The Double Standards of the MSM

: “Nor, for that matter, does Marx explain why having leftist governments involved mean that the channel could not be of high quality. I spent a great deal of time in Sweden, where a ‘leftist’ (by U.S. standards)state has indirectly supported radio and television for the past 75 years. The last time I checked — which is every day — those news programs were objective and of a very high standard, unlike the consumption-cheerleading celebro-porn produced by many ‘news’ organizations in the United States. We ignore genocide in Darfur in favor of 24-hour Michael Jackson and The Runaway Bride, yet have the gall to critique the journalism of other nations?

Where Marx really makes his best joke, however, is when he asks whether or not Telesur will be able to criticize the Chavez government since the operation will be based on the grounds of Venezuela’s state-run television station, Channel 8.

In other words: will their journalistic integrity be compromised by political and economic pressures? That a journalist from the Chicago Tribune would worry about conflicts of interest at Telesur — or any other media outlet, for that matter — really shows some major-league chutzpah. Perhaps it would benefit Marx to come back to the United States and do a little investigative reporting on the political economy of his own employer: the Tribune Company.

Let’s start with what the company controls (from the Tribunecorporate website): ‘Tribune Broadcasting owns and operates 26 major-market television stations and reaches more than 80 percent of U.S. television households. The group is anchored by Superstation WGN, which can be seen in more than 57 million homes outside Chicago via cable and satellite services. Nineteen Tribune stations are affiliates of the growing WB Television Network, in which Tribune holds a 22 percent equity investment.'”….