Seeking Truth
In 1976 a teacher at Sonoma State University began a project
to look at American mass media as part of a seminar. This is
a review of a book he published in 1997 about the results.
20 Years of Censored News
by Carl Jensen
I suspect the author also has a bias and this may have influenced
the results, but the data presented is still a good place to start.
For me it pointed out which topics are most censored and what things
to be critical of.
Topic Number of censored stories
----------------- --------------------------
Political 64
Corporate 37
International news 30
Military 28
Environment 15
Health 13
Media 7
Economics 5
Education 1
>From this data we can see which areas need attention in
American society and in other countries as well. It also
tells us that most information isn't censored or critical.
For example, topics like religion, gardening, and music do not
appear on this list.
Another conclusion from the study:
America's mainstream mass media basically serve three
segments of society today -- the wealthy, politicians,
and the sports minded.
I assume they are saying that the media is controlled by
these three groups and business fits under the wealthy
category. I don't like the way they grouped this data
and think different categories might have given another
picture. It does tell us that money controls the media
and politics is second. Those things are not very difficult
to agree with.
Conclusion: It is what the media does not report that distorts
the truth. We need to use alternative news sources to fill
this information hole.
----------
Jeff Owens ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Zone 7, http://www.teleport.com/~kowens
Underground house, solar energy, reduced consumption, no TV
