Propaganda Machines, Not Journalists!!
Thomas Jefferson, the Founding Father who wrote America's Declaration of Independence, is also famous for another quote; he wrote that newspapers...the media...were more important to the fledgling democracy than the government itself. That Jeffersonian quotation reminds me that the mainstream media in the United States has evolved into PROPAGANDA MACHINES as opposed to news-gathering operations. That also reminds me that easily the best journalist in the Western Hemisphere is Mariana van Zeller. She was born 42 years ago in Portugal and her unique journalism has existed for well over a decade, but because the mainstream media in the U. S. is involved primarily in propaganda, Americans may have to Google a bit to find America's best journalist. For example, this week in mid-January of 2018 by far the best news report in the Western Hemisphere came from Mariana van Zeller in the form of an 8-minute video report from Brazil. It's vital news...to the USA, to Cuba, and the rest of the world. Brazil is by far the largest, richest, most populated, and most powerful Latin American nation. It has just elected a new far-right President, Zair Bolsonaro, who is obsessed with the type military rulers that took over Brazil in 1964 and brutalized the nation for two decades. Then democratic elections put Cuba-friendly, anti-U.S. Presidents - - Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff -- in power in Brazil for four consecutive elections. But Lula is now in prison, some say to prevent him from winning the recent election, and Rousseff's second term was ended by what she calls a coup. So the recent Brazilian election put the militaristic, right-wing Bolsanaro in the presidential chair. Top journalists in Brazil and the USA {Tracey Eaton, for example} believe Bolsanaro has signaled to right-wingers in the Trump administration that Brazil will help the USA execute its long-desired revenge change in Cuba. Also, Bolsanaro quickly made headlines as President by saying he would welcome a U. S. military base in Brazil. With that backdrop, Brazil as now constituted is more important than ever to the USA, Cuba, and the world...especially as a possible harbinger to military conflicts in the Caribbean and Latin America. So, this week to understand what's happening in Bolsanaro's Brazil it behooves Americans, Cubans, and citizens of the world to view and heed Mariana van Zeller's brilliant 8-minute report that, if you've missed it, is easily and readily available worldwide on YouTube.
Because she is easily the best broadcast journalist in the Western Hemisphere, Mariana van Zeller IS NOT ELIGIBLE to work for the propaganda/pundit-obsessed USA broadcasters -- especially the extreme left-wing CNN, NBC, MSNBC, CBS, and ABC networks but ALSO right-wing networks such as FOX. For example, the other day CNN -- only interested in propaganda-pundits -- added two new hires: an extreme left-wing Hispanic newly retired from Congress and an extreme left-wing person-of-color who recently lost her Congressional re-election bid. Like all the other major "news" networks in the USA, broadcast journalists are not welcome at CNN; only propaganda-pundits are welcome...to join the extreme plethora of on-set anchors and propaganda-pundits that dominate and saturate America's embarrassing "news" media.
After graduating with honors from the University of Lisbon, Mariana van Zeller had a dream: She wanted to be a broadcast journalist in the USA. Three times she applied to what she believed was the world's best journalism school -- Colombia University in New York City. Three times she was rejected. Mariana then flew to New York City and faced the dean who had rejected her face-to-face. She told him of her dream. She was finally accepted. And Mariana got her Masters Degree in Broadcast Journalism from Colombia University. Since then, she has been the best Broadcast Journalist in the Western Hemisphere.
If the broadcast networks in the United States disqualify Mariana van Zeller because she is the best Broadcast Journalist in the Western Hemisphere, Founding Father Thomas Jefferson would surely weep crocodile tears. Mr. Jefferson, you see, believed that a vibrant and unbiased media was more important to the viability of the U. S. democracy than the United States government itself.
Today...left in the hands of the multi-billionaire propaganda-obsessed owners of the USA's major television networks as well as major newspapers like the New York Times and Washington Post...Thomas Jefferson himself, I believe, would be infuriated over what the U. S. media has become -- which is pundit-driven propaganda machines. When the major U. S. media forums are owned only by propaganda-motivated multi-billionaire individuals and corporations, the biggest threats to the United States are not Trump or Global Warming or Russia or China, etc. The BIGGEST THREAT to the United States and its Democracy is its pundit-driven propaganda media. And I sincerely believe that Thomas Jefferson would concur with that opinion.
