The problem with cable news is that — outside of perhaps Tucker Carlson, who seems genuinely committed to exposing truths and has paid the price for it in the form of the Majority Leader calling for his censorship from the Senate floor — it’s not news.
It’s state propaganda, by and for the special interests that have purchased the state.
These special interests include big agriculture, big pharma, and, of course, the private weapons manufacturers that comprise the military-industrial complex.
Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, cable news networks have routinely called on defense officials-turned-consultants to offer analysis and help the American public make sense of the crisis. Often, these analysts have used their TV time to call for greater U.S. involvement and bolder moves that could ratchet up tensions between two nuclear-armed superpowers.
The networks have consistently failed to disclose these analysts’ day jobs, [emphasis added] describing them instead by only their former high-ranking military or government roles — leaving viewers in the dark about the analysts’ financial ties to defense contractors that stand to profit from increased or prolonged conflict.
During its Ukraine coverage, MSNBC even failed to include disclosures when the network invited on former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, who serves on the board of directors at Lockheed Martin, the world’s biggest defense contractor.
In addition to blacklisting voices critical of the war du jour, the corporate media’s biggest crime in this regard is its refusal to identify war profiteers that it presents as straight news analysts. There is an obvious conflict of interest that informs the pundit’s worldview, but the viewer is kept in the dark. The only way for the viewer to discover said conflicts of interest is to do their own research — an activity that, not coincidentally, the corporate media constantly discourages its viewers and readers from doing.
Related: This Week in Techno-Hell: AI Might Soon Be Writing the News You Consume
The infestation of Deep State war profiteers in the media is pervasive:
In an analysis of three weeks of news coverage following last year’s U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) found that 20 of the 22 featured guests from the U.S. on the networks’ Sunday shows had ties to the military-industrial-complex. At that point, too, the TV networks regularly neglected to disclose their guests’ ties to the defense industry.
This silence is not accidental nor the product of a lack of due diligence on the part of the media. The weapons contractors purchase the failure of the corporate media to disclose these conflicts of interest with advertising and, at times, direct sponsorship.
For example, via NBC News:
Msnbc.com today announced the launch of the “Meet the Press with David Gregory” application for the iPhone and iPod touch. The new “Meet the Press” app delivers an immersive multimedia experience from America’s No. 1 Sunday morning public affairs program…
Launching with Boeing as the exclusive sponsor, [emphasis added] the “Meet the Press” app allows consumers to stay connected to the latest reports and analysis from wherever they are.
One hand washes the other; the war profiteers prop up the failing cable news media with no real grassroots viewership to keep it on the air in nursing homes and airports, while the cable news dutifully warmongers on their behalf so that they sell more weapons at artificially inflated prices, paid for by the American taxpayer. Everybody wins except the viewer, whose head is filled with absurd lies crafted by unseen forces behind the curtain.
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