The Once Proud 4th Estate

This is Max Amann Propaganda Director for the Adolph Hitler. I will introduce you to him later.

People in my family have been very involved in this country for many generations. On almost all sides I can trace my family tree back to the earliest times for this country. Many of the so called Puritans are related to me. In fact at least two presidents are in my family. My great grandmother’s maiden name was Adams so that should give you a hint. Many have fought for our freedoms from the time of the revolution. Some have been so recognized as to be given what would have now been called the Congressional Medal of Honor. I am not saying these things to brag, but because I feel I have inbred in me, love of freedom and democracy.

This is just one of the many reasons I am so upset about the direction of our country of late. In fact I feel we have lost our way. We have veered onto a socialist path form which we seem to be unable to come back. The economic mess we are in and the presidential election are horrid examples of how ill we, as a nation have become. The failing of the once proud 4th estate is one of the most tragic events in our free society. Below is a good definition of what the 4th estate is if you are not familiar with the term.

The term Fourth Estate refers to the press, both in its explicit capacity of advocacy and in its implicit ability to frame political issues. The term goes back at least to Thomas Carlyle in the first half of the 19th century. Novelist Jeffrey Archer in his work The Fourth Estate made the observation: "In May 1789, Louis XVI summoned to Versailles a full meeting of the 'Estates General'. The First Estate consisted of three hundred clergy. The Second Estate, three hundred nobles. The Third Estate, six hundred commoners. Some years later, after the French Revolution, Edmund Burke, looking up at the Press Gallery of the House of Commons, said, 'Yonder sits the Fourth Estate, and they are more important than them all.'"

The fourth estate or press, serves a vital roll in our free society in that they investigate and report to the people about issues mostly political so that those engaged in noteworthy or elicit acts can be found out. The public must put great trust in those so engaged in the press as to expect absolute unbiased investigations and reporting. The press has a difficult job in being unbiased and balanced in their actions an activities. As our old fictional detective Joe Friday would say “ Just the facts mam, just the facts”. Any reporting would be done in an unemotional professional way. Not leading people in interviews and editing in such a way as to bend or distort what the person being interviewed was or was not saying. In other words they would be fair to all, no matter if the reporter personally agreed of disagreed with that person being interviewed. Even beginning journalism students should understand these simple standards for the profession.

In the recent past, persons calling themselves journalists have become nothing more than puppet propagandists in the worst sense of the word or at best grossly incompetent. Some folks of the national media used to exhibit a degree of professionalism, but of recent they have somehow been transformed. I am not sure what has caused this metamorphic transformation on their part. Maybe they wanted to be cool, young, hip, I don’t know only they could tell you. Even senior newscasters that have for years toiled on the evening news have succumbed to this malady. I suspect but this is only conjecture on my part that a new Max Amann (pictured at the top of this posting) has once again appeared from the grave in many of the newsrooms around the country. A hint on looking up Max ( look under Hitler media mogul). Propaganda is the rule these days not the exception. It is a disgrace of the highest order. We as citizens apparently can no longer trust the press. Their noses are getting longer and longer and no matter what Geppetto, does he can not get them to stop telling tall tales to meet their ends and unlike the story we can not send them to Donkey Island until they grow up.

All and all, he manipulated the people. He would play on different interests to appeal to different groups, and because of his charisma and dramatic speeches, he won support throughout the world. But most of the support came because he gave these people hope and someone to blame. He convinced the people that the others were evil, and by eliminating them, he would solve all of their problems. Most important, he offered a change, and since the present system wasn't working, a change was quite welcome.

Referring to Adolph Hitler after WW2. Does that sound like Barack Obama to you?

Unfortunately it does to me. For some unknown reason to me, the Max Amanns of the news rooms of MSNBC, NBC, CBS, ABC and CNN wanted him to be president over anyone else. They even did a masterful hatchet job on Hillary Clinton, who, in my judgment, should have been the Democratic candidate. The tears she shed were shed because she knew about the shoddy treatment she was getting in the press. They even lambasted her tears as theatrics. When Ms. Palin came on the scene, they were in a fit of panic to find some way to convince women not to go over to the McCain camp so they selected ridicule. The trick worked and the gullible public bought it hook line and sinker.

