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The Big Answer


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Freedom of the Press—an American Delusion

an article by our site


Freedom of the Press?

Newspapers played an important part in the American Revolution, and the first article of the U.S. Constitution guaranteed freedom of the press and speech—once we got our independence in 1776. By 1900 major newspapers had become profitable powerhouses of advocacy, muckraking and sensationalism, along with serious, and objective news gathering. These newspapers were celebrating their freedom of the press, because the press was indeed free until the early 1900s. (See Control of the Media) True investigative journalism happened before 1917 and after the 1960s, but most papers printed the party line from 1917 to the 1960s due to patriotic spirit generated by the two world wars. Also, it was on average an authoritarian time for the USA, and deferring to the "authorities" and the conventional wisdom was the easiest strategy for coping with the powers-that-be and the government in general.

True investigative journalism? R.I.P.!
True investigative journalism? R.I.P.!

The true investigative journalism that occurred starting in the 1960s (e.g., Watergate and The Pentagon Papers and the Vietnam War in general) upset the elites, since shining light into the shadows of the elite's nefarious activities was anything but welcome.

True investigative journalism upset the elites, since shining light into the shadows of the elite's nefarious activities was anything but welcome
True investigative journalism upset the elites, since shining light into the shadows of the elite's nefarious activities was anything but welcome

So they engineered things so that media buyouts occurred like crazy until a mere six media giants remained. Now it was easy to insure that the elite's agenda was honored but, however happy elites were, the citizens were deprived of any investigative journalism in the mainstream press. Only alternative press had investigative journalism that published truth, and few people read them. The mainstream lost no time in labeling the alternative press as kooks, radicals, commies, and unpatriotic "conspiracy theorists," not to be taken seriously. The mainstream press were lying through their teeth and they knew it!

U.S. neocons' imperialism and warmongering is out of control yet the Congress tasked with stopping such abuses is mute—something smells rotten in Washington!
U.S. neocons' imperialism and warmongering is out of control yet the Congress tasked with stopping such abuses is mute—something smells rotten in Washington! The game is rigged. Bailouts? The biggest companies got help while the little guy got the finger.

So the elites used the CIA and the military and the corporatocracy and were able to pull off some nasty stuff, such as assassinations, coups, bankrupting nations or plunging them into hopeless debt, starting wars no one wanted, devastating the environment in various countries, installing corrupt dictators, and insisting that all kinds of propaganda was inserted into all the mainstream media so that citizens were not only informed of aspects of the shadow government's agenda (e.g., 2003 Iraq invasion) but were indoctrinated in such a way that citizens were convinced these egregious actions were good ideas, even if they cost trillions of dollars, plunged us into deep debt, killed endless streams of Iraqis, and cost the lives of thousands of young Americans while wounding tens of thousands.

national debt

Unless American citizens start defecating money, the debt has put us all in deep doo-doo
Unless American citizens start defecating money, the debt has put us all in deep doo-doo

Walter Lippmann believed that the public is not smart enough to understand complicated political issues. Furthermore, the public was too consumed with their daily lives to care about complex public policy. Therefore, the public needed someone to interpret the decisions or concerns of the elite to make the information plain and simple. John Dewey, on the other hand, believed not only that the public was capable of understanding the issues created or responded to by the elite, but also that it was in the public forum that decisions should be made after discussion and debate. Lippmann's elitism had consequences that he came to deplore.

Americans expect journalists to serve as watchdogs on government and businesses, enabling people to make informed decisions on the issues of the time. (Source: Journalism)

But the elites prevented the citizens from getting "fully informed" by their propaganda techniques which pushed people to support elite agendas that they would never have supported had they known the whole story and had they known the way elite misinformation was brainwashing them to act and think against their own interests.

