'Which begs the question, BEFORE the internet, just how much did they show and tell us that wasn't true?'
Do you remember that old show, "The Outer Limits"? The MSM controlled all that you saw or heard.
Walter Cronkite visited VietNam around the time of the '68 Tet offensive, one of the most decisive victories for the American and So V'Namese military. Cronkite went on TV and told the American people that Nam was "unwinnable" and he and the rest of the American press turned this victory into a loss. Think that could happen today?
The Viet Cong was virtually wiped out, and the N. Vietnamese regular army was so badly defeated that the #1 general told Ho Chi Minh that they should give it up and come to terms.
It cannot because today's Cronkites have been doing their damndest to execute that exact plan. They may have brought down public opinion some but fully 35% of the public is aware of their treachery. They can try all they want but they can't succeed unless the internet starts getting regulated.
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Consumers of news now understand that, as Eastland says, "News is a thing made, a product, and that media with certain beliefs and values once made the news and then presented it in authoritative terms, as though beyond criticism. Thus did Walter Cronkite famously end his newscasts, 'And that's the way it is.' That way, period."
When, after the misreported Tet offensive of 1968 (a U.S. military victory described as a crushing defeat), Cronkite declared Vietnam a "stalemate," he spoke, as Mindich says, to "a captive audience." Nearly 80 percent of television sets in use at the dinner hour were tuned to one of the three network newscasts, and Cronkite had the largest share.
If that had been the broadcast marketplace in 2004, John Kerry would be president: The three networks reported the Swift boat veterans attacks on Kerry only after coverage of the attacks by cable news and talk radio forced Kerry to respond. The networks were very interested in charges pertaining to a Vietnam-era story about George W. Bush's alleged dereliction of National Guard duties -- until bloggers, another manifestation of new, small and nimble media, shredded it.
Gn 22:17 your descendants shall take possession of the gates of their enemies
Anyone With A Modem Can Report On The World
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[Hillary Clinton] said, "We're all going to have to rethink how we deal with the Internet. As exciting as these new developments are, there are a number of serious issues without any kind of editing function or gatekeeping function."
Newspaper sale$ decline should be blamed on the Journos
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People who work at journalism full time ought to be able to do a better job of it than people for whom it is a hobby. But that's not going to happen as long as we "professional" journalists ignore stories we don't like and try to hide our mistakes. We think of ourselves as "gatekeepers." But there is not much future in being a gatekeeper when the walls are down.