Michael Parenti explores the rational and political nature of Western news media. Exposing their lies, deceit, and clichés, he dismantles the facade of a "free press". The politics of mass media coincide with incredible corporate power elites who have everything to gain from deceiving the American people. This expose masterfully explains the true purpose of Mass Media.
Author(s): Michael Parenti
Language: English
Pages: 316
Tags: Politics News Media Economy Parenti Michael
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements.........................................................................................................i
I. From Cronkite’s Complaint to Orwell’s Oversight................................................1
- Whom to Believe?...............................................................................................3
- Cronkite and Other Critics...............................................................................5
- Class, Race, and Gender...................................................................................10
- Monopoly Politics.............................................................................................20
- Do the Media Manage Our Minds?...............................................................23
- Beyond Orwell’s 1984.......................................................................................27
II. “Freedom of the Press Belongs to the Man Who Owns One”...........................29
- A Favored Few...................................................................................................29
- Interlocking Control........................................................................................32
- Many Voices, One Chorus...............................................................................33
III. Who Controls the News?......................................................................................37
- Calling the Tune: Owners...............................................................................37
- Calling the Tune: Advertisers.........................................................................40
- On the Line: Editors.........................................................................................43
- Self-Censorship: Reporters..............................................................................47
- The Ruling Culture...........................................................................................48
- Suppressing the News......................................................................................52
IV. Objectivity and Government Manipulation.......................................................59
- The Myth of Objectivity..................................................................................59
- Not Enough Time, Space, and Money?.........................................................64
- Maintaining Appearances...............................................................................67
- Is it All Economics?.........................................................................................69
- Government Manipulation..............................................................................71
V. The Big Sell...............................................................................................................81
- The Consumer Ideology...................................................................................83
- Selling the System.............................................................................................85
- Public Service for Private Interests................................................................90
- Even Sports and Weather.................................................................................92
VI. Giving Labor the Business....................................................................................97
- Business Over Labor.........................................................................................97
- Nice Bosses, Crazy Strikers...........................................................................102
- The Invisible Worker......................................................................................107
VII. “Liberal” Media, Conservative Bias.................................................................110
- Creating a “Conservative Mood”..................................................................111
- Populist Electorate, Conservative Outcome...............................................117
- Pundits to the Right.......................................................................................119
- How to Discredit Protestors..........................................................................121
VIII. The Media Fight the Red Menace..................................................................129
- Enter the Red Menace....................................................................................129
- The Cold War..................................................................................................135
- The Creation of Joe McCarthy......................................................................138
- Rational Hysteria............................................................................................141
- Twists and Turns............................................................................................144
- Celebrating the Collapse of Communism...................................................150
IX. Doing the Third World........................................................................................158
- The Vietnam Apology....................................................................................159
- Murder in Chile...............................................................................................164
- Stomping on Grenada....................................................................................170
X. For the New World Order.....................................................................................176
- The “Totalitarian” Sandinistas.....................................................................176
- A Devil in Panama..........................................................................................182
- Celebrating the Massacre of Iraq.................................................................187
XI. Propaganda Themes............................................................................................197
- American Virtue and “Anti-Americanism”.................................................197
- The Nonexistence of Imperialism................................................................200
- “Moderate Authoritarian” Regimes.............................................................202
- Evil, Power-Hungry Leists..........................................................................206
- Economic “Failures”.......................................................................................212
- Democracy is in the Eyes of the Beholder...................................................214
- “Inferior” Peoples and Their Hopeless Ways.............................................215
XII. Methods of Misrepresentation.........................................................................219
- Selectivity and Deliberate Omission............................................................219
- Lies and Face-Value Transmission..............................................................222
- False Balancing...............................................................................................227
- Framing and Labeling....................................................................................230
- The Greying of Reality...................................................................................232
- Auxiliary Embellishments.............................................................................235
- Placement........................................................................................................238
XIII. Culture, Control, and Resistance....................................................................241
- Capitalism and Culture..................................................................................241
- The Limits of Orthodoxy...............................................................................244
- Credibility and the “Liberal Bias”................................................................249
- Between Conspiracy and Culture.................................................................257
- The Conflict Within.......................................................................................261
Appendix......................................................................................................................264
Notes.............................................................................................................................269