We can only expect journalists to be watchdogs if there is something to watch. If governmental elites act in the shadows (because if the people knew what elites were up to they would protest and storm the gates of Washington), we cannot expect the press to "watch" them. And if elites buy control over the main products of mainstream journalism (TV, newspapers, radio, etc.) and filter out articles that are against elite policies or counter to administration wishes, then from the public's perspectives, government, citizens and journalists are in happy agreement. (See Control of the Media) All journalistic efforts that do not put a smile on the faces of the elites that operate from the shadows are censored and deleted, and the journalists that dare to step out of line are scolded, and if they keep it up, fired. If you learned all this from radical activist press sources, you'd discount it as "conspiracy theory." But what if you learned about this journalistic coup d'état from the actual, existing Congressional Records of the government of the USA?

Do we have freedom of the press? In your dreams!
Do we have freedom of the press? In your dreams!

Control of the Media

In the year 1917, Congressman Oscar Callaway revealed the global elitists' plans to acquire control of the media, inserting the following statement in the Congressional Record:

"In March, 1915, the J.P. Morgan interests, the steel, shipbuilding, and powder interest, and their subsidiary organizations, got together 12 men high up in the newspaper world and employed them to select the most influential newspapers in the United States and sufficient number of them to control generally the policy of the daily press. They found it was only necessary to purchase the control of 25 of the greatest papers. An agreement was reached; the policy of the papers was bought, to be paid for by the month; an editor was furnished for each paper to properly supervise and edit information regarding the questions of preparedness, militarism, financial policies, and other things of national and international nature considered vital to the interests of the purchasers." See Oscar Callaway Quote.

Congressional Record
Congressional Record

"The major media conglomerates are all members of the CFR [Council on Foreign Relations], which precludes any of its media members from accurately or honestly reporting the news, since all of the CFR members have sworn their allegiance to the CFR and its New World Order agenda." (Source:The CFR Control of Major Media Sources)

"Subsequently, authors who questioned the propaganda of the elite's bought-and-paid-for press were blacklisted, censored and smeared, thereby rendering them nonentities whose truths no longer were read. They put articles on alternative press sites like Alternet and published ebooks on Amazon, but their overall effect is small compared to the massive effect of the mainstream sell-outs. And all the major news anchors, like Dan Rather, are CFR members, with all that implies." (Source: The Shadows of Power: The Council on Foreign Relations and the American Decline)

"Today, they [the major media conglomerates] control the six or seven mass media conglomerates that in turn own or control all major TV and radio station syndicates; the print media, including newspapers, the educational books used in our schools and universities, and book and magazine publishers; the major internet service providers; music, video, and recording companies; and the Hollywood film industry." (Source: The CFR Control of Major Media Sources)

"This almost total control of the U.S. mainstream press has continued almost uninterrupted to this day. Proof of this is that speaking at the Bilderberg meeting in Baden-Baden, Germany, June 5, 1991, CFR honcho David Rockefeller thanked the sycophantic press for doing a good job keeping the American people in the dark about the treasonous activities of the Wall Street bankers and other conspirators on the Council on Foreign relations." More proof? Compare mainstream press reporting of events to alternative media site reporting (e.g., http://www.truth-out.org, which says that: "We're especially interested in coverage of issues that slip under the radar of the mainstream media." ["slip under the radar" means "get censored by them"]).

David Rockefeller told the press that "We are grateful to the Washington Post, the New York Times, TIME Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subject to the bright lights of publicity during those years. But the world is now more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supra-national sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination practiced in past centuries." (Source: HOW THE CFR GLOBALIST CONSPIRATORS MISCALCULATED)

"There is no such thing at this date of the world's history, in America, as an independent press. You know it and I know it... The business of journalists is to destroy the truth, to lie outright... We are the tools of rich men behind the scenes. We are jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes." —Journalist John Swinton, New York Press Club 1953

There is no such thing at this date of the world's history, in America, as an independent press—we are the tools of rich men behind the scenes—we are jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance
There is no such thing at this date of the world's history, in America, as an independent press—we are the tools of rich men behind the scenes—we are jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance

