A while back in a "rant" thread I made a stink about a somewhat anonymous "feel good" campaign sponsored by a mining/media conglomerate. Just at those moments when I feel I am too cynical I conclude that I am not cynical enough....

Tonight, at the end of a local TV news show (CBS affiliate) I slowly took notice of a thirty-second spot to the effect "this is what he does do his opponents....Saddam Must Go! ...Make Real Peace Possible!"

Then the logo of the local conservative talk radio outlet (Rush, et al) -- KVI 570 -- came up on the screen along with "This message brought to you by".

This, I think, is unprecedented. To be sure, I looked up the parent company of KVI and it is Fisher Communications owner of multiple TV/radio outlets in the west including the Seattle ABC affiliate, KOMO.

As I said in an e-mail to Fisher, I think this is beyond the pale. How am I supposed to consider their news outlets trustworthy?

OK, perhaps this isn't unprecedented. I expect that during WWII network news outlets routinely pumped the patriotic party line. This is a very different case, though.

The Media-Industrial Complex.

I started to type up a crazy rant on this, but stopped...

Suffice to say, this really is odd behavior. Was this the early evening news? I'll have to get TiVo on the case...

Was this the early evening news?

Yes it was.....the 6:30 to 7:00 segment on KIRO, I think.

Were they stating anything other than the truth?

A couple of days ago I found this article by Ben Cohen on AlterNet about anti-war TV spots the networks refused to air. I followed the link there and took a look; spots really were reasonable and not too 'graphic' (if at all). Sponsors included True Majority and an organization of churches.

I followed the link today. The spots are not there any more, and I can't find them (all Googled links lead to the original 404'ed location). Scarry.

(BTW, if you look for alternative source of info and opinion, you can also try Yellow Times or In These Times. All three have decent RSS feeds.)

Were they stating anything other than the truth?

how do you know it to be the truth? If all that is put out there is the doctored version, which story is truth?

Yes Muzza you're right:

The "truth" is always at least a three-edged sword.
The three edges are:

Their version of the truth.
Your version of the truth.
The actual truth.

So which Edge do you think "is the truth" you talk about d33zy?