the National Press Club awards an award in excellence in media criticsm in his name. I urge anyone who can get hold of a copy to read it. It may be hard - his publisher, Common Courage Press, was having its distriubtion system sagotaged by the corporate publishing industry, last I heard. Real liberal, hugh?

For more on the myth of the liberal media,


SORRY EXCUSE FOR NEWS: Blasting the Myth of the Liberal Media
http://newsinsider.org/seal/sorry_excuse_for_news.html