"The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media." —William Colby, former CIA Director, cited by Dave Mcgowan, Derailing Democracy

" . . . journalists have been under attack in the United States. Their first amendment rights have been violated and their status as the watchdogs of democracy, dismissed. Some journalists feel their liberties have been threatened when they’ve challenged America’s so-called war on terror." "The more direct part is to frighten people in the government from talking, is to have a chilling effect on whistle blowers, to make them understand there is a big brother that will get them if they step out of line," Pulitzer Prize winning correspondent James Risen said. (Source: Free press not-so-free in America)

Journalists have been under attack in the United States—their first amendment rights have been violated and their status as the watchdogs of democracy, dismissed
Journalists have been under attack in the United States—their first amendment rights have been violated and their status as the watchdogs of democracy, dismissed


Mainstream journalists have been bought and paid for by the shadow government so they are NOT watchdogs—they are lapdogs
Mainstream journalists have been bought and paid for by the shadow government so they are NOT watchdogs—they are lapdogs

"As terrible as it is to live in a nation where the press in known to be controlled by the government, at least one has the advantage of knowing the bias is present, and to adjust for it. In the United States of America, we are taught from birth that our press is free from such government meddling. This is an insideous lie about the very nature of the news institution in this country. One that allows the government to lie to us while denying the very fact of the lie itself. . . . It is beginning to dawn on a growing number of armchair ombudsmen that the [mainstream press] reports news from a parallel universe—one that has never heard of politically-motivated assassinations, CIA-Mafia banking thefts, mind control, death squads or even federal agencies with secret budgets fattened by cocaine sales." (Source: MOCKINGBIRD: The Subversion Of The Free Press By The CIA | WHAT REALLY HAPPENED)

Former Washington Post publisher Philip Graham: "believing that the function of the press was more often than not to mobilize consent for the policies of the government was one of the architects of what became a widespread practice: the use and manipulation of journalists by the CIA." This scandal was known by its code name Operation MOCKINGBIRD. Operation Mockingbird continued to flourish with CIA agents boasting at having 'important assets' inside every major news outlet in the country." (Source: Media Mind Control over War, Economics, other issues)

"Most Americans are under the influence of TV and radio sources for the daily dose of propaganda. Not understanding they are being lied to and made to believe a lie, it becomes a formidable task to get folks to see the light. They want to see, it's just the lie is so big, so pervasive at this point it is hard for people to grasp the size of the depth and breadth the lie has reached." (Source: Propaganda 101: Operation Mockingbird Continues)

Operation Mockingbird Continues: the intelligence apparatus maintains effective control over the major media
Operation Mockingbird Continues: the intelligence apparatus maintains effective control over the major media

[After the Cold War came] " . . . the present situation in which the intelligence apparatus maintains effective control over the major media, can tap anyone's phone without a court order, reads people's mail, monitors their finances, and gathers information on citizens and their activities that threatens their privacy and liberties. . . . Shadow control therefore consists largely of the placement of shadow agents in key positions in all of the institutions that are to be controlled. Since they cannot reveal their true role, they are also somewhat constrained in the actions they can take. What they do has to fit their jobs and not conflict in an obvious way with the mission of the organization, even if they head it. [One] of the main targeted institutions [is] . . . Major media: Newspapers, magazines, television and radio stations. Together, they control the National Election Service, which in turn controls the outcome of computerized elections. They suppress coverage of certain subjects, and are the channel for the Shadow Government's propaganda and disinformation campaigns." (Source: The Shadow Government)

So the audience is NOT getting the balance and transparency it seeks, since news is filtered and slanted so as to please the shadow government's implanted editor-watchdogs. But viewers mostly try to repress the feeling that something is wrong, fishy, missing, or worse, and most do not realize just how filtered and sanitized and censored the news they receive is.

