Editorial
When I was a young man, each day I read two local newspapers and watched the evening news on TV. I also read US News and World Report and Time weekly, so I knew everything happening in the world, especially since I read the "Intelligence Report" in Parade magazine. However, as I traveled the world, worked in bureaucracies, and began to read publications not produced by multi-national corporations, I realized I was a fool. I assumed the billionaires who control the world shared their secrets with us peasants. Then I realized that if I were a billionaire, I wouldn't allow my "news" organizations to report things that might upset peasants or interfere with corporate profits. I'd also instruct my well-paid talking heads to demean anyone who tries to expose the truth by calling them extremists, liberals, unpatriotic, or conspiracy theorists.
Television is powerful, and that warm, glowing image of a model reading from a teleprompter comforts us. We are told government is good, America is great, we are prosperous, and America must rule the world to keep evil doers in their place. Then we go to buy gasoline and must ignore beggars and strain to understand English spoken by clerks, even when its their first language. It requires great concentration to ignore TV propaganda machines, and to understand that Fox News insults viewers every few minutes by insisting it is "fair and balanced". If you watch carefully, you realize that some news segments are hidden advertisements, like CNN's "travel bargains". Local television news is worse, filled with fluff like natural disasters, auto accidents, sports, and weather. Some reporters would like to inform citizens that most money for local bond issues flow to bankers and billionaires, as well as 20% of all income taxes for "interest", which has transformed America into a nation of sharecroppers.
Reality in the USA is controlled by five mega-conglomerates which have rapidly bought out almost all independent news organizations. The truth occasionally leaks out on live C-Span, like when they covered the congressional hearings about the Waco slaughter, hidden facts about the TWA 800 downing, a speech on constitutionality of the income tax, hard proof that the attack on Pearl Harbor wasn't a surprise, and the expulsion hearings of the Justice Department's loudest critic in Congress, James Trafficant, who is now serving eight years in prison for vague "racketeering" activities. Such leaks caused C-Span's corporate sponsors to raise hell, especially when they interviewed iconoclast Gore Vidal, and bluntly honest Congressmen Ron Paul.
The only other serious news appears on PBS's Frontline and occasional documentaries from the Center for Defense Information. While the PBS Newshour is better than most TV shows, it is not produced by PBS, but is a corporate sponsored and censored program. The new History Channel has addressed taboo topics, such as, the intentional Israeli attack on the USS Liberty, Roger Mudd's series "The Men Who Killed Kennedy", and the USS Vincennes' bizarre shoot down of an Iranian airliner. I'm sure advertisers have pulled ads and some conglomerate is seeking to buy them out. For unknown reasons, loudmouth Bill O'Reily at Fox is allowed to address the problems of mass immigration and the corrupt activities of Mr. Jesse Jackson, the man paid by corporations to represent the poor by giving senseless speeches. Sometimes O'Reily even allows socialist Congressmen Bernie Sanders to speak, but he normally leads the media charge to ridicule those who challenge corporate rule of America.
Walter Cronkite was asked what he thought about today's news programs. He said he had no objection to news readers, so long as they don't call themselves newsmen. Back in Cronkite's era, anchormen were experienced reporters who edited the news, and reporters were expected to have experience in their field. Wall Street was covered by someone who worked there for years, the Pentagon was covered by former military men, and health care was covered by doctors. The newsroom was independent and did not even talk to the network's advertising sales department. Faking part of a news story resulted in instant dismissal, unlike Geraldo Rivera, who takes a couple months off from Fox whenever he is caught lying.
Nowadays, news shows are part of entertainment divisions and everything is covered by young "journalism majors" with no experience in any field. They are mostly concerned with pleasing everyone to get promotions and invitations to dinner parties, which is why they were hired. A great overview of self imposed censorship can be read here: Censorship and Propaganda in the Gulf War. The tough newsmen of the past have been fired, retired, or tamed, as was brilliantly depicted in the recent movie "The Insider". All of this is closely covered by a group "Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting".
