I too, noticed that this report did not come from a US news outlet. This does not mean the US media are all compromised and corrupt. However, large segments of the US media are indeed under fascist control. A great struggle is underway right now as competing political philosophies struggle over molding public opinion.

Unfortunately, the media in the US are dominated by commercial interests, and news sources now compete by offering people what they want to hear, not what they need to know. Different news “markets” now influence editorial policy, even more so than ideological or political control, People like FOX news or MSNBC compete for advertising dollars by pandering to their audiences, not by strict adherence to journalistic ethics.

Journalist integrity has been compromised by the need to attract advertisers, and ultimately, audience. Not all news agencies have been corrupted by this dynamic, but neither did it all begin recently. The takeover of the news room by the advertising department started a long time ago. The news department is now expected to add to corporate profits, not operate independently as a noble loss leader. This not only results in editorial policy favoring the political biases of the target audience, but also in the dilution of real and important information by “human interest”, sports, entertainment, “feel good” and other pap. You don’t really need lies to corrupt the news, you can simply lead people to expect something else in its place. You’ve heard the usual complaint; “The news is so depressing, can’t we have something a bit more upbeat?” Unfortunately, it is the job of journalism to BE DEPRESSING. Its the bad news we really need to hear.

I get most of my news from the BBC and Public TV and radio. The commercial national TV networks have not actually sold out to political demagogues, but more and more of their content has become superficial and slanted more to “infotainment”. ABC, CBS and NBC are starting to sound more and more like local TV news. It seems that they are not deliberately trying to push any specific agenda, they seem more interested in just not offending anyone–funny cat videos and inspiring stories of brave victims who have struggled to overcome the odds against them.
Unfortunately, there is little discussion of the cultural and economic forces that have stacked those odds against them. Cats are charming and cute, but they are also ruthless predators.

Although political demagogues, mostly (but not entirely) from the Right, are partly responsible for this, a large part of the blame falls on the public itself. As long as people would rather watch football than the national news, the trends will continue. And inevitably, worsen. They did not get this way solely by themselves, much money and effort has been expended to get them that way, but they must share part of the blame. The two processes feed on one another. Fascism, and tyranny, are not solely the result of evil people. They also reflect what too many good people want.

Pan y circos.