Paul Graham wrote an excellent article (April 2005) called The Submarine regarding the use of news services by PR organizations to get their products touted in "news" stories. It gives detailed accounts of how PR firms have used "news" organizations to tout their products by issuing "press releases" to them.
Also in April, Samantha Bee of the Daily Show, did a nice job of lampooning the architect of the fake town hall meeting, republican strategist and pollster, Frank Luntz. The piece, edited and posted by a David R. Mark on Crooks And Liars, which includes dialog from the lampoon session (and is included entirely later in this article, as it is very difficult to link directly to the Crooks and Liars site to a specific post), shows the lengths to which Republicans, or the new Republicans anyway, will go to sterilize the image you receive on the issues.
Combine these truths with use of video "news" clips, run by "news" organizations, and news columnists paid to tout the Republican position as "fact" and you get the kind of journalism that echoes from the pages of the "National Enquirer" without the interesting fictional appeal. (They're "fiction" all right, just not appealing!) You also get a republic that is being washed clean of resistance and reality. You begin to see the dangerous precedent that the Neo-Cons are creating in this country. "Fake" information, half-truths, and the like are convincing millions of lemming-Americans that our President is a righteous and just man who cares deeply about them when nothing could be further from the truth.
It is becoming evident, that the kings of real fake news, "The Daily Show," know more about exposing the truth with fake news than the supposed real news media knows about using fake news to create truth. Yet one way or the other the message must be getting through to lemming-America. To get a real grip, however, on the use of fake news to expose reality here are some snippets of the dialog posted by David R. Mark and his comments:
"Daily Show Reveals Luntz For The Master Manipulator He Is "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" interviewed Republican pollster and strategist Frank Luntz for an April 19 piece on "town hall meetings" featuring President Bush discussing his Social Security privatization plan."
"But clearly, the point of "correspondent" Samantha Bee's piece was to expose Luntz as a master manipulator. And Bee succeeds beautifully."
"Skip over the jokes Bee inserts, and all kidding aside, Luntz's insights were just a little bit scary."
"Here's an unofficial transcript of the piece, "Hall of Same":"
BEE (voiceover images of President Bush at town hall meetings): As he barnstorms across the country to sell his Social Security reforms, President Bush has introduced an exciting innovation: the fake town hall.
In these stirring non-debates, pre-screened citizens are free to voice their president's opinions. And pepper him with the toughest of compliments.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN AT TOWN HALL MEETING: I'm very happy to have you as a president. (Applause)
BEE (voice over): So why is a fake town hall so much better for our democracy?
LUNTZ (speaking to Bee, identified as "Conservative Image Consultant"): A real town hall can be very dangerous if it gets out of control. A town hall that gets out of control, a town hall where the speaker cannot command the respect and the control of the audience, can look very bad on television.
BEE (voiceover images of Luntz on news programs): And let's understand imagery. For many years, the Republican Party has relied on his expertise as a pollster and strategist to hone their message.
LUNTZ (on Fox News Channel): There is such a thing as "security moms."
BEE (voiceover): From renaming the estate tax the "death tax," to helping label relaxed emissions standards the "clear skies initiative," Luntz has made a brilliant career spraying perfume on dog turds.
BEE (to Luntz): What's a really important features (sic) of a fake town hall?
LUNTZ: To me, the most important component of a successful town hall is the visual. It's the backdrop.
BEE (voiceover): And at a fake town hall, that backdrop includes the people.
LUNTZ (to Bee, while they watch video of a town hall meeting): There he's got an African-American, he's got an Asian, there's your female he's got. It's one of everybody. It's almost like the rainbow, uh, wedding line.
BEE (voiceover): Wow, what and incredibly representative sampling ... of Democrats.
Another vital component: language.
LUNTZ (to Bee): When you want to communicate, even the sounds of the words matter. And the ideal is to use words that begin with the same letter.
BEE (voiceover images of town hall meeting): For example, this banner reads "Strengthening Social Security." That's a big improvement over the original text: "Creating Vast Opportunities For Wall Street To Generate Enormous Commissions Without Addressing The Actual Problem."
BEE (to Luntz): I'm going to read you some words. Help me warm these up a bit.
LUNTZ: O.K.
BEE: Drilling for oil.
LUNTZ: I would say: "Responsible Exploration for Energy."
BEE: Logging.
LUNTZ: I would say: "Healthy Forests."
BEE: Manipulation.
LUNTZ: Explanation and education.
BEE: Orwellian.
LUNTZ: ...
Thanks to David for the above and for his comments on 'Crooks and Liars.'
Combine the comments of Luntz with the actions of Karl Rove in the cleansing of any contrary view points from these "town hall" meetings, and you begin to see the control the Neo-Cons are placing on our democracy; and with each bit of control, our "democracy" dies a little bit more. Case in point might be this article from Smirkingchimp.com Rove uses campaign playbook to mastermind Social Security fight describing the tactics of Rove's 'cleansing.' This 'our end justifies our means' philosophy is a danger to our nation. It threatens the very fabric of our freedom and of our democracy.
When “fake” news, news that is designed to be satire and a joke, has more truth in it than the real news then we have started to lose control of our democracy. Town hall meetings created for the sole purpose of expanding an agenda are not only not news-worthy, they are a dangerous precedent-and if left un-checked, will corrode even further our ability to view our government objectively. We are becoming what our enemies were. How soon before what we read, view, listen to or worship are controlled as well? Frankly, it scares the shit out of me.
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