Hello again, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to another episode of Freedom's Creed. As always, if you like what you hear, tell a friend. If you don't like what you hear, then tell an enemy. In any case, just tell somebody. I truly welcome all comers to the podcast. So please, I'm very sincere when I say this. Tell everyone that you know that you have a podcast that you're listening to from this guy who is kind of entertaining and you enjoy listening to him and you want to be a thoughtful friend. In any case, true story here. I had lunch with a friend of mine today, and he told his mom about my podcast, and she listened to it, and she either called him or texted him. I think it was a call, actually, and she said, I I don't I've never heard of this guy before. Uh is he just is he new making the circuits? And my friend just kind of laughed. He said, No, mom, it's a friend of mine, he has a podcast, and I want you to listen to it. And she goes, Oh, okay. In any case, I guess it's official. I'm making the circuits, people. I'm talking about media bias today. And if you think there's bias in the media today, fine. If you don't think there's bias in the media today, then that's fine too. However, you should probably pull your head out from under the rock that has you bound and take a look at what's going on in our country. If I was to ask you what is credible journalism, what would you say? Well, I would say that the job of anyone who's in the media, be it TV, radio, internet, print journalism, whatever it is, they should be the ones that report the news and not make it. Unfortunately, with all of these media outlets, from TV news to newspapers, to news magazines, to anything on the internet that is couching itself as a news source, most of these organizations, all they really care about are the ad dollars that are tied to viewers, to likes, to clicks, and what have you. I actually hope that there are some millennials who listen to the podcast because perhaps you've heard about media in the 70s and 80s specifically. And I can assure you that it's not some fairy tale, it's not some kind of fictional experience that people had in those two decades. That's when I came of age. And we had a whopping total of four television stations: NBC, ABC, CBS, and public television. We also had radio, we had newsprint, we had all the things that we have today, with one minor little detail called the internet. Oh, and let me not forget to mention the various cable networks that came about prior to the advent of the internet. So you had, of course, the three major networks and public television and all the other things that I mentioned, and then cable came on the scene. And then the internet sprang upon us, which we all love, and I'm not being facetious. It's a great tool. There are now big tech companies that are thrown into the mix. So because the internet came about, that gave birth and rise to all these myriad ways to make money in the advertising world. Now, the internet did not create that. Advertisers have been around since who knows when. The original three major networks were big on advertising back in the day. You just didn't hear about it because there was no way for the masses to actually hear about it. And the news stations, quote unquote, themselves, they weren't going to talk about all the money they were making from advertisers based on how many viewers they were having. So let's just say that the internet and the rise of the internet created this monetization of the news. This has essentially not been good for all the rest of us because we're beholden to these organizations who are supposed to be giving us the news, who they themselves are beholden to the advertisers to make sure that they don't say anything that goes against the grain, because if they do, they're going to lose big advertising dollars. It's pretty simple, really, when you think about it. And thinking back to the 70s and 80s in media, there of course were shareholders. And naturally, these publicly traded companies always have to satisfy the shareholders. They come first. The interests of the people come second, or maybe even further down the line than second or third. As an example of this media bias that I'm talking about, I want you to objectively think back to the most recent presidential election. If you were supporting Trump, then you were viewed as the scum of the earth and as a person who just doesn't care about other people. If you were a Biden supporter, clearly you were part of the enlightened members of our society and you just really cared about other people. Now, who do you think drove this narrative? No, that's not a trick question. But you guessed it. Big tech and elite media drove this agenda. It's so obvious. Now, if you want to deny that this and other media bias takes place, then you might as well just take up residence in a cave somewhere, hunker down, prepare for the zombie apocalypse with your Cheetos and your favorite soda or adult beverage if you prefer, because you probably should stay drunk most of the time if you're in denial about these things. And then when the zombies come, well, they may actually turn the other way because of the stench of alcohol that'll be totally exuding from your body. It's times like right now that I seriously hope that people who are listening have a good sense of humor. You know, if you can't laugh at yourself, then I am definitely prepared to laugh at you. No, no, no, I mean laugh with you, of course. One thing is for sure and certain, we're not laughing at the way the media conducts themselves in our society today, and big tech too, of course. Now, for some context, I want to throw in some information from an article that I read from techstartups.com, which was written back in September of 2020. Let me preface anything I read from the article by saying that it's hard to believe that six people, or in other words, six companies, control ninety percent of the media in our country. As a matter of fact, the title of the