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Monterey County Water Board

Carmel/C.V. - Scott Dick
Monterey/P.G. - Regina Doyle

Hartnell College Trustees

Area 1 - Demetrio Pruneda
Area 2 - Bill Freeman

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The Great Media Purge of 2011

In light of the just-announced NBC/Comcast decision to fire its most popular MSNBC host, I thought I’d post the following column plus addendum that I wrote several months ago for Dagblog under the title the Great Media Purge of 2010:

The decision by MSNBC and its owner GE (Comcast is currently finalizing the purchase of MSNBC) to suspend Keith Olbermann without pay signals the start of a purge of liberal-leaning commentators. With an activist right-wing Supreme Court, corporate media owners can, without fear of successful legal suits, prune from their trees anybody who speaks for limits on corporate power and against the redistribution of wealth upwards. With a blood red House of Representatives, the masters of media know that no legislative response to their fiat will be forthcoming. Some have questioned the decision to “suspend” MSNBC’s most popular host and one of NBC’s most versatile broadcasters. Why, these naifs ask, would GE/Comcast act against the best interests of shareholders? The answer is simple: Olbermann provides a cogent and compelling response to the right-wing in the mostly arid non-reactionary media landscape (obviously conservative media is anything but arid). Clearing him (and presumably Rachel Maddow and Ed Schultz) from the field now will remove potential thorns from the side of the Republican presidential candidate in 2012 – a candidate who will make John McCain look positively decent and who, if elected, will, with the acquiescence of a Republican Congress, 1) remove any barriers to media consolidation and fabrication and 2) keep the income tax rates applicable to GE’s and Comcast’s multi-millionaire managers obscenely low.

Update: A 3rd reason to believe that silencing liberal voices in advance of 2012 was behind the decision is Comcast’s very heavy involvement in the internet. A Republican Congress and President will almost certainly deregulate the internet leaving Comcast with a free hand to speed downloads of favored clients websites and (as mentioned earlier) to gobble up other internet service providers. See http://thinkprogress.org/2010/11/05/burke-comcast-msnbc/.

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4 Responses to The Great Media Purge of 2011

  1. Arlen says:

    I hope you’re wrong, Hal. We don’t know enough yet about Olbermann’s departure but let’s hope his legacy of a left-of-center presence (Maddow, Schultz,etc) at MSNBC continues, and that Keith finds another media outlet. But you are correct that Comcast and the other mega-media corporations pose a serious threat to free speech and must be carefully monitored.

  2. Denica says:

    Good Morning America just had a RIDICULOUS discussion on Keith being inappropriate and angry. I feel the GMA’s lack of content is an insult – and is a glimpse into “news” if we allow people like Keith to loose his audience. I don’t know why KO left MSNBC — but I know the less light we have, the less we will see. Just think of how lucky people are in this area to have access to a station like KRXA, myself included. When you drive thru certain areas (EVEN IN CALIFORNIA) and hear what they have to listen to/ watch – it is no wonder that they have little intellectual curiosity. On a recent road trip we went thru the Bakersfield area and all we got on the radio there was hellfire and Toby Keith. Let’s all work hard to make sure that doesn’t happen everywhere. I want MY KEITH!

  3. Denica says:

    or lose, lol! ;) either way lol

  4. JJ says:

    Comcast has for decades been a major contributor to the GOP. People in this country very much lack the fortitude to do what is practical and necessary in order to bring and keep in perspective corporate influence in regards to American politics and government.
    I for instance have and will continue to hold my optional entertainment expenses to a minimum. Pertaining to comcast and other media. It is ridiculous for anyone on a tight budget to have a hundred dollar plus monthly cable expenditure. Think of what you may be able to do for your children and what they couldn’t do to your children with the money?

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