Just Observing

Just Observing

Nope. Both blogs appeared this morn, but still can't post a comment on other blogs. However, Blogger is working away on it. They sure have their hands full. Have confidence they'll find a way to fix things.

The New York Times ran a long article yesterday on these "news" video releases BushCo's people are putting out on the wire services. Apparently these started during Clinton's admin, but the Bushies have taken that propaganda tool to the extreme. When the TV people run one during their newscasts and don't bother to tell viewers that they're government produced, that the "reporters" aren't reporters but actors...as are the rest of the people in that "news" clip, then, as far as I'm concerned, major frauds are being committed on the nation. The PR people hired by BushCo are very damned good at their jobs. Do they care that the news isn't news but propaganda? One of their actor-reporters flat says she doesn't see anything wrong with what she's done. I say she's stupid.

There are gullible citizens, there are suspicious citizens, there are citizens who are downright enraged about this...and citizens who have no interest in the matter whatsoever. I give the NYTimes credit for getting their real reporters on this story, and then running it. Such deceit is major news and they've treated it at such. Good. Problem is, not everybody reads that paper. They read their hometown papers, watch hometown TV, listen to hometown radio, and haven't a clue to who's feeding them fake news..or even that it is fake. And of course, the newspapers, TV stations, radio stations...they're all innocent. They pulled the fake broadcasts off the wire services. This in spite of the fact that there's a rule that the sources of the news be told the citizens. And that's not happening. Some ethical behavior, huh? They serve themselves. Save money by using those fake news clips...don't have to hire more reporters. Seems they don't have to hire factcheckers either.

Video Monitoring Services of America (VMS) found out just who has been running the fake news clips. Monitoring services don't advertise. What they do is scan all the news services in a certain area.

Here's how it works. Say you call in to some radio talk show, some TV show. No matter where you are in the nation, VMS has an office taping talk and TV news shows. Okay. You call in and complain about the service you're getting from say, your local Ford dealer. That's taped by VMS. Within an hour or two, one of the people monitoring at VMS has the facts of that--station, time, all, put on paper. Paper goes to the sales dept. Sales dept phones the PR department at Ford headquarters. Tells them what you said. Asks if they want that clip. If they do, they'll have it within 24 hours.

Burrells monitors newspapers. All newspapers.

So the NY Times phoned VMS to find out who ran those fake news clips. VMS enters a "keyword" into their computers, and every single radio or TV station in the areas they cover (and remember they cover the entire United States), having been monitored, is identified. Info then delivered to the NY Times reporters. And thus the article is produced.

And if you think BushCo doesn't have the same info, think again. The WH communications department would absolutely want to know if their propaganda is being used to "inform" the public.

And now, Bush has nominated Karen Hughes to take over communications at the State Department. Doesn't that reassure you that the nation's news from the State Dept will be accurate, honest and unbiased? Karen Hughes from Texas who is closer to Bush than anybody but Rove...and maybe even closer. Karen Hughes, spokesman for his first run for Pres. Karen Hughes, even more loyal than Condi Rice if such is possible.

This nation is getting rolled by BushCo day and night.
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