"Gregory Morrow" > wrote in
message ink.net...
>
> Vox Humana wrote:
>
> > "Bob (this one)" > wrote in message
> > ...
> > > Vox Humana wrote:
> > >
> > > > "Bob (this one)" > wrote in message
> > > > ...
> > > >
> > > >> Paula Drennan wrote:
> > > >>
> > > >>> asalamualaikum, Thank you for your defense of Islam. Every day
> > > >>> i go out I have to face the stares and cruel words of people
> > > >>> who don't understand that muslims are not all like al-qaeda, we
> > > >>> are not all hell bent on misusing the word of Allah to
> > > >>> rationalize hatred.
> > >
> > > >> I would observe that there is little condemnation and less action
> > > >> in the Islamic community against the fundamentalists and their
> > > >> acts.
> > >
> > > > How could one know? The media in this country is single minded and
> > > > domestically focused.
> > >
> > > This is simply a silly thing to say. Single-minded...? As though
> > > there's some sort of conspiracy to only present one unified vision
> > > across all media. I'm part of the media and I've never been told what
> > > to say or not say, what to write or not write.
> >
> > I didn't say it was a conspiracy. It just happens that all media covers
> the
> > same stories with about the same perspective. Limbaugh, Fox News, CNN,
> and
> > so on all cover the same stories. There are subtle difference, to be
> sure.
> > Mostly, news outlets report what the government tells them. There
doesn't
> > seem to be much questioning going on. I think that accounts for a lot
of
> > the similarities. Bush says he is a compassionate conservative. That's
> how
> > he is known in the media. Bush goes to the ranch and cuts brush. The
> media
> > reports that he is on "the ranch." It is never disclosed that the
"ranch"
> > is a luxury home without any livestock or crops. The administration is
> > notorious for threatening loss of "access" for anyone who reports
> > unflattering stories. So I believe that no one tells you what to
report.
> I
> > also know that few reporters have the power to decide what to publish.
> > While we were involved in two wars, one of which was prosecuted based on
> > false allegations, virtually every media outlet spend endless hours on
the
> > Ben and JayLo story. Now all we hear is the Laci Peterson story. In my
> > opinion there is something wrong with that picture. I would rather think
> it
> > was a conspiracy because the alternative is more grim. It means that
the
> > media is incompetent. Of course, conspiracy theorist could point to
what
> > happened to the Dixie Chick when they spoke out. One of the largest
media
> > outlets (radio, TV stations, billboards, transit advertising, concerts,
> show
> > prep service) yanked them from the play list. Then after Howard Stern
> > started to criticize Bush, the same thing happed to him.
>
>
> But on the conservative side there is sometimes a shrill Doktor Laura
> Schlessinger who gets her just desserts. Her show's rating are declining
> (she's not even heard in major markets like NYC and Chicago), her teevee
> show was a flop, and her books are a flash in the pan...oh and there was
> that juicy contretemps a few years ago about those newdie lewdie pix that
a
> former paramour distributed to the press ;-)
>
> And in Illinois the GOP candidate for US Senate had to drop out of the
race
> after his ex - wife told messy tales about him taking her to sex clubs and
> such...in the vein of Newt and Henry Hyde The Humbug when they were going
> after Clinton a few years back....
>
> The praise - fest for Ronnie Reagan was pretty revolting, but much of it
was
> done by older news media figures who were recalling their Glory Daze in
the
> White House Press Pool...it's probably the last chance for many of them to
> parade around their inflated self - importance before they slide into
sheer
> oblivion...I mean who is going to remember Sam Donaldson in ten years'
time?
> Besides which the vulgar spectacle had been choreographed down to the last
> tear and wet hanky years ago. TV ratings for it were fairly low -
> surprisingly so. Most people have enough sense to watch an Esther
Williams
> and Tom & Jerry musical or the most recent episode of _Law & Order_ if
they
> want to be entertained. Heck, the hoopla about the last episode of
> _Friends_ dwarfed the Reagan funeral media circus in real life. Nobody
had
> popcorn parties to watch Ronnie's funeral....
>
> People are just not real happy with Bush - even my Republican friends want
> him turned out of office. Most intelligent folks don't parrot what the
> media is saying about the "booming" economy and our "mission" in Iraq.
They
> *do* know that it's hard to find a decent job and that gas and milk are
> expensive and that somebody they know (maybe even a loved one) has been
away
> in Iraq attending to our little "police action" for far too long a
> time...or maybe even one of their loved ones has been killed or injured.
>
> Except for a zealous few, most folks don't consider Rush and the rest of
the
> right - wing media zombies anything but entertainers....
>
> I wonder if Kerry will turn the tables on the repugs and utter that famous
> Reagan phrase, "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" this
> fall? He *has* to be straining at the bit to say it....
>

Agreed.