“While you here do snoring lie,
Open-eyed conspiracy
His time doth take.
If of life you keep a care,
Shake off slumber, and beware:
Awake, awake!”
(Tempest, act.2, sc. 2)
Comments. Early in 2011 Rupert Murdoch sent the head of his media outlet Fox News to Afghanistan to persuade the now disgraced Gen. Petaeus to run against Obama as the Republican Candidate in the 2012 elections. Murdoch promised to bankroll Petraeus’ campaign and commit Fox News to provide the general with money and of course with media support.
The interview with Petraeus was recorded and in the recording he says he does not want to run for office but to tell Murdock that if he ever ran, he, Petraeus, would take him up on the offer.”
A journalist for the Washington Post penned the article, reporting the interview. That the episode symbolizes that democracy is for sale and therefore a farce goes without saying. Still, it would have made sense to give it the proper importance, possibly triggering a senate investigation of Murdoch’s business, misuse of power, control of politicians etc.
But the Washington Post chose to bury the news inside the “lifestyle” section, presenting the event as something belonging to the “Dear Anne” news category.
As if operating in unison, all other major US news outlets either ignored the story.
And yet, Murdoch’s obvious corruption of essential democratic institutions worldwide is one of the most important and far-reaching political/cultural stories of the past 30 years.
The silence of the US media can be explained by the fact that the story represents a threat to the wall of silence with which the same media successfully conceals the tight relationship between the corporations (that own the media) and the country’s politicians.
The Petraeus story destroys the pretence of US politics, being ‘democratic’ – an image carefully honed to persuade the American electorate that it chooses its presidents and has a say in the direction of the country’s political future.
Furthermore, the story reveals (as if more proofs were needed) the charade of the electoral game, where corporate elites manipulate the system through money and the media they own to restrict voters’ choice to two almost-identical candidates.
Those candidates hold the same views on 95 per cent of the issues. Even where their policies differ, differences are quickly ironed out behind the scenes by the power elites through the pressure they exert on the White House via lobby groups, the media and Wall Street.
That Rupert Murdoch symbolizes the complete prostitution of democracy is well known but the story confirms the absolute domination of the US political system by the global corporations that control what we hear and see. Those corporations include, of course, the owners of the Washington Post.
And that the journalists of the corporate media must provide the “news” as tailored and by their media masters.
Tips for Use. “Shake off slumber, and beware: Awake, awake!” should be a wake-up calls for every citizen – given the practical and almost complete conversion of the corporate media into agents of the thought police in a police state
In the Play. The spirit Ariel sings a tune with warning lyrics in the ear of the sleeping Gonzalo.
Site for Image. http://crooksandliars.com/2007/08/14/rupert-murdochs-next-target-the-new-york-times