See also: The CFR Controls Major Media Sources and J.P. Morgan Interests Buy 25 of America's Leading Newspapers and Insert Editors


We MUST Prevent Control of the Internet by the Shadow Government

The internet "took them by surprise and, after many unsuccessful attempts to control and infiltrate it, apparently they have reached some conclusions. First, they have realized that the internet is a medium too powerful to allow it to operate out of their control and, second, that because of some intrinsic characteristics of the Internet, it is almost impossible to control or censor it, therefore, they must have to destroy it, at least in the present free, open form." See Servando Gonzalez, Kiss Your Internet Goodbye, NewsWithViews.com, April 6, 2003.

"Further proof that the conspirators fear the power of the Internet is the fact that senators John Rockefeller (CFR) and Olympia Snowe (CFR) have been working hard to give the President the power to shut down domestic Internet traffic during a 'state of emergency.' To such effect they introduced a bill called the Cybersecurity Act of 2009. This Act establishes the Office of the National Cybersecurity Advisor—an arm of the executive branch that would have the power to monitor and control Internet traffic, allegedly to protect the country against threats to critical cyber infrastructure. As expected, the Act does not define what a critical information network or a cybersecurity emergency is. Those definitions would be left to the interpretation of the president’s CFR advisors." See Steve Aquino, Should Obama Control the Internet? A new bill would give the President emergency authority to halt web traffic and access private data Mother Jones, April 2, 2009.


Globalism and American Empire

In 1913, President Woodrow Wilson expressed his concern over this secret movement toward world government in his book, The New Freedom: "We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated, governments in the civilized world—no longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of small groups of dominant men . . . " (Source: The Hidden Control of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR))

The Rockefellers, Morgans and the Global Media Censors reported that "'Those who manipulate the organized habits and opinions of the masses constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country', wrote Edward Bernays, assistant to William Paley, founder of CBS....We are dominated by a relatively small number of persons....World bankers, by pulling a few simple levers that control the flow of money, can make or break entire economies. By controlling press releases of economic strategies that shape national trends, the power elite are able to not only tighten their stranglehold on this nation's economic structure, but can extend that control world wide. Those possessing such power would logically want to remain in the background, invisible to the average citizen." See Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World.


Is There Truth in Media?—Should We Trust Them? (Most People Don't)

Noam Chomsky is an important linguistic theorist and social writer who, in Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies, looks at how elites maintain political power through propaganda that distorts and confuses major issues. Elites consider it necessary to deliberately mislead us with second-hand facts and knowledge that do not challenge us with the veracity of news or the so-called official truth espoused in them. Everything that will be said by the news establishment will ultimately conform to the government/business line of what should be the truth. One need not guess as to why "they" want to shut "us" up—because the elitists need the tacit consent of a passive and uninformed public to perform the duty of running a corrupt nation. Even in democratic societies, newspapers and magazines are just propaganda tools for the big business advertisers that support them. Corporate money has humongous clout and if you want to stay in the journalism business, you don’t rock the boat.

To quote the fictitious character Howard Beal from the 1976 movie Network: "...television is not the truth. Television is a goddamned amusement park. Television is a circus, a carnival, a traveling troupe of acrobats, storytellers, dancers, singers, jugglers, sideshow freaks, lion tamers, and football players. We're in the boredom killing business. So if you want the truth, go to God. Go to your gurus. Go to yourselves. But man, you're never going to get any truth from us. We'll tell you anything you want to hear. We'll lie like hell." (And yet most people continue to "believe" whatever they learn from the boob tube—but, on the other hand, the vast majority do not trust them! See below.)

Howard Beal from the Network movie told us to throw open our windows and holler that we're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore (lies)
Howard Beal from the Network movie told us to throw open our windows and holler that we're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore (lies)

A 2013 Gallup poll found only 23% Americans trust television or newspaper news, meaning that 77% DO NOT TRUST THEM. (Source: Americans' Confidence in Congress Falls to Lowest on Record) See also Majority of Americans Don't Trust Newspapers and Television News.

