Sen. Bernie Sanders, “self-described democratic socialist“, sent me an e-mail:
JUST SAY NO TO THE NBC-COMCAST MERGER!
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The recent suspension of Keith Olberman by MSNBC raises the larger question of corporate control of the media in the United States. Thanks to the response of hundreds of thousands of Americans, Keith was reinstated. But without an independent progressive media, progressives like Keith Olberman, Rachel Maddow, Ed Schultz and others can be silenced at any moment by their corporate employers. I am very concerned that the proposed merger of NBC and Comcast will move us in exactly the WRONG direction, increasing the concentration of media ownership among a small handful of huge powerful multi-national corporations.
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Please join me in saying NO to this merger by signing the petition below:
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Whereas, fewer and fewer large media conglomerates own and control what the American people see, hear and read; and
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Whereas, one TV network (FOX) has contributed millions to the Republican Party and is a major propaganda arm for Republicans; and
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Whereas, ninety percent of talk radio is controlled by right-wing extremists who speak to some tens of million of Americans every day; and
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Whereas, Comcast, which is the largest cable TV company in America, is in the process of merging with General Electric’s NBC, one of the world’s major media conglomerates; and
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Whereas, the CEO of this new company will be Stephen B. Burke who, in 2004, was a Bush Ranger and raised $200,000 for the re-election of George W. Bush; and
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Whereas, our democracy is threatened when the American media is controlled by a handful of corporate interests.
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Therefore, we the undersigned join Senator Bernie Sanders in saying NO to the Comcast-NBC merger…
If you want to sign the petition, here’s the link: Sign the Petition.
If you would rather tell me why this petition is a bad / futile / stupid idea, that’s why this blog allows comments.
DALK
I thought the purpose of comments was too give you more reasons to drink.
Southern Beale
I’m so glad the Professional Left has FINALLY found an issue on which they can take a stand.
/barf
Don’t get my wrong but where was all this spine before the Iraq War? During the healthcare debate? DADT? Bush Adminstration torture & rendition? etc. etc. etc.
Maybe I’m just having a bad day …
Baroness
Oh, you noticed! Wait, that Keith thing. … Yeah. That’s what raised the question. Right.
I love KO and all but Sanders only mentioning his concerns about the merger after this nontroversy just makes this all look really cheap and contrived. “I know how we can get people to back this vote! The professional left loves — that guy who monologues, with the glasses and the camera shots!”
I’m glad there’s press on this, don’t get me wrong, but seriously?
LarsThorwald
Protesting the merging of NBC and Comcast at a time like this in our nation’s state is like complaining that [humorous variable A] when [humorous variable B].
Am I right? And what about those [mode of transportation] [variety of edible nuts]?!
I’m here all [period of time]. Please try the [veal or veal substitute].
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Southern Beale:
@Baroness:
But there is a difference between this and the stuff you are complaining about. Yes, the media didn’t help by not investigating and pushing back against Bush in the run up to Iraq. But this time, the owners actually tried to silence someone they didn’t like.
Texas Dem
And notice how quickly Keith is back on the air. The suits who run Comcast may be right wingers, but they’re also businessmen. Hit them in their balance sheets, and they pay attention.
mike
Alright – here’s the deal people: Cancel your comcast subscription. Letters to the editor or the communications department at msnbc or comcast will have NO effect.
Most people talk a big game, but when it comes down to something BIG like canceling the cable or satellite – well sorry we’ll just go along to get along. Can’t miss out on our favorite shows! It is a new season, after all. And what would we do with our time if we didn’t have the teevee?
It’s time to put your principles ahead of your nightly TV viewing. It’s your call – do you want to stand on your principles or watch your favorite shows?.
cleek
all hail the great state of Vermont!
imagine an NC Senator writing that fucking letter.
kdaug
@Baroness: I believe Sander’s been on the record opposing media consolidation and promoting net neutrality for a while now.
But then, he’s a “democratic sociaIist”. From Vermont.
stuckinred
@mike: Don’t you think people who already HAVE comcast have already made their decision on “teevee”?
freelancer
@cleek:
Imagine a Carolina anything writing…erm, anything.
