The Complete Moral & Ethical Collapse of America’s Corporate Media
Mid last year, in the lead up to the 2020 Presidential election, the New York Times ran a story about Afghan Bounties placed on the heads of American soldiers at the behest of the Kremlin. Naturally, as America’s corporate media and ruling class have latched on to Russia as their go-to boogeyman, widespread hysteria followed. Then President Trump was badgered incessantly for his inaction on the information both by the political and media establishment. Not one soul seemed to care that the information had gone through a rather peculiar path if it were indeed of national security importance. It had been leaked directly to the media and never made it to the President’s daily briefings. This was a red flag that went ignored. As is and was the nature of America’s corporate media at the time, it was a leap first look later affair. To put it more accurately, print first, investigate later. Any journalist with an ounce of integrity could have postulated that if the information didn’t make it up the food chain it was most likely because it was not relevant or worthy of the President’s time and response as commander in chief. Perhaps, there could have been a more cautious and measured approach to this information offered to the public if it had been served up with the necessary caveats for unverified stories. Then Presidential candidate Joseph R. Biden latched on to the story and excoriated then President Trump for not sanctioning the Russian government. There were no Russians involved. There were no bounties. This was a made up hoax that was disproven earlier this year. Of course if anyone had ventured to critically analyse the Times reporting at the time, they would have noticed the glaring gaps in credibility. In all likelihood, the story was leaked to dissuade then President Trump from pulling out of Afghanistan and perhaps alter public sentiment about the never ending war. This seems like it was deliberate interference in official American foreign policy by some in America’s corporate media and their Washington allies. I posit, that there was and is a faction that knew of the sham the whole occupation of Afghanistan was and they were afraid of losing their racketeering outfit. By December 2019, America’s congress had appropriated 134 billion dollars of American tax payer money for reconstruction projects in Afghanistan. Approximately 19 billion of these dollars were lost to fraud, waste and abuse. To put this into context, adjusting for inflation, the American tax payer has spent more money on Afghanistan reconstruction projects than the United States spent on the Marshall Plan post World War 2 to reconstruct Western Europe. Staying in Afghanistan would have served a dual purpose: To cover their unchecked corruption but also to hide the woeful failure of America’s nation building tactics. Echoes of the made up Afghan Bounties story reverberated from one media house to another. Of course it was nought more than another fairy tale. Conjured up by the endless supply of anonymous sources the New York Times seems to keep in stock. Proliferated by the rest of the grim brotherhood of America’s corporate media.
Echoes of the made up Afghan Bounties story reverberated from one media house to another. Of course it was nought more than another fairy tale. Conjured up by the endless supply of anonymous sources the New York Times seems to keep in stock. Proliferated by the rest of the grim brotherhood of America’s corporate media.
In late December 2019, a group of Iraqis staged a protest outside America’s embassy in Baghdad. Then President Trump deployed additional troops to secure the embassy and to serve as a deterrent by using a show of force. At the time of the Iraqi protests, General Qassem Soleimani, leader of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards force was on a tour of Iraq. This stunt would cost him his life. Shortly after, then President Trump, in his signature style, sent out a tweet hinting at the demise of Qassem Soleimani. He had been taken out by an American missile with the authorisation of the President. This was a wanted terrorist who had survived two different American Presidents, Bush & Obama. Many in America’s corporate media were quick to excoriate then President Trump. There was a relentless onslaught of ominous news coverage of an Iranian reprisal attack. Late night talk show hosts who often moonlight for America’s political class mocked and jeered the President for his actions. Celebrities offered their apologies to the Iranian people in repentance of the assassination of a ruthless killer who was a scourge not just to Americans but to people in the Middle East. General Soleimani may have been loved and revered by many in Iran but he was a terrorist who for decades had inflicted fear on many. The Iranian government had long been suspected of having undue influence on the Iraqi government. The latest slew of protests outside the American Embassy may have been part of a similar campaign of influence. In my opinion, Soleimani’s trip abroad was an open insult to America’s lack of resolve especially during the Obama era. The Iranian government could repeatedly violate international treaties and agreements and receive pallets of cash from the American government as if in a show of appreciation for their delinquency. In what some would consider to be an attempt to save face with the Iranian people, the Iranian government launched a feeble reprisal attempt. They deliberately informed the Americans of a military base they had intended to strike in Iraq hours before they did so. The tacit messaging in the feeble reprisal was very clear. Iran had just been thoroughly chastened on the global stage and in their arrogance had paid the price for going against a strong man in the White House. Germany and Britain were quick to re-affirm the support for their ally. There was no useful analysis of what had just happened from many in America’s corporate media. Just scorn and criticism. The media in any country should serve as a watchdog to any administration. This is how totalitarian regimes are kept in check via accurate and fair coverage. However, many in America’s corporate media seemed to be actively serving as cheerleaders to Iran’s dictatorial regime.
