News Advice from a Political Nerd

Who Supplies Your News?

My Fellow Americans, we have a choice. I'm not talking about the elections, those are pretty much a sham. But the choice we make about where we get our information is critically important.

Most of us turn to mainstream media news for the bulk of our information. To news that is sponsored by politicians, oil companies, pharmaceutical companies, etc., rather than getting news from organizations that investigate those people. Considering that these are some of the least credible and sleaziest people on the planet, how can anyone trust the news that is "brought to you by..." them?

Is that new miracle drug safe? Well, we're going to be talking to the CEO of Merck who's going to tell us all about it!

Are hydraulic fracturing techniques and hydrocarbons harming your health? We'll be speaking with executives from Chevron and Exxon/Mobile to get their opinion.

Good luck with that!

Do you remember when journalists used to investigate? It wasn't that long ago. But the mainstream news organizations realized that investigations cost a lot of money. It's a lot cheaper to hire a television personality to just sit in a chair and yell into the camera.

Greg Palast is an investigative reporter that actually conducts investigations, stakeouts and undercover work. And the information he uncovers is often very different that what shows up in the mainstream media news. One of Palast's investigations revealed that in 2008, BP had an oil platform blowout that was nearly identical to the Deepwater Horizon blowout. It occurred while drilling off the coast of Azerbijan. BP kept the disaster a secret so that they could get a contract to drill in the Gulf of Mexico. We know now how that turned out. BP didn't learn from their previous failure and continued to cut corners on safety (apparently under the advice of consultants at Bain Capital.)

When Deepwater Horizon blew, all of the mainstream media news personalities went to the Gulf Coast to get sound bites, to get the "news" directly from the people that caused the disaster and to get their photo ops with pelicans and otters covered in black goo. Palast went there to investigate and got a different story: BP got the contract to drill in the Gulf with promises that they would have clean-up boats and crews on hand to respond to a spill within hours, not days, of a spill. Ever the spendthrifts, BP saved money by not keeping the boats and crews on the ready. Eleven people lost their lives, thousands suffered losses to their livlihoods.

[Greg Palast is the author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, Armed Madhouse, Vultures' Picnic and Billionaires and Ballot Bandits.]

Amy Goodman is an author and host of the daily news show Democracy Now! She is a true journalist and someone that understands what that word means. Democracy Now! is one of the few news programs in this country that has no advertisers, no corporate sponsors and takes no money from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). The show is 100% independent and financed by its listeners and viewers. The programming is superb.

Amy conducted what should be a famous interview with President Bill Clinton on the eve of the 2000 election. In that interview she challenged and attacked Clinton repeatedly. Most reporters do not ask such touch questions of politicians and instead often give politicians the platform to promote themselves, their party and their objectives. While it makes for poor journalism, news organizations know that if they are kind to politicians, they may get that big exclusive interview when a hot news story breaks. And they make great revenue from campaign ads. If you haven't paid a few million dollars for some campaign ads, do you think they'll be more concerned with serving your needs as a news consumer or the needs of an advertising consumer that did? And will again? We would all like to think that the man in the suit, sitting at the anchor desk is going to tell us everything that we need to know. But when you consider that there are billions of dollars at stake, can you be confident that television ratings and ad revenue won't trump journalistic integrity and the public's right to know?

[Amy Goodman is the author of The Exception to the Rulers, Static, Standing Up to the Madness, Breaking the Sound Barrier and The Silenced Majority.]

Bill Moyers is the host of Moyers & Company on PBS. His show is not always political but it is always informative and some of the guests on his show are some of the most rational, knowledgeable, insightful and intelligent people I've seen on television. Two of my favorites are Mickey Edwards and Kathleen Hall Jameson.

To The Point (Public Radio International) is probably my favorite news program. The host, Warren Olney, takes on the two or three most important issues of the day and brings in the most knowledgeable and reliable experts to debate each side. An entire hour--with no commercial interruptions--devoted to rational debate over the nation's most important issues. Is there any better way to approach an issue?

I'm not saying that people need to give up their CNN, Fox News and MSNBC entirely but--if you're a news junkie and a nerd like me--consider whether you will be more informed by hearing many different voices and points of view. Or whether hearing one voice and excluding all others will give you the broadest perspective.

~R. Charan Pagan
information systems technologist, musician, writer, filmmaker
Los Angeles, CA 90017
http://www.reclaimingourbirthright.blogspot.com/