Dan Rather on Realtime.
 

I'm buying his book, "Rather Outspoken" and I'm cheap but this topic has been a concern of mine since the Nixon years when the Washington Post broke the Pentagon Papers and Watergate. That's when the RNC got the news corps in their sights and it would appear that they have been immensely sucessfull since.

The real elephant in the room is the fact that of the 50+ independent news corps with national distribution has shrunk to six only (four by Dan Rathers count) These were news corps who had a independent (more or less) news desk mostly unfettered by the corporate office dictates and stringent editorial control, which is the norm now.

Only six (or four) main news purveyors on the tube now compared to the bad old days of the independent liberal media? Maybe the FCC has been asleep at the switch? Their is a legal basis for the ether being a public resource, isn't there?

This is disturbing to think that the marketplace has grown maybe just a little bit since the '70s and our choices have shrunk to 10% of their heyday in the '60s.

"Unperson, Smith, Winston............"

"We are at war with East Asia. We have always been at war with East Asia......"

There is now a lot of competition from the internet. One can easily get information of many different shades.

I agree but the peril of the internet is that opinion based news is for the most part what the fare is. It is difficult for most people to distinguish between what's factual and what isn't. Generally they are too tired or lazy to check any facts before regurgitating it.

The corporaider conglomeration of the broadcast waves has turned anything resembling a real news source into a string of endless advertising and no reporting of much that is controversial. They can't risk pissing off their audiences because after all, pissed off people ain't jamming corn chips and soft drinks (or shitty beer) down their throats.

Dan Rather was shit canned for reporting that story about GWB's national guard un service (he was AWOL for a year) No one should get fired for telling a true story was another point in this episode.

The dangerous thing about the internet is that the blogosphere is basicall a national dormroom college bs session on mega steroids with little fact finding or investigative reporting....we still need reporters.

That and being a pompous blowhard with ever-declining ratings but I get your point.

"What's the frequency, Kenneth?" :D

I'm of the Uncle Walter fanclub and agree with ya as to Dan Blather's style. Back to the topic at hand, I find it strange that with all the over the top description of the Liberal media the fact that we get our news from just a handful of soapsellers with very little news that might upset the advertisers.
Doesn't pass the litmus test as to being liberal or conservative IMHO.;)

I check BBC and RT (Russian tv) for balance. I love the Keiser report on RT. This has some comic relief but very often it leads to real sources.

Al Jazeera is a better news organization than any of the four networks. However, I still like 60 Minutes and find it well produced.

Very true!