In my opinion, Soleimani’s trip abroad was an open insult to America’s lack of resolve especially during the Obama era. The Iranian government could repeatedly violate international treaties and agreements and receive pallets of cash from the American government as if in a show of appreciation for their delinquency.
Earlier this year, 13 year old Adam Toledo was shot dead by police in the city of Chicago. If the only coverage one had of this event was reporting done by many in America’s corporate press, the impression they would have was that another unarmed person of black ethnicity had been lost to perceived police brutality. Police body camera footage of the event showed the boy clearly holding a gun in his attempts to flee the police. He was in the company of an older man, Ruben Roman, who was apprehended and arrested during the foot chase. CBS news cropped out the video making it seem that the boy was unarmed while fleeing from the police. Many in America’s corporate media are dedicated to an ideology and a narrative. Often this is at the expense of truth. Facts that are inconvenient to narratives are often overlooked or discarded completely and when necessary fake ones manufactured. It now seems to be generally accepted practise for the media to traffic lies and misinformation that have the potential of seeding violent riots across America. We saw this in 2020 over the summer as American cities burned in the hands of Black Lives Matter & Antifa anarchists looters and thugs to the delight of many in the corporate media. Many in America’s corporate media proliferated the La Fayette square hoax. A hoax that purported that then President Trump had cleared out a field of peaceful protesters using tear gas and other violent means for a photo op. This “peaceful protesters” had tried to take down the fence of the White House and had set a church on fire. They were well organised and used lasers to blind secret service detail assigned to the White House. Frozen water bottles turned into weapons as they were hurled at the secret service. These weren’t peaceful protestors. These were violent rioters. We watched from the sidelines as Washington burned yet non of the perpetrators have seen any jail time. An ode to America’s two tier justice system. This year the office of the inspector general issued a report after months of investigation that revealed that then President Trump’s march to the Church was not pre-planned and in fact no tear gas was used at all. This was a media hoax that many in the American public bought hook line and sinker. Rather than apologise for their woefully deficient reporting at the time, some in America’s corporate media immediately turned into attack dogs. Having being caught in a lie, CNN’s anchors attacked the credibility of the Inspector General. They didn’t attack the credibility of his report. A deflection tactic often employed by some in America’s corporate media when they have been caught spinning a web of lies.
Rather than apologise for their woefully deficient reporting at the time, some in America’s corporate media immediately turned into attack dogs. Having being caught in a lie, CNN’s anchors attacked the credibility of the Inspector General. They didn’t attack the credibility of his report.
During the lead up to the 2020 election, the New York Post and former Trump attorney and former mayor of New York, Rudi Giuliani revealed to the world that they had acquired one of Hunter Biden’s laptops that would have shown potential corruption and potential criminal activity by the Biden family. There was a de facto media black out on the story in what would have been the October Surprise. These are usually stories that leak right before the election in November to alter public sentiment about an American Presidential candidate of either party. The NPR, an American tax payer funded media organisation, refused to cover the story because “they don’t want to waste time on stories that are not really stories.” After all, congressman Adam Schiff(D-California), Washington’s resident hatchet man had assured the public that it was just one Vladimir Putin interfering with a Presidential election. Celebrated investigative Journalist, Glenn Greenwald, wrote a piece about the strange media silence about what has now been proven to be Hunter Biden’s laptop. The publication he worked for refused to publish his story. This is a publication he had co-founded with the proviso that there would be no censorship of his work. Greenwald resigned in protest at the censorship. It seemed that there was an unspoken pact amongst liberal media outlets to bury the story no matter the cost to their credibility. These were media organisations working in tandem with a political party to shield their preferred political candidate from any scrutiny. Information that would have perhaps changed the public’s perception of either political candidate. The Media Research Centre, a right leaning media outlet, conducted a survey of 1,750 Biden voters in 7 swing states to establish if media self censorship had played a crucial role in their ballot choices. 17 percent of respondents indicated that they would have not voted for Mr. Biden if they knew of the laptop scandal and other issues. This unethical behaviour from many in America’s corporate media didn’t stop after the inauguration of one Joseph R. Biden this year. The media has continued to run interference for the current inhabitants of the White House. In particular, they seem to be dedicated to shielding the public from any knowledge of Mr. Biden’s actual state of mind. They massage the President with soft ball questions while writing about his ice cream eating habits. This is in lieu of asking questions relevant to the current administration and carrying out critical analyses of its policies.
