"It is not enough for journalists to see themselves as mere messengers without understanding
the hidden agendas of the message and myths that surround it" - John Pilger


The Media Watchdog Web Site -
Stewart Ogilby, Editor



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If Americans Knew...

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Leading Journalists Expose Major Cover-ups in Media

"For eight decades, the greatest mass murder in modern history has been shamefully covered up or ignored."
Eric Margolis, Foreign Correspondent - June 2, 2008


How the US News Media Fails Us
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.



Never vote for "the lesser of two evils"
The alternative is constructive dissent
Join The Revolution

(If you don't know this man, click here)


Bill Moyers addresses NCMR 2008
(one click on arrow)






Prescott Bush's connection with Nazis "news": Here are the facts

Time Magazine 1938 Man of the Year - Adolph Hitler

General Smedley D. Butler's
War is a Racket

STOP ILLEGAL PENTAGON PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGN
But, lest you think this is new, it was done to the US public even more efficiently in 1915-1917 - see The Great Madness

Do you remember Waco?

"In ways that have become typical, the media and government worked together in this disaster. One day before the raid, the Waco Tribune-Herald started a series on "The Sinful Messiah." On the morning of February 28, 1993, before BATF arrived at Mt. Carmel, at least 11 reporters were on the scene already. After the religious community was torched, the entire media participated in the beatification of Janet Reno for her actions in Waco."
Read the 1994 article -- by Rep. Ron Paul.


A new BBC documentary supports the conclusion that the CIA planned and executed the assassination of Robert Kennedy.

Experts: Sirhan Sirhan Did Not Kill RFK

THE GREAT MADNESS
Elizabeth Kucinich


It is not for lack of honest and courageous individuals who would risk their careers to speak truth to power -- a modest risk compared to those of some journalists in authoritarian countries who have been jailed or murdered for the identical "crime." But our journalists are not in control of the instruments they play. As conglomerates swallow up newspapers, magazines, publishing houses, and networks, and profit rather than product becomes the focus of corporate effort, news organizations -- particularly in television -- are folded into entertainment divisions. The "news hole" in the print media shrinks to make room for advertisements, and stories needed by informed citizens working together are pulled in favor of the latest celebrity scandals because the media moguls have decided that uncovering the inner workings of public and private power is boring and will drive viewers and readers away to greener pastures of pabulum. Good reporters and editors confront walls of resistance in trying to place serious and informative reports over which they have long labored. Media owners who should be sounding the trumpets of alarm on the battlements of democracy instead blow popular ditties through tin horns, undercutting the basis for their existence and their First Amendment rights.

-- from Moyers on Democracy

Press Releases -- Free Press

HBO in this country and Thames Television in the U.K. sponsored a television trial called "The Trial of James Earl Ray." The trial was prepared in 1992 and it began and was tried in 1993, the 25th anniversary of the assassination of Martin King.

It took the jury about seven hours after that television trial to come back with a verdict of Not Guilty, James Earl Ray. You probably never heard of that. Because it was not reported anywhere and if it was it was mentioned once or twice in a couple of media entities. It was called "entertainment." It wasn't really serious you see. It was a form of entertainment.

The consolidation of the control of the media is a major problem in this democracy as it is in most democracies today. I don't know how democracy can function when people are not allowed information that's essential for the decision-making process. But rather they get propaganda continually.

-- from a talk given by Atty. Wm. F. Petter, author of An Act of State -- The Execution of Martin Luther King.

Who Killed Martin Luther King?


Manufacturing Dissent?

"Tyrants become obvious only when looking back, after what they have done becomes known. The German people did not stand up to Hitler because their media betrayed them, just as the American media is betraying the American people by willingly, voluntarily, even proudly, abandoning its traditional role as watchdog against government abuse."

To read the full article click here


IN MEMORY OF GARY WEBB
Gary Webb
Gary Webb 1955-2004 -- R.I.P.

"Hitler was TIME Magazine's Man Of The Year in 1938. Stalin was TIME Magazine's Man Of The Year for 1939 and 1942. Both of these men, and many others also celibrated by the media, were unimaginable monsters. The lesson from these facts is that it isn't easy to spot a genocidal tyrant when you live with one, especially one whom the press supports and promotes."
Read the entire article

Attention: ALL WORKING JOURNALISTS -- Protest corporate-elite's editorial PC manipulation. Decline to be used further politically. If your paper won't publish an important article, contact us.

Unique Resource -- Federal government documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, as well as FOIA Case Logs -- These are lists of requests agencies have received under FOIA. They are excellent resources for reporters because you can see who is asking for what, and what types of records the agencies are able to provide.

Can we create free and responsible public news media? YOU can help.

Use the links to the right. Open a "Media Contacts" window. Then copy and paste email addresses after opening the "Send emails" link beneath it. If you wish, add your own comments about becoming independent and not being a shill for the government propaganda machine.

Send a message:

Media Contacts

More Media Contacts

Bill Moyers on Big Media

"Our Democracy is in Danger of being Paralyzed" — Bill Moyers




Good Watchdog Sites - for frequent access
CJR Daily mediamatters.org dailyhowler.com
The Nation Institute

We urge everyone to watch the above video (free on Google) about the Jersey Girls' efforts to uncover the truth. The video raises significant questions challenging the official explanation of the 9/11 attacks and the involvement of our news media.



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Buzzflash.com's Media Watch - a new column selected every day or two
Jim Romenesko's Media News - updated 5:15 p.m. ET, Friday
iwantmedia.com - returning Nov. 26 with new format andnew features
Media Guardian - British and European media news
Online NewsHour Media Watch - Terence Smith examines the media for Jim Lehrer
Off the Record - Carl Swanson's Wednesday media column in The New York Observer

For links to alternate news, click here

For those of you interested in digging deeper into the world of media criticism, we've provided thumbnail guides to some of the more well-known academic, institutional and watchdog sites:

Accuracy in Media (AIM) Accuracy In Media is a non-profit, grassroots citizens watchdog of the news media that critiques botched and bungled news stories and sets the record straight on important issues that have received slanted coverage.

American Journalism Review (AJR) is published 10 times a year by the University of Maryland School of Journalism. AJR's site contains  full text versions of selected articles from the magazine and  links to thousands of newspapers, magazines, and other U.S. media sites.

The Annenberg Public Policy Center, part of the Annenberg School for Communications at the University of Pennsylvania,  researches media and communications policy issues. In 1998, the Center's Campaign Quality Project scrutinized political discourse with the aim of discouraging negative campaign tactics. Its site offers updates on the Center's research programs, conferences and other activities.

Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom (UK) The Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom is an independent voice for media reform working to promote policies for a diverse, democratic and accountable media.

The Center for Media and Democracy The nonprofit Center for Media and Democracy strengthens participatory democracy by investigating and exposing public relations spin and propaganda, and by promoting media literacy and citizen journalism, media "of, by and for the people".

Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) was founded in 1961 "to assess the performance of journalism in all its forms; to call attention to its shortcomings and strengths; to help define and redefine the standards of honest, responsible service; to help stimulate continuing improvement in the profession; and to speak out for what is right, fair and decent." It's published bimonthly by the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. Selected articles are available on their site.

Editor & Publisher is a weekly magazine covering all aspects of the North American newspaper industry. Its website, Editor & Publisher Interactive, is updated on a daily basis with news items and regular columns.

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) argues that the "mainstream media are increasingly cozy with the economic and political powers they should be watchdogging." In response, FAIR criticizes pro-establishment media bias and media practices that they feel marginalize minority or dissenting viewpoints. FAIR's Web site offers activist alerts, stories from its bi-monthly magazine, EXTRA!, an audio-only archive of its Counterspin radio show and an archive of Norman Solomon's weekly Media Beat column including the annual P.U.-litzer awards for the year's worst journalism.

The Free Expression Policy Project The Free Expression Policy Project (FEPP), founded in 2000, provides research and advocacy on free speech, copyright, and media democracy issues. In May 2004, FEPP became part of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law.

Free Press  Free Press is a national nonpartisan organization working to increase informed public participation in crucial media policy debates, and to generate policies that will produce a more competitive and public interest-oriented media system with a strong nonprofit and noncommercial sector.

Grade the News  Grade the News is a special project of KTEH, public television for Silicon Valley, and it is affiliated with Stanford University's Graduate Program in Journalism. It is funded by a grant from the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation in San Francisco.

The Media Center at the American Press Institute is funded by a grant from the Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation with the aim of helping the newspaper industry adapt to the new technological environment created by the Internet. Its Web site offers summaries of Media Center conferences, and its Issues & Answers page provides frequently updated summaries of the top issues facing newspapers in the Information Age.

MediaChannel is a nonprofit, public interest Web site dedicated to global media issues. MediaChannel offers news, reports and commentary from its international network of media-issues organizations and publications, as well as original features from contributors and staff. Executive editor, Danny Schechter, posts columns on the site's Web log every day, and invites everyone to get into the conversation.

The Nieman Foundation at Harvard funds fellowships for 24 journalists to pursue 10 months of independent study at Harvard University. Their site provides information about the program, plus a quarterly journal about the debates affecting the news industry.

Online Journalism Review (OJR), is published weekly by the  Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California. It evaluates online journalism and  emphasizes the application of journalistic standards to the Internet. OJR offers a free e-mail newsletter for subscribers.

Pew Center for Civic Journalism is funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts to encourage print and broadcast news organizations to directly engage citizens "in dialogues that lead to problem solving." They provide grants to news organizations to encourage them to practice civic journalism. Their site contains studies and updates on a host of ongoing civic journalism projects, aimed at working journalists, researchers, educators and civic groups. The Center is not affiliated with the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press   (formerly the Times Mirror Center for the People, the Press and Politics) is an independent group that examines public attitudes toward on the media,  politics, and public policy issues. It is funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, but is not affiliated with the Pew Center for Civic Journalism. The Pew Research Center regularly conducts national surveys measuring public attentiveness to major news stories and social and political trends. Their website provides reports and data from surveys conducted since 1996 (which you can download for free), and a library of older reports available for a moderate fee.

The Poynter Institute is a school for journalists, future journalists, and teachers of journalists. No matter what their job title may be, journalists come to Poynter in a search for excellence.

The Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) is an initiative by journalists to clarify and raise the standards of American journalism,  funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts. Their site details the PEJ's projects on local TV news and the state of the American newspaper, and hosts reports from the Committee of Concerned Journalists, a panel convened jointly with the Nieman Foundation.

If you know of additional sites to which we should link, please contact Stewart Ogilby -- Stewart (*AT*) bigeye.com.


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