Why Dean Died

I've been struggling, trying to figure out why Howard Dean tanked so badly. And well, now, perhaps, it's a bit clearer. Following up on my recent entry about CBS going jingo-jingo for the Bushies, The Guardian notes that Dean's thorough lashing in the press may be a result of the fact that last year, Dean made statements about breaking up media conglomerates.

And in what is apparently the wisdom of not keeping all of one's chickens in the same basket, it also seems that Viacom (CBS) and Fox are bankrolling Kerry's campaign. I wonder if any of the execs over there are also Skull N' Bones.

It's all very reminiscent of that one scene in Spin where Larry King suggests to Bill Clinton that Ted Turner would be willing to "serve" him. The idea of a media mogul intentfully serving the interests of the state should be apalling to any truly patriotic American. The press is, after all, supposed to be the people's role in our system of checks and balances. The press is supposed to root out corruption, not capitulate to it.

Anyhow, some things to think about: Rupert Murdoch is apparently a stooge for Communist China. He's built several state-run news agencies for the Chinese government. If he's willing to help a dictatorial government spread propaganda and lies via newsmedia there, it should be beyond apparent that that's exactly what he's doing here.

Next—what is the end result of permitting gluttonous media ownership? Adbusters (in their recent and now sold-out issue) has an interesting case example, as given by a CanWest journalist. But here's another one: Brazil, where one exceptionally jingoistic and politically entrenched company, Globo, owns 70% of the national media market, and where journalists live in fear of more than just losing their jobs. The company came into power by aiding the previous military dictatorship of Brazil in disseminating propaganda, earning the company its nickname, "The Ministry of Information." Globo, by the way, is Fox's partner in the Spanish-speaking digital cable venture Sky TV.

Now that the senate has granted corps the rights to 39% of the market, what's to ensure we have any accuracy or honesty in our newsmedia? What checks and balances remain for us the people to keep, not just our reporters honest, but their bosses as well?