In particular, they seem to be dedicated to shielding the public from any knowledge of Mr. Biden’s actual state of mind. They massage the President with soft ball questions while writing about his ice cream eating habits. This is in lieu of asking questions relevant to the current administration and carrying out critical analyses of its policies.
In 2020, The New York times published an alt-history series known as the 1619 project. Essentially this was a repudiation of the historicity of America and a corruption of the memory of the foundation of America as a nation. This was made up fiction that was marketed as true history. In reality, prominent historians thoroughly questioned the credibility of pieces that claimed America was primarily founded on the basis of slavery. To me it seems that the authors and creators of this series were led by ideology and went out in search of proof to back up their absurd claims rather than the vice-versa. The 1619 Project is now being taught in American schools as a real part of history in some school districts. In essence, poisoning the wellspring of knowledge for America’s youth by teaching them that their country is irredeemably racist. A fact that no media publication that claims so has provided empirical data on. What sold this series to the public is its high production and artistic values. Nikole Hannah Jones picked up a Pulitzer for her work on the series. It does seem that Pulitzer’s aren’t given to honest works with integrity but rather works that are artistic in nature and seem to capture the imagination of some. Pulitzers were also awarded to the New York Times and Washington Post over their reporting on the Russia Hoax. When the Russia Hoax fell apart and was shown to be part of a plot to overthrow a seating President there were no retractions issued over factually incorrect reporting. Award winning journalism seems to only merit awards that don’t factor in truth and integrity. Awards such as the Pulitzers. Once perceived as an accomplishment for great journalism, now increasingly seen as cheap tokens to honour media corruption and malfeasance. In the 1930s a New York Times reporter, Walter Duranty, wrote a series of articles about the U.S.S.R. under Josef Stalin. He wrote of the successes of Communism and the joy the general populace had achieved under Stalin. Of course this was manufactured nonsense that escaped scrutiny for years perhaps because of the trust bestowed upon the New York Times and its reporting. It was only discovered that this was a farce nearly ten years later. Walter Duranty was ultimately exposed as a fraud. The New York Times claims that some of Duranty’s editors had criticised his work as “tendencious.” I’m willing to posit that they were an active part of it and actively involved in covering up his corruption. It beggars belief that one can get away with such evil without complicit help from the people who stand to benefit the most from it. The continual misses rather than hits of the New York Times’ dishonest reporting hint at a culture of corruption that is prevalent at the Times.
Award winning journalism seems to only merit awards that don’t factor in truth and integrity. Awards such as the Pulitzers. Once perceived as an accomplishment for great journalism, now increasingly seen as cheap tokens to honour media corruption and malfeasance.
The phenomenon of the Fake News Media isn’t endemic to America’s corporate media. It reaches across oceans and is prevalent in mainland Europe, the UK and other places. However, it has gained the strongest foot hold in America. Fake News corrupts the minds of its recipients because it preconditions them to view the world and events round them through a particular prism. Usually, through the lens of a particular ideology or a school of thought. Increasingly, it seems that journalist don’t follow the trail of bread crumbs on stories they are working on wherever they may lead. They actively avoid the trail and even in some cases obscure it completely. Not because they are prescient of the wicked witch that awaits them at the end of the trail but often because they are in league with this vile creature. Meanwhile, the witch continues to brew her broth as she lays in wait to trap many of the general public who are unaware of the evil that is afoot. Each time America’s corporate media is caught in another lie some ask why there is never a mea culpa from them. It is a fools errand to long and wait for hope where there is none. It’s time for the corporate media to die. While their own mendacity has aided in their demise, it seems to be happening at a rather protracted pace. It is high time the general public assisted in the suicide of this corrupted body.
Image credits in order of appearance: Image par Gordon Johnson de Pixabay; Image par Gorkhs de Pixabay; Image par StarGladeVintage de Pixabay