EDITORIAL:

If Another Election Is Stolen, Let's Boycott Major US Media

We US citizens have access to reputable news sources beyond our borders, and we are discovering very different news coverage and analyses than we are finding inside the US media bubble.

Even though foreign and military policies of Bush and Kerry are disturbingly similar, a survey of 35 countries shows 30 want Kerry to replace Bush in the White House, and by large margins. This news was received with shock, awe and derision by US celebrity media pundits, who--if they mentioned the poll at all--said its respondents were obviously "ignorant." Characteristically, this poll was totally ignored by TV news.

"Why was it ignored?" you might ask. The answer is that issues as defined, analyzed and disseminated by US corporate media are different than those discussed elsewhere. A strong case can be made, in fact, that, for more than two decades, these media outlets have been intent on tilting our framework for news understanding to the political right. When was the last time you saw academics have a free and open discussion on TV? Thirty years? It's been at least that long since "liberals" (we put the word in quotes to denote its dictionary meaning, because it has become so maligned in public discourse that it no longer connotes that meaning) had significant presence on television and prominence in major newspaper OpEd pages.

"But wait, there's PBS!" you say. But PBS as media relief for intellectuals has been eroding for years to pander for corporate sponsorship ad revenue. And now activist (extremist) right-wingers have been appointed by Bush to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting board of directors, and they are already changing the PBS program content. The new right-wing-dominated board has just added four right-wing shows, and has cut back programming they deem "too left-wing," but which others call "moderate," such as Bill Moyers' "Now."

On the Internet, fortunately, we US citizens have access to reputable news sources around the world, and we are discovering very different news coverage and analyses than we are finding inside the US media bubble.

And what a difference! Other countries' news, for example, forthrightly discusses with horror the tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians disfigured and slaughtered by our 'not so smart' bombs. They reveal the constant and escalating fighting in Iraq, where nervous and outnumbered troops spray bullets instantly, at the least provocation, on very crowded city streets. Because of this large-scale, unprovoked violence by the US and UK occupation army upon mostly innocent people, large anti-war protests throughout Europe have become common, and the European press writes and speaks about these protests as being newsworthy! Imagine that.

It is not foreigners who are the ignorant. Rather, it is the US citizens who are being kept ignorant.

As to why our corporate media has morphed into a Neocon Republican State Media, we will leave that to others to explain.

If the unthinkable happens, and the 2004 national election results cannot be considered valid, what should we do? Instead of engaging in antisocial or disruptive behavior, such as rioting in the streets, we hereby propose a boycott of US mass media as the first step to taking our country back. We can and must bankrupt this news media warp machine.

How? Simple as this: Recognizing that the citizens of this nation will have gotten into this fix because they have been mis-informed, mal-informed, and non-informed by our mainstream media and their repugnant "celebrity pundits," everyone should immediately cancel all subscriptions to cable and satellite TV and to major newspapers, while at the same time subscribing to independent US media sources that we believe have served us well. For news for the duration, we will turn to these independent sources plus the Internet and the foreign press.

Our Boycott of Big US Media would have positive ramifications not only for our country, but for the entire world, because our increased understanding would make us less isolated and better educated. In turn, this would certainly lead to positive changes at home and abroad.