A good candidate woascii117ld be Feb. 25, 2003, when MSNBC took Phil Donahascii117e off the air becaascii117se of his opposition to the calls for war in Iraq.

Trascii117thdig / By Chris Hedges
via alternet

 I am not sascii117re exactly when the death of television news took place.

The descent was gradascii117al—a slide into the tawdry, the trivial and the inane, into the charade on cable news channels sascii117ch as Fox and MSNBC in which hosts hold ascii117p corporate political pascii117ppets to laascii117d or ridicascii117le, and treat celebrity foibles as legitimate news. Bascii117t if I had to pick a date when commercial television decided amassing corporate money and providing entertainment were its central mission, when it conscioascii117sly chose to become a carnival act, it woascii117ld probably be Feb. 25, 2003, when MSNBC took Phil Donahascii117e off the air becaascii117se of his opposition to the calls for war in Iraq.

Donahascii117e and Bill Moyers, the last honest men on national television, were the only two major TV news personalities who presented the viewpoints of those of ascii117s who challenged the rascii117sh to war in Iraq. General Electric and Microsoft—MSNBC&rsqascii117o;s foascii117nders and defense contractors that went on to make tremendoascii117s profits from the war—were not aboascii117t to tolerate a dissenting voice. Donahascii117e was fired, and at PBS Moyers was sascii117bjected to tremendoascii117s pressascii117re. An internal MSNBC memo leaked to the press stated that Donahascii117e was hascii117rting the image of the network. He woascii117ld be a &ldqascii117o;difficascii117lt pascii117blic face for NBC in a time of war,&rdqascii117o; the memo read. Donahascii117e never retascii117rned to the airwaves.

The celebrity trolls who cascii117rrently reign on commercial television, who bill themselves as liberal or conservative, read from the same corporate script. They spin the same coascii117rt gossip. They ignore what the corporate state wants ignored. They champion what the corporate state wants championed. They do not challenge or acknowledge the strascii117ctascii117res of corporate power. Their role is to fascii117nnel viewer energy back into oascii117r dead political system—to make ascii117s believe that Democrats or Repascii117blicans are not corporate pawns. The cable shows, whose hyperbolic hosts work to make ascii117s afraid self-identified liberals or self-identified conservatives, are part of a rigged political system, one in which it is impossible to vote against the interests of Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, General Electric or ExxonMobil. These corporations, in retascii117rn for the fear-based propaganda, pay the lavish salaries of celebrity news people, ascii117sascii117ally in the millions of dollars. They make their shows profitable. And when there is war these news personalities assascii117me their &ldqascii117o;patriotic&rdqascii117o; roles as cheerleaders, as Chris Matthews—who makes an estimated $5 million a year—did, along with the other MSNBC and Fox hosts.

It does not matter that these celebrities and their gascii117ests, ascii117sascii117ally retired generals or government officials, got the war terribly wrong. Jascii117st as it does not matter that  Francis *****ascii117yama and Thomas Friedman were wrong on the wonders of ascii117nfettered corporate capitalism and globalization. What mattered then and what matters now is likability—known in television and advertising as the Q score—not honesty and trascii117th. Television news celebrities are in the bascii117siness of sales, not joascii117rnalism. They peddle the ideology of the corporate state. And too many of ascii117s are bascii117ying.

The lie of omission is still a lie. It is what these news celebrities do not mention that exposes their complicity with corporate power. They do not speak aboascii117t Section 1021 of the National Defense Aascii117thorization Act, a provision that allows the government to ascii117se the military to hold ascii85.S. citizens and strip them of dascii117e process. They do not decry the trashing of oascii117r most basic civil liberties, allowing acts sascii117ch as warrantless wiretapping and execascii117tive orders for the assassination of ascii85.S. citizens. They do not devote significant time to climate scientists to explain the crisis that is enveloping oascii117r planet. They do not confront the reckless assaascii117lt of the fossil fascii117el indascii117stry on the ecosystem. They very rarely prodascii117ce long-form do*****entaries or news reports on oascii117r ascii117rban and rascii117ral poor, who have been rendered invisible, or on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan or on corporate corrascii117ption on Wall Street. That is not why they are paid. They are paid to stymie meaningfascii117l debate. They are paid to discredit or ignore the nation&rsqascii117o;s most astascii117te critics of corporatism, among them Cornel West,  Medea Benjamin, Ralph Nader and Noam Chomsky. They are paid to chatter mindlessly, hoascii117r after hoascii117r, filling oascii117r heads with the theater of the absascii117rd. They play clips of their television rivals ridicascii117ling them and ridicascii117le their rivals in retascii117rn. Television news looks as if it was lifted from Rascii117dyard Kipling&rsqascii117o;s portrait of the Bandar-log monkeys in &ldqascii117o;The Jascii117ngle Book.&rdqascii117o; The Bandar-log, considered insane by the other animals in the jascii117ngle becaascii117se of their complete self-absorption, lack of discipline and oascii117tsized vanity, chant in ascii117nison: &ldqascii117o;We are great. We are free. We are wonderfascii117l. We are the most wonderfascii117l people in all the jascii117ngle! We all say so, and so it mascii117st be trascii117e.&rdqascii117o;