article is These Six Corporations Control 90% of the media outlets in America, the illusion of choice and objectivity. So if you were on the fence about media bias, then I'm pretty sure you're going to probably jump to the side of media bias after some of these things that I read to you. And perhaps you're already aware of them yourself. And if you are, then you obviously are an astute consumer of media and facts. The article starts off by talking about the word elites and how it comes from a French word elite. I'm not saying that right, of course, and from the Latin Elegir, E-L-I-G-E-R-E. I'm sure I'm not saying that correct either. Needless to say, elites are a small group of powerful people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in society. That's directly from the article. Also, they say this, quote, this elite class, which also includes the big tech companies, now controls what we read, watch, or listen to. End a quote. Okay? You got that? Alright, wait for it. Here's the six companies, which you are all very familiar with. Comcast, NBC Universal, Disney, CBS, Viacom, News Corporation, and ATT. Can you believe that that's the case today? Back when I was coming of age, there were roughly fifty companies that controlled the media in the United States. Fifty companies. Now there are six. Are you kidding me? The article says this quote Today, Americans think they have an unlimited variety of entertainment and media options right at their fingertips. But it is all a lie. This illusion of choice was fabricated by the media elites. In the early nineties, before the mainstream adoption of the internet, the media landscape used to be simple and straightforward. Now, I don't know if I believe that media ever used to be simple and straightforward. They have probably always had an agenda, as I said before, because we didn't have access to the internet, we just didn't know. And if we were not a shareholder, then we certainly would never have any reason to know because the media themselves are not going to write articles that denigrate themselves. It just wouldn't happen. It still doesn't today. This next quote, as far as I'm concerned, is bringing down a whole freaking house of cards. They say this quote, objectivity in journalism is an illusion created by the elite class to give the appearance of balanced news. However, there is no such thing as unbiased news. Journalists who work for these six corporations answer to their owners and ultimately serve their agendas. End of quote. Can any of us deny that this is true? I hope not. I wish it weren't true, but it is. And what of those small little startups in media that try to get some traction because they want to actually report the news? It's almost next to impossible for them to get started, to get traction, to get viewers, listeners, what have you, because of the enormous pressure that is put upon them by these six corporations telling everybody else that, oh, these are fringe lunatics, don't listen to them. Of course they would say that. They don't want people to go to these other outlets and listen to all these conspiracy theorists. If they wanted you to go listen to another outlet, they'd tell you, not really, but you get my point. Please allow me to stroll through these six companies and tell you some of the outlets that they own. GE owns Comcast, NBC, Universal Pictures, News Corporation owns Fox, The Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Disney owns ABC, ESPN, Pixar, Mirmax, Marvel Studios, Fiacom owns MTV, Nick Jr., Gotta Start Young, BET, Paramount Pictures, Time Warner, CNN, HBO, Warner Brothers, and CBS owns Showtime, NFL.com, 60 Minutes, and there you have it. And it's interesting how the article points out that in 1983, 90% of American media was owned by 50 companies. And today, as we've just talked about, it's owned by six companies. As per the article, there is a majority of the online content that we consume on the internet controlled by Comcast, ATT, and Verizon. Here's a list of who Comcast has their fingers in NBC, Hulu, USA Network, Universal, NBC Sports, DreamWorks, CNBC, and more. But ATT has their hands in HBO, CNN, Hulu also, because there is supposedly a minority interest of both Comcast and ATT in Hulu. AT ⁇ T also has the Cartoon Network. Again, got to start brainwashing those kids early. TNT, Warner Brothers, etc. Verizon has the Huffington Post, and Yahoo, and then a couple others that I've never even heard of, so I'm not even going to give a mention here at this point in time. The bottom line in all of this, folks, is that we have got to figure out a way to get our media from a solid sources. And I don't honestly know how we can do that. With only six corporations controlling 90% of what we consume, it's sickening. And then you have these other companies, as I just mentioned, that control what we consume on the internet. I mean, where do we go to get valid and true information? It's difficult to navigate. Sadly, it's true, these six companies have given us the illusion that we have choice, that we can go to any of the internet outlets or turn on the TV or go anywhere to receive factual information being reported by the news outlets that are supposed to report the actual news. As I said at the beginning, report the news, not create the news. It's pathetic. And this is what we have in America today? It's disgusting. I know that typically I read a positive quote, uplifting quote at the end of the show, but I'll be departing from that today by reading to you a quote from Euripides. I think it's fitting for the mass media and the controlling internet possies that are running about trying to destroy the lives of the people. Euripides said this, quote, when one with honeyed words but evil mind persuades the mob, great woes befall the state. End of quote. But hey, listen to me. Your life is completely in your hands. It'll be what you make it to be in spite of what is going on around us. So if you can think it, you can plan it. If you can plan it, you can do it.