I have argued the need for bringing back the Fairness Doctrine and fighting back against Rush Limbaugh's huge talk radio media empire for years. Gen. Clark also agrees with you:

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/16333

VIDEO: Dan Abrams showed how Rush Limbaugh can be a liability to GOP candidates!

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on August 18, 2008 - 4:15am.

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/13497

ANALYSIS: Why Rush Limbaugh is especially vulnerable to attack right now!

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on October 2, 2007 - 9:44am.

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/12971

Bush met with 10 Neocon talk radio hosts and in private with Rush Limbaugh!

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on August 9, 2007 - 3:28am.

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/12446

Center for American Progress: "The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio"

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on June 21, 2007 - 1:41pm.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2007/06/talk_radio.html

The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/11762

Keith Olbermann asks good questions about Imus leading to the Fairness Doctrine!

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on April 13, 2007 - 4:35pm.

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/11479

ZOGBY: 83% of voters think that the media is biased; Democrats seem to be losing

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on March 16, 2007 - 1:25pm.

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/10583

Limbaugh & Hannity react to Democrats trying to bring back the Fairness Doctrine

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on January 18, 2007 - 2:51pm.

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/9122

DOCUMENTATION & ANALYSIS: Bush met with Sean Hannity & Media to Firm Up Support!

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on October 19, 2006 - 7:59am.

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/7735

ANALYSIS & DOCUMENTATION: PEW stats on Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly & the Media!

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on August 1, 2006 - 3:29am.

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/7191

Listen to Wes Clark fight for Dems on Hannity

Submitted by larry on June 22, 2006 - 7:57pm.

http://www.rapidfire-silverbullets.com/2006/12/wes_clarks_feeling_on_media_co.html

Wes Clark's feeling on Media Consolidation

"We need to distribute the ownership in media. We need to have the fairness in broadcasting rules put back in place."

for that got Wes blackballed by the media and was THE single most powerful reason he had to drop out.

in the grand scheme of mass media, Roger Ailes wields a heckuva lot more influence than Keith Olbermann.

Olbermann's influence is fairly low-level, comparable to someone like Bill O'Reilly. His audience is limited.

Ailes' influence is comparable to a dozen Olbermanns, maybe more--because not only does he have a stable of Olbermann-like shows (O'Reilly, Hannity, Fox & Friends, etc.), but he has the experience of being a sucessful media consultant for Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush.

Ailes is an expert in political campaigning and media, and he's used his senior media positions as an executive at NBC and now Fox News to combine his experience and expertise for unrivaled partisan political propaganda purposes.

I completely agree with you about that!

In that comment, I was only trying to make the point that two wrongs (the biased agendas of both Roger Ailes and Keith Olbermann) do NOT equal one right, they only make the problem of blatant media bias in the news even worse in my very strong opinion!

Olbermann, Matthews and company are enough to make me realize tha the entire system is corrupt and biased. Ailes is balanced by the like of GE and MSNBC.

The sell job and blatant bias to put Obama in the White House is every bit as bad as it was for Bush.

And I don't pay attention to Olbermann, Matthews , or O'Reilly, other than occasionally looking at their U-Tube videos for entertainment purposes. I stopped taking the media seriously after their early and reprehensible enabling of Bush. However, you can still find real journalism on the internet if you look at the international news, or on teevee if you tune in to some of the Spanish speaking stations.

Voters play a responsible role in this, too. They watched GWB bungle his way through 3 abysmal debates with John Kerry, and still thought he deserved another 4 years.

I was personally appalled at some of the coverage of Hillary Clinton, but not surprised. The media has had it in for the Clintons for a couple of decades now. I'm not convinced the media persuaded a whole lot of voters, but I do think Hillary's campaign could have been run a lot better. A lot better. Her campaign managers did a very poor job.

