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Why One American Will No Longer Support a Propagandized Media
A
BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY
by Sara
S. DeHart
Dear BuzzFlash:
Everyone has their breaking point where they draw a line in the sand and say "No more! This behavior will not be tolerated." Today was the day I drew a line in the sand and cancelled my subscription to the Seattle Post Intelligencer. My letter will not see the light of day through that media source, but my words are important and people need to hear why I said "No more propaganda!" It will not be tolerated.
* * *
April 17, 2003
To: Seattle Post Intelligencer Managing Editor, David McCumber
Re: Why One American will no longer support a propagandized media in any format
I have read daily newspapers since I was six years old; regardless of where I lived, or the state of my finances I managed to subscribe to and read a daily local paper. Habits that are so ingrained are difficult to break, but I've decided to do so. I can no longer support any part of the American media through a paid subscription. Cable television was discarded in 1994 when O.J. Simpson and Newt Gingrich became all the news, all the time. At that point I cancelled a cable subscription and never turned on the television again. The same will be true for the Seattle Post Intelligencer. Your subscription fee will be donated to Internet News Sources (BuzzFlash, Bushwatch, Consortium News, OnLine Journal, and Common Dreams).
The American media have become a propaganda instrument for the War Party. Support for preemptive war(s) in Middle East are documented almost daily by "news" articles and opinion essays by Conservative Think-Tank writers who are dictating national and international policy. Reports of gloating assessments by generals (past and present) and Pentagon/Department-of-War spokespersons are sprinkled throughout the Seattle Post Intelligencer. Rarely do editors comment on any of these articles in a meaningful way. Readers may want to know who supports the conservative think-tank writers and why their writers are featured in daily newspapers across our nation. They will not find this information in the Seattle PI.
Tim Robbins said it eloquently in a recent speech to the National Press Club (4/15/03):
"We lay the continuance of our democracy on your desks, and count on your pens to be mightier. Millions are watching and waiting in mute frustration and hope - hoping for someone to defend the spirit and letter of our Constitution, and to defy the intimidation that is visited upon us daily in the name of national security and warped notions of patriotism."
In "Democracy is Dead: Requiescat in Pace: R.I.P.," I wrote:
The death of dissent in George Bush's America has been little noticed in the mainstream media. One of the few voices to be raised was that of Walter Cronkite, who in an address that received no attention from major news sources said:
"They (the Germans) applauded as Hitler closed down the independent newspaper and (broadcasting) stations and only gave them his propaganda. When they did not rise up and say, 'Give us a free press,' they became just as guilty." (Ferrell, Common Dreams, October 28, 2002).
Americans stand guilty because we have accepted the voices of CNN, Fox news and print media without protest. We have allowed the FCC to remove every regulation in place that guarded the independence of the media. Now we have a consolidated corporate media that speak only for corporate self-interests.
I now go on record to bear witness that I will no longer tolerate a propagandized media in any format. Effective immediately, I cancel my subscription to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Sara S.
DeHart
A Voice
for Democracy
Seattle
Washington
A BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY
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