Corporate Media
Strangles Democracy
A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
"Giant corporations control the political menu in the
United States."
We need to stop using the word "democracy" to describe the
every two or four years exercise to fill electoral offices in the United
States. The ritual is in fact a commercial enterprise utterly dominated by
corporations that control not only which individuals are nominated by the two
Big Business parties, but what ideas and political programs are made visible to
the public. Citizens cannot possibly make free and informed choices when the
only views to which they have access are those fed to them by the giant
communications corporations that monopolize the American political
conversation. When money and the rich man's media are the supreme arbiters of
which ideas, parties and candidates are permitted to effectively compete in the
public arena, then democracy does not exist.
In Washington, DC, the Statehood Green Party, through
labor-intensive, grassroots work, has managed to garner more votes in the last
several elections than the local Republican Party. That's an amazing
accomplishment, given that the Statehood Greens get virtually no coverage from
the Washington Post newspaper - which means little or no exposure in the
corporate television media, either, since all the stations follow the Post's
lead. Let's go over the facts, again: the Statehood Greens are the number
two party in Washington, DC, yet the Washington Post refuses to
cover them. The paper's congressional reporter, Paul Kane, recently slipped
up and told the "brutally honest" truth about the Post's methodical
manipulation of the "news." Kane claimed the Greens and Ralph Nader "got plenty
of coverage" in the 2000 election, when, in his words, Nader "had a chance to
play a decisive role in some states." According to Kane, "there is little
indication that the Greens will have any major impact on the '08 election."
Then Kane declared, "Until you [Greens] demonstrate that there is some level of
support for your party, our paper isn't going to spend precious resources
reporting on whatever it is you're doing [emphasis mine]."
"The Washington Post won't even cover the Greens in DC,
where they are second to the Democrats in voter appeal."
Kane is a corporate hack who arrogantly refuses to be
bothered finding out what precisely the Greens are doing, nationally or
locally. It appears that's not part of his job description as a major media
"journalist." The Washington Post won't even cover the Greens in DC, where they
are second to the Democrats in voter appeal. And this year there are at least
as many "swing states" where the Greens and Ralph Nader's independent operation
can play as "decisive" a role as in the 2000 election - if that is really the
criteria for coverage.
In reality, the Washington Post and the rest of the
corporate media cabal withhold coverage from the non-Big Business parties in
order to starve the public of alternative choices and ideas. They are censors
who, as Green Party national standard bearers Cynthia McKinney and Rosa
Clemente have said, are attempting to "white out" a "political party that just
nominated two women of color" for president and vice-president.
Giant corporations control the political menu in the United
States. The public is given little
choice but to consume whatever the moneyed classes put on their plates. As
McKinney and Clemente point out: "It is equivalent to rigging an election."
And, we will add, it bears no resemblance to democracy.
For Black Agenda Radio, I'm Glen Ford.
BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at
Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.
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