Common Dreams Sells Out

Posted on May 22, 2003 in Crosstalk Journalists & Pundits

Thought: Reactionary conservatives are the emerald face of the Terrible Oz. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

There’s been some excitement in blogdom about this article from Common Dreams which predicts that after the Bush Administration gives Big Media what it wants — namely a monopoly over the news, they will suddenly throw open all kinds of venues to liberals.

The joy that Raye and some of the commentators in this thread (such as Scott of the Gamer’s Nook) feel about this news strikes me as wishful thinking and a bit shallow. Raye writes for example:

Don’t expect to see anything happen until after June 2nd, but once the FCC makes its decision re mergers, it will no longer be impolitic to send Karl Rove into a screaming fit. Turns out that libruls have money. And they’re an untapped talk radio market. This could be fun.

This is yet another example of power elites taking advantage of our fears of to get us to approve positions that promote their interests over that of the public at large. For Right Wingers, it’s Islamic Fundamentalists that sell. For Liberals, it is George W. Bush.

If there is a shift towards “liberals” in the Monopoly Media, it will be Liberal Lite, Cosby Show style liberalism where everyone recycles and talks nicely about other people. You’ll have your talk about Choice, the “What everyone can do about the environment” style programming, etc. What you won’t see are thoughtful (or even unthoughtful) critiques of the capitalist system, suggestions that the whole Monopoly Merger isn’t such a good idea, or any criticism of any industry in which the owners of Monopoly Media happen to have an interest. In other words, it won’t look that much different from how it looks now. Rush will still be on the air and Savage will still spew his hatred on MSNBC.

I am beginning to wonder just who finances Common Dreams? Who paid for this piece whose purpose is obviously to calm liberal fears about the implications of this Rocketfelleresque blitzkreig against media diversity? It is fearsome indeed when obvious propaganda in support of concentrating wealth, power, and the ability to communicate to mass audiences gets taken up by people who should know that this is not in the best interests of personal freedom.

Control of monopolistic practices has been our one check on the media. We should not give it away at all, no matter what we are promised.