"Just 6 percent of people say they have a lot of confidence in the media [i.e., 94% do NOT], putting the news industry about equal to Congress and well below the public's view of other institutions." Readers are looking for balance and transparency. "A majority of people get news from social media, most frequently by far from Facebook. . . . Yet only 12 percent of those who use Facebook say they have a lot of trust in the news and information they see on the site." [I.e., 88% do NOT.] (Source: Poll: Getting facts right key to Americans' trust in media)

"The truth is not as you know it. Our faith in the media myth has been our Achilles heel. Many have realized long ago that our politicians will lie to us at the drop of a hat, but most have no clue that our news media lies and deceives us just as much, if not more so. We have been deceived by our media to such an extent, mostly because people are too trusting of our news system. They very naively believe that broadcasters and journalists would never lie to us. This trust has worked against us with devastating consequences which are unknown to most." (Source: Media Deception: You Are Not Getting The Truth)

9/11 lies fed to our mainstream media by the shadow government are not being believed nearly as much as they used to be, owing to the availability of TRUTH on the internet
9/11 lies fed to our mainstream media by the shadow government are not being believed nearly as much as they used to be, owing to the availability of TRUTH on the internet

The media have told us that radical Saudis influenced by Osama bin Laden are behind the 9/11 attacks. Many people disagree, and around the world 15% think our government was behind the attacks—which we reluctantly have to agree with, given the evidence, especially about WTC7. Only 46% of the world thinks Al-Qaeda was responsible. This is good news because it shows that the lies fed to our mainstream media by the shadow government are not being bought nearly as much as they used to be, owing to the availability of TRUTH on the internet. People are wising up, with under half drinking the Kool-Aid about the government's ridiculous version of 9/11!

Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden

In September 2009, a National Obama Approval Poll, by Public Policy Polling, found that 27 percent of respondents who identified themselves as Liberals, and 10 percent as Conservatives, responded "yes" to the question, "Do you think President Bush intentionally allowed the 9/11 attacks to take place because he wanted the United States to go to war in the Middle East?" A March 2010 poll conducted by the Angus Reid Public Opinion organization found that 15 percent of respondents found theories that the World Trade Center was brought down by a controlled demolition to be credible. [Again, people are wising up!] (Source: Opinion polls about 9/11 conspiracy theories)

Over 50% of Americans are uncomfortable with the official explanation of 9/11 and are calling for a new investigation. [Again, people are wising up!] (Source: Inside 9/11) See also Zogby Poll: Over 70 Million American Adults Support New 9/11 Investigation.

"A group of noted scientists and researchers has found conclusive evidence of explosive residue within four separate dust samples from the WTC site. The substance found was thermate, a high tech version of thermite, an advanced military explosive that requires a security clearance. Engineered by the military, thermate is combustible at much lower temperatures than thermite, plus it burns far hotter, making it an effective cutting charge for steel beams. The scientists found not only spent thermate residue, but also active thermate, not yet ignited. The thermate story has been out since 2009, but for some reason, those within the major mainstream corporate media never addressed it at all, even though many network anchors initially reported that the destruction looked exactly like a controlled demolition. Each tower dropped in 10 seconds or less. Even though military thermate evidence has been found that supports the theory of a controlled demolition, the government continues to deny requests to re-open the investigation." This obvious cooperaton of all media with the 9/11 cover-up is shameful and disgusting! (Source: Inside 9/11)

Senior Bush administration officials sternly cautioned the 9/11 Commission against probing too deeply into the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, according to a document recently obtained by the ACLU. The document told them not to request to question terrorist detainees or check out evidence of administration involvement. None of them were eager to lose their jobs or—like with JFK assassination witnesses—lose their lives, so they followed orders. Truth be damned! (Source: Revealed: Ashcroft, Tenet, Rumsfeld warned 9/11 Commission about ‘line’ it ‘should not cross’)


Obama Sets Things Up So He Can Control the Internet—Our Final Refuge of Truth

Eric Sharp, an activist, says that about 10 years ago Democrats and the antiwar faction of the Left was heaping criticism on the Bush Administration about its national security measures. FISA wiretapping and The Patriot Act were criticized by progressives as overreaching and a threat to democracy. Bush was setting things up so that he could legally listen in on people and even detain citizens without due process.