DonkeyKong
Where is the petition to keep Stalin from touching my precious trash libtards!
mike
@stuckinred: Well, yeah. That’s why I think they need to change it.
General Stuck
It likely is futile, as I am convinced we have passed the failsafe point in this country, as least containing the big corp media beast consuming everything in it’s path, but while we are still breathing on this earth, I will never criticize those who continue waving the bloody flag and fighting the good fight.
No pain no gain, and this country is in need of the former before the latter becomes possible, imho. And I see no way around that social evolutionary signpost for America. The kinds of critical decisions made at critical points in time in the nearer future, will determine how much pain it will take.
The election appears to have been a step back, but these things can be mysterious and disguised as to their ultimate effect on the end game. Always leave room for serendipitous plot twists in considering the future, seems a fair attitude for those of us seeking lower blood pressure.
Davis X. Machina
Bernie’s a stand-up guy. No soi-disant progressive, he.
LindaH
@mike: Well, I would cancel Comcast, but the only cable available to me is Time Warner, and that seems counterproductive. Does it help that I don’t watch anything on NBC? Or does the fact that nobody seems to watch anything on NBC cancel that out? I only watch KO and Rachel Maddow on MSNBC? Does that count as a good thing or a bad thing?
WereBear
Signed, and SO will too. We <3 Bernie!
jeff
I signed it. If I can spend 7 seconds on something futile, even if it takes away from the other futile seconds I’ve spent today. I’m preparing for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and my family is rightwing teatarded and I’m spending all my money to go visit them, since they will never set foot in NYC (fear of muslims).
Jack Bauer
I cancelled cable, and now watch last nights MSNBC the next day for free online.
Nothing but respect for Sanders, screw the haters. You’re the problem.
WereBear
@jeff: Ouch. That’s gotta make the holidays hurt.
I’d start sharpening my comebacks NOW.
geg6
How can you not love Bernie? He has been fighting this fight and many others, unashamedly and stubbornly, for so long and he never gives up. All while coming off in interviews as smart and funny and kind, not some Marxist collectivist aparatchik.
If things get too bad, I may have to move to Vermont. Any place that can consistently vote for Bernie Sanders is a place I think I could live and feel safe from Teatards.
gnomedad
So opposing monopolies is socialist? What word are we using these days for, you know, actual socialism?
EDIT: FYWP
WyldPirate
Hmmm. I wonder if the legislation that allows this merger is Telecommunications Act of 1996?
That would be President Bill Clinton’s signature on that bill by the 104th Congress. A bill passed with 91 yes votes in the Senate that had a 6 vote republican majority. The HOR had a 234 to 198 Rethug advantage.
Dems gotta take care of their corporate
ownersdonors, donchayaknow?Jager
@WereBear:
A few years ago my sister (lovely woman, btw) and her winger hubby came for a Thanksgiving visit. He tuned Rush in on the kitchen radio, I shut it off and made him go sit and listen in the car, in the garage, by himself and it was a chilly day. He is loyal though, he did it everyday during the 4 day visit, he even listened to the re-runs.
Corner Stone
@jeff: Not sure why anyone would do this to themselves?
frosty
@mike: Kinda tough to drop cable in protest since I’m reading this blog on Comcast. We got dialup when we moved here but the phone lines were so noisy we couldn’t get a connection.
There just ain’t a lot of choices in the sticks.
Baroness
@kdaug:
Yeah, point, unwarranted cynicism there on his stance. But even though I think the suspension says SOMETHING about our corporate media and its lords and masters on high, the banner and the explicit mention of KO makes it look as though Sanders is trying to capitalize on this. And maybe he is!
(And like a good member of the pinko sheeple constituency, I’m going to go sign it anyway because the principle’s the point.)
Montysano
@General Stuck:
Well done, General. My feelings exactly.
Ella in New Mexico
This may be off track, but will someone please explain to me why God-damned LUKE RUSSERT is spouting his memorized conventional “reporter’s” wisdom on Nancy Pelosi’s run for minority leader on Lawrence O’Donnell’s show?
Why? Why?
Which begs the question, why does ANYONE cheer MSNBC on as some kind of leader in the new business?
