The government-media complex redux

By Joseph Farah

Well, folks, you saw it for yourself last night — at least those of
you who still, misguidedly, bother to watch network television.

I’m talking about the latest example of a sinister societal force I
have described previously in this space — the government-media complex.

I don’t know from first-hand experience, because I don’t watch ABC,
NBC and CBS any more than I would willingly submit to watching
propaganda from the official state broadcasts from Beijing or Havana.
But, last night, the U.S. TV networks, “in concert with the White
House,” blanketed the airwaves with psychobabble and mealy-mouthed
blather aimed at getting parents to talk to their kids about violence in
the schools.

In the public service announcement, aired on more than two dozen
networks between 8 and 9 p.m., President Clinton told the nation, “Our
children need our help to deal with tough issues, like violence. Please,
talk with your kids.”

I guess you could say, “Big deal, Farah. The spots don’t really say
anything controversial. They don’t advocate gun confiscation or other
constitutional infringements. What’s the problem with urging parents to
talk to kids.”

I’ll tell you what the problem is: It’s twofold.

No. 1: Everyone smart enough to breathe knows what the real political
agenda of the White House is and why Clinton believes this campaign is
important. Everytime he gets his mug on TV whining about some societal
problem, his ratings go up. Thus, there’s the obvious political
component for this campaign. In addition, all the news reports about
this ad campaign noted Clinton’s answer to school violence is more
restrictions on firearms. So, even though the commercials themselves
might not make mention of the real underlying agenda, they serve to
support it — agitating children of all ages to look for easy answers
when no easy answers exist. And the Clintons masterfully used the TV
commercials as a way to agitate for their own anti-gun agenda. At a
White House screening the day before, Hillary Clinton said, “After the
shootings in Littleton, many members of Congress did say ‘enough,’ and
the Senate passed tough new provisions, proposed by the president, that
would have strengthened our country’s gun safety laws. But even these
most common-sense of measures — that in no way would have restricted
the activities of honest and legitimate gun owners — were blocked by a
majority in the House who apparently were and are more interested in the
approval of the National Rifle Association than in the safety of our
children.”

And who’s behind this movement? It’s not just Bill and Hillary. The
“Talking With Your Kids” organization includes on its honorary committee
such staunch gun confiscation advocates and political partisans as Linda
Ellerbee and, yes, you guessed it, Rosie O’Donnell. It includes as
“resources” for information about violence groups such as Handgun
Control and for information about sex education the notorious Planned
Parenthood. These people are not part of the solution. They are the
problem.

Bottom line: They advocate more government control over people’s
lives and less freedom. No wonder this effort has been embraced by the
Clintons.

No. 2: Where will this kind of government-media “cooperation” end? Is
this the proper role of a “free press” in a free society? The corporate
media establishment in this country loves such opportunities to hold
hands with Big Government and look “responsible.” It’s easy. It’s cheap.
And everyone can go home with salved consciences. Unfortunately, this
kind of cooperation with government leads only one place — tyranny.

You see, government and the media are not supposed to work
hand-in-glove. In a truly free society — the kind envisioned by our
founding fathers — there is supposed to be a healthy adversary
relationship between the media and the government. The press isn’t
supposed to lie down and unquestioningly do government’s bidding. It was
supposed to hold the government accountable for everything it did — to
question everything it did.

Where will this kind of cooperation end? I would submit to you that
there is no end to it. Just try watching the network news some time and
you will see how the press fosters more and more government control over
the lives of individual Americans. It’s done overtly. It’s done
continuously, and it’s done willingly.

This is nothing short of mind control.

Joseph Farah

Joseph Farah is founder, editor and chief executive officer of WND. He is the author or co-author of 13 books that have sold more than 5 million copies, including his latest, "The Gospel in Every Book of the Old Testament." Before launching WND as the first independent online news outlet in 1997, he served as editor in chief of major market dailies including the legendary Sacramento Union. Read more of Joseph Farah's articles here.