Drop Out Of MSM



Max Keiser

In our never-ending election cycle, we hear repeatedly about the "mainstream media" and how they favor one side or the other.  Tea Party windbag and former part time Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin has even cleverly referred to it as the "Lamestream Media" in her incessant television and paid speaking engagements.  Usually it is the conservative politicians who make the most political hay out of this issue stating that the mainstream media has a liberal bias.

Fox News claims a right-wing oriented alternative to the mainstream liberal bias.  As if being an arm of the largest international media conglomerate was anything other than mainstream media.  MSNBC takes a left-leaning approach to their editorial segments, positioning themselves as a more progressive minded alternative to the Fox News onslaught (their new slogan is "Lean Forward" something that I've always thought was odd since if you keep leaning forward you will eventually fall on your face).

Most of what we see in the mainstream media is what you generally see on the major networks and CNN which is a reportedly non-biased middle ground which claims to be fair to both sides.  The problem with this is that they report both sides equally without comment no matter how absurd the argument from one side or the other may be.  I could say the earth is round and the sky is blue, and the "reporting" would add that my opponents on the other hand claim that the earth is flat and the sky is green.  This reporting without any insight or commentary is worse than the truly biased reporting of the aforementioned networks.

Recently, several conservative groups went after National Public Radio claiming they had a liberal bias.  This was especially true after their decision to fire commentator Juan Williams for incendiary remarks on Muslims he made on Fox News.  Later, an executive was found to have made negative remarks toward Conservative politicians while trying to raise money from someone claiming to be a wealthy liberal donor.  The upshot of this is that there has been a perceivable shift in the reporting heard on NPR toward more of the equal time approach of CNN and the major networks.  This is unfortunate because NPR's tilt was not necessarily liberal as much as it was non-corporate.

What we see in the mainstream media news reporting of today is a dance that tries to present news stories while at the same time making money for their shareholders and not offend their corporate bosses.  And by corporate bosses, I'm not being metaphorical, I mean literally corporate bosses -- GE, Disney, Time Warner, etc.  The mainstream media has a decidedly pro-corporate bias in their news reporting.  This is why most Americans are simply unwittingly ignorant as to many issues that are incredibly important to their daily lives, such as finance and the economy.  This is why issues such as which Kardashian is divorcing or what Lindsay Lohan did or didn't do at her community service assignment today get more airtime than the implications to the future of the U.S. economy of Greece's decision to put Europe's latest bailout proposal to a referendum.

What I have done over the past several months is to voluntarily and intentionally remove myself from the mainstream media's presentation of news stories as much as possible.  I began this to an extent a few years ago with making my main news source Huffington Post.  However, HuffPo is as mainstream as anyone else.  Sometimes you will see some truly alternative press on HuffPo, but for the most part it is just a Democratic Party spin on the same corporatist news that we get anywhere else.  Or in other words, it's MSNBC.

Although I still read HuffPo, as well as other mainstream news media including major networks, my venture into more alternative sources has educated me on the issues that are important to me as well as allowing me to look at the mainstream media with a much more critical eye.  The more you educate yourself, for instance, on the events that led to the economic collapse of 2008 and subsequent economic bailout, the more you can see how absurd some of the claims being made by the large banking institutions and reported as fact on mainstream news outlets are.

This can, of course, be dangerous to your well being.  For instance yesterday driving home, listening to a WFAE (NPR affiliate in Charlotte) report on debit card fees, I found myself screaming "WHY ARE YOU REPORTING LIES!?!?!?! AND WHY ARE YOU NOT QUESTIONING THEM?!?!?!?!?" when they reported the outright lie that Bank of America and others are putting forth that they have to charge outrageous fees to their customers because they aren't allowed to charge the usurious card swipe fees any more and they are not able to make money on mortgages because interest rates are so low.  This kind of reporting is at best lazy and at worst complicit.  I can't tell you how many times I've heard this line given in the media without a second thought to the fact that the interest rate charged to consumers is based on the interest rate the Federal Reserve charges banks to borrow money from it.  So, in other words, they are getting the same profit because they are charging 4% interest on a mortgage for which they borrowed money at 0% to pay for, whereas before they charged 8% on a mortgage for which they borrowed money at 4% to pay for.

But that is the way that mainstream media works.  In this constant tightrope act to make profit, achieve ratings and not rock the corporate boat, what usually gets lost is the truth.

So where do you turn?  Although the internet is rife with craziness and outright false information, it also contains some of the best journalism out there.  For critical financial reporting, I have found a plethora of sources right at my fingertips. 

The best and most hard hitting financial reporting out there is being done by Max Keiser.  I was first introduced to Keiser's reporting and commentary when he was referred to in a  post by Matt Taibbi in which he linked to a BBC interview where in response to a question about the TARP bailout and the reasons for it Keiser said simply "Well, Goldman Sachs are scum."  His blog can be found at www.maxkeiser.com .  This also contains links to his thrice weekly "Keiser Report" television show on Russia Today network and his once weekly On The Edge with Max Keiser on Press TV out of Iran.

Of course there is also Matt Taibbi.  You can find all of Taibbi's influential reporting on the crimes of Wall Street at www.rollingstone.com , but even more entertaining than his regular Rolling Stone articles is his blog Taibblog located at http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog .  The Blog is updated more often than his longer more involved Rolling Stone reports.  It also contains opinions from his Supreme Court of Assholedom which passes judgment on figures in the news as to how much of an asshole they really are.  I'm hoping for one on Herman Cain before too long.

As for financial news in general, one of the absolute best blogs is www.zerohedge.com.  Zero Hedge is out front on most every financial issue there is in the world and is virtually always correct in their analysis.  It is also incredibly voluminous in the sheer amount of information it has.  There is a subscription service for Zero Hedge, but I have found that all of their news and posts are available without subscription.  There is also Reggie Middleton's Boom Bust Blog http://boombustblog.com which contains research and information on stocks, bonds and financial issues.  There is a lot of information on this blog which is only available to subscribers and you have to put up with Middleton's bombastic braggadocio (not to mention his super hero alter-egos), but the information contained even in his non-subscription service is useful as well as often hilarious.

Another great financial news source for general financial news is The Big Picture at www.ritholtz.com/blog.  This is the blog of financial reporter Barry Ritholtz and I have found it to be quite informative.  Along the same lines, though not nearly as regular as  Ritholtz's blogs is Terri Buhl's blog at www.teribuhl.com.  Buhl is a financial investigative reporter whose insightfulness and tenacity uncovers some of the most outrageous financial scandals that you won't find anywhere else.  Another former Wall Street trader who has dedicated herself to uncovering Wall Street's excesses and the scandals that have destroyed our economy is Nomi Prins.  Her site www.nomiprins.com is mainly a site to promote the books she has authored but also contains the best and most complete and ongoing analysis of the Wall Street bailout.  These are contained in the "Reports" section of her blog and these are updated monthly.  Also included are her articles such as her most recent listing the Top 10 reasons not to bank with Bank of America.

Lastly, for general news,opinion and analysis my favorite non-mainstream media website is www.truthdig.com.  This is the home of two of my favorite columnists Chris Hedges and Robert Scheer.  Both of these columnists used to work in the mainstream media but have given it up intentionally because of its corporate bias.  Hedges reports some of the best social criticism out there these days, and Scheer's finance and banking reporting is top notch. 

So, there is plenty out there to expand your view of what is really going on in the world.  The more you look for sources of information outside of the convoluted and quite frankly false world being perpetuated in the MSM, the more you will learn to think more critically of the world around you, not to mention the more you will be able to think for yourself.

I am always open to learning more from many different points of view.  If you have some websites or sources that you suggest, please feel free to post them in the comments section or on my facebook page.  I'll be sure to check them out and might even add them to my list of daily news sources.