The ultimate sign of a lazy or incompetent reporter is to seek information or viewpoints from "Institutes" whose donor information is kept secret. The "Lexington Institute" is often quoted by established newspapers like the Washington Post when discussing military issues, even though they love all weapons programs and refuse to acknowledge who pays their salaries. A few months ago, the Marine Corps Gazette printed an article describing the greatness of the flawed V-22. I wondered why a retired Air Force C-141 pilot took such an interest in the V-22 and the Marine Corps' professional magazine, so I did an internet search and learned that his company performed public relations work for Boeing, the maker of the V-22.
While the Pentagon often complains about unqualified reporters, they love them. The last thing they want is a former military man who knows what's happening, is not intimidated by tough looking officers, and knows what to ask the troops. A decade ago, Newsweek and NBC thought it was great to hire retired war hero Colonel David Hackworth as a military correspondent. Hackworth rocked the corporate boat hard, and continually complained that his colleagues were incompetent and often sensationalistic showboaters. They ganged up and got Hackworth fired, supposedly for causing Navy Admiral James Boorda to commit suicide. Hackworth recently formed "Soldier's For the Truth" whose newsletter is a great source of inside military news. Militarycorruption.com frequently exposes interesting military scandals, but their stories are never picked up by the major media.
The best worldwide reporting is done by the British-based Economist, which isn't concerned about offending American institutions, although you have to tolerate their globalist nonsense about "free trade" and "open borders". The worst "reporting" comes from the Wall Street Journal, whose arrogant editors make no attempt to report facts, just whatever their masters want everyone to think. For topics "unfit to print", you must read the American Free Press, which survives with no corporate advertising. They are the largest truly independent source of news in the USA, and most American readers are appalled at their stories after a lifetime of corporate and government programming. If you doubt that you have been programmed, be sure to read James Loewen's book "Lies My Teacher Told Me." If you prefer government programming, the Pentagon provides edited versions of articles it likes from the world's newspapers each morning in the Early Bird. This is provided to all Congressmen in print, and on-line to anyone in the military who is naive enough to read it.
The best source of daily military news is Yahoo's Armed Forces News page. Despite its obvious slant, Antiwar.com does a great job linking off-beat world and military news. The best military databases can be found at Global Security and at the Federation of American Scientists. Aviation Week and Space Technology provides great inside news, so good it's often called "Aviation Leak". National Defense Magazine has great info on-line, although they are supported and thus restrained by the military industry. Some great inside reporting appears in Covert Action Quarterly and Soldier of Fortune. "Armed Forces Journal" provides interesting information, but is really a monthly sales pamphlet for the defense industry. They often run full page advertisements next to articles about how great that weapon performs, and never publish anything critical about a military contractor or weapons system. Do you every wonder why you see advertisements for multi-billion aircraft and ships in military periodicals, as though they hope readers will buy one? It's all a corrupt game to fend off bad press. One hand washes the other and everyone is happy, except the public. John R. MacArthur noted: "A journalist can't hope to do much good unless he gets hated a good deal." As a result, G2mil is happy to receive plenty of hate mail each month and survive with no advertising and a dirty hand.
Carlton Meyer editorG2mil@Gmail.com
G2mil editorials may be freely distributed without permission
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December 2002 Articles
have been returned to the Members Library
Letters - comments from G2mil readers
Brush pants - a simple solution
Restore the Value of Medals - the system is inflated and corrupted
2005 Base Closure Recommendations - Marine Corps bases added
Safety and Abort - vertical launch is unsafe (from the Sky Ramp section)
Urban Operations Journal - urban warfare links
In War, Some Facts Less Factual - is the US government lying again?
Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction Programs - official CIA report
Why Doesn’t the Government Act as if We’re in Danger? - the war racket
G2mil Library
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All material in G2mil Copyright 2002 G2mil, patents pending on some items. Links to www.G2mil.com are encouraged.