How To Get Reliable News!
[NOTE: Often I update this writing, originally published as a Facebook Note on January 31, 2017 — Look for names of investigative journalists and independent media sources near the bottom]
Behavior of Mainstream Media:
Folks often are unable to distinguish when main media plants or slants a story. They usually have no clue when matters of importance are outright omitted. Sometimes a crucial segment of the reporting will get buried into deeper paragraphs, sometimes even contradicting the headline and opening paragraphs. Some would call it a ‘slant.’
Almost always, the network’s “man [or woman] reporting from the White House or Pentagon” are feeding scripted news feeds. This has especially been true with Middle East reporting. For example, false coverage of the War on Iraq or non-reporting of Syria and Yemen. Worse, some journalists or the network talking head pundits are actual CIA plants.
Consider how main media was complicit with Hillary Clinton’s campaign (see Wikileaks-Clinton) during the early primaries and also in the aftermath of the election by pushing her campaign’s RussiaGate narrative. This helped to cloak her defeat to Donald Trump, while keeping her viable as a potential “comeback” candidate, like her husband was once “The Comeback Kid!”
Clearly, the Clinton campaign — and the media — wanted Trump as her opponent. If Trump were to become the GOP nominee it’d become a win-win: Clinton wins the presidency; the media wins ratings for advertising dollars.
During the early 2016 primaries main media assigned Trump intensive coverage, Clinton lots of coverage but hardly any was provided to Bernie Sanders, a true All-American upsetting challenger pressing hard on issues and filling major civic centers and sports stadiums nationwide. This was in a juxtaposition of Clinton drawing thin crowds, mostly attending donor events and only rarely conducting a press conference.
While making Trump the challenger, the media ordained Clinton as though she were conducting a “Rose Garden” campaign strategy, even though it was President Barrack Obama who maintained the “Rose Garden.” Clinton was treated as though she were an incumbent.
Consequently, Trump — a terrible candidate for the country — went unvetted by the media before, during and shortly after his presidential announcement. He got a media free ride benefiting from five billion dollars worth of press coverage! When it became time for the media to substantively vet Trump it was too late. He used that coverage to proclaim himself as the “outsider” destined to “drain the swamp” which the electorate knew needed draining.
Sanders, the only true outsider in the race, with an established record for being one, got eliminated under what most thought were rigged conditions. The media, thus, left Trump the only one standing with “outsider” status when the nation cried it didn’t want to elect a “corporate insider,” especially Clinton. In 2008, with an electorate sickened by Bush-Cheney, Obama ran as an outsider but he governed as an insider. So, in 2016, voters were angry.
Today, on November 21, 2018, voters still remain angry — with Trump they got no “outsider” at all!
When Reagan took office there were 50 major media companies. Today, there are five corporate conglomerates with ties to Big Defense, Big Oil, Big Banking, Big Pharma, Big Agri, etc. They monopolize 90% of all media? We now get a steady diet of lies, distortions, omissions and perversions of truth from reporting sources that once were reasonably reliable.
The consolidated media ownership severely slashed budgets for investigative journalism; copycat syndicated reporting has become the norm (just change the headline, alter a paragraph here or there); and advertising, marketing and the consultant class now rule over the public’s genuine right to know.
Worse, all major publications have eliminated the ombudsmen position which traditionally has been the public watchdog eye, and they legitimately critiqued media accuracy in reporting.
America’s Oligarch Enrichment Project
Politically, when you factor obscene campaign spending it’s easy to understand how members of Congress adorn 15% approval ratings but maintain a 95 percent re-election rates. It’s also why voting for president, more than not, becomes a choice of selecting a lesser of two evils. Rarely does the electorate get a quality choice based on important and needed issues. Here is the result:
The pecking order for becoming elected, statewide or nationally, is determined by the two major political parties each of whom are beholden to America’s corporate oligarchy (see 2014 Princeton Study on Oligarchy in America). Sadly, state and national legislation favors corporations over needs of the populace.
America functions as an Oligarch Enrichment Project with a beefed up military leading the the way. Banks and diplomatic corps are always close behind paving the way for corporate profiteering, which is all that counts these days!
So Came The Internet!
Today’s main media is in a battle royal and steeply challenged by internet expansion. Social media has exploded with marveling alternative news delivery concepts. Hungry only for profit and operating from the wings of oligarchy, main media has moved beyond once professionally-accepted standards of journalism. Astonishingly, today, it backs censorship while also proclaiming “fake news” on the part of its alternative internet media competition.
No doubt some internet sites are fake, especially since military psy-op budgets have entered the cyber fray, but the overwhelming majority are not and they include independent journalists and real live citizens searching for truth which otherwise can not be guaranteed by today’s mainstream media.
