Does MSNBC = FOX News?
One of the roles of Muncie Voice has been a media critic which began with our local Gannett owned newspaper, The StarPress. It quickly expanded to the IndyStar, another Gannett owned newspaper and then on to national and international news. Needless to say, there are very good reasons only 15% of Americans trust the news media. To say our Fourth Estate or Fourth Branch of government is in crisis mode is an understatement.
Frankly, the timing of this decline was predictable and avoidable. The major problem is when we needed them the most, they have failed us. When we looked to them to hold truth to power, they opted to work with the powerful.
They’ve been unable to serve and inform us because they are beholden to advertisers, executives/shareholders. As in the case of NBC and MSNBC, some news agencies have become nothing more than propaganda outlets for the Military Industrial Complex (MIC).
I can anticipate the cries of moderate democrats…”What about Fox News– its propaganda?”
Well, quite honestly, you’d have to be extremely gullible to believe a Rupert Murdoch/Roger Ailes production is anything other than GOP propaganda. If you frequent Twitter, you can watch their coordinated efforts to mislead viewers. They’ve convinced their viewers/followers that we have a “Crisis at the Border.” This weekend, it became a “Humanitarian Crisis.”
It cycles like this: Trump sends out a tweet…the GOP follows, and then Fox News runs a story. And then Trump tweets again. It’s almost comedic.
What’s not funny is watching MSNBC using their influence over a predominately democratic base to advocate for endless war and advancement of the surveillance state. Yes, instead of holding power accountable, MSNBC and their parent entity, NBC News, are nothing more than propaganda artists for MIC and the surveillance state.
I cannot wait to see how Rachel Maddow and MSNBC take apart Tulsi Gabbard, a wartime vet with three tours in the Middle East under her belt, who also announced she is running for POTUS in 2020. Her military experience caused her to be highly critical of regime change wars and actually supported Trump’s withdrawal from Syria. The propaganda writers will be going after Tulsi with everything I possess.
But, don’t just take my word for it. William Arkin, a longtime military reporter employed by NBC/MSNBC, resigned his post with a scathing email to executives. His email was sent to a few designated news outlets like The Intercept.
A veteran national security journalist with NBC News and MSNBC blasted the networks in an email for becoming captive and subservient to the national security state, reflexively pro-war in the name of stopping President Donald Trump, and now the prime propaganda instrument of the War Machine’s promotion of militarism and imperialism. As a result of NBC/MSNBC’s all-consuming militarism, he said, “the national security establishment not only hasn’t missed a beat but indeed has gained dangerous strength” and “is ever more autonomous and practically impervious to criticism.”
William Arkin’s resignation email to NBC/MSNBC
The advent and intention of a free press are to serve the people by holding those in power accountable. It’s all part of the checks and balances within our capitalistic and democratic republic government. The government holds the private sector accountable and the free press holds the power in our government answerable to the people.
As Arkin states later in his email:
I’d argue that under Trump, the national security establishment not only hasn’t missed a beat but indeed has gained dangerous strength. Now it is ever more autonomous and practically impervious to criticism. I’d also argue, ever so gingerly, that NBC has become somewhat lost in its own verve, proxies of boring moderation and conventional wisdom, defender of the government against Trump, cheerleader for open and subtle threat mongering, in love with procedure and protocol over all else (including results). I accept that there’s a lot to report here, but I’m more worried about how much we are missing. Hence my desire to take a step back and think why so little changes with regard to America’s wars. …
William Arkin, 2018
If the government isn’t holding the private sector accountable and our free press/media has become more like state-sponsored public relations firms, what kind of political-economic society do we live in today?