While motives and qualifications can be debated, the sell-job and tactics that propelled Obama to his current postion are very similar to those that put Bush in this same postion 8 years ago. Voters do play a responsible role and I plan to vote responsibly for the first time in many years.

not because of it. They won't reverse psychology me into another 4 years of madness anymore than they could convince me Bush's history of failure and mediocrity could lead to a successful presidency.

I don't blame Obama for the main media's bias and incompetence, but I'm convinced Obama has a lot more going for him than GWB did. He has some personal academic and political achievements and accomplishments that weren't handed down to him from his daddy. Furthermore, his positions and policies are not too different from Clinton's or Clark's.

Obama wasn't my first choice. But after 8 years of Bush, I don't think the country can withstand another 4 years of someone who will almost certainly surround himself with Bush's advisors. McCain has already made use of the Swiftboat Veterans to smear General Clark. Adding a female version of GWB (an inexperienced, anti-intellectual ideologue) to his ticket removed any doubt I had previously that McCain (or God forbid, Palin) is offering 4 more years of Bush's policies, as Wes Clark and many other believe.

I completely agree with you CentralMass!

Aaron Brown warned back in January of 2006 that this was happening and he was definitely right in my very strong opinion when he said "Truth no longer matters in the context of politics and, sadly, in the context of cable news" and "Many Americans on the left and the right aren't interested in the truth, but simply want news that confirms their viewpoints."  I plan to do another post credibly documenting our broken and corrupt media system very soon:

http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/content/news/brown0126.html 

Broadcaster says serious news at risk

Journalists have fallen short in presenting important news in ways that allow viewers to see how it matters in their lives. But viewers must take up the battle as well, he said. "It's not enough to say you want serious news. You have to watch it. It isn't enough to say you want serious debate. You have to engage in it."

while watching Aaron Brown's show on CNN. I remember having my back to the tv, listening to the show in the dark, with the volume on low, waiting for one of my kids to fall asleep. Suddenly, this voice of reason was speaking in a way that I had not heard before.

I turned around and turned up the volume. He was discussing the run up to the war and why it was a mistake, etc. He was so refreshing - and after awhile, I realized that I was in agreement with him on several issues.

After the interview, I knew that I had to learn more about this military guy and why I was instantly drawn to him.

It's too bad that CNN replaced Aaron Brown with Anderson Cooper.

That's exactly my story, Mary. It was almost too good to be true to learn that this voice of reason expressed so intelligently came from a four-star general. I thought, "George, your 15 minutes of fame are over."

Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
"We're no better than our own sense of humility."

It's wonderful to know that you had the same experience--what an extraordinary moment that we'll never forget! :)

My pre-war opposition to the war, coupled with the discovery of Wes Clark, energized me. In the fall and spring of 2002-2003 I had been in assisted living recovering from my 1999 stroke, more emotionally and psychologically than physically. When I "plugged back in," always opposed to pre-emptive war as a veteran, I found the energy to move to independent living, buy a car and computer system, neither of which I had used for 3 1/2 years, and the first thing I did on the computer was Google (I had to learn how) "Wesley Clark." I found the Draft on the June 15, 2003 "Meet the Press" interview, then I found the MeetUps, and the rest is history.

Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
"We're no better than our own sense of humility."

(snips)

"Many Americans on the left and the right aren't interested in the truth, but simply want news that confirms their viewpoints. You'd think that it's no more complex than good vs. evil."

"Journalists have fallen short in presenting important news in ways that allow viewers to see how it matters in their lives. But viewers must take up the battle as well. It's not enough to say you want serious news. You have to watch it. It isn't enough to say you want serious debate. You have to engage in it." -Aaron Brown

Thanks so much for this great article.

"Many Americans on the left and the right aren't interested in the truth, but simply want news that confirms their viewpoints." Money quote there. Sadly, so true. I've learned that the left really is no better than the right in this regard.

"She hopes to open shadowed eyes on a different world...." Robert Smith, borrowed from Penelope Farmer

All the real journalists are being purged from the earth. Wasn't he supposed to be getting a new gig with PBS?