How many times did we see the asinine Palin ridicule on Saturday Night Live? Yes they did put a ridicules Hillary skit on the tube and a diminished Joe Biden on as well, but let there be no doubt that Sarah Palin was the star. Later they started to make fun of the Democrats, but knowing their evil has already been done they put on this effort to somehow prove they are balanced in their fun making. The horses had already been let out of the barn and they had achieved their goals of convincing women that Ms. Palin, was not worthy of their vote. They could then afford to be generous and make fun of the other side. How magnanimous of them. To the right and below, is the notorious fake photo of Ms Palin holding a rifle. Look at the pose and then look at the pose Tina Fye is doing in the above photo from SNL. Even places like www.snoops.com reported this as a fake. No wonder normal people thought Ms Palin was a loon.

NBC Dan Rather lost his job for doing blatant false reporting just before an election. Do you care?

Every woman, let me say it again, every woman in American should be outraged about this. They have made their case that a normal, or a little above normal woman with children who is a governor of a state should be a subject of ridicule and not to be taken seriously. As it is got closer to the election we got an extravaganza of ridicule from SNL as it was on Thursdays along with regular Saturday showing of excellence in comedy. How convenient. Now a man even if he has had zero foreign affairs experience, not to confused with many domestic affairs, that came from a small southern state, famous for chickens and plays the saxophone, was just fine. And he was less than a heart beat away from the president, he was running for president, but then again he was a man, and lets face it, far superior than any woman.

Many independent organizations have reported on just the supposed humor or jokes that have been pointed at McCain and or Ms. Palin during the last election. At last count Jay Leno alone had 328 on the republicans and only 18 on the democrats. How funny, how funny in the worst way. There are many places to find the statistics on biased reporting and joke telling on the internet. One real good place to look at this analysis of the subject is out of George Mason University. They produce interesting reports on this subject. Snopes.com reported that there were 10 major articles on the Internet about Ms. Palin. All but one of them was false. MSNBC reported that she thought Africa was a country not a continent. That was just made up and after the election the reporter admitted he made it up and thought everyone knew it was tongue in cheek. Another report by a CNN reported stated that an article in the National Review was not favorable to her, and when they were challenged made a brief announcement about their error but never apologized or made any real attempt to correct the impression they had made to the public.

I really believe we need to do what ever is required to bring pressure on these folks to bring them back on the correct path of good journalism. It is too late for this election, but maybe if they learn anything, future elections may be conducted better in the press. Almost all of the media outlets did a poor job, but certainly MSNBC and NBC were the worst of the lot. Here is some background information. NBC Universal is a media and entertainment company formed in May 2004 by the combination of General Electric's NBC with Vivendi Universal Entertainment (part of the French Media Group, Vivendi Universal (now Vivendi SA)). This is Jeffrey Immelt. He is the CEO of the General Electric Corporation. GE owns 80% of NBC Universal with the remaining 20% owned by Vivendi SA. The company develops, produces, and markets entertainment, news, and information to a global customer base. NBC Universal owns and operates a United States television network, numerous cable networks, a group of local stations throughout the country, motion picture companies, a number of television production companies, and multiple theme parks. Universal Music Group was not included in the 2004 deal and is not part of NBC Universal. MSNBC is a joint venture between NBC and Microsoft Corporation.Jeff Zucker was named president and CEO of NBC Universal on February 6, 2007, replacing Bob Wright, who remains chairman of NBC Universal and vice chairman of General Electric.
Zucker previously served as chief executive of the company's television operations. The logo of NBC Universal is a combination of the NBC peacock logo and the Universal Studios globe and text. To the right is a photo of Mr. Zucker.

Maybe it is the French Media group that is the Max Amann here. (He was the German Nazi at the top of this post), I am not sure. I know the French are mad at us for catching them with their hands in the oil for food scam in Iraq. I would hope they would not be that petty, but only they know for sure. What I do know is that television stations and networks as part of their licensing must provide log books detailing their efforts to balance their reporting and to show they are not biased against any group or favoring any group. Maybe we need a Senate investigation into this matter and possible license review or modification by the FCC.

As for me, I will buy nothing from General Electric or it’s affiliated companies. I will never again watch SNL or the “Nightly News with Brian Williams” ever again. I really thought and hoped that he would continue on in the tradition of Huntley/Brinkley but apparently he too has lost his integrity. I would suggest that you do the same and maybe they will get it. I do not mind investigations, in fact I appreciate them. I love humor and satire and see nothing wrong in pointing fun at politics. That comes with the territory. But the yellow hatchet job done by the main stream press is shameful.

Again review the photo below and and tell me if you think the media did a fair and honest job of just reporting the news or did they allow a division of a major TV network to slant what was seen on our televisions each night not so much to entertain but to sway public opinion and paint persons as loons or kooks and crazies. What a shame, what a shame.