'Corporate' Has No Influence Over News?

Yeah, right.

If you saw today's cover of the NY Post, there's no way anyone can say that with a straight face. The morning after a major story breaks about Fox News trying to buy the silence of OJ Simpson's in-laws, News Corp's sister company Post runs the headline "JEETED" - Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter did not win the Most Valuable Player award. The NY Daily News ran with "Fox Tried To Buy My Silence".

Apparently, the editors at the Post naturally thought the public was better served learning that a baseball player lost out on an award rather than finding out how corporate American was trying to influencing a news story with a big stack of cash.

Hmm, I guess that would make two stories of corporate America influencing what news the public gets to see based on the bottom line. And that would be the same news organization on both counts. I'm sure the Post editors weren't influenced by Fox corporate at all. That would never happen. They're the "fair and balanced" bunch.

If they "report" and "you decide", what are you supposed to decide if corporate money keeps the story from you? I'm sure New Corp isn't the only guilty party out there. There have been documented stories of similar situations at GE-owned, 'liberal media' giant NBC.

The catch here is media cross-ownership. The corporations want to own all the news outlets and say it won't be harmful to the public. If a Fox News (News Corp) story about OJ Simpson warrants a spike at the Post (News Corp), what about more important stories that get killed. Maybe ones on government corruption?

This is just one example, but it should SCREAM for attention as a cautionary tale of what our news media has become. The FCC should roll back liberal media ownership rules it allowed earlier, not loosen them even more!