Bill MoyersHow did the mainstream press get it so wrong? How did the evidence disputing the existence of weapons of mass destruction and the link between Saddam Hussein to 9-11 continue to go largely unreported?
~Bill Moyers
Buying the War by Bill Moyers is a fascinating report of how mass media was co-oped by the Bush administration to hammer home Bush's talking points: Iraq has WMDs, and Hussein was involved with 911. It's a devastating account of the media betraying their responsibility.
Preserving a diversity of information sources is vital to our national health. Without the Internet, blogs, etc., the Bush effort to co-opt the media could have been a lot worse. As mainstream media tries to control information, bloggers and all independent information providers must stand firm, take over the role the press was suppose to play as skeptical investigator of our government. We the people become we the press.
Mass media's complicity is shameful.
This is not to say all the sources are good--you can't believe much of what you read or see on the Internet. Most sources suck. But to have freedom of information, we must accept the good with the bad.
As much as major media wants to highlight the failings of independent information sources (while ignoring their own failings), we can't be distracted by that argument; it misses the point. Freedom of information requires diversity of information sources. When government or a few corporations control media, the result is what we were force-fed about Iraq and Hussein.
Information diversity is as important to our survival as genetic diversity.
We must avoid inbred information sources.
Bill Moyers Journal - Buying the War
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