It has been a while since mainstream media has provided reliable and trustworthy news. It’s difficult to recall the last time we could depend on mass media for authentic news that had a touch of editorial opinion for balance.
During the Trump administration and the lock-downs caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, many conservatives and right-leaning individuals dismissed mainstream media as “lamestream.” However, even then, I strongly defended the news industry because I simply could not believe that an institution dedicated to reporting events as they happened could mislead us.
And yet, that’s precisely what was happening, albeit surreptitiously at first. Since the tragic events of October 7th, and the subsequent heinous response by Israel, the news as presented by the written press and broadcast television, particularly the Western mainstream media, became extremely warped and biased. In fact, the mainstream news (with rare exceptions) became unrecognizable from the reality being live-streamed out of the Gaza Strip by reporters interred there.
The reasons for this phenomenon are many, but it’s simply hard to ignore the oft-repeated allegation that mainstream media is owned by rich corporations with self-serving interests and objectives. It’s also not difficult to recognize how the political classes use and abuse the mainstream media for their narrow purposes, but it becomes more transparent when you understand that the former are also “owned” by rich corporations and other special interest groups.
But how did lamestream become shamestream?
Once again, we need to go no further than the reporting (or shameful attempts at it) of the ongoing plausible genocide (as determined by the International Court of Justice, the ICJ) by Israel on the Palestinians in Gaza. The laughably transparent efforts by even prominent media organizations like CNN, Fox News, Washington Post and New York Times to not only whitewash, but cover up what are clear and continuous incidents of war crimes by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF), have left many academics, scholars, human-rights activists, independent journalists, social media pundits, concerned citizens (including anti-Zionist Jews), and a handful of still ethical politicians scratching their heads in dismay. One could in fact surmise that Western mainstream media in particular have become a willing extended arm of the Israeli propaganda machine (hasbara) which is fronted by demonstrably morally bankrupt hired hitmen like Mark Regev and Eylon Levy.
There is little doubt that gung-ho Western nations, most prominently the USA were duped strong-armed into funding and providing political support for the vengeful Israeli response, euphemistically characterized as “right to defense.” This military and diplomatic support was at first achieved through the atrocious lies about beheaded babies that the mainstream media colluded with Israel into spreading. This was in conjunction with other attempts at the dehumanization of the Palestinian people, and Hamas specifically.
Always, when the crude efforts at hasbara were exposed as complete lies, new, more outrageous initiatives were fed into the propaganda machine at each setback. One such outrageous attempt at justifying the callous slaughter of Palestinian civilians after yet another public outcry, was the creation of the October 7th mass rape narrative, which was given legitimacy by the highly acclaimed (apparently) New York Times publication. However, as with all previous propaganda attempts by the mainstream media, it soon started to fall apart when one of the co-writers, Anat Schwartz, was exposed as not only a first-time writer lacking the necessary journalistic credentials, but also a former IDF intelligence officer who’s social media habits revealed a deep hatred for Palestinians.
Also just recently, the tragic self-immolation by US Air Force member Aaron Bushnell in protest of the genocidal activities by Israel in Gaza, was initially largely ignored by the mainstream media, until it started to make waves on social media. Once the news started to get traction, there were efforts by some news outfits to discredit Bushnell’s selfless act as that of a mentally unstable person. And yet this one act of moral courage managed to get CNN to finally allow the use of the word “genocide” on one of its broadcasts.
Incidentally, while looking up genocide awareness, I found that a public resource, the Holocaust Museum Houston is blocking South Africans from accessing its website. I wonder if this has anything to do with South Africa dragging Israel before the ICJ on a charge of genocide, and in the process thoroughly embarrassing them? What other possible motive would a holocaust museum have for blocking access to its online resources?
I have mentioned just two examples above of the failure and breakdown of mainstream media in recent weeks. Still, many more have been exposed since October 7th, which points to a calculated effort to mislead and misinform the public. Mainstream media can only be trusted once it shakes off the iron grip of the elite classes and other special interest groups, such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). I don’t suppose this will ever happen though.
Surely, then, “do your own research” needs to become more than just a disparaging cliche.
lenny unencumbered 