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SEND IN THE CLOWNS
The Court Jesters of TV “News�
Jesse - TvNewsLies.org - 05-September-2003
The shows go on, exactly as scheduled, every single day without fail, in homes all across America. As if on cue, all the stages are set at once, and the makeup is applied. In absolute synch, the music begins, and the cameras roll. And in admirable unison, the same tragi-comedy begins on all the TV news networks: The Court Jesters are ready to perform.
They're pros, they really are. They entertain us with endless hours of sensational courtroom trials. They expertly juggle the Scott Peterson, Kobe Bryant, Martha Stewart, and Patrick Dennehy cases for hours on end. The keep us focused on titillating trials so we don't see the rest of the show. Watch them as they make us laugh and bring us to tears. How smoothly they fill us with indignation and speculation. How cleverly they feed on our doubts and our fears, and how subtly they transport us into their worlds of fantasy.
Each of the “news� networks features a fully array of Court Jesters, each expertly trained to juggle the trials of the day in lieu of real news. As they skillfully toss colorful balls of fluff in the air, there is no need to report on the truly important events around us. The Jesters are masters of distraction and trivia, coordinated in their efforts to earn applause and admiration. It works.
Some Clowns at Work:
Chris Jansing of MSNBC is our designated poster child for Court Jesters at Work. The network for which she juggles should be renamed, Court TV Light for its unending coverage of criminal court cases straight from the tabloid press. The wide-eyed Jansing gives a comical performance as a pretend journalist investigating sensational cases with practiced gravity. Comical, and embarrassing. Wolf Blitzer of CNN is an old pro manipulating the news. His ploy is to appear staid and serious as he juggles the meaningless along with the relevant. Blitzer’s act has been honed to perfection as he draws a large audience into a mythical world of selective reporting. He even goes on stage without a Jester’s cap. But we see through that, Wolf. Greta Van Susteren of FOX News is their “Trivia Marathon Jester.� To date, Susteren has paraded as a legal expert for more than 70 discussions of the Scott Peterson trial, and has never, ever, not even once, tossed the law suits against Dick Cheney into the air for her audience to see. Now that’s juggling at its best. Linda Vester is the FOX News version of Chris Jansing. Vester uses a credible background in journalism to juggle a slew of unimportant newsmakers and celebrities in her act. This Jester is promoted for having an interesting face, - “That Face,� in fact. Hmm. Dan Abrams of MSNBC uses his legal experience to manipulate us into thinking that the legal issues that he covers are in some way important and belong on a national news network. This clown seems to drop the important issues when he is juggling his broadcast schedule. According to the MSNBC website “No one covers the big trials or the big issues like Dan Abrams.� It is unfortunate that MSNBC does not realize that Dick Cheney’s multiple court proceeding are “big issues� and the Scott Peterson court proceedings are not.
Not since the days of the O.J. Simpson trial have the pretend “news� networks spent as much time covering inconsequential trial proceedings as today. At the same time, they have totally omitted or given short shrift to some of the most important and relevant court proceedings and news stories and events of the past two and half years.
News that has been absent from the airwaves includes information about the following:
PNAC, the Project for a New American Century and its direct and frightening role in shaping the foreign policy of the Bush Administration. Pressure exerted by the White House on the GAO to withdraw its lawsuit against Dick Cheney; revelations about maps of Iraqi oil pipelines used at the secret meetings. Nation wide municipal resolutions and protests against the Patriot Act. The Hutton hearings now being held in London concerning “sexing up� of the intelligence information used by Prime Minster Blair to promote the war against Iraq. The concerns of the parents of men and women serving in Iraq who have organized Bring Them Home Now, an effort to end the useless deaths in an illegal war. Lawsuits being bought against the EPA for mismanagement of grant funds. The number of actual deaths among our military in Iraq – including non combat fatalities; the number of wounded, now in excess of a thousand. An accurate account of civilian deaths in Iraq – reported to be more than 37,000; an accurate account of the wounded, homeless, and unemployed since the invasion; the terrible plight of Iraqi women, - once equal and safe, now housebound and frightened. The huge war profits being made by the Carlyle Group and Haliburton, both of which present conflicts of interest on the part of the President and Vice President. The failure of our efforts in Afghanistan; numbers of our military dead and wounded; accurate accounts of the resurgence of the Taliban througout the entire country; the limited US control of Kabul.
This is a very limited list of stories that, unlike the daily fare offered by the Court Jesters of TV News, seriously impact the lives of Americans and people all over the world. Is it a surprise, then, that Americans are the least informed people in the developed world?
Few Americans have any idea what their Congress is doing at any given time. Most Americans cannot identify the leaders of foreign countries including our good neighbors, Canada and Mexico. Americans are not being informed about the true ramifications of the actions by their government, at home and abroad.
The time has come to bring down the curtain on this outrageous circus. America needs something that it has never had: a source of accurate news. The entertainment provided by the Clowns and Jesters who sit impressively at news desks and hash over the trial du jour is a highly destructive farce being played out by the corporate media.
It's time we had a reliable and courageous news network. That can happen only when the public turns off the Court Jesters and begins to demand that news networks report the NEWS! If anyone out there is ready to start such a network, this editor is ready to help out! Contact editor@tvnewslies.org , and maybe we can give the nation what it needs: the truth.
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