The media has a strange definition of "huge victory."

After a long period in which any probing investigation and analysis into what caused the 9/11 tragedies was confined essentially to critics outside the media mainstream, a representative from the mainstream media recently spoke out. UPI International correspondent John Daly in a June 13 article provided among other revealing information from what he termed “Insider notes” the serious doubts raised about the mainstream media snake oil account of what really happened on 9/11.

How the media has fallen since the days when a courageous Edward R. Murrow would invest his own money on a program telling the truth about the bombastic bully and demagogue, Senator Joseph McCarthy. While the right absurdly continues to shriek about the ‘left wing media” the corporate talking heads of the punditocracy concentrate on minutiae and dance around the facts, hoping they will go away.

Why the criminal "source" that Judy Miller claims to be protecting really has nothing whatsoever to do with the whistleblowers everyone is afraid of scaring off.

The latest brazen brewing and attempted marketing of media snake oil in the ranks of the corporate Bush media came with a so-called story by insider toadie Dana Milbank of the Washington Post. The reason why the tirade should not be labeled a “story” is due to its flagrant propaganda and consistent inaccuracies.

The existence of a Rush Limbaugh delivering emotional attacks bereft of logic or reason to national radio audiences and “fair and balanced” Fox News trumpeting Bush Administration position papers repetitiously as fact, notably in the realm of alleged “weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq, underscores the validity of Billy Moyers’s criticisms. The equal time provision relative to political commentary was stripped away during the Reagan Administration and we are now left with gangs of strident demagogues and bigots such as Limbaugh, Michael Savage, and Ann Coulter savagely poisoning the airways without regulation. How far we have plummeted since the days of Edward R. Murrow!

Professor Harry Frankfurt is correct when he states with regret in his current bestseller “On Bullshit” that “B.S.” has reached dismal record levels. As an academic who teaches students to strive for communicative optimum he has every reason to feel distressed by what passes for media and public commentary in the advent of a new century where technological advancement is trumpeted at virtually every turn.

Fox News and the Senate Republicans they so thoroughly control made an egregious tactical error when they decided to launch one of their patented smears on British Member of Parliament George Galloway. Designated point man Republican Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota was left squirming Tuesday after Galloway got the chance to defend himself before Coleman’s special committee “investigating” the UN oil for food program.

L. Brent Bozell III has been recently making the rounds turning up the heat to expose the New York Times and PBS as unrelenting left wing propaganda sources. He is in lockstep with Bill O’Reilly, that paragon of populist objectivity for “fair and balanced” Fox News, who warned of the danger of Bill Moyers and PBS for years.

Pataki is on the verge -- nay -- he's on the verge's CUSP of soundly defeating Spitzer in a gubernatorial race. Not.

The announcement of the findings of Bush’s commission on intelligence activities reminds us of the manner in which his Administration has taken the message Harry Truman kept on his desk during his presidency of “The buck stops here!” and changed it to “The buck stops anywhere but here!” It would have been uproariously funny to listen to the straight-faced corporate media commentators telling us that Bush is concerned about current intelligence failures to keep America informed and is resolutely determined to correct this deficiency that was revealed in the report but for one salient fact.

Well, the vultures got their wish. Dan Rather ended his CBS anchor career last night with his final broadcast. He did so on a highly compassionate note, expressing concern for American citizens in need. We know how his cynical critics will spin that one: “This guy is a bleeding heart liberal right down to the end!” That is the generic term used to apply to those registering concern for the powerless and dispossessed.

While the mainstream media cranes its collective neck to see anything suspicious from the progressive camp to jump on, Ann Coulter continues to engage in outrageous behavior. The only source seemingly willing to take her on is progressive Internet columnists, explaining why Bob Novak long ago warned his right wing faithful to stay away from that source of discontent. Yes Bob, some of these folks straying from Fox might actually learn some facts!

the real importance of the Gannon story had nothing to do with sex or prostitution but about our growing knowledge of the elaborate Soviet-style White House propaganda network, and, potentially, about how a paid propaganda agent may have been involved in the outing of an undercover CIA agent.

One thing has become increasingly clear after scrutinizing the current scene as part of our Media Snake Oil research – the blatant nature of blatant right wing propaganda at a time when the Federal Communications Commission has become a pathetic Bush Administration tool.

Howard Dean was understandably greeted as a breath of fresh air to progressives seeking a change from “business as usual” politics with all too predictable results. Rather than receiving the bulk of his money from corporate donors, Dean energized regular Americans. Much of his support came from the Internet. His efforts have changed the face of American politics and, as his former campaign manager Joe Trippi recently revealed, if the politically savvy activists interacting on the Internet do not see substantive change within the Democratic Party motivation and energy will flourish to start a new party.

The American religious right has idolized the ex (we hope ex) drug addict Rush Limbaugh. His dramatic pronouncements have been taken as gospel. What would be tragic would be if drugs induced some of Rush’s rantings, and that sadly the audience accepted them when mind-altering substances induced them.

Media hypocrisy reached another zenith level this week with the announcement that firings would occur over the highly publicized stories and subsequent investigation over the alleged memo concerning George W. Bush’s Texas Air National Guard flying duties.

Atrios blasts apart any remaining iota of credibility to the long running myth that there is a liberal media by looking at who gets canned and who gets a pass when they fuck things up.

Really bad couple of days for CBS. Kevin Drum tells us that a supposed "man on the street" interviewed for a piece on social security, who expressed distrust in the current system in fact ... works for a right wing think tank!

The story on CBS that implied that Atrios was somehow unethical for joining up with Media Matters and (gasp) continuing to blog has now changed three times in the last 24 hours. (Drew Johnston wrote about the first iteration last night.)

Hermann Goering headed the Gestapo for Adolf Hitler among other responsibilities. A master of propaganda, he told Nuremberg questioners shortly before cheating the hangman by hanging himself in his cell the twin keys behind brainwashing a nation behind a political leader and the cause embraced.

In that George Bush does not have a defensible record he must rely on attacks on John Kerry and hope that at least some of what is said sticks with voters. The corporate media has been dropping key tidbits prior to the preceding debates and a current point being frequently raised prior to tonight’s debate at Arizona State University in Tempe is how aggressive he has become, incorporating the strategy of “the best defense is a good offense.”

It is critical to never suspend attention to Bush-media strategy in view of what happened four years ago to Al Gore. The vice president, operating in a period in which 23 million jobs were created and the country was not at war, was as far as 10 points ahead of George W. Bush entering the debate phase of the campaign according to many polls.

Before the first Kerry-Bush debate the Republicans were attempting to convince the American citizenry that the race was over. They busily utilized corporate media friends to make that point.

When I posted my earlier article predicting how the corporate media Bush enthusiasts would spin the debate I noted that John Roberts of CBS last night called the debate "a draw." I thought that position would be the one spun because, in view of Bush's halting manner and obvious nervousness, the old familiar "Bush is comfortable in his own skin" would not resonate in view of last night's events.

I have seldom been as certain of anything than the scenario I am about to project. Given past indications it does not even seem like a prediction; call it instead conviction based on solid previous indicators.

“Outfoxed” clears away the smoke and reveals the “fair and balanced” motto of Fox News to be an outrageous sham. Early in this fast-paced and highly informative documentary produced and directed by the talented Robert Greenwald, Fox star commentator Neil Cavuto exclaims, “ … if, God forbid, John Kerry is elected president.”

Australian John Pilger became a familiar name in America during the period preceding and following the outbreak of the Iraq War. Based in London, Pilger daringly bucked government pressures to expose Prime Minister Tony Blair and his war aims, citing as baseless the claims echoed by George W. Bush across the Atlantic of imminent dangers from Iraq.

Chris Matthews recently exhibited an example of going off the deep end to depict George W. Bush as anything but what and who he really is. In the process of showing Bush before a rally of the faithful exhorting the crowd with the traditional one sentence mantra, “Kerry changes his position ever day. He has at least eight positions on Iraq” the Hardball host smiled with admiration and began shoveling corporate media compost at blinding speed.

For years actor Robert Preston impressed with his talent but failed to secure that significant role that would propel him to the stardom he deserved. He found that role in the spectacularly successful Broadway musical, The Music Man. Preston was so convincing that he also starred in the film version of the hit show, achieving another astounding triumph.