Mike Kay (Team America)
@WyldPirate: don’t cry, bubba had his good side, he raise taxes on his rich corporate donors 30.96%.
WyldPirate
@Southern Beale:
You’re not having a bad day, you’re in the sad process of facing reality that most of the Dems are sellouts to corporate interests.
Sad but true.
gbear
@mike:
Yup. Cancelled it 17 years ago. When broadcast TV went digital, I hauled my TV off to the recycler. If I could throw it away any more than I have, I would.
@Jager:
…with the engine running.
Nellcote
Fucker Carlson fails again:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20101109/cm_yblog_upshot/fake-olbermann-emails-sent-to-philly-columnist
WyldPirate
@Ella in New Mexico:
Because he was a stellar student at Boston College with unlimited potential that pulled himself up from his humble beginnings with his very own humble bootstraps?
wasabi gasp
Ladies and germs, introducing the next Republican candidate for president of the United States of America.
eco2geek
Even if this petition somehow has an influence on the Comcast-NBC merger (which it probably won’t), progressives like those named above can “still be silenced at any moment by their corporate employers.” Because whether or not NBC and Comcast merge, they’ll still be employed by corporations.
No harm in signing it, though.
MikeJ
I don’t know that it’s bad or stupid (beyond just giving away your name and email address for nothing of value in return), but futile it certainly is. People don’t stop money.
Yutsano
@WyldPirate: Non sequitur warning on Aisle 9!
Elisabeth
@geg6:
Come on up! We’ve got home (the state, not my house). :)
Mike Kay (Team America)
@jeff: maybe you should show up dressed as a muslim.
MattR
Speaking of NBC (and of particular interest to DougJ), I’m watching Conan and he just said that a London police officer is being investigated for making song references in his official reports.
Martin
Oh, let NBC and Comcast merge. These guys are killing their market fast enough as it is, why get in the way of them finishing it off?
marcopolo
On another note, now we know what Evan Bayh will be doing in retirement:
Here’s the link for the ad for the campaign.
kdaug
@Baroness: Back in those halcyon days when we got Air America in Austin, I used to listen to / stream Thom Hartmann’s show, and every Friday he’d do an hour segment called “Fridays with Bernie”.
A sitting Senator, once a week, would take questions from a national – not just VT – audience for an hour. Unabashedly sociaIist. More often than not would win over his inquisitors.
Struck me as a humble, sincere guy.
The fact that he never seems to comb his hair gives him an extra star in my book.
Martin
@marcopolo: Great. Social Security is in pretty decent shape. Medicare is what’s fucked, but are they helping make the case that ACA is entitlement reform? Nope.
Fucking stupid.
Jewish Steel
@ Matt R.
Are you saying every cop is a criminal?
kdaug
@Jewish Steel: And all the sinners, saints.
General Stuck
Since open threads are scarce, thought a critter pic or two would be nice.
Charlie pic 1
BJ Charlie pic 2
And also too, just discovered kindle has a PC edition. Picked up memoirs of Grant and Sherman for .99 cents each. Good deal
Yutsano
@Martin: But…but…but…sociaiIism! Communists! Revanchists! Or something that sounds scary to straight white folk!
marcopolo
@Martin: In the article, the two Dems they quote as being on board for entitlement reform (whatever that means) are Bayh and Conrad. If you look at the work they did against a more comprehensive (and thus greater cost saving) HCR their hypocrisy is a bit staggering but then they are “blue dogs”. As for Peterson, who is bankrolling this crap, he is mostly interested in getting Social Security money given to individuals for investing in the stock market so they have another way to siphon off 2-5% of folks money every year for the rest of their lives through fees on products that don’t provide the returns that are needed. If I hadn’t been so rudely reminded last Tuesday how short the average American’s attention span and memory are or how much sway TV advertising has on shifting sheeples opinions, then I would say a campaign like this was dead on arrival–but doesn’t seem to be the case.
MikeJ
@General Stuck: Memoirs of three generals Grant, Sherman, Sheridan.
Free. You were overcharged by .99 apiece.
hamletta
Comcast has been wiping out…er, combining whole departments for the last year in preparation for this. My friends are losing their jobs, and I could be next.
