The freedom of the American press is an object many of us cherish. We proudly compare ourselves to other countries using the standard of the perception that we have unabridged liberty of expression in our media. Despite this, the freedom of our press is more hype than reality. With the exception of a few independent newsletters and micro-publishers, there is no truly free press in America.
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Nowhere is this more evident than in press reports on the 2012 presidential campaign. The bought and paid for mass media in America alternately reviles, then ignores candidate Ron Paul despite his apparent popularity with a large segment of Americans. This intentional incognizance has reached proportions bordering on the absurd . During the televised debates, Dr. Paul was often passed over in the questioning. During CNN’s South Carolina debate, the audience objected so loudly to this, that the moderators were forced to ask Dr. Paul the same questions as the others. The same network ignored the results of its own polls when they indicated that Ron Paul was indeed the most popular candidate of the people.
This journalistic paradigm is not new
The illusion of freedom of the press has perhaps never been better articulated by anyone than journalist John Swinton. In the late 19th century, he was honored a banquet given him by his peers. A toast was made by one of his fellows to the independent press. Swinton then responded with the truth about what he had learned about the American press:
"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.
There is not one of you who dares to write your honest opinions, and if you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinion out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for similar things, and any of you who would be so foolish as to write honest opinions would be out on the streets looking for another job. If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my paper, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone.
The business of the journalists is to destroy the truth, to lie outright, to pervert, to vilify, to fawn at the feet of mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread. You know it and I know it, and what folly is this toasting an independent press?
We are the tools and vassals of rich men behind the scenes. We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes."[Source: Labor's Untold Story, by Richard O. Boyer and Herbert M. Morais, published by United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, NY, 1955/1979.]
More than 100 years later, his words are more true than they have ever been. The mainstream press presents only a superficial, one sided view of what occurs in the world. What is accepted by the public as news, is little more than an amalgam of falsehoods, half-truths, and propaganda. Plainly stated, the goal of the mainstream media is to manipulate your though patterns so that you will continue to be malleable, impressionable sheep, content with your lot.
How they do it
The illusion that we have a free and independent press, relies upon the fact that censorship is not accomplished with violent force today, but with the prudent use of economics by those who have the means and the agenda to accomplish it. Those who “report” what passes for news, accept without criticality, whatever the government feeds them.
When a President justifies war by claiming that the enemy has “weapons of mass destruction,” the press reports it as fact. Later, when the undeniable truth that America has been lied to surfaces, the press will then publish the governments new justification, again uncritically. By the time the charade has been fully disclosed, America is committed and the American people must resign themselves to the fait accompli. Most Americans know they are being lied to and yet, despite this history of betrayal by the media, America continues to drink from the poisoned trough of mainstream “news.” The cycle repeats itself with no apparent end in sight.
News “anchors” who are not practicing journalists but are mere teleprompter readers, command huge salaries. Network news anchors, are paid millions of dollars to sell you on the idea that they can be trusted. They are mere TV stars, entertaining you as your critical thinking skills fall asleep before them.
Why they do it
The amount of money poured into the mass media for the purpose of deceiving Americans is staggering. Consider just one American corporations efforts at manipulating public opinion. General Electric, which at one time touted that “We bring good things to life” also kills them through weapons production. GE also happens to own 49% of NBC.
We all want to have leaders we can look up to, depend upon and a news media that we can trust. Unless and until we have either a news media with integrity that reports in truth, or a leader that will force the issue by his own good example, such things can never be. The facts are that the government lies and the media covers for them.
Conclusion
Ron Paul is the only candidate in place that can restore faith in the office of president. We all want to believe that America is the freest nation on earth. Until there is a triumph of fact over fiction in our press, we can never be truly free. Electing Ron Paul is the first step in that process. For those who seek truth in the political process there can be only two choices for president: Ron Paul, or no one at all.
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