"The NYT and Washington Post on selling war to the US public: (Iraq) was the ultimate 'war of choice' built on a set of lies that shouldn't have fooled a feeble-minded editor or journalist. And it probably didn't fool most of them. They were prepared to seem gullible in order to advance a policy and war aggression that they approved. Thus, both the NYT and Washington Post followed the war party line in the face of blatant lies, and serious illegalities, as did the TV networks.
But with the war and occupation proving no cakewalk and soberingly costly, the editor of those two leading papers quasi-apologized in the aftermath for their gullibility and misreporting. But they both jumped without hesitation and with equal gullibility into preparing their audience for a war with Iran, enjoying the war on Libya, while encouraging war with Syria. -Edward S. Herman in Z Magazine, March 2014"
-->This brutal examination of the media and the war machine in the 21st Century is something that the NYT would never cover. It is much too complicit in the empire's wars of aggression.
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Truth Out:
"The misinformation in most of the media about the protests in Venezuela is astounding. Often the opposite of reality is repeated as if it were true. Americans who rely on the corporate mass media, politicians and corrupted nonprofits might fall for these tales, but Venezuelans know what is really happening. ...
'Regarding the supposed 'democratic deficit of the Venezuelan regime,' the facts speak for themselves. Since 1998 there have been four national plebiscites, four presidential elections, and eleven parliamentary, regional, and municipal elections. Venezuela is the Latin American country with the highest number of elections and it also has an automatic electoral system (much more modern than Chile's), described by Jimmy Carter, who has observed 92 elections in all continents, as 'the best system in the world. ...'
'80% of the media is private. The three national newspapers (El Universal, El Nacional and Ultimos Noticias) are opposed to the government, especially the first two, and they bring together 90% of the readership. Of the four television channels with national coverage, three of them (Venevision, Globovision, and Televen) are opposition, and likewise bring together 90% of the audience, according to information provided by the company AGB.' "
-->Coverage of Venezuela in the US media reveals the extent that our news is fashioned by the corporate interests and the military industrial complex. Truth be damned, big oil wants Venezuela back, and the US war machine is itching for another beachhead.
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Common Dreams:
"A massive trade deal under negotiation between the U.S. and EU could bolster oil giants' efforts to expand fracking on both sides of the Atlantic through NAFTA-style secret corporate tribunals.
This is according to a report released Thursday by Friends of the Earth Europe ahead of the fourth round of negotiations on the Transatlantic Free Trade Agreement. Entitled No Fracking Way, the study looks at the implications of a proposed clause that calls for a repeat of NAFTA's corporate-friendly courts, in which corporations extra-judicially 'settle disputes' with governments behind closed doors.
Known as the 'investor-state dispute settlement' mechanism (ISDS), the clause would establish these corporate-friendly tribunals for companies to claim damages. According to Pia Eberhardt of Corporate Europe Observatory, this would amount to a 'power grab from corporations – to rein in democracy and policies to protect people and the planet. This system cannot be tamed – it must be abandoned.' "
-->Would our newspaper of record ever expose this dangerous erosion of democracy when it comes to controlling multinational corporations? The NYT is a wholly owned subsidiary of the corporate state. Don't look there for news you can trust.
