April 22, 2001

7:08 PM

So we think we're free?Bill Moyers tells us that we're in the grip of the mega-corporate media who know how to lavishly butter their own bread. And if we like jam? Too bad.
posted by caraig (3 comments total)

The PR machinery is downright frightening. Moyers touches on their power and influence. A look at the work of PR Watch -- and books that they put out like Trust Us, We're Experts -- is much more in-depth, and is essential for a full understanding of just how tightly the corporate thumbscrews have turned on us all.
posted by ghostwriter at 7:24 PM on April 22, 2001

Agreed, a great book: Trust Us, We're Experts.

Also check out Moyers' documentary on the "Chemical Papers": Trade Secrets.
posted by johnb at 7:36 PM on April 22, 2001

The illustration re PCBs in the "Chemical Papers" was a tad peculiar, though. It first surfaces in Anniston, Ala. (actually a very attractive place, no offense) and industrial Pennsylvania and then goes through all &@*#hole Texas and Texas electrical storms before heading to Lake Michigan and eventually over past Greenland, where -- it is implied -- the PCB will kill a seal. Um, will it hurt people anywhere, besides those in places like Alabama and Texas and the places bordering Lake Michigan that no one at PBS headquarters cares about, besides Texas native Bill Moyers, who is much too freaked at this moment about the chemicals in his body?

Sort of reminded me, for some reason, of the last Far Side, where "the cast" portrait included an amoeba that had, upon retirement, moved to a ditch in Shreveport, La. In that case, the locale rang true, but . . .

I'm just half-joking here, but it be nice to see the issues considered in a more down-to-earth manner.
posted by raysmj at 8:10 PM on April 22, 2001