TV News LIES

At first it was only supermarket tabloids like the National Enquirer that did it. While the "respectable" media shunned the practice, the Enquirer developed a long and proud tradition of "checkbook journalism," paying sources for such sensational exclusives as a photo of Elvis Presley in his coffin or "revelations" about Donald Trump by his ex-housekeeper.

But thanks to heightened competition for the next big "get," journalism's Thou-Shalt-Not-Pay commandment has lately been taking a beating. News and gossip sites that paid for information have broken some of the biggest and most sensational recent stories. TV news divisions have joined in, spurring an arms race to buy big stories.

Tina Fey got a little political airbrushing from PBS Sunday night during its annual broadcast of the Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

Fey, this year's recipient of the prize, caused a few ripples during her acceptance speech at the ceremony on Tuesday when she mock-praised "conservative women" like Sarah Palin, whom Fey has so memorably impersonated on "Saturday Night Live."

Warmongering requires more, and Murdoch knows it.  He aims to silence liberals who he claims are responsible for “the most virulent anti-Semitism” today.

“Often,” he augurs, “this new anti-Semitism dresses itself up as legitimate disagreement with Israel.”

Anyone, right, left or centre who dares to criticise Israel will be branded anti-Semitic.

The cable companies are diverting money that is intended to improve infrastructure into a black hole, creating a perpetual cash machine for greedy execs. When cable television subscribers open their monthly bills they will not see a charge for the “Social Contract.”

Since the mid-1990s, it appears that every cable subscriber has shelled out $1 per month increasing to $5 a month by 2000 to subsidize cable companies’ system upgrades. There has been no accounting for the total monies raised through this subsidy nor a thorough assessment of whether the cable operators fulfilled the system upgrades (including wiring and services to public institutions) the subsidy is suppose to underwrite.

Today, MSNBC suspended Keith Olbermann indefinitely for violating NBC News' policy and standards. As Politico first noted, Olbermann donated $2,400 apiece to three Democrats and "NBC has a rule against employees contributing to political campaigns."

If NBC News' policy extends to CNBC, the network may have a problem with Larry Kudlow, the anchor of CNBC's primetime show Kudlow & Company and co-anchor of the noon show The Call.

A source provides details to the American government about the nefarious activities of a Middle Eastern country. That information ends up in scores of secret U.S. government documents. Subsequently, the information winds up on the front pages of major newspapers, and is heralded by war hawks in Washington as a casus belli.

Sound familiar? It should, but perhaps not in the way you’re thinking. Here’s a hint: It’s not 2003, but 2010. This is the story of what happened recently to Iran in the wake of the latest WikiLeaks document release, where U.S military field reports from Iraq made their way into major national newspapers and painted the Islamic Republic as a force out to murder U.S. soldiers in Iraq.