ACTUALLY...............
...........there are some who believe that poor, little, embargoed Cuba has far better and fairer Broadcast News Channels than the United States has. For example, study the photo above that shows two truly outstanding Broadcast Anchors in Cuba -- Rosy Amaro and Cristina Escobar. Well-educated, smart, and talented, Rosy and Cristina are experts on U.S.-Cuban Relations and they have been quoted on two pertinent topics: {1} "Cuban journalists have more freedom to tell the truth about the U. S. than U. S. journalists have to tell the truth about Cuba;" and {2} "Cuba's fate must be determined by Cubans on the island, not Cubans in Miami and Washington." Americans programmed to immediately dismiss such opinions from the island should, I believe, get to know Rosy & Cristina. I'm a former television anchor in the USA and a democracy-lover. As such, I believe Rosy & Cristina are better and more believable than any anchors or pundits on USA's propaganda-obsessed networks.
For example, Nicole Wallace is a prime anchor on MSNBC and a prime pundit on NBC in the USA. Her sole broadcast talent relates to anti-Trump fervor that computes with NBC's anti-Trump propaganda coup, typical of U. S. "news" networks that typically GAVE UP on hiring real broadcast journalists while only searching for Nicole Wallace-types.
And for example, Ana Navarro is a prime pundit that saturates CNN's non-news coverage. Her only talent is as an extremely nasty and repugnant propaganda-pundit. Exacerbating hires like Wallace and Navarro is this: the USA networks hide the fact that Wallace and Navarro are Republican backstabbers with Wallace pinning for her old boss Ted Cruz to be President and Navarro obsessed with her old bosses Jeb Bush and/or Marco Rubio being President. So such obfuscations {lies} fit perfectly into the obsessions of the USA networks whose current propaganda involves ousting Trump while showing zero respect for the Office of President and for Democracy. I too want Trump ousted, BUT DEMOCRATICALLY.
Each weekday morning from 6 AM till 9 AM, counting the replay of the first hour, NBC-MSNBC kick off their "news" day with Morning Joe hosted by the husband-wife team of Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough. Masquerading as journalists, if the highly paid Mika & Joe are journalists I am an astronaut based on Mars. They are nothing more and nothing less than extreme left-wing propagandists who wouldn't know a news story if it inundated their studio.
With no hints of journalists who actually cover and deliver the news that Americans need, propaganda anchors Mika & Joe always have two, four or six propaganda pundits as Talking Heads on the set...and the multi-billionaire propagandists who own such U. S. networks pretend they are providing news coverage...not propaganda...for their viewers. {The two above photos are courtesy of Salon.com}.
AND THE USA SHAME IS......
.......the USA television "news" networks are not interested in hiring Mariana van Zeller simply because Mariana is the best Broadcast Journalist in the Western Hemisphere. The USA television "news" networks are only interested in hiring extreme propaganda-pundits such as anchor Nicole Wallace and pundit Ana Navarro. The extreme left-wing/right tilts in the USA media put the unqualified Trump in the White House in 2016 and might re-elect him in 2020 OR create a bloody Civil War that neither the USA nor the world needs. And, yes, as a democracy-loving American I believe...as I believe that Thomas Jefferson would believe...that the pundit-driven USA propaganda media is THE BIGGEST THREAT to both the United States of America and to Democracy. In March of 2015 Mariana van Zeller became a Democracy-loving United States citizen after she had already established herself as the best broadcast journalist in the Western Hemisphere. Study the photo above. I tend to believe that Mariana van Zeller agrees with Thomas Jefferson and me. Yes, the biggest threat to the United States today is its propaganda-obsessed mainstream media. The second biggest threat to the United States today is what the wise outgoing President Dwight Eisenhower warned six decades ago as THE BIGGEST THREAT, which was the unchecked "Military-Industrial Complex" that makes money on wars OR the threat of wars. But today that is only the 2nd biggest threat to America; 1st in January of 2019 is the propaganda-obsessed mainstream U. S. media. If it begins to hire real journalists like Mariana van Zeller, I'll revise my opinion.
In 1961 Ike was right.
But in 2019 the biggest threat is the media.
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