Obama, not to be outdone by Dubya, claims the right of the executive to "unilaterally try and execute Americans without due process," and with a July 6, 2012, Executive Order—Assignment of National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions, the right to actually seize complete control of all communication resources including the internet, a right that is even more egregious. (So O'bomb'em gets an 007 license to kill and a king's crown with a license to be a dictator and seize our precious internet as well, all of which screams out to us a question: Do we really trust this man with such dangerous and unprecedented powers, given his horrendous, corrupt record of sellouts?!)

Sharp also reminds us that when this neocon wolf in sheep's clothing first got elected, many of the Liberals and Independents foolish enough to elect him naively expected the administration of Barack Obama to actually be a progressive presidency, one that would "take on Wall Street, scale down Washington’s aggressive wars, and restore America’s civil liberties." But this liar and turncoat "not only failed to reverse Bush’s precedent-setting expansion of executive power, but actually accelerated it." (So what, then, is the point of the pretentious and useless and hollow ritual called the "election" if candidates lie through their teeth and they become WYSINWYG, which means What You See Is NOT What You Get?) (Source: White House Seizes Control of Internet by Executive Order)

Dubya Bush the Liar lied us into the illegal Iraq invasion
Dubya Bush the Liar lied us into the illegal Iraq invasion


The only president to ever out-lie Bush is OBomb'em who gave us ISIS and the NSA spying on our own citizens
The only president to ever out-lie Bush is OBomb'em who gave us ISIS and the NSA spying on our own citizens


Obama: a Neoconservative wolf in Liberal sheep's clothing
Obama: a Neoconservative wolf in Liberal sheep's clothing

The Obama White House has investigated more whistleblower cases than all previous administrations combined. No one crosses them, no American that is. . . . This White House’s bullying of the media is an attempt to commandeer and manipulate the news. From sequester to the IRS scandal to Benghazi, the White House has had their hand in controlling what the public hears and sees. They manage the press and have all but eliminated any threats from potential whistleblowers. (Source: Obama’s White House Continues to Abuse, Threaten And Bully the Press)

Whistleblowers who report suspicious or illegal behavior end up harrassed, blackballed, punished, investigated, detained, abused, threatened, or even chased out of the country
Whistleblowers who report suspicious or illegal behavior end up harrassed, blackballed, punished, investigated, detained, abused, threatened, or even chased out of the country

Think about it: Our government tells us citizens to keep our eyes open and report anything suspicious, including packages and backpacks. But everyone who ends up reporting suspicious or illegal behavior ends up harrassed, blackballed, punished, investigated, detained, abused, threatened, or even chased out of the country as if they were criminals rather than the heroes they really are. This is hypocrisy with a vengeance! So it is not only the press that he bullies.

Obama singing 'I want the whole world—I want it NOW!' from the Willy Wonka movie
Obama singing 'I want the whole world—I want it NOW!' from the Willy Wonka movie


It sure is cuter when the little girl in the movie sings 'I want the whole world—I want it NOW!'
It sure is cuter when the little girl in the movie sings 'I want the whole world—I want it NOW!'

Mainstream Versus Alternative Media

Non-mainstream Media refers to any other media outlet that doesn't fall under the 90 plus percent owned by the global media conglomerates. Unlike corporate media, the non-mainstream is driven by a desire for the truth—not profits. The good news is that people all over the world are doing their share to keep journalism alive. Help counter the mainstream media and spread the word. Can politicians be trusted? Can the media be trusted to present a genuine version of who these politicians really are? Unfortunately, no. The mainstream media is merely a propaganda tool used by the powers-that-be to convince and deceive the masses into thinking and agreeing to the elitists' hidden agenda to continually consolidate power in order to control the entire planet, while the masses are manipulated to believe that 'change' will actually come to benefit their own lives." (Source: Sprword (spread the word))

"The consensual seduction of the mainstream media with power, corporate power, government power . . . is something that, without the antidote of independent reporting and analysis that you [Alternet.org] do and others, we would be in . . . a dark, dark pit with no light shining on us." (Source: Bill Moyers Discusses Independent Media and Fighting Back Against Unbridled Corporate Greed and Power)

The consensual seduction of the mainstream media with power, corporate power, government power . . . is something that, without the antidote of independent reporting and analysis that you [Alternet.org] do and others, we would be in . . . a dark, dark pit with no light shining on us
The consensual seduction of the mainstream media with power, corporate power, government power . . . is something that, without the antidote of independent reporting and analysis that you [Alternet.org] do and others, we would be in . . . a dark, dark pit with no light shining on us

SPREAD TRUTH, NOT PROPAGANDA, WHICH IS WHAT MAINSTREAM MEDIA SPREAD. Keep in mind that the mainstream media sometimes reports news without spin or slant just to confuse us and get us to buy their ridiculous claims of "fair and balanced," and then without warning it jumps back to spewing propaganda or at least news with agenda-favoring spin. This is calculated to confuse us, lower our defenses, and get us to absorb their words unfiltered, and with no critical thinking. Like sheep. What sounds will you emit today, hmmmmm or baaahhhh?

"By manufacturing consent, you can overcome the fact that formally a lot of people have the right to vote. We can make it irrelevant because we can manufacture consent and make sure that their choices and attitudes will be structured in such a way that they will always do what we tell them . . . " —Noam Chomsky

"The people will believe what the media tells them they believe." —George Orwell

"Media manipulation in the U.S. today is more efficient than it was in Nazi Germany, because here we have the pretense that we are getting all the information we want. That misconception prevents people from even looking for the truth." —Mark Crispin Miller

Little boys and girls today are intended—when they come of age—to be cannon fodder in 'their' New Endless War on Terrorism
Little boys and girls today are intended—when they come of age—to be cannon fodder in 'their' New Endless War on Terrorism

"Keep in mind the intense and non-stop psychological conditioning being used by major media today to rouse the American people to a war that promises to be '.... maybe forever'. Little boys and girls today are intended—when they come of age—to be cannon fodder in 'their' New Endless War on Terrorism. It need not be. . . . The mass media form for us our image of the world and then tell us what to think about that image. Essentially everything we know—or think we know—about events outside of our own neighborhood or circle of acquaintances comes to us via our daily newspaper, our weekly news magazine, our radio, or our television. It is not just the heavy-handed suppression of certain news stories from our newspapers or the blatant propagandizing of history-distorting TV 'docudramas' that characterizes the opinion-manipulating techniques of the media masters. They exercise both subtlety and thoroughness in their management of the news and the entertainment that they present to us." (Source: Shadow Government)

Little boys and girls today are intended—when they come of age—to be cannon fodder in 'their' New Endless War on Terrorism—here's a hunk of fodder now
Little boys and girls today are intended—when they come of age—to be cannon fodder in 'their' New Endless War on Terrorism—here's a hunk of fodder now

Alternative news services


Media Parrots CIA-Issued Talking Points

"Every news outlet in the country is admitting 8 months of news reports about Benghazi were nothing more than the parroting of CIA issued talking points. Stop. Let it sink in. This is not hyperbole and not sensationalism. The entire corporate media is now openly admitting that what they presented to us as objective independent news reports were nothing more than echoing of a list of CIA talking points. Does that not at all disturb anyone? Most people that are disturbed are merely disturbed by the fact the talking points were lies. That is what the media is telling us the scandal is. But . . . the real scandal is that the government is entirely controlling the news and the media is doing nothing more than regurgitating an official narrative crafted by spooks in the shadow government. Those spooks operate in secret and disseminate their propaganda operation instructions to public figureheads behind the scenes who in turn relay that information to the media who then relays it to the public." (Source: Media Now Openly Admitting The Government Controls The News)