I don’t get how it isn’t a major anti-trust violation, what with all the vertical monopoly action of the sort that wiped out the movie studios back in the late ’40s, but I guess those laws don’t matter much anymore, if they still exist.
MattR
@General Stuck: You happen to catch the “Dog Decoded” episode of Nova that premiered on PBS tonight? Part of it discussed research that showed that there is a part of our brain that is wired to respond positively to juvenille images (ie. babies). One of the ways that dogs evolved from wolves as they became domesticated was that their features became more juvenille (ie. baby-faced). These researchers also found that the same part of the brain activates when presented with images of dogs. (Tangentially, researchers found that when they selected foxes for tameness in an attempt to domesticate them over a period of 50 years, as the generations became more and more tame they also started to develop those juvenille features that are found in dogs.)
General Stuck
@MikeJ:
No, I was just stoopid. I had already downloaded the free ones, and somehow, likely by not reading the description, thought that they were different memoirs, or something. Big vapor lock, but only .99 cent ones.
General Stuck
@MattR:
No teevee, but will bookmark streaming it from PBS later.
Joe Max
@wasabi gasp:
Don’t blame me, I voted for Kodos.
wengler
As a single US Senator can’t he just put a hold on it? Or is that only for a Democratic President’s appointments?
Chuck Butcher
I signed it and I’ve wasted more time than that took today, already.
Xenos
@MattR: This can also be accounted for if you think of neotany as a basic adaption that happened in human evolution as well. People look a lot like baby chimps – so we effectively tamed ourselves over the last million years, somehow.
ascap_scab
Why is this futile?? Has no one seen Network??
Linda Binda
If I had the choice, I would’ve stayed with AT&T DSL, or with DSL period, being in the Atlanta area here, but nooo…
My brothers, who live with me, they just HAD to have their 12 Megabits download speed! My older brother just HAD to have fast-downloading anime torrents! Gotta have his free anime!
So, yeah, until I get a job and my own house, I’m stuck with the Comcast cable broadband, whom I’ve never wanted to be with. I know; compared to people worrying about how they’ll afford food or their house in the future, I suffer quite poorly, don’t I? ;) But, yeah.
In all seriousness, all this fuss should’ve been raised back in 1996, when it would’ve ultimately mattered. Too much of the damage is now done. If anything, this ought to teach Obama why he can’t go right, but he probably doesn’t give a shit. Sanders is a Senator after all: I’m not supporting anything but a bill that repeals the Act. Put your money where your mouth is.
Plus, I’ve never seen Network, but doesn’t the guy start ranting about the evil Arabs at one point? Not a wholly perfect movie.. :(
Blotto von Bismarck
I highly doubt that Comcast would remove Olbermann, Maddow, and co. from their airwaves in place of conservatives. They aren’t dumb enough to give up their market share. Hell, I’m ~90% confident that the Phil Gramm incident was just MSNBC and Olbermann both grandstanding (MSNBC gets to appear less partisan than FOX, Olbermann gets attention).
MSNBC’s main problem is that it isn’t included in many basic cable subscriptions; I don’t think Comcast’s basic cable includes it.
I oppose the merger strictly because it’s not a good idea for a news company to have outside influence. However, claims that the merger would silence progressive voices are just stupid. Burke knows damn well that turning MSNBC into a mini-FOX or another home for the CNBC shills will be laughably futile.
Horst Lleftbarne
Hugh Jidette (get it? Huge debt)
Someone with that name wouldn’t get a sniff of an interview to be a Car Talk staffer.
I’ve heard enough about how various media thingies of Murdoch’s are loss leaders, meant to serve his other business interests, to worry about this. It’s like lobbying: Sounds expensive to you and I, but when $4M over 2 years means $50M of less regulation or taxes or greater contracts, the math is simply different for them.
John W
One theoretical upside to the merger:
FOX “News” is available to anyone with a Comcast subscription above the Limited Cable level. MSNBC on the other hand is available only to those getting the Digital Preferred level and above.
With Comcast owning NBC, it might be in its own business interest to make MSNBC available on the same level as FOX “News”, thus expanding the potential viewership.