It’s up to each of us to distinguish the difference regardless of the news source. In an age where main media controls the news where it once covered the news, referenced verification becomes our quest for true knowledge.
Adorn the truth!
So What Is The Best Way For Getting Solid Information?
Follow closely Twitter accounts and YouTube programs of investigative journalists, authors and analysts!
Determine what they and their colleagues write about, what they share and reference. This will help provide leads and links on where and what to further research.
Today’s main media has become so bad I no longer view it as a main source for information. My television has been off for five years, except for the World Series. I review main media only when becomes excerpted or referenced from other sources, or I might discover a tidbit or major breaking story from online trending.
If there’s something important in the news, something you really need to know about, these folks and their colleagues likely will be highlighting it on Twitter.
If you don’t have a Twitter account, open one. Once on Twitter click “follow” to the below-listed names. When you follow their daily postings on Twitter and keep up with the social media trends, you’ll never need another daily newspaper or advertised-driven network-cable tv news show.
In my humble opinion, the establishment six and seven-digit salaried mainstream news pundits can all go to hell for choosing money over the truth in journalism. These media personalities thrive under an oligarch-assigned consultant class. Again, they control the news rather than cover the news!
List of Investigative Journalists, Authors & Analysts:
Serena Shim (RIP), Julian Assange, John Pilger, Pepe Escobar, Robert Fisk, Robert Parry (RIP), Richard Wolff, Aaron Maté, Abby Martin, Chris Hedges, Gareth Porter, Seymour Hersh, Noam Chomsky, Glenn Greenwald, Craig Murray, Greg Palast, Oliver Stone, Lee Fang, Caitlin Johnstone, Nafeez Ahmed, Bill Moyers, Jamarl Thomas, Vanessa Beeley, Ben Norton, Max Blumenthal, Paul Jay, Robert Sheer, Paul Pillar, William Blum (RIP), Jeremy Scahill, Rania Khalek, Lee Camp, Dilyana Gaytandzhieva, Jesse Ventura, Mike Whitney, Elizabeth Vos, Benjamin Dixon, Patrick Cockburn, Gareth Porter, Naomi Klein, The Saker, Ralph Nader, Tim Black, Michael Moore, Norman Solomon, Eva Bartlett, David Sirota, Jimmy Dore, Justin Raimondo, Eric Zuesse, Elijah J. Magnier, Paul L. Williams, Adam Carter, The Forensicator, Amy Goodman, Shaun King, Webster Tarpley, Thom Hartmann, Juan Cole, Alexander Mercouris, Gerald Celente, Mike Papantonio, Alex Christoforou, Sarah Stillman, Tyrell Ventura, George Galloway, Matt Taibbi, Ben Swann, Ghassan Kadi, Mark Crispin Miller, Peter Kuznick, Garland Nixon, Whitney Webb, James Fallows and Stephen McIntyre.
There are many others but the above list is a great start!
Below Are Independent YouTube Sites-Journals Offering Wide-Ranging Perspective:
[Each of the below-listed youtube shows or journals will challenge the main corporate media. They include progressive and mixed-source perspectives]
Wikileaks, Consortium News, Redacted Tonight, Moon of Alabama, Jimmy Dore Show, Progressive Soapbox, The Last American Vagabond, Off-Guardian, Gray Zone Project, VIPS, Counterpunch, The Duran, Telesur, Truthdig, Al Jazeer-English, RT, Asia Times Online, RT-CrossTalk, RT-On Contact, Moderate Rebels, Veterans for Peace, Empire Files, Ring of Fire, Truthout, Anti-War, Watching The Hawks, Disobedient Media, We Are Change, New Eastern Outlook, The Real News Network, Primo Nutmeg, Anonymous, Humanist Report, Russia Insider, Public Enquiry, Peter B. Collins Show, Secular Talk, Lionel Nation (Lionel has an unusual “Conspiratorium” — lol), Brave New Films, Southfront, The Outer Light, Anti-Media, The Intercept, The Nation, The Young Turks, Blackstone Intelligence, We Are Change, Israeli News Live — a bit religious, but interesting Middle East connections), Florida Maquis, MrMBB333 (for strange phenomenon), Tidbits from George Webb (who keeps a wide-ranging plow down and relentlessly digs), Defango (creative techno edge), America-Friendly Dictator Trading Cards and where fantasy meets reality nothing beats Stan Lee’s Marvel Comic research staff.
NOTE: I’m sure there are many I’ve missed — if you have recommendations, please offer them — thanks!
Good Luck, Folks … It’s a Mess … Fare Ye Well!
