Is US Media controlled by government?

According to the publisher of Harper's Magazine, John MacArthur (see link below), the mainstream media as a whole (not just CNN, which, through editor-in-chief Issaacson's guidelines regarding how reporters are supposed to report the news on the Afghan front--that is, not show the horrors of civilian casualties) is either completely playing down the (unintended) consequences on civilian life of trying and failing to blow away the Taliban and bin Laden, or totally ignoring it. By ignoring the maimed bodies, children with their arms blown away, etc., the media hopes to maintain American popular confidence that the "war" on terrorism is going well, as well as popular support for the war (according to John Pilger at "http://www.commondreams.org/views01/1029...", the war is not going well for the Allies). But why should the media care how well the war is going? Aren't they just supposed to report the facts objectively?

Not if the media is in fact the propaganda arm of the present government... If CNN or FOX or CBS were owned by the government--just as the British Broadcasting Company is owned by the British government, for instance--one could understand why CNN would broadcast the official line uncritically. But, when was the last time you heard CNN utter one critical word on the conduct of the war? Simply, even before Issaacson's pronouncement, CNN was reporting exactly what the government officials wanted them to, and the other mainstream outlets (and plenty of "alternatives", as well) have followed suit. The excuse is not wanting to be seen as unpatriotic. (Please, don't miss the irony of this--the liberal media establishment, for years [esp. under Clinton] sensing the need to bash America, now wants to show how "America, love it or leave it" it is!)

As I have said many times here (see "http://www.suite101.com/articles.cfm/med..."), the media and journalists have, for the most part, dropped their independent inquiries, stopped being objective in their reporting and their views, and have sharply written opinion as fact (which is one reason why, when I was teaching in public school, students nationwide continued to score poorly on criterion-based standardized tests in the "Fact vs. Opinion" category--they can't tell which is which, either!) or ignored facts altogether. Especially during the war in Kosovo it came to light that only official versions of news events were being covered, and that any dissent from official line was considered such as "right-wing paranoia" or "wacko conspiracy theory". Since September 11, 2001, it has become increasingly clear that the US mainstream media outlets, on- or off-line, have become the advertizing or marketing arm of the government.

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