The entire corporate media is now openly admitting that what they present to us as objective independent news reports is often nothing more than parroting of a list of CIA talking points, i.e., PROPAGANDA
The entire corporate media is now openly admitting that what they present to us as objective independent news reports is often nothing more than parroting of a list of CIA talking points, i.e., PROPAGANDA

"It's been clear for some time that US journalism is being strangled by the very structures it's intended to stand watch over. For the sake of survival, US media has allowed itself to be refitted into a machine that serves the very forces that are gutting the earth and stripping away our liberties. Outlets that once produced crucial content have gone the way of Darth Vader, carving out their humanity and autonomy to serve the empire. . . . we have to challenge ourselves, our publications and our readers to dream beyond brain candy headlines and government press releases, and engage with the truth of our times." (Source: What Does "Independent Media" Mean? Birthday Contemplations From the Truthout Staff)

". . . the media are basically mouthpieces for those in power. Towing the party line is essential for the various outlets to stay in business." (Source: 8 Reasons Young Americans Don't Fight Back: How the U.S. Crushed Youth Resistance)

"These days any media not towing the party line would be seen as 'supporting terrorism' and labeled unpatriotic and no longer allowed at press briefings." (Source: Get Up, Stand Up: Uniting Populists, Energizing the Defeated, and Battling the Corporate Elite)

No wonder the public seems so confused and nothing ever changes. They're choking on misinformation that comes their way via political manipulation of citizens and via the Culture War!
No wonder the public seems so confused and nothing ever changes. They're choking on misinformation that comes their way via political manipulation of citizens and via the Culture War!

Summary

Freedom of the press is indeed an American delusion. In 1915 the shadow government bought up control of the mainstream media. That is fact, not opinion. So before you cogitate over whether this control of the media is still in effect, mull over the following three laws of history:

  1. NO ONE has ever voluntarily relinquished control in all of history
  2. Absolute power corrupts absolutely
  3. Finally, those who are unwilling to learn from the mistakes of history are doomed to repeat them


Allowing the shadow government to gain control of the media so that the free press was no more was a terrible error. Freedom of the press is a critical prerequisite of democracy, but Americans failed to be vigilant so they lost this freedom, severely wounding democracy in the process.

How do you take control of the media from a rich, powerful oligarch? The same way you take a banana from a 900-pound gorilla—very carefully!
How do you take control of the media from a rich, powerful oligarch? The same way you take a banana from a 900-pound gorilla—very carefully! NO ONE has ever voluntarily relinquished control.

The only difference between the degree of control of the shadow government over the media in 1915 and in 2017 is that instead of just shadow government editors censoring, sanitizing, and filtering reports, we now have these shadow government editors censoring, sanitizing, and filtering reports AND the CIA placing "important assets" inside every major news outlet in the country. Their words, not ours. "The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media." —William Colby, former CIA Director. Again, their words, not ours. Hence, freedom of the press has eroded much more than in the 1900s, and it is now extinct as dinosaurs—except for the alternative press and the blogs, posts, and web pages we—and you—write.

In the article on this page that we call Freedom of the Press—an American Delusion, there is no opinion or conspiracy theory or radical's opinions or paranoid delusions. If you look carefully, you'll find that the sources are American presidents and Congressmen, CIA directors, actual government records such as the Congressional Record, the Council on Foreign Relations, oligarch David Rockefeller, the New York Press Club, Pulitzer Prize winning correspondent James Risen, former Washington Post publisher Philip Graham, ex-President Woodrow Wilson, Edward Bernays, assistant to William Paley, founder of CBS, famous author Noam Chomsky, the movie Network, Gallup polls, actual video from 9/11, Public Policy Polling, Zogby polls, presidential Executive Orders, and distinguished, award-winning journalist Bill Moyers.