097 - All-American Censorship (Emerging Fascist Control of the US Media)

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Episode #97 - All-American Censorship (Emerging Fascist Control of the US Media)

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⌚ Sat 12 January 2002  ☻Michael Moore, David Barsamian, Jeremy Alderson

Download Hour1 Download Hour2This week we look at the emerging fascist control of the US media. FCC Chair Michael Powell is only the latest of a decades long line of government officials who have spoken out of both sides of their mouths about government regulation of the broadcast spectrum. The argument they have made is that the free market will provide broadcasting that best serves the public interest by giving the people what they want. At the same time, these government boosters of so-called deregulation have in no way suggested giving up the government's power to decide who gets to use the broadcast spectrum, and who doesn't.

We are all aware of totalitarian nations with their government media, or of stories of journalists jailed or executed for critical reporting. American censorship takes a softer, more hidden form - most media is controlled by people who are benefiting from the present government policies - no accident because as media makers, they have been instrumental in shaping the public consensus. The owners of the press are free to say what they want, but most of us are not free to be owners. As a result of a recent supreme court decision lifting the ban enforced by the FCC on one owner dominating the various information streams available to a community, most of us could soon have less access to real information than a resident of Stalin's Russia or Hitler's Germany. We hear how this process is already well under way, even in two areas believed to be havens for diverse ideas: book publishing and public broadcasting.
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