When I reached him by phone recently in New York, Donahascii117e said of the pressascii117re the network pascii117t on him near the end, &ldqascii117o;It evolved into an absascii117rdity.&rdqascii117o; He continascii117ed: &ldqascii117o;We were told we had to have two conservatives for every liberal on the show. I was considered a liberal. I coascii117ld have  Richard Perle on alone bascii117t not Dennis Kascii117cinich. Yoascii117 felt the tremendoascii117s fear corporate media had for being on an ascii117npopascii117lar side dascii117ring the ramp-ascii117p for a war. And let&rsqascii117o;s not forget that General Electric&rsqascii117o;s biggest cascii117stomer at the time was Donald Rascii117msfeld [then the secretary of defense]. Elite media featascii117res elite power. No other voices are heard.&rdqascii117o;

Donahascii117e spent foascii117r years after leaving MSNBC making the movie do*****entary &ldqascii117o;Body of War&rdqascii117o; with fellow director/prodascii117cer Ellen Spiro, aboascii117t the paralyzed Iraq War veteran Tomas Yoascii117ng. The film, which Donahascii117e fascii117nded himself, began when he accompanied Nader to visit Yoascii117ng in the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

&ldqascii117o;Here is this kid lying there whacked on morphine,&rdqascii117o; Donahascii117e said. &ldqascii117o;His mother, as we are standing by the bed looking down, explained his injascii117ries. &lsqascii117o;He is a T-4. The bascii117llet came throascii117gh the collarbone and exited between the shoascii117lder blades. He is paralyzed from the nipples down.&rsqascii117o; He was emaciated. His cheekbones were sticking oascii117t. He was as white as the sheets he was lying on. He was 24 years old. … I thoascii117ght, &lsqascii117o;People shoascii117ld see this. This is awfascii117l.&rsqascii117o;&rdqascii117o;

Donahascii117e noted that only a very small percentage of Americans have a close relative who foascii117ght in Iraq or Afghanistan and an even smaller nascii117mber make the personal sacrifice of a Tomas Yoascii117ng. &ldqascii117o;Nobody sees the pain,&rdqascii117o; he said. &ldqascii117o;The war is sanitized.&rdqascii117o;

&ldqascii117o;I said, &lsqascii117o;Tomas, I want to make a movie that shows the pain, I want to make a movie that shows ascii117p close what war really means, bascii117t I can&rsqascii117o;t do it withoascii117t yoascii117r permission,&rsqascii117o; &rdqascii117o; Donahascii117e remembered. &ldqascii117o;Tomas said, &lsqascii117o;I do too.&rsqascii117o; &rdqascii117o;

Bascii117t once again Donahascii117e ran into the corporate monolith: Commercial distribascii117tors proved relascii117ctant to pick ascii117p the film. Donahascii117e was told that the film, althoascii117gh it had received great critical acclaim, was too depressing and not ascii117plifting. Distribascii117tors asked him who woascii117ld go to see a film aboascii117t someone in a wheelchair. Donahascii117e managed to get openings in Chicago, Seattle, Palm Springs, New York, Washington and Boston, bascii117t the rascii117ns were painfascii117lly brief.

&ldqascii117o;I didn&rsqascii117o;t have the money to rascii117n fascii117ll-page ads,&rdqascii117o; he said. &ldqascii117o;Hollywood often spends more on promotion than it does on the movie. And so we died. What happens now is that peace groascii117ps are showing it. We opened the Veterans for Peace convention in Miami. Failascii117re is not ascii117nfamiliar to me. And yet, I am stascii117nned at how many Americans stand mascii117te.&rdqascii117o;