Media Censorship, is it Active or Just a Bureaucratic Result?

Manipulation of the media has been a hallmark of war throughout human history. Our administration and military employs journalists in Iraq to disseminate news deemed useful in our winning what has turned into a civil war.

What about here in the States? Does the administration also control the news? Why do we get vanilla news here everynight and very little "real" facts about the world in its entirety?

The US was founded upon truth and freedom of speech. Yet our news media is in the hands of eleven major broadcasting groups, all tighly interwoven together through Boards of Directors, etc.

The famous Dilbert cartoon series gave all of us a wonderful inside view as to what happens inside a large corporation. Corporate drones perform their duties to please their bosses, and put on fake airs in order to move up the ladder. It is entirely possible that with such a tight knit, inbred community, our news pros have become corporate "drones" - afraid to rock the boat or report anything that might cause "waves" with upper management. Noone wants to get the boss in trouble! Plus, if the public liked one story of a genre, why not produce another one with a slight twist? Do American's really care about what is going on in Africa? Why risk running a story that could be a bomb?

The other possibility is darker, and more sinister. Could America's media be fully censored, like in foreign countries we have been taught to feel superior over due to our "freedoms"?

Some cases of censorship are obvious and ARE for the public good, such as Howard Stern. I certainly don't want my kids hearing his rantings! However, others are less obviously for the public good.

From Wikipedia," On February 17, 2006 former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld stated, that "in this war, some of the most critical battles may not be fought in the mountains of Afghanistan or the streets of Iraq, but in the newsrooms in places like New York and London and Cairo and elsewhere. [...] While the enemy is increasingly skillful at manipulating the media and using the tools of communications to their advantage, it should be noted that we have an advantage as well, and that is, quite simply, that the truth is on our side, and ultimately, in my view, truth wins out. I believe with every bone in my body that free people, exposed to sufficient information, will, over time, find their way to right decisions."

According to www.projectcensored.org, one of the top censored stories of 2006/2007 was that Halliburton (Dick Cheney's company) was charged with selling nuclear technology to Iran.

As a Republican, I would very much like to know if there is truth to this story as it is my opinion that selling weapons to the enemy has but one name; treason.

A new book written by a group of journalists tells the story of censorship as they have lived it. Into the Buzzsaw , written by an ex-CBS producer, tells a sordid tale of what happens to journalists who dare to reveal what the government and/or big business wants to remain hidden. From this point of view, censorship is alive and well and fear is the reason our news media presents bland, uninteresting stories.

At least the Internet is still free space, unhampered by corporate politics, back-watching ladder climbing media executives, and paranoid lawmakers.

I for one would like to see media coverage of what is really happening in Iraq, Daifur, the Congo, Eastern Europe, etc. What ever happened to Kosovo? How is Russia beginning to integrate democracy, or are they since they have followed a policy of killing ex spies